This Article is about using an IR Thermometer in an Ice Arena application.
The information below is a Fluke customer asking some questions about using an IR Thermometer in an Ice Arena.
Hello, Fluke Technical Support.
We have a newer Fluke 64 Max IR Thermometer.
We use the thermometer guns to check the surface of the ice temperature to ensure optimal ice for the division 1 college hockey team we support.
We are finding inconsistencies between the IR thermometer guns, where we check the same spot with the two IR Thermometers and we are getting a degree or two difference.
The EMS setting is set to .97 on both guns. Ice temps normally are at 20 to 24 degrees, depending on what is going on with the ice.
At times we check the temperature of the ice with both guns in the same spot, and the newer one is typically between 1 and 1.5 degrees colder.
We also have noticed that the thermometer gun tends to take a minute to get "adjusted" to the colder temperature.
For example, we check a spot on the ice, walk around the arena and check other points of the ice, and when we return to our initial check spot, it is 2 to 3 degrees colder than when we initially checked it. And this is long after the ice has set and fully frozen.
It has been something that has been bugging us for a while, and I figured we go to Fluke to see if there's anything we can do to ensure we are getting a precise temperature to have an optimal ice surface.
In other words, we are not sure which thermometer gun we should check, and we were wondering if it is a calibration issue, a setting issue, user error, or a faulty product.
Let me know what other information you may need, we would like to get this figured out before the college hockey season begins.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello Sir,
All the IR thermometers use an internal sensor to define the Enironmental conditions.
If you store the thermometer in your office and the temperature is 70 F, and you decide you want to go out to the ice arena the environment changes to 35 F the thermometer needs to acclimate to the new environment. It can take 20 minutes or so for that to happen.
All measuring devices get verified at the manufacturing plant before they are sold and that environment is at 70 F.
It's common practice to send a tool in yearly to make sure the thermometer is not drifting over time to read a bit higher or lower than when it was checked at the manufacturing plant.
Another practice that technicians use in an ice arena is to put the thermometer inside there coat up against the body and pull it out when they make a measurement and then place it back under there coat to keep the thermometer close to environment where it was stored.
All the IR thermometers use an internal sensor to define the Enironmental conditions.
If you store the thermometer in your office and the temperature is 70 F, and you decide you want to go out to the ice arena the environment changes to 35 F the thermometer needs to acclimate to the new environment. It can take 20 minutes or so for that to happen.
All measuring devices get verified at the manufacturing plant before they are sold and that environment is at 70 F.
It's common practice to send a tool in yearly to make sure the thermometer is not drifting over time to read a bit higher or lower than when it was checked at the manufacturing plant.
Another practice that technicians use in an ice arena is to put the thermometer inside there coat up against the body and pull it out when they make a measurement and then place it back under there coat to keep the thermometer close to environment where it was stored.
Hello, Fluke Technical Support,
Thank you so much for this information! This is very useful. We do not keep it in the office, but we do keep it just outside the ice itself, near the ice resurfacers.
With that said, there's still a ten-degree temperature change between that area and the actual ice area.
And our newer thermometer gun we typically keep in the office in a warmer environment, which can explain the reading discrepancies.
Keeping a consistent climate before bringing the gun out to check the temperatures is going to be a way to help ensure we are getting a consistent temperature reading.