Geek alert!
 

Was at the local Radio Shack, on the counter was a laser thermometer, $29.95 or something like that. Well you can never have too much useless data so I got it.
Brought it home and started measuring temps:
El Chup:oil filter after a cruise 165Fwith an OAT of 50F
Natural gas flame: doesn't work, but the stove was around 810F
Various items in shop: 62F
Dogs butt: 92.5F
Dogs nose: 62.6F
Gonna call vet and ask why his butt is so cold, this could get interesting....

Outstanding!

Did the same thing with a HFT unit that was on super sale for $18 and I found:

Gas flame on Reznor garage furnace - 645F (10 ft ceilings and it was a ways off)
Dash on car in the 90 F sun 135F
Pump on my pressure washer - 140F - when running
My leg - through jeans - 87F
Cat fur on it's back - 83F

Keep up the good work. Let us know what the vet says.

Odie's vet(office girl) just didn't get it, IR thermometer didn't register, got a better reading from the dogs butt.
I did check the cylinder head on the Honda Fat Cat and the fins were within a few degrees of the sparkplug gasket thermocouple.
I am sure that there will be a good use down the road, but its raining and we were bored.
eric

i use one to check various parts on aircraft, i found that hot parts were hot and cold parts were cold. But now i know just how hot and cold things are. amazing!

If the unit is sensitive enough...and can be pointed (localised) to small areas...it would be a fast way of checking electrical connections.
If the connection is warmer than the places around it...you have a resistance...and therefore a bad connection!
Bob

tire temps...edges and centers....inflate/deflate until uniform across the contact patch.

Damn, made me check my dogs butt...about the same...could be the norm.

I have a Fluke one I picked up used a few years back. Just found it in the shop the other day and have been having a ball with it the last few days checking temps.

Good for grilling too.

I got the Fluke too... well, because we drive a Porsche, overpaying for perceived quality is what you're supposed to do. :D

I do feel inadequate though, I've not thought to measure my dog's butt.

mine came in handy while I was out of power for 12 days after Sandy. I used it to check the temps of fridge and freezer items to see how often I had to pump juice in from the generator.
(freezer items @ 0 deg, fridge items @ 29 deg :))

p-car related - bumper temp on the 77 930 after a track session - 310 deg

Bill K

I think Odie got off lucky Radio Shack didn't have a borescope on sale. :eek:

Yes they are very handy - Use it to look at the exhaust ports to see all cylinders are happy and within 10 degrees of each other.

+1 on the electrical tests - somebody like Greenlee makes a thermal imaging camera specifically to look at electrical panels to check them out for resistance.

It would be good to look at our DME relays to see how hot they get, probably why they fail so often.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 342k miles

Odie is a yellow Labrador, and makes a goat look like a finicky eater, he stole my wife's lime slice from her tequila shot yesterday, so I really don't wanna know what is on the inside of the fur.....

Now that is an awesome idea and at $20 would pay for itself right off the hop!

Nice thinking Joe Bob!

I'm goin' to get me one and start checking temps on the wifey...could get interesting.

Rufie and borescope, who needs to ask for a divorce?

The Harbor Freight IR temp gun is what helped me troubleshoot my cracked intake gaskets.
"Hmmm, that port is 108° and that port is 254°. Something is wrong here..."

Neither my Snowmobile or KTM 625 have Temp Gauges....I used one on the coolant hoses to keep an eye on things.....