Calibrating your tools

[HuNGRYTeCH]

I am curious how people calibrate their gauges, thermometers, and other tools?

Personally, for my guages I hook them to a bottle of refer and take the bottle tempature and convert that to pressure and set my guages. For my thermometers I swirl them in a glass of water.

Let me know how you do it and what could be wrong with my calibration.

[stonewallred]

Thermometers need to be calibrated in a glass of of crushed ice and water.
And a pot of boiling water corrected for level above sea level.

Gauges, I use the jug at ambient shade as a base line.

[HuNGRYTeCH]

boiling water corrected for sea level, what would the correction be for Colorado, around 5280ft?

[stonewallred]

202 degrees F at 5280 feet above sea level.
Usually the slurry of crushed ice and water will be enough, but I had a thermometer once on a meter that would get the ice water slurry dead on, while boiling water was consistently reading at 215 degrees F.

[pudgy]

I have been taught to use salt in my crushed ice water for a better cold temp calibration.

[Carbonite]

I have been taught to use salt in my crushed ice water for a better cold temp calibration.

Hmmm- I am certainly not an expert but I always thought that adding salt to icewater will actually allow the temp to get lower without freezing solid (think home made icecream makers) - if you add ice which is usually lower than 32 degrees, and you add some rock salt- it will let the water temp get below 32 without freezing.. I guess I am mentioning this because my guess is you would want the water/ice slurry to be 32 so you can calibrate your thermometers?? Am I way off, just say so lol!!!

[jpsmith1cm]

I have been taught to use salt in my crushed ice water for a better cold temp calibration.

Adding anything to the ice slurry will lower the freezing point.

For a perfect reading, you should use distiller water.

[btuhack]

I was fiddling with my fluke 16 calibration today after lunch. I was a little annoyed, you have take the meter apart, rig the battery with jumpers and turn the pot on the back of the board. Taco bell fruit punch is delicious but not good for an impatient guy trying to dial in 32 on a Friday.

I'll just send it in.