Thermocouple design for oven

[wlively]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

A question for those of you who have done this: If you use the probes with the 6" steel sheath on the end, do you just embed that right in the mortar? I don't know much about cement, so I don't know which metals are susceptible to corrosion in contact with it. Also, is the TC junction at the very end of the steel bit?

Thanks,
Ed

I cannot speak first hand about the mortar corrosion question. I would suspect there may be some but as a comparison, at my "paying job", we get 4 years or so out of our stainless tc's that are sitting in slightly HCl acidic (between a PH of 1 -2) water, which would seem a harsher environment.

I wanted brick temperature so I drilled holes in the brick and inserted mine there.

The junction is in the tip and most TC's of this type are also filled with an insulating ceramic paste.

[maburton]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Your BOM is:
KMQSS-125U-6, 3 each, 1/8 Stainless sheath 6" K-type with miniature connectors
TECK10-9, 3 each, 10ft extensions.*
HH308 Mini thermometer - reads 2 K-type TC's at a time.
OSXL653 IR gun thermometer +

+ Could look at the OS562 , is IR gun that also reads a K-type TC input so 2 meters for price of one.

Question, I could not find your part number OS562? is that a mistype? and if I find this unit, would I still need the HH308?

[wlively]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Question, I could not find your part number OS562? is that a mistype? and if I find this unit, would I still need the HH308?

Well, I am the "king of mistypes" but was lucky and it is correct. Here it is, Low Cost Infrared Thermometer with Adjustable Emissivity

This IR gun reads K-type TC's, so no you will not "need" the HH308 meter. I am assuming you are not going to install more than 3-4 TC's, because to read them you will have to plug in each, one at a time or buy a rotary input selector. Not a big deal, as temps do not change that rapidly. Just depends on how you want to design your system.

Unfortunately for me, they came out with that gun after I had already bought my meter. That is why I bought the two I did.

Should add that I installed my 3 with tips in center of mass in each brick. One in the top center of dome, one at about the midpoint and one drilled sideways into the floor, same side as 2nd one. I figured the IR gun would do fine at giving face temps. You need to decide if you want brick face temp, air temp, mass temp, ect and install accordingly.

[Gheid]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Hello,

My name is Gary Heid and my company manufactures thermocouples. We also sell temperature controllers. The name of my company is East Coast Sensors.com We are very cost competitive. We manufacture to your exact specifications. Give me a call at 800-722-4592 with any questions of requests, I would be happy to assist you!


Thanks,
Gary

[CajunKnight]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Admirer here since I do not yet have a WFO lol. I figured I would use my IR Temp probe that I already own for other reasons and will use a simple dial type even thermometer when temps goes down to normal ranges for breads and such. I will of course have the dial gauge on a rack of some sort to get air temp and not floor or walls. I also feel that the electronic cooking probes would be a wise investment since you are down to normal temps when they would be needed. If the food item reaches correct temp you pull it. This works in a roast, caserole even bread, Off the top of my head the internal temp of bread when done should be between 185F and 210F depending on the type of bread you are making and the correct temperature for baking a "standard" type bread is 230 Degrees centigrade which is 446 F.
Breads with milk,egg or fruit will usually require a lower temperature.
You can search and find temps for any food you want to cook. As for bread the color and thump method always worked for me. Beef I like rare so I never probe it as long as the outside is a good color. Now pork and poultry are a different story and you need to adhere closely to cooking temps. Just remember to never leave anything in untill temp is reached. I always pull it a bit early and let it finish during resting period. I usually go about 10 degrees below when I pull from cooking area. Now with this being said dont let me talk you out of built in sensors because I may end up with them in mine as well.

[Mojoe]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

I went the cheap route because I wasn't sure whether I would use them or not. I fed the Type-K wires through stainless steel tubing through the hearth slabs and concrete cladding. Drilled halfway into a dome and hearth brick, twisted the bare ends together, and inserted into the bricks. For readouts I have analog resistance meters with scales in celsius and Fahrenheit. I find them to be reassuring when baking for longer time periods... bread, roast, turkey, etc.

[cplain]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Learned a lot about thermocouples and IR/laser thermometers...but what about the analog/dial thermometers I've seen in some of the pictures posted? Are they useful? I did a quick google and found some oven thermometers that go up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Are there others out there with higher range?

[Mojoe]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

The ones I have were made by Triplett and go up to 1500 F. Looking at their website it doesn't look like they make them anymore.

I found mine at second hand electronics store and if you Google "Triplett Analog Panel Meter" or simply "Analog Panel Meter" you'll get quite a few hits. I'd suggest making some kind of enclosure as they are not the most elegant looking devices.

I'm in the process now of enclosing mine in red oak and all you'll be able to see is the needle and the temperature scale.

[cplain]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Mojoe:

Looking on google it looks like the Analog panel meter you talk about is readout for thermocouple. I was hoping to find out more about the thermometers that I've seen sitting inside the oven...any that read over 600F and their pros and cons...

[Dieter01]

Re: Thermocouple design for oven

Can you bend the probe or does it need to be straight?