Thermowell for Love Temp Probe

I was gonna use an old dip tube for this, but it's just barely barely too small for the probe to fit in there. The plan was to JB weld the bottom up, and use it in a carboy cap.... any ideas??

Small diameter copper tube with a cap soldered to the end.

Good call. Maybe a washer soldered to the top also to keep it from going through the cap.

I would get one of these:

McMaster-Carr no. 8457K24
304 SS at .257 ID so the probe will fit inside.

That is my plan....

EDIT: sorry I put in the wrong numbers.... now they are right

EDIT EDIT: My tubing came and this is to small for the probe sold by LOVE... Get a size bigger.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Buy your probes from Derrin. They are great and he has excellent service.

something like this?



Linc

Or you could just sand down the probe a bit.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

Or you could just sand down the probe a bit.

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does anyone see anything wrong with this? I have some ebay thermowells and the love temp probe wont fit but its so close that taking the black stuff off the probe should let it slide in.

thooper41 said:

does anyone see anything wrong with this? I have some ebay thermowells and the love temp probe wont fit but its so close that taking the black stuff off the probe should let it slide in.

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No my friend... Sorry! I should have put this on my website years ago! Just file the black vinyl off and clean it up with a bit of light sanding to the shiny brass. It will fit any standard .250" dip tube thermowell then!

+1 Just remove the coating from the probe and it will slide in a dip tube. The only problem I had was it was still too big to fit in the flared end of the dip tube, so I just ran it through the other end. It's kind of permanently in there unless I cut the enclosed end but since I don't use it for anything else it's ok with me.

Lonnie Mac said:

No my friend... Sorry! I should have put this on my website years ago! Just file the black vinyl off and clean it up with a bit of light sanding to the shiny brass. It will fit any standard .250" dip tube thermowell then!

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Hey Lonnie,

Could you put up a little detail on building your inline thermowell that BYO doesn't cover? It's about the only item I don't have a handle on.

Another Brutus in the planning stages.

mmb said:

Hey Lonnie,

Could you put up a little detail on building your inline thermowell that BYO doesn't cover? It's about the only item I don't have a handle on.

Another Brutus in the planning stages.

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Lonnie Mac said:

You may need the super Tee!

It is nothing more than two 1/2 MPT garden hose adapters, a QD from Lowes and one of these short thermowell’s from Morebeer, except these now come with a heat guard. You can move it around and monitor everything from mash temps to chill to fermenter strike temp...

5" Shielded Coupler Thermowell | MoreBeer

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Here is a little post I made a while back on that subject...

Also, I forgot to add that on most of the thermowells, the process of flaring will shrink the entrance of the thermowell (or dip tube) just a tad, so the brass probes of most thermocouples still will not fit sometimes... Just take a .250 phillips screw driver and shove it into the flared end of the thermowell and work the metal back to the proper dimension. It will work fine after that... I happened to have a nice .250 reamer, so I just cleaned up the entrance with that. It is just a very small area that is distorted at the flared end...

Lonnie Mac said:

Here is a little post I made a while back on that subject...

Also, I forgot to add that on most of the thermowells, the process of flaring will shrink the entrance of the thermowell (or dip tube) just a tad, so the brass probes of most thermocouples still will not fit sometimes... Just take a .250 phillips screw driver and shove it into the flared end of the thermowell and work the metal back to the proper dimension. It will work fine after that... I happened to have a nice .250 reamer, so I just cleaned up the entrance with that. It is just a very small area that is distorted at the flared end...

Click to expand...

Dang. Makes me want to take mine apart so I can pull the probe out.

What about using this Love thermocouple from Grainger. Would tap right into a T without modifying any probes, welding, soldering, etc.

Love Thermocouple

Why try to build your own when you can buy the various type probes and a thermowell from Dwyer? Dwyer Instruments - Series TS-PROBES

I think the OP was looking to use it in a carboy. If so, I make these:


Otherwise those ones from Dwyer look about as cheap as you'll find.

A compression fitting, short piece of soft 3/8 copper and a 1/4 copper cap is all that is needed. About $5 in material. Just drill out the ID of the compression fitting slightly, solder the cap to the soft copper, slide the soft copper tube through the compression fitting and tighten. Whola!!! Thermowell

Linc

I have changed my post above because I purchased my probe from Derrin and am very happy.

What if you sand down the probe would it fit then? I mean we're talking about a difference of .00925 of an inch here. Do you still have the tube or did you send it back? If you still have it and want it off your hands I'll buy it because I think I can make it work.

I second Missing links DIY thermowell. I just built 2 for my brutus for fun. I ran a test and it was dead on. No wierdness. My old thermowell was too long and extended through my TEE past the outlet.

Thanks, guys. You used 3/8" OD soft copper tubing, right? What do you mean by 1/4 copper cap? I figured it would be 3/8" ID...

Nevermind. I went to lowe's and got em.
I bought 3/8" OD soft copper tubing. They sell 1' and 2' sections, which is nice.
I also bought 1/4" copper caps. Kind of confusing though cuz it seems like there's nothing 1/4" about it. It's 3/8" ID.

I used a drill press to bore out the ID of the compression fitting... and it worked perfect!

Earthbound,
Sweet! It will work like a champ. No need to buy expensive thermowells anymore!!! Making your own thermowell is the definition of DIY. Knowing what you know now you could make one that sticks into your kettle by using a welded stainless 1/2 coupler. Thats what i may do to avoid recirculating when I am bring my strike water up to temp. Good job. What's next on your list?
Snake10

Yep, gotta love DIY projects. I just gotta plumb the propane gas manifold. It looks like some futuristic weapon. After that is the camlocks. Thanks, snake10, for giving me some good ideas that I used on my brewstand. See my brewstand thread for what I mean.

Thanks! Found exactly what I was looking for on your site.

Derrin said:

I think the OP was looking to use it in a carboy. If so, I make these:


Otherwise those ones from Dwyer look about as cheap as you'll find.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Found exactly what i was looking for on your site.

Snake10 said:

I second Missing links DIY thermowell. I just built 2 for my brutus for fun. I ran a test and it was dead on. No wierdness. My old thermowell was too long and extended through my TEE past the outlet.

Click to expand...

Bump.

How are you attaching the compression fitting? That looks like a 1/2 MPT (brass) but don't know what you are threading on.