Scientific-grade temperature measurement
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:04 am
I wanted this to measure the temp of my furnace and hot water heater flue gas but measuring other things seems useful.
There are many generic ways to do this. However, I elected to put a kit together that is all Fluke. I have an old Fluke 8060A that my uncle gave me a long time ago. It is my official multimeter though I do have that nice one I got from HF with clamp on current meter.
Info: https://www.tequipment.net/Fluke8060A.html
It does more than you'd guess just looking at the different settings.
I decided to look into whether it would even be possible to outfit this with temperature measuring capability. Turns out, yes!
In fact I would simply need two things:
1) Any K-type thermocouple (there are actually many different styles optimized for different things)
2) A converter box that takes the output from the thermocouple and scales it to a calibrated voltage reading that the DVM displays, and you can select Communist units or Freedom units.
For the converter, the unit is the Fluke 80TK. Here it is brand new on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-80TK-Therm ... 4283&psc=1
Yikes, $133! OK. But how about used on eBay?
Yeah, used is way better! Only $27 shipped. Here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/80TK-FLUKE-K-T ... 2749.l2649
But I still need a probe. Cheap probes on Amazon are $10, such as this: https://www.amazon.com/T-PRO-Thermocoup ... RydWU&th=1
That's nice but some complained about calibration (shocking). Seems like I might look for an all-Fluke solution. So what are the options there?
There is the 80PK-22 immersion probe. Immersion seems like a good general purpose option because it is good for liquids and gels but also works in air (albeit with a delayed response compared to ones made for air operation).
Temp range: -40 to 1090 Degree Celsius. That's as wide as I could possibly need I think.
Here's a new 80PK-22 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-80PK-22-Su ... r=1-3&th=1
Geez, $92. How about used? Yep.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-80PK-22- ... 2749.l2649
$30 and shows working in the ad.
So how did I do? Well I added (uncalibrated but probably more than acceptable for DIY/hobby use) temp monitoring to my Fluke, with Fluke accessories for $57.
Yes for $20 you can get a dedicated temperature probe system, such as this, which even comes with 2 probes: https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Thermoc ... hi&sr=1-21
But I'm pretty sure I'm better off with what I put together than this.
I finally received the probe from Fargo, ND (hilarious) so I immediately plugged everything together to test. I tried air and water. Results are good:
Furnace at the end of its heating cycle, cooling down the heat exchanger:
Cold water from kitchen sink:
Hot water from kitchen sink: It works!
There are many generic ways to do this. However, I elected to put a kit together that is all Fluke. I have an old Fluke 8060A that my uncle gave me a long time ago. It is my official multimeter though I do have that nice one I got from HF with clamp on current meter.
Info: https://www.tequipment.net/Fluke8060A.html
It does more than you'd guess just looking at the different settings.
I decided to look into whether it would even be possible to outfit this with temperature measuring capability. Turns out, yes!
In fact I would simply need two things:
1) Any K-type thermocouple (there are actually many different styles optimized for different things)
2) A converter box that takes the output from the thermocouple and scales it to a calibrated voltage reading that the DVM displays, and you can select Communist units or Freedom units.
For the converter, the unit is the Fluke 80TK. Here it is brand new on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-80TK-Therm ... 4283&psc=1
Yikes, $133! OK. But how about used on eBay?
Yeah, used is way better! Only $27 shipped. Here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/80TK-FLUKE-K-T ... 2749.l2649
But I still need a probe. Cheap probes on Amazon are $10, such as this: https://www.amazon.com/T-PRO-Thermocoup ... RydWU&th=1
That's nice but some complained about calibration (shocking). Seems like I might look for an all-Fluke solution. So what are the options there?
There is the 80PK-22 immersion probe. Immersion seems like a good general purpose option because it is good for liquids and gels but also works in air (albeit with a delayed response compared to ones made for air operation).
Temp range: -40 to 1090 Degree Celsius. That's as wide as I could possibly need I think.
Here's a new 80PK-22 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-80PK-22-Su ... r=1-3&th=1
Geez, $92. How about used? Yep.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-80PK-22- ... 2749.l2649
$30 and shows working in the ad.
So how did I do? Well I added (uncalibrated but probably more than acceptable for DIY/hobby use) temp monitoring to my Fluke, with Fluke accessories for $57.
Yes for $20 you can get a dedicated temperature probe system, such as this, which even comes with 2 probes: https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Thermoc ... hi&sr=1-21
But I'm pretty sure I'm better off with what I put together than this.
I finally received the probe from Fargo, ND (hilarious) so I immediately plugged everything together to test. I tried air and water. Results are good:
Furnace at the end of its heating cycle, cooling down the heat exchanger:
Cold water from kitchen sink:
Hot water from kitchen sink: It works!