How do I change this thermopen from celsius to fahrenheit?

February 17, 2021 3:02 PM

I have this thermopen that ostensibly can be changed to degrees F from degrees C but I cannot figure out how.

Sorry it's filthy, I'll clean it when I'm done cooking tonight I promise. Anyway it has two buttons on the front as you can see, a little reset-type button in front of my ring finger, and it is confounding me beyond all reason.

posted by cilantro to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: I think you have to open the battery compartment and there's a switch there.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:03 PM on February 17, 2021 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, thank you! The switch was tiny and hidden well inside where the batter cover clip attaches, and I had to use a toothpick to reach it but it was indeed there and it did indeed work.
posted by cilantro at 3:09 PM on February 17, 2021

I have a similar thermometer and when I was looking at different models to buy "why do I need to open the battery compartment to change from F to C?" was a very common complaint.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:16 PM on February 17, 2021

why do I need to open the battery compartment to change from F to C?

If that were a design decision I'd made, I'd justify it by saying that not having temperature readings with a direct bearing on food safety accidentally misinterpreted in the wrong kind of degrees after an inadvertent controls bump was more important than convenience in changing the display units, given that the latter is typically something that would only need to be done once per owner (or possibly not at all, if the supplier set an appropriate default for the country the product was being sold in).
posted by flabdablet at 6:28 PM on February 17, 2021 [2 favorites]