Heater thermometer accurate?

[White Hair]

When i set up my tank i bought a Finnex heater and it has a display for the temp, on a whim, i have a Ray Tek mini infra red therm, ck’d my water temp and it read 73’ the Finnex display reads 78’ what would you do?

 

[clm65]

I would get another thermometer and go with “best 2 out of 3”. I would also boil some water and see if the gun shows 212F. Of course this is no guarantee that it is accurate at 75ishF, but may give you an idea of its accuracy.

 

[mike550]

I think that IR based thermometers have trouble measuring temps on clear or transparent objects and end up reading what’s “behind” it. IR is based on heat emission. So my guess is that your IR thermometer measured the wall of the container rather than the water.

Also — what’s the temp accuracy of your IR therm? Wouldn’t surprise me if it was +/- 2 degrees.

 

[Fishy212]

When i set up my tank i bought a Finnex heater and it has a display for the temp, on a whim, i have a Ray Tek mini infra red therm, ck’d my water temp and it read 73’ the Finnex display reads 78’ what would you do?

I have a BRs titanium heater element. I noticed that even though the heating element shows a 76 degree set temperature, the overall temp according to a small independent reader is 73.8. Is there some kind of break in period or should I expect this ~2 degree inaccuracies?

 

[Fishy212]

I think that IR based thermometers have trouble measuring temps on clear or transparent objects and end up reading what’s “behind” it. IR is based on heat emission. So my guess is that your IR thermometer measured the wall of the container rather than the water.

Also — what’s the temp accuracy of your IR therm? Wouldn’t surprise me if it was +/- 2 degrees.

haha you right, element came off the suction cups and the edge is touching the bottom of the sump. Will reposition and read again .

Thank you

 

[BeejReef]

Agree w clm65. Heater thermostats are notoriously inaccurate. Aquarium thermometers u get at the store aren't much better. Kinda have to go with an average "best guess."

 

[Sailingeric]

I have a digital thermometer for cooking and beer making and it showed my heaters always running cooler than what I set them at by 3 or 4 degrees. I now have my tank heaters running through an Inkbird which read spot on with my digital thermometer.