Lawn Care Forum banner

Calibrate your soil thermometer if you haven't!

1K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  Green 
#1 ·
Just a reminder to calibrate your soil thermometer if you haven't. Test it against a known thermometer, and then adjust if it doesn't match, before you rely on it.
 
#4 ·
Gilley11 said:
Are there actually thermometer sold as soil thermometers? Couldn't you just use a normal bbq thermometer?
Yes, but you still need to calibrate it. They have an adjustment screw.

I think the soil ones are just a bit more durable,. I haven't bought one yet, but I damaged my regular one slightly pushing it into the ground. It still works; just a bit bent and the scale has some cracks.

I check the calibration by placing it on top of a thermostat for a few minutes.
 
#5 ·
Green said:
Gilley11 said:
Are there actually thermometer sold as soil thermometers? Couldn't you just use a normal bbq thermometer?
Yes, but you still need to calibrate it. They have an adjustment screw.

I think the soil ones are just a bit more durable,. I haven't bought one yet, but I damaged my regular one slightly pushing it into the ground. It still works; just a bit bent and the scale has some cracks.

I check the calibration by placing it on top of a thermostat for a few minutes.
What do you calibrate your thermostat with?
 
#6 ·
Gibby said:
Green said:
Gilley11 said:
Are there actually thermometer sold as soil thermometers? Couldn't you just use a normal bbq thermometer?
Yes, but you still need to calibrate it. They have an adjustment screw.

I think the soil ones are just a bit more durable,. I haven't bought one yet, but I damaged my regular one slightly pushing it into the ground. It still works; just a bit bent and the scale has some cracks.

I check the calibration by placing it on top of a thermostat for a few minutes.
What do you calibrate your thermostat with?
It's digital and wall-mounted, so I expect it to have been pre-calibrated. I don't know if it can be user-calibrated. You're making me wonder though. I could always check it against another digital thermometer.
 
#8 ·
Gibby said:
@Green mine are digital too and I had to calibrate them, 1 was 1.5 degrees off and the other was 2.5.
I'll look into it, thanks. How did you do it? What did you check against?
 
#9 ·
The standard way to check calibration is a two point with ice water (0C) and boiling water (100C) at sea level. There are better methods, but this should get you close enough. Outside of the device measurement error, your test method will have more error (eg. 3.5in of soil depth vs. 4in, time of day,). I think going by the greencast soil temp is more than good enough.
 
#11 ·
g-man said:
The standard way to check calibration is a two point with ice water (0C) and boiling water (100C) at sea level. There are better methods, but this should get you close enough. Outside of the device measurement error, your test method will have more error (eg. 3.5in of soil depth vs. 4in, time of day,). I think going by the greencast soil temp is more than good enough.
+1
 
#12 ·
I'm not a fan of greencast, because it's just an average. It doesn't tell you what the soil temp is in a given area (e.g. back versus front yard), or at a given time of day or cloudy versus sunny day. I've found it to therefore be inaccurate in my case, so I only use it when going out and measuring is not an option for me. It's a good resource to have, though.
 
#13 ·
g-man said:
The standard way to check calibration is a two point with ice water (0C) and boiling water (100C) at sea level. There are better methods, but this should get you close enough.
Thanks!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top