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Thermal imaging in the kitchen


Shalmanese

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I'm a bit of a thermometer nut and I've been curious about thermal imaging cameras for a while. They seem to be riding the cost curve down, similar to where IR non-contact thermometers were 10 - 15 years ago. I remember splurging on a $70 IR thermometer 8 years ago which radically changed my cooking. When it finally broke last year, I picked up a replacement for $15 which was just as good and a no brainer purchase due to the price.

Just in the last year, we've seen new, low cost thermal imaging modules hitting the market which starts to make them practical for the mass consumer. Hopefully, they'll be half the price in just a few years and half the price again a few years later.

One thing that has me hesitating about buying one at the moment is that the cheap ones all rely on your smartphone as the display. One thing I love about my IR thermometer is that it's so quick to deploy. I'll find myself using it half a dozen times when preparing a meal because it's right there.

Another reason is simply because I have no idea what sorts of stuff it would be good for. A lot of my usage of my IR thermometer has come about through trial and error. For example, when bringing a big pot of liquid to boil on the stove, I love the ability to quickly peek at the temperature of the liquid so I know how long I can safely leave it unattended. I never would have even thought of that before I started playing around with it.

I'm curious hearing from people who have used thermal imaging cameras what sorts of new things they've learned. Are there any especially cool things you do with it and has it changed the way you cook in any way? Where would you rank it on a list of essential kitchen gadgets?

Edited by Shalmanese (log)

PS: I am a guy.

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Well IR thermometers give a digital readout to the degree, whereas thermal imaging cameras (the ones I have seen) display temperature ranges displayed in colour. One thing off the top of my head comes to mind though - fridge/freezer leakage (gasket/seal etc) or oven door leakage. Might be interesting in that respect. Another might be to detect hot spots in pot/skillet as it pre-heats.

 

p

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I'm interested in them too. Seems like it would be great for troubleshooting all kinds of problems. As far as I know you can specify a point on the display to take a precise temperature reading withing 1°C for all modern thermal imaging modules. I would want one for monitoring fermentation of things like koji which generates heat and can get hot spots. Another cool idea I saw was a microwave with a built in thermal camera and computer controlled cooking.

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