An outstanding gadget for anyone who wants to learn about temperature and heat flow

Because of the recent heat wave around here, I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep our house from heating up so much.  I started using a Maverick Laser Surface Thermometer to learn more about heat flows and temperatures inside the house.  It retails for about $35 on Amazon, and is incredibly useful, in part because it gives you a nearly instantaneous temperature measurement of surfaces up to 5 feet away.  The claim is that it can measure temperatures from -58 degrees F to 1022 degrees F, and is useful for cooking as well as home energy work.

For example, my contractor suggested putting up some reflective foil insulation on the inside of the attic ceiling.  To test this idea, I thumbtacked a sample of the insulation onto the inside of the roof in the attic and put the laser thermometer to work.  Sure enough, the reflective insulation reduced the surface temperature by 5-6 degrees F compared to the plywood next to it.

I also randomly started aiming the laser at different parts of the wall, and found that our downstairs thermostat is on the opposite side of the wall from our garage water heater, and so registers about 2 degrees F higher than the interior wall and the associated air temperature.  Good to know!

Of course, lasers aren’t for kids, so be sure to keep this tool in a safe place, but if you are at all interested in where your heat is going, this device can help.

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