Temp sensor placement in a tee

Just curious, does it matter which port of a tee fitting you place the temp sensor in.

For example if I wanted to direct flow 90 degrees could I put the temp sensor at the end off the tee without any issues?

I have both configurations:

Coming out of my BK I have the probe "inline" of the flow through the tee:


Measuring wort coming out of CFC as well as water going into CFC temps I use the probe to redirect flow 90 while measuring temp.


Haven't noticed any issues, both measure temps fine. Reason I went this route is it worked for my setup, and I didn't want any restriction (90) before the pump (BK probe), where as the wort post CFC is obviously after pump so restriction does not matter.

Thanks. I was thinking of the 90 degree before the pump. Curious if at all it restricts flow. Would like to see some others chime in.

Setting them up that way creates a little extra back pressure that will slow your flow rate some, but that's usually not an issue.

Edit: I was only referring to after the pump above. It shouldn't be enough restriction to hurt having it set up as a 90 before the pump, but I like the better safe than sorry approach and would avoid it if possible.

My only concern is having the port with the RTD probe mounted at the lowest point. That will create a dead space that holds fluid that gravity can't drain out. Since it's not in the main flow path it may retain some residual wort that doesn't get cleaned out, even if the system is flushed. If that's unavoidable, you may want to remove the RTD's frequently to let it drain and to clean that dead space.

BrokenHorn said:

My only concern is having the port with the RTD probe mounted at the lowest point. That will create a dead space that holds fluid that gravity can't drain out. Since it's not in the main flow path it may retain some residual wort that doesn't get cleaned out, even if the system is flushed. If that's unavoidable, you may want to remove the RTD's frequently to let it drain and to clean that dead space.

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This should not apply to me. I want a tee coming strait out of the brew kettle w/ the RTD in line and tubing to the tee heading down to the pump. I can do it the other way too. Just avoids an extra elbow fitting.

I'm not sure the placement really matters too much as the fittings are going to assimilate to the same temp as the fluid moving through them, you may lose a degree possibly 2 is my thinking.

I have all of mine perpendicular to the flow though. If your runs are short enough you shouldn't have to worry about flow rate either.

EuBrew said:

If your runs are short enough you shouldn't have to worry about flow rate either.

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Yeah, by my design I should only have 1 to 2 ft of tubing between the tee and pump.

BTW this is for a recirculating eBIAB build if it matters

You should be more that fine. In fact I have to slow my flow rate down with a valve to change temps in my HEX chamber quicker, longer time in contact with the coil.

My boil kettle recirculate through about 25 ft of pipe and still will whirlpool a full keggle and it's running by a sensor I have bottomed out in the tee.