Did I kill my adhesive thermometer?

Over the past week, there were many hot days, so I rigged up a swamp cooler. My plastic bucket primary began collecting a significant amount of condensation on the outside, due to the temperature difference.

I tried being vigilant and wiped the condensation off of the adhesive thermometer as often as I could, but I began worrying that the accuracy was being effected. It started showing up to four "blocks" of temp readings.

Today I noticed that half of *all* of the temperature blocks have turned white. It still seems to be registering different colors on the other half though.

I have never seen my thermometer do this. Is it an indication that the thermometer has taken too much water or is breaking?

I have never had a problem with mine and I wash it and soak it whenever I clean my fermenters. Mine are over a year old. What brand do you have

onipar said:

Over the past week, there were many hot days, so I rigged up a swamp cooler. My plastic bucket primary began collecting a significant amount of condensation on the outside, due to the temperature difference.

I tried being vigilant and wiped the condensation off of the adhesive thermometer as often as I could, but I began worrying that the accuracy was being effected. It started showing up to four "blocks" of temp readings.

Today I noticed that half of *all* of the temperature blocks have turned white. It still seems to be registering different colors on the other half though.

I have never seen my thermometer do this. Is it an indication that the thermometer has taken too much water or is breaking?

Click to expand...

they're 4 dollars... I wouldnt worry about it and just buy another one

Here's a picture of what it looks like:



I wouldn't say I'm worried, but even at four bucks, I'd rather not buy one if I don't need to.

Thanks for the suggestions

Same thing happened with mine. If you are careful to not disturb it to much (like separate the top layer from the sticky, bottom layer) and you let it fully dry out, it seems to work fine again.
Mine ended up separating after getting it wet about 5 times, and all the "goo" in between the two layers just fell out in chunks, and now its no longer working.
What I do now, is take a regular thermometer and monitor the temperature of the water bath instead. I'm not sure if this will work good for you, because from what it sounds like, your water is only partially full. I fill my swamp cooler so the water is level with the beer in the bucket.

Yeah, that's the thing. I didn't submerge the strip in water, I only put enough water in the cooler for the bottom 4 or 5 inches. In fact, that picture I took is of the bucket in the cooler, so you can see the water doesn't actually touch the strip.

So that "half white" look is from too much moisture?

It's cooled off here, so there's no much condensation. hopefully it dries out on it's own. I would rather not try to peel it off the bucket.

Related question: If I *do* buy a new strip, do you think it's be okay to place it directly over the old one?

Same thing happened when I started to use a swamp cooler this spring. On other threads people have had success with not actually using the adhesive of the thermometer, simply taping it on the fermentor and that way you can take it off easily whenever you want to prevent damage. Of course you'll need to buy a new one now.

Thanks, dabeers. Yeah, I guess it looks like I'll have to pick up a new one. I'll tape it on next time. Thanks, all!

So, I just want to get this straight...is it not effective to have your temp strip submerged underwater in the swamp cooler? I was wondering if so, would the temperature strip measure the the temp of the water and not really the contents of the bucket?...or would their temps be basically the same? How high should the water level of the swamp bucket be? Here's how I setup mine....

I've got mine in the water bath under the level of the swamp water as well. I also had my #s turn white. I checked the temp of the water and so far the strips still seem to be registering the correct 66 degrees(I've always assumed it was the number lit up in blue with the brown # to the right and the green # to the left)

aerialmedical said:

So, I just want to get this straight...is it not effective to have your temp strip submerged underwater in the swamp cooler? I was wondering if so, would the temperature strip measure the the temp of the water and not really the contents of the bucket?...or would their temps be basically the same? How high should the water level of the swamp bucket be? Here's how I setup mine....

Click to expand...

The water around the bucket will reflect the temp of the fermentation much more accurately than air, you are probably getting a better reading than if it was a bucket surrounded by air.

onipar said:

Here's a picture of what it looks like:

View attachment 27481

I wouldn't say I'm worried, but even at four bucks, I'd rather not buy one if I don't need to.

Thanks for the suggestions

Click to expand...

So what does this picture so as the temp? I'd say 66*

how high should you fill up the water on your water bath? I have my water about 1/3 up the carboy any suggestions

The temperature strips are water *resistant*, but not water *proof.* This is what I read on the website for the thermometers. So in other words they are okay to get a little wet when you clean them, but if you soak them in water over a long period of time, water may seep in and ruin the strip.

Apparently (from my experience) condensation on the bucket can also cause adverse effects. I'm still not sure if my strip is totally dead; it still seems to show the temp on the half that isn't white.

As for the temperature, I believe the green one is the actual temp. Blue and brown are below and above the actual temp, respectively. Okay, I found this description on ebay:

"Reading the temperature is straight forward. If one crystal is highlighted in green, it is that temperature. If two adjoining crystals are highlighted in blue and tan, it is the temperature in between."