Question Why do my thermometers differ in readings ?

[Airlane1979]

I have two room thermometers inside digital clock devices. They consistently differ by 1.3 degrees Celsius when placed adjacently. Why is this? It's a substantial difference. Should I obtain a mercury thermometer for a more accurate measure?

 

[bill001g]

If the difference stays the same it is likely they were not set correctly at the factory. They technically can be set to display any number for any temperature. All depends on if there is any method to adjust this.

The thermometers I use in the kitchen want you to calibrate them using ice water to set zero.

Mercury is not going to be any more accurate...assuming you can even get thermometers with mercury. It all depends on how accurately they marked the tubes at the factory.

Even on amazon they sell thermometers that are designed to be extremely accurate. All depends on how accurate you want it to be.

 

[Airlane1979]

If the difference stays the same it is likely they were not set correctly at the factory. They technically can be set to display any number for any temperature. All depends on if there is any method to adjust this.

The thermometers I use in the kitchen want you to calibrate them using ice water to set zero.

Mercury is not going to be any more accurate...assuming you can even get thermometers with mercury. It all depends on how accurately they marked the tubes at the factory.

Even on amazon they sell thermometers that are designed to be extremely accurate. All depends on how accurate you want it to be.

Interesting! Neither device has a means to calibrate it. So I'm not sure what the true temperature is.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Interesting! Neither device has a means to calibrate it. So I'm not sure what the true temperature is.

Why does that matter?
Every measurement will have some amount of error.

You can get several more digital thermometers and then average their readings.

 

[Airlane1979]

Why does that matter?
Every measurement will have some amount of error.

You can get several more digital thermometers and then average their readings.

That's not really a practical method to know the temperature of the rooms in my home. Should each room have, say, five thermometers?

 

[SkyNetRising]

That's not really a practical method to know the temperature of the rooms in my home. Should each room have, say, five thermometers?

Again. Why does that matter?
Why do you need temperature readings to be precise?

So you have one reading 22C and the other 23C.
Then probably real reading is somewhere in between.

 

[bill001g]

just buy a very precise thermometer and compare all your current ones. You can put a small sticker showing the offset and you can just calculate the difference every time you look at the thermometer.

 

[Airlane1979]

just buy a very precise thermometer and compare all your current ones. You can put a small sticker showing the offset and you can just calculate the difference every time you look at the thermometer.

How do I know which is the precise one?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

The most accurate room thermometers in my experience are the traditional "linear" type which have a glass tube with liquid inside, mounted on a piece of wood or plastic.