Troubleshooting Your Infrared Laser Thermometer

Using an infrared laser thermometer is a great way to detect some costly problems in your home. You can easily find out if there are any cold air drafts in the winter months, where heat is escaping, and where water leaks are occurring. The infrared laser thermometer works with laser technology that accurately measures the surrounding temperatures at a certain distance. Using this type of device does take a little bit of time to get used to, but does not require any other special tools. If you are having problems with your infrared laser thermometer, here are a few troubleshooting tips to help you out. 

Device Not Registering Temperatures

One of the most common problems is that of power supply. You may think that the batteries that you put into the laser thermometer were brand new, but they may have been sitting for a long period of time. As batteries sit in a drawer they lose their energy supply. If your infrared laser thermometer is not working correctly, check the batteries and replace them before doing anything else. 

Distance Is Wrong

One of the things that you will have to learn about using an IR laser thermometer is that the distance at which you take the reading will have a great impact on the actual accuracy of it. Some brands of thermometers have very specific distance formulas that they use to calculate how close, or far away, you should be from the object you want to take the reading from. A good rule of thumb to use is a 12:1 ratio. This means that for every inch that you want to take the temperature reading of, you should have 12 inches of distance from it. If you want to take a measurement of a 3-inch area, then you will need to be approximately 3 feet away from the object. 

Moving Thermometer

Another problem when using your infrared laser thermometer is movement while taking a reading. When you want to check for air leaks, or for surface temperatures for locating water leaks, you will need to hold the laser device still while it is taking the reading. When you pull the trigger it will only take a few seconds to register a reading, however, you must keep the thermometer completely still during this time.

Wrong Calibration

When you first take the IR thermometer out of the box you will need to calibrate it before you use it. The instruction manual will walk you through the process, as each different model is done differently. If you do try and use the laser thermometer without any calibration of the surrounding air temperature, you will not have an accurate reading. 

Dirty Laser Eye

After you use your infrared laser thermometer several times it will begin to give false readings of objects that you know are colder, or hotter, than the surrounding area. When this happens, take a clean cloth and clean off the laser eye at the front of the device. When any type of dust, dirt, lint or other small pieces of debris clings to this area it will cause the laser to simply read current air temperatures.