Uses for infrared tempature gun

[jjrbus]

With tempature guns being more available I'm wondering of new uses people have come up for them? I use it often for tires, brakes, and bearings on bus and toad. But I alos check the top of the radiator, if it is cool (realitive term) I am low on coolant.

[John Z]

I want to buy one of these. How much are they, and where can they be ordered from? I would appreciate any brand name and model number of product you have used and felt was a good purchase. TIA

[bobofthenorth]

Me too.  This is my next must-have techie tool but I don't know anything about them.  Acklands has them listed in their sale flyer right now but their price still seems pretty steep at $179 Canuck. 

[gumpy]

I got mine from NAPA several years ago. I think it's a Raytech. I paid around $75 on sale at the time, but I've seen them down around $50 in the last few months at various auto parts and tools places.

I use mine for tires, brakes, engine warming, radiator, interior heating, etc. The laser makes a good cat toy, too.

[Kristinsgrandpa]

I gave $45 for mine at Sears over a year ago.  Harbor freight has them for $39.95 but I don't know the temp. range, and would suspect the reliability.

Ed.

[Dallas]

I use this one from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91778

They also have other ones:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93983

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93984

Even though they aren't the most accurate, I can live with the small difference.
I not only use mine for tires, trans, engine, coolant, etc., I use it to find the outside temp when looking out the window in the morning. (My indoor outdoor thermometer died a slow death).
Another use I've found is when we get out the deep fryer and make homemade potato chips or deep fry shrimp. It let's me know that the oil is hot enough.
Cat even uses it instead of her candy thermometer when making fudge, it's much faster and a lot more accurate than her candy thermometer.

One note about the deep frying oil... We had a "Fry-Daddy" that had a hard time keeping the temp up from one batch to another. I noticed when plugged in to a line that gave me a strong 120V I could get temps of around 360°F, but if the voltage dropped to 119V I could only achieve temps of around 330°F, making for really greasy fish and chips.

We now have a Rival DeepFryer and it will take the temperature up to 390° -400°F with no problem and keep it there no matter how fast I put a batch in.

Dallas

[Paso One]

Bobofthenorth  Princess auto had them on sale for $33.00 in Saskatoon Flyer. ( sorry ended 27th) I have had the gun type one for about 2 years now from them and it works great. $79.00

[bobofthenorth]

Shoot!  I was in Saskatoon on Thursday & normally Princess Auto is on my must stop list but I didn't make it there.  Oh well - there will be another sale.

[Hartley]

Another Novel use for the IR temp guns...

Check your Batteries... when charging or discharging. Temp diiferences between cells can indicate problems
that you wouldn't see until a critical failure....fire... dead or internal short...

I got mine from Harbor Freight for $39 and it has saved me thousands already....

[boogiethecat]

I got mine a few years ago and took it on the bus with me... for a while...
then I figured out that if I check my tea and my soup to make sure it's not over 130 that I could quit burning my woosie little mouth!!
So now it lives in the kitchen at home, and is amazingly useful when warming things up to eat or drink !!!
Go figure...

[DMoedave]

Been using a sears 50.00 unit for 4 years now. On I/O boats its easy to find your cooling overheat problems and i use it for heating trouble shooting in my plumbing biz. Dont really need it for checking out the cold shoulder my wife gives me once in awhile. also can find air leaks in the house and bus by shooting windows and such.

[JackConrad]

Also habdy for find poor electrical connections. Poor connection=resistance=heat.  Jack

[steve5B]

Hello,

Would like to add my 2cents worth.   We used one to see the temp of the the front shocks of over the road tractors to see if they were working (travel) the same.  If one was hotter than the other we would change them.  Tried it on my 5B and found out the left one need to be replaced, GREAT TOOL to have or use!

  STEVE 5B.

[NJT5047]

I want to buy one of these. How much are they, and where can they be ordered from? I would appreciate any brand name and model number of product you have used and felt was a good purchase. TIA

Ebay has all sorts of laser temp guns for cheap.  I bought a Raytech with a 900* F range for $49 bucks.  $7 bucks shipping. 
You never know what Ebay has to offer in the form of knockoffs...but mine works fine.  Note that most bluetooth wireless cellphone headsets seem to be Chinese knockoffs even though they claim NEW OEM MOTOROLA.  The Chinese interpretation of "OEM" is similar to parsing the word "is" by Bil....nevermind.    
Played with the heat gun a right good bit during the Arcadia trip and it was repeatable.   
Be sure and get a unit that reads upward to 900 degrees or more.  Some only go to 500 degrees and this isn't useful with exhaust manifold temps...works on about everything else..
My dos centavos.  JR

[gus]

They are perfect for checking relative temps, such as tires. I try to check each tire at exactly the same spot on the tread so I can see if any are hotter than the others and probably lower pressure.

If you need exact temps then you must follow exactly the directions for distance from and area of the object tested. I have two, one works at 8" and one at 6".  They are never closer than 5-10 degrees.

I guess the best way to get exact temps is to have three and take an average!