[Eric]

Mine is a Ryobi

[Archived]

Klein infrared thermometer (IR Gun) – about $80 at HD.

[Liam]

Fluke. None better.

[Archived]

[Michael]

Tom and Bill,

I ordered ours from the Sears website. It will register temps up to 1,400 degrees….. about a $100 if I remember correctly. When I was shopping, it was hard to find a gun that had the higher temp capability.

Take care,

Mark

[Tim]

Sears Craftsman

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-infrared-thermometer/p-03450466000P?mv=rr&redirectType=SRDT

on sale this week for $72. 1000 degrees F.

Mr. Mark … what need do you have for a 1400 degree instrument?

The 500 degree F version is $30.

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-non-contact-infrared-thermometer/p-03450455000P

[Archived]

Dick,

No real reason to have a high temp IR gun. Friends had one for their pizza oven and it registered over 1,300 degrees.

I thought, well, if you shoot something, you want to know the real temp even if it’s high. Maybe a wheel hub would melt at that temp but if I want to know if something is 1,200 and your gun is only showing up to 1,000, why not go higher?

Mark

[Archived]

Aside from delving into the flip-phone debate, why do you recommend an IR Gun for your RV? What specifically are you measuring, i.e., heat loss, gain, temp of engine, etc.?

[Andy]

Mine is a Fluke, however I see no reason to worry a lot about accuracy except repeatability.

To answer Tim’s question….after we have driven a while our tires heat up. On a hot summer day I will see around 135 degrees on all tires give or take a few degrees. If I see a tire whose temp is significantly out of that range such as 150 then I suspect that tire has low air pressure. We all have found if our tires are inflated based on the pressures required for the load carried tire temps are going to be consistent. There is no quicker way to find a tire with a pressure issue because almost as fast as you can walk you can read temps.

I shoot the temps on the wheel as close to the center as possible. If any of those are out of the range of the others then it is a clue there are wheel bearing issues or a brake is dragging.

The more a driver does that the easier it is to know exactly what temps to expect. Ambient temps will vary the readings but the consistency of readings will remain. I have measured tire temps around 80 degrees on cooler days and as high as 140 on hot days. Wheel temp readings will run much closer to ambient temp. So the accuracy of the readings is less important on a gun than the ability of the gun to consistently provide the same readings when the temps of the tires are the same.

[Deleted User]

So that says to me, a 500C max gun is more than adequate if ‘std’ temps are no more than 100C or so. Anything approaching 200C sounds like it is wrong so waiting until it’s 500+ is too late. Accuracy is the name if the game rather than max temps.

[Richard]

Thanks Jon,

So do you all recommend checking tire pressures daily prior to departure? Also, has your tire pressure gauge inside the coach been accurate or do you simply recommend the IR gun in addition to these?

[AL]

Fluke.. I also have a cheap one from Northern Tool and the readings are all over the place when compared with the Fluke.

[Andrew]

What model Fluke are you using ?

[Archived]

The folks with tire pressure monitoring systems swear by them and use them for their tire pressure check. Tom said he occasionally pulls the sensors off and manually verifies the readings with a pressure gauge.

I do a tire pressure check before every trip. BUT at one time I created more problems than I solved because on occasion my schrader valves would not seat properly and I would have to change the bad one out with a new one. My clue was when removing the cap I listened for that little hiss to signal me that the valve leaked into the cap. Since I started using the fill thru caps I not only haven’t had that issue, my tires seem to hold air from season to season.

Bottom line is no matter how it is done the best thing to do is always check tire pressures because a failed tire on the road is not only very inconvenient, expensive, and may stop your trip, if a tire fails catastrophically the damage can be extensive.