Thermometer replacement

[farpointer]

Last night I learned that my trusty dial thermometer I’ve been using with film chemistry for 20-ish years was off by 5 degrees F. I wonder how long it has been drifting?

Anyway, time for a new one. Anything reasonably priced people like? I’m tempted to just get a thermapen like I’d use for cooking.

Kodak process thermometers on eBay are stupid expensive right now, though you can find okay deals on the simple Kodak glass ones.

 

[mshchem]

Aquarium thermometers work but take a long time to stabilize.

I keep a trusty Weston dial thermometer on the shelf next to my XTOL, usually the developer is at the same temperature as the room. 65-70°F

 

[Milpool]

Paterson makes two lengths with different ranges. They’re quite good.

 

[farpointer]

Someone recently started a thread that I failed to find in Search that already had many answers - thank you @mshchem and @Milpool for also jumping in to help!

Darkroom thermometers

Hello My digital thermometer died recently (some parts of the battery compartment went loose). I found advertisements for thermometers with an analog dial, without batteries (!) from sellers in China, at a low price. Are these reliable and robust ?? I still have a mercury thermometer , so...

www.photrio.com

 

[Brendan Quirk]

Dial thermometers can usually(?) be calibrated by turning the dial against the hex nut snuggled up against its base. Just hold the nut with a wrench or pliers and gently turn the dial till the needle reads correctly.

 

[chuckroast]

Last night I learned that my trusty dial thermometer I’ve been using with film chemistry for 20-ish years was off by 5 degrees F.

I have gotten good use of a modern digital meat thermometer that turns off when you collapse the probe back onto the body

The resolution of these thermometers is only 1 degree, though.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I would use any thermometer you have handy, and just compare it against something known to be accurate.
Draw a line on the dial, or make note of the difference and adjust mentally.

At the end of the day consistency is more important than accuracy (within normal chemistry limits for the particular process)
A degree each way isn't going to matter.

 

[Saganich]

best to get an adjustable dial for the faucet and then check it annually. The digital meat thermometers are nice. My dial drifts about 1 C per year.