Gem Temp probe

[kdroyer]

I'm trying to get information on purchasing the GEM, but have not heard back from brultech ..Hopefully I will soon.

In preparing, I was wondering if anyone has used the temperature probes for monitoring other than air temperature? I was wanting to monitor my saltwater fish tank temperature as well as my incoming and outgoing hot/cold waterline temps.

Also wanted to monitor the incoming and outgoing temperature of my geothermal waterlines. Since these are a plastic line, how would I place the probe to get an actual temperature? These lines are pressure so I can't just drill a hole and epoxy it. anyone know of temperature sensors that are mounted to a pipe fitting?

[Teken]

I'm trying to get information on purchasing the GEM, but have not heard back from brultech ..Hopefully I will soon.

In preparing, I was wondering if anyone has used the temperature probes for monitoring other than air temperature? I was wanting to monitor my saltwater fish tank temperature as well as my incoming and outgoing hot/cold waterline temps.

Also wanted to monitor the incoming and outgoing temperature of my geothermal waterlines. Since these are a plastic line, how would I place the probe to get an actual temperature? These lines are pressure so I can't just drill a hole and epoxy it. anyone know of temperature sensors that are mounted to a pipe fitting?

I don't know of a DIY solution with out buying a purchase built temperature pipe fitting. As you indicated I wouldn't even consider drilling a hole into a piece of pipe and filling it in with epoxy.

That is not a long term / reliable solution!

[tnakelski]

I'm trying to get information on purchasing the GEM, but have not heard back from brultech ..Hopefully I will soon.

In preparing, I was wondering if anyone has used the temperature probes for monitoring other than air temperature? I was wanting to monitor my saltwater fish tank temperature as well as my incoming and outgoing hot/cold waterline temps.

Also wanted to monitor the incoming and outgoing temperature of my geothermal waterlines. Since these are a plastic line, how would I place the probe to get an actual temperature? These lines are pressure so I can't just drill a hole and epoxy it. anyone know of temperature sensors that are mounted to a pipe fitting?

I don't know of a DIY solution with out buying a purchase built temperature pipe fitting. As you indicated I wouldn't even consider drilling a hole into a piece of pipe and filling it in with epoxy.

That is not a long term / reliable solution!

I monitor the incoming and outgoing temperature of my geothermal waterlines, while the piped feeds to the units are PVC, the lines within the Geo units (on my units) consist of copper piping and some brass fittings. I have attached Waterproof Digital Temperature DS18B20 Probe/Sensors onto the copper piping and rapped them with Scotch® Rubber Mastic Tape. While this is not as effective as true liquid contact it does the job. I've also been looking for a 1 wire sensor that that could be fitted into a compression fitting on a tee, but have had no luck. Was hoping to find something that would look like this but with a 1 wire probe. http://www.sharkbite.com/product/temperature-gauges/

PF-Temperature-Gauge.jpg (8.94 KiB) Viewed 1269 times

[kdroyer]

Thanks, for the replies...

I was hoping there is a fitting out there that had a probe built it, but I suppose attaching it to the outside of the copper seems reasonable. Do you seem to get accurate temps using this method? Can you see a noticeable temperature drop from the lines entering vs leaving?

[Teken]

Thanks, for the replies...

I was hoping there is a fitting out there that had a probe built it, but I suppose attaching it to the outside of the copper seems reasonable. Do you seem to get accurate temps using this method? Can you see a noticeable temperature drop from the lines entering vs leaving?

On a copper pipe the temps are fairly accurate but takes longer for the temperature to dissipate. PEX lines dissipate the hot / cold faster when you view it from the GEM / Dash Box.

In terms of measuring inlet vs outlet. You should spread the 1 wire senor(s) closer to the cold vs the hot etc.

The above is my personal experience when I monitored both materials.

[tnakelski]

Thanks, for the replies...

I was hoping there is a fitting out there that had a probe built it, but I suppose attaching it to the outside of the copper seems reasonable. Do you seem to get accurate temps using this method? Can you see a noticeable temperature drop from the lines entering vs leaving?

Copper is a good conductor of heat/cold so the readings are close, you can also use a heat sink compond between the sensor and the pipe (radio Shack sells it), I did not use it but I used nylon ties to hold the sensor tight to the pipe. The temperature drop between the incoming and outgoing is not a big difference, average is about 3 to 4 degrees. I believe this is due to the water flow rates. What really opens your eyes to is incoming temperatures, for the past couple of months it has been colder than usual here in New York (long Island) and the incoming water temps are down about 5 to 10 degrees below the last couple of years. I feel the more important temperatures to follow is the refrigerant discharge temperatures. My units are made by Waterfurnace and they have had some coil problems with very slow Freon leaks. This can be seen in higher refrigerant discharge temperatures. As the Freon slowly leaks out the discharge temperature average slowly increases. Eventually the units will kick out with a flow problem. Check out this link it explains it in more detail. http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com/Forums ... fault.aspx.

By the way a non contact laser temperture gun does not work well on copper piping.

[depasseg]

I did exactly (I think) what you are asking about (except on copper, not PEX). I just took the 1-wire temp sensors and zip tied them to the copper pipes and put foam pipe insulation around the sensor. I put them on the supply line from the well, the hot water supply from the tank (before the mixing valve) and the domestic hot water (after mixing valve). As for the PEX, I'd just insert a piece of copper pipe with 2 sharkbite connectors and zip tie the sensor to that.

The response time for a temp change on the copper is only a couple seconds.