Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with thermometer

What do you do with household mercury in India?

bookish — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:07:06 -0800

I would like to dispose of a thermometer that might contain mercury. What's the best way to do this, in India? I'm living in Jaipur, Rajasthan. My roommate bought a cheap thermometer a week ago, but the liquid has separated and it doesn't seem to be responding to the freezer. I'm not sure if it's mercury-- it has gray-black liquid and a silver bulb, and it's unmarked. I'd like to get rid of the damn thing, but I'm not sure how to do so responsibly here, especially if it is a mercury thermometer.

Municipal waste management seems to consist of a bunch of dumpsters scattered throughout town. People and animals go through these dumpsters pretty regularly to scavange, so it seems like tossing it there is a really bad idea. I've been looking for some info on hazardous waste in the city, but haven't found much, aside from this dispiriting article.

What's the best thing to do with a thermometer in these conditions?

How do I fix a thermometer if the mercury has separated?

odinsdream — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:46:38 -0800

How do I fix a thermometer when the mercury has separated? I purchased a freezer thermometer. After getting it home the mercury (or whatever liquid they use in them now) had separated near the top of the scale, so there are bands of air between bands of red.

I tried heating it up, but this just compresses the band separation, then it returns to normal.

Instructions online say the fix is to get it cold enough that all of the liquid is pulled into the bulb. This thermometer goes to at least -35F on the readable scale, and a little past that before it reaches the bulb, probably -50F from the looks of it.

How can I fix it? Alternatively - do you work with liquid nitrogen and would you like to fix my thermometer?

How hot is my meat?

wordsmith — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:07:13 -0800

What digital cooking thermometer do professionals use? My Polder brand thermometer (similar to this one) just broke, but even when it was new, it wasn't very good. I had a hard time trusting its readings. Is there an end-all meat thermometer out there?

I realize that "true" professionals probably know how hot their meat is without a thermometer, but surely there's a decent one on the market aimed at semi-pros, no?

Weather station for extreme conditions?

unSane — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:37:36 -0800

Wireless weather station for extreme conditions? Last fall I purchased a Weather Channel branded Weather Station made by LaCrosse. It worked fine for a while and we really liked having it, but the winter up here (top of a hill in Ontario) destroyed it. The anemometer blew off in the first storm, the thermometer stopped working and the rain gauge froze and cracked. The barometer still works fine though...

So I guess we need something more robust. The weather up here is really f'n extreme. It needs to be wireless and handle gusts up to about 100 mph, heavy snowfall, temperatures down to -35C or so, freezing rain, and all the rest of it. Any suggestions?

What is this stuff?

danb1 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:46:09 -0800

What are the little black pebbly things that are in the bottom of this floating thermometer . Are they what makes it float? Are they toxic?

My Thermometer Done Busted

jasondigitized — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:55:16 -0800

Everyday, at random, I break out in the chills. It feels like I have a fever for a few minutes. It comes and goes. Some days it happens more than others. It's like my internal thermometer / hypothalamus goes wacky. I don't quite break a sweat but I get a little balmy. Does anyone else have this problem with regulating their temperature, and if so, what have you done about it. Is my thermometer busted, or is there something more sinister at work here.

How accurate is this infrared thermometer?

jaimev — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:03:55 -0800

I got a small infrared thermometer as a gift, and I'm trying to understand how well it takes temperatures of different materials. The specs says it has a preset emissivity of 0.95. There's no other adjustments or controls on the unit, other than the trigger.

Is it correct to assume that if I point it at materials with that same emissivity, like concrete (from this table), it'll be pretty accurate? So what happens when I try measuring temperatures of materials with emissivity that's vastly different than 0.95? Like gold or silver (both 0.05)? Will the temperature I measure be far off the mark? Can I calculate a corrected value based on the emissivity of the target material?

Need a graphic metaphor to illustrate progress

punkfloyd — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:20:27 -0800

I am helping a volunteer group collect donations. I need something other than a thermometer or a mountain climber to graphically illustrate our progress. HELP!

Microwave oven with thermometer

ykjay — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:36:09 -0800

I'm looking to buy a microwave oven, but I want a good one. I'm looking for a combination microwave/convection oven with, and this is the tricky part, a thermometer built in. My mother-in-law bought a microwave with a built-in thermometer (from Sears, I think) about 20 years ago, and we had it for a while when she down-nested. It was great! Now I can't seem to find a microwave over anywhere that has a built-in thermometer. I'd really like to have the convection cooking option too.

Am I not looking hard/smart enough? Have they been banned, or just not enough interest?

Where is the thermometer on a car located?

k7lim — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:16:02 -0800

Where is the thermometer on a car typically located? Dashboard temp read-outs always seem absurd. Everytime I notice a temperature read-out on a car dashboard, it's always seemed ludicrous to me. Today, the temperature was about 92 in Sacramento, but the digital readout in my parents' Volvo made the bold claim that SOMEthing was 115 degrees F.

What is the typical location for this thermometer in a car?

What environment is this read-out supposed to be telling you about? Outside the car? The car's interior?

Where on a car could you put a thermometer, such that you would minimize the chance of a biased result?

Broken thermometer

jrossi4r — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:45:27 -0800

I just broke a glass thermometer and can't find the mercury. Help! I dropped a glass thermometer, which broke into pieces. According to the manual that came with it, it was a mercury thermometer. Unfortunately, I can't find the mercury to clean it up. Some of the glass pieces landed on the wood floor and some landed on the rug, so it could be on either surface.

Is there any way I can find it? What's the best way to clean the rug and the floor if I don't? So far, the only thing googling has told me consistently is that I shouldn't vacuum.

Can you take your own temperature without a thermometer?

chefscotticus — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 11:40:15 -0800

Can you take your own temperature without a thermometer? I'm sick. I went to the doctor several days ago and had a slight fever and I'm not sure if it's back, but i don't own a thermometer.

Anyone have any suggestions for tips on figuring out if I'm still "running hot"?

Grab bag of symptoms

Rothko — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 23:53:24 -0800

Under the weather... For the last week and three days, I've been slowly getting over a nasty bout of something or other.

I've had fever, chills, headaches and an excrutiatingly painful canker sore that is very slow in healing. When I sleep now, I often wake up in a cold sweat. If a breeze comes in, my body goes into a shivering spell. Muscle aches and pains have accompanied headaches that have spread from my forehead to my neck, but these have largely gone away with some ibuprofen and sinus medicine.

It seems like my body's thermometer is still a little off-kilter, but the Mayo Clinic's explanation of canker sores suggests by omission that I have something serious if a sore is accompanied by a fever.

Is this something I should worry about or just let my body heal from?

I've also tried using a painkiller to numb the pain of this *(%$& mouth sore, but it seems to irritate the sore to the point where it gets larger and the pain worsens once the novocaine wears off. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to hasten healing that genuinely works?

Good Digital Thermometer for People

Alex Marshall — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:37:09 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good digital thermometer for humans? We have several, which we bought at the drugstore for $10 or so, and they all suck. They all give readings that vary by as much as two degrees when you take your temperature twice. Often they seem to under report temperature. I just took mine with a new one we bought, and typically, it reported my temperature as 94.5 the first time, and 97.9 the second. My wife got similar results. We have a new baby, and would like a good thermometer. We'd be willing to spend a lot more on it than ten dollars if it works well. Can anyone recommend one?

Restoration Tips for Rusty Outside Thermometer Exposed to Elements for 50+ Years?

jdroth — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 15:56:15 -0800

I have a painted metal thermometer that used to hang on my grandparents' porch. It's very old (fifty years?), and very rusty, but I love it. It's so rusty that the advertising ("Whiskey Hill Grocery") and the temperature gradations are barely discernible. How can I remove this oxydation without damaging the paint underneath, restore the piece to something approximating its original condition? Is this even possible?

Car Temperature

AstroGuy — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 14:06:14 -0800

[CarTalkFilter] '94 Buick with electronic heat & a/c controls. External temperature reads 94 degrees F (it's currently around 10 above). What do I check out to fix this? [more inside] This is a 94 Park Avenue with the pushbutton electronic controls where you set the desired temp rather than slide levers, etc. The outside temp reading always reads WAY hotter than it really is. I bought this car last fall when it was in the 50s and at that time it read over 120 degrees as the outside temp. Not really a big deal but I think that this temperature reading MAY be used by the computer to control A/C compressor cycling. I've noticed in 20 degree temps if I have it set to the HEAT setting the A/C compressor cycles on and off (burning extra gas unnecessarily).

How would I go about troubleshooting this? A bad sensor somewhere? But where is it located? I was going to pick up a Chilton book for this car but little things like this aren't always detailed in them so I figured I'd ask here to see if anyone has any ideas.