Getting the Heat out...

[johns4104s]

We used 40 IR guns last year on a 120 million dollar refinery Coke Drum repair , They were the cheap $70.00 guns NOT THE Rayiec $300.00 gun;
The guns were used only as a guide as we had 1000 thermocouples monitoring the shell and weld repair for preheat. The guns did OK although the problems were that aiming the laser at a dark shell would give one reading and aiming the Laser at a shinny weld prep area would give a reading 40 to 70 degree difference. Also we found that when the batteries started to run down we had similar problems.
The IR gun is a great tool I have one, but I am aware of the cheaper model short falls.

John

[muddog16]

My turn, I spent 20 years doing process instrumentation, refineries, chemical plants and power plants, so I have a little background. Two ways of spot checking for problems in my experience were to use a infared camera, ($20,000) or a hand held Raytec.......cheapie......($200). It's hard to beat a hand held cheapie. For spot checking they are absoluted going to get you into the ball park where the problem is!  Unless you have access to oil bath calibrators or dry block,  the next best thing is to buy a calibrated certified source for comparison.  I'm not big on electrical sending units made for automobile or bus applications, loose connections, faulty wiring, corrosion, moisture can and "will" be a problem.  That said, we still use and rely on them, instrumentation comes in many different price ranges, cheap means exactly that......"cheap", if you want to spot check when you suspect or know you have a problem even a $70 IR gun will work, if you are wanting accuracy, I'm sure there are plently of locations on every engine to stall a mechanical sender or guage, I'd recommend a couple of mechanical local guages in the engine compartment, and if i was concerned then I'd run new wiring and guage to the drivers location, replacing a guage is hit and mis......especially in a 25 or 35 year old bus!     Common sense is your best way to find a problem, divide and conquer, each problem has a start and a end.  We have some really good engineers in the busing community take advantage of them.....they know their stuff.... they aren't just pretty faces!

[rv_safetyman]

Muddog, if you were referring to me, I appreciate your thinking I have a pretty face

Obviously you have not met me in person

Back to the subject at hand.  If you have a DDEC engine, you can take advantage of data from the very accurate engine sensors.  The data port in the front has all the information you need.  To get it out, you can buy a DDC Pro Driver, hook up a Pro-link computer reader, or buy a product like SilverLeaf VMSpc for $395.

Full disclosure, I am a SilverLeaf dealer.  To get an idea of what you can see with the SilverLeaf, go to:  http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/Silverleaf3.htm.  I have some screen captures of my "dash".

Jim