Special thermometers

April 14, 2018

We have the thermometer in mind as a tool to measure ambient temperature, but do we already know all the possible uses of a thermometer?

Fridges, freezers, chests and cold rooms

Any treatment with food or substances for ingestion or medications, requires a comprehensive quality control, and there the temperature is an absolutely key factor. The temperature determines the state of conservation of the product, and if certain thresholds are exceeded, it can end up degrading the product and the consequences can be dire for people, with food poisoning.

The fridge and freezers are the two most important conservation chambers, and in which you must have an exhaustive control of the interior temperature, to prevent food from going bad.

In the fridge the recommended temperature is between 3 and 5ºC
In the freezer, the recommended temperature is -18ºC, although a range between -15 and -22ºC is estimated.

There are thermometers specifically for temperature control in the fridge and freezer, either digital or analog. The advantage of digital is that they also give you a record of the maximum and minimum temperature recorded, an interesting parameter for control.
We should also mention the datalogger devices for the control of cold rooms and also the penetration or IR thermometers for the control of frozen food, either internally or on the surface.

Digital maximum and minimum thermometer for refrigerator

Sea water, pool water and liquids

Water temperature is a basic control parameter, both for human health and for different leisure activities. To measure the temperature in liquids we use slightly more special thermometers than normal.

We have analog thermometers to measure sea temperature, protected and resistant to salinity.
Analog and digital thermometers to measure and control the water temperature in swimming pools and ponds. These thermometers float, and measure the temperature between 5 and 10cm deep.
Analog and digital thermometers for temperature control in liquid media, used both in the kitchen and in the laboratory. These thermometers can reach very high ranges, up to 200 or 300ºC. They are also called chemical thermometers.

Food cooking and oven

These thermometers must withstand very high temperatures, which can even exceed 500ºC. They are used for temperature control inside furnaces or boilers, within which very high temperatures can be reached. We will need that temperature control to adjust the cooking of the food. The most common is that they are analog thermometers, except those that already incorporate the ovens themselves.

To control the cooking temperature inside the food, we will need a thermometer with a penetration probe, which can also reach temperatures of more than 200ºC. These thermometers can be analog or digital, but currently digital thermometers offer much more benefits, even discriminating the type of food we want to measure.

For boiler temperature control, analog boiler or dye thermometers are used, these thermometers also have a temperature range greater than 100ºC

Infrared thermometers for surfaces

Infrared thermometers are digital only, and are used to measure the temperature on the surface of objects. They are valid for both low and high temperature ranges, although they can even measure temperatures up to 1000ºC.

They are widely used devices in the food and industrial sectors, they allow a measurement at a certain distance and allow greater safety, especially if we are dealing with flammable, corrosive or fast-reaction products.