NIST thermometer

[BlueDevil]

Does anyone have a NIST reference thermometer? Just as an annual maintenance checklist item, I would like to check the apex temp probe accuracy against it.

 

[Rob.D]

If you don't find the exact item you're interested in, you can use a standard kitchen instant read thermometer. Fill a glass with crushed ice, swirll the water for a few minutes and calibrate to 32 degrees.

 

[Breadman03]

^^^

Exactly what I do. It's the approved method for foodservice, though one can also calibrate to the boiling point.

 

[BlueDevil]

If you don't find the exact item you're interested in, you can use a standard kitchen instant read thermometer. Fill a glass with crushed ice, swirll the water for a few minutes and calibrate to 32 degrees.

Just so I understand it correctly, I make an ice slurry in a cup and stick the food thermometer in there. Once it registers 32 stick the apex probe in there and see what reading I get? If it is off I adjust accordingly? For some reason I thought I recalled reading somewhere online that the apex system doesn't go down to 32 though I might be mistaken on that. Do you know anything about that?

 

[BlueDevil]

Found this video as well from BRS on how to calibrate the temp probe.

 

[Breadman03]

Just so I understand it correctly, I make an ice slurry in a cup and stick the food thermometer in there. Once it registers 32 stick the apex probe in there and see what reading I get? If it is off I adjust accordingly? For some reason I thought I recalled reading somewhere online that the apex system doesn't go down to 32 though I might be mistaken on that. Do you know anything about that?

Foodservice thermometers are designed to work across a broad range of temperatures and will have acceptable accuracy across a wide range of temperatures, with the range of 40 to 180 being of particular concern due to required refrigeration and cooking temperatures. What I do is calibrate the FS thermometer to 32, then insert the FS thermometer into my reef near the Apex probe to ensure a similar reading. Note that an exact temperature really isn't important in a reef.

Also, while the older dial types are effective, my employer has mostly abandoned them in favor of digital thermometers because they hold their calibration better. As a matter of fact, I've never seen one of our digitals off by more than 0.1 degree at 32, but the dial type tend to drift a bit as they get bumped and moved around.

 

[BlueDevil]

Foodservice thermometers are designed to work across a broad range of temperatures and will have acceptable accuracy across a wide range of temperatures, with the range of 40 to 180 being of particular concern due to required refrigeration and cooking temperatures. What I do is calibrate the FS thermometer to 32, then insert the FS thermometer into my reef near the Apex probe to ensure a similar reading. Note that an exact temperature really isn't important in a reef.

Also, while the older dial types are effective, my employer has mostly abandoned them in favor of digital thermometers because they hold their calibration better. As a matter of fact, I've never seen one of our digitals off by more than 0.1 degree at 32, but the dial type tend to drift a bit as they get bumped and moved around.

Silly question - how in the world do you calibrate a FS therm? The one I have likely doesn't have that capability. Can you post a link for a therm that can be calibrated the way you described?

 

[Breadman03]

Silly question - how in the world do you calibrate a FS therm? The one I have likely doesn't have that capability. Can you post a link for a therm that can be calibrated the way you described?

The inexpensive dial types have a straight shaft with a dial perpendicular to the shaft. If you look at the back of the dial, you will see a hex shape that looks like a nut. You will also notice a funny plastic protrusion on the cover, which works as a wrench. While the probe is in the ice slurry, you use the wrench to hole the thermometer still and use your fingers to rotate the dial until the needle lines up with 32.

This digital looks pretty solid. I've never used it, but it's NSF with good ratings. I see a "cal" button, so it looks like it has a built in calibration procedure. The place I work for doesn't use digitals with that feature. We are to discard any that are off by more than 1 degree.

 

[BlueDevil]

The inexpensive dial types have a straight shaft with a dial perpendicular to the shaft. If you look at the back of the dial, you will see a hex shape that looks like a nut. You will also notice a funny plastic protrusion on the cover, which works as a wrench. While the probe is in the ice slurry, you use the wrench to hole the thermometer still and use your fingers to rotate the dial until the needle lines up with 32.

This digital looks pretty solid. I've never used it, but it's NSF with good ratings. I see a "cal" button, so it looks like it has a built in calibration procedure. The place I work for doesn't use digitals with that feature. We are to discard any that are off by more than 1 degree.

Many thanks for this! I'll go ahead and get the digital one you posted. Reading the description, the 'cal' button is in fact to calibrate it. Cheers!

 

[Mombo]

Anyone find a real good way to calibrate a temp probe? Taking the average of 3 probes that are all wrong doesn't sound great to me.

I have a nice probe I use when I'm cooking and a probe on my reefkeeper lite and they both seem off...