FAQs and Help Topics
About Maximum Registering Thermometers
Maximum registering thermometers (including autoclave maximum registering thermometers) are thermometers designed to indicate the highest temperature attained during a process. They are typically used in processes in which it is difficult to measure the temperature...
Viscometer Cleaning Information
The following information is courtesy of the Cannon Instrument Company (State College, Pennsylvania) catalog.Capillary Viscometers - How Do You Clean Them? Clean viscometers are essential if precise and accurate measurements are to be made. Because Cannon receives a...
Why is it necessary to have my calibrated thermometer or hydrometer re-calibrated?
Glass thermometers and hydrometers are remarkably stable and reliable indicating devices. Nonetheless, changes in the indications of a given instrument do occur, as a result of temperature cycling and day-to-day handling. When a thermometer is heated, the liquid...
How often should I re-calibrate my instrument?
Consideration should be given to the frequency of use, the parameters of the application (temperatures at which it is used, the severity of the use) and the requirements of the regulatory agencies and/or the quality system you may be using. In general, for most...
Choosing Test Points (Test Temperatures) For Liquid-in-glass Themometers
If your thermometer is an ASTM thermometer (it will have the inscription 'ASTM 1C' or similar), the standard test temperatures are specified by ASTM specification E-1 (and appear in our ASTM thermometer listings). These test temperatures have been specified...
Total Immersion, Partial Immersion, what do these terms mean?
Some helpful information on ASTM and other glass laboratory thermometers All ASTM and other glass laboratory thermometers can be classified into 2 general groups - those designed and fabricated for total immersion and those designed and fabricated for partial...
How do I rejoin mercury separations? (Instructions in English & Spanish)
A separation of the mercury in your thermometer is not a defect! It is a condition, normally caused by shock in transit, which of course must be rectified before using the thermometer, or you will experience significant errors in your readings. PLEASE RESIST...
Using a total immersion thermometer only partially immersed
When total immersion thermometers are used in a condition wherein the entire liquid column is not exposed to the temperature being measured, a stem correction must be computed and applied to the observed reading to obtain the actual temperature of the liquid...
Using a partial immersion thermometer in condition of total immersion
Suppose you have an ASTM 91C thermometer, with a range of +20 to 50 °C in 0.1 divisions, 76mm immersion, and you want to place the thermometer inside an incubator (in condition of total immersion) and read the temperature. Do you have to make a correction? Yes. 1. We...
Using a partial immersion thermometer incorrectly immersed
Well, this is a new twist but maybe not as unusual as I had thought. A customer called us today with this question: he has an NIST traceable calibrated thermometer, calibrated for partial immersion (76mm). He is going to use it only immersed to 50mm. What kind of an...
What does ‘NIST traceability’ mean?
Everyone knows what "NIST traceability" is, right? Someone 'checked' your thermometer or hydrometer or other measuring device against another device which was "NIST traceable", so now your instrument is 'NIST traceable' also, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Firstly,...
What is the “traceability chain”?
Simply put, the number of “links” between the primary calibration (NIST) and the customer. The more “links’, or calibration transfers, the larger the measurement uncertainty. That cannot be avoided. Calibrate with ICL and minimize the links in the traceability...
Mass calibration (metrology) terms explained in plain English.
Air BuoyancyThe buoyant effect of air on an object, acting against the attraction of gravity.The air is always exerting a lifting effect on an object - on all objects. The magnitude of that lifting effect is a direct function of the density of the air relative to...
Helpful hints for hydrometer use
Accuracy of hydrometer readings depend upon: 1. CLEANLINESS OF THE HYDROMETER, HYDROMETER JAR AND THE LIQUID IN WHICH THE READINGS ARE TAKEN For uniform and reproducible readings, the surface of the hydrometer and especially of the stem must be clean so that the...
Instructions for calibration and adjustment of your Thermoprobe Thermometer
ICL is the official representative of ThermoProbe for Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean area – for sales, repairs, calibration, and replacement parts. Recalibration of your ThermoProbe thermometer is necessary : Once each year at least (per API Chapter...
ThermoProbe calibration intervals: API recommendations
The American Petroleum Institute's (API) publication 'Manual of Petroleum Measurement Standards' (Chapter 7, Section 3) 'Static Temperature Determination Using Portable Electronic Thermometers' (First Edition, July 1985) offers specific recommendations for...