Thermometers

My old Max Min that I have outside has lost it numbers to some extent.
Had a look online and apparently you cant get mercury ones anymore, its tooooo dangerous for us to be allowed to use it.

The only ones I can find are either digital and require batteries, (doesn't everything these days) or what I think to be alcohol ones, that seem to look inverted.

I've tried the digital types before and I find them a bit useless to be honest plus you cant really allow them to get wet.

The batteries always seem fail in cold weather.

 

How about treat yourself to an antique thermometer and barometer in one? As an antique it is exempt from the burden of health and safety regulations.

Like this one?

 

And the Min/ Max function can be un-digitized too, just sit and watch until the liquid column reaches its peak and note the reading down. Repeat.

This one from Amazon looks fairly simple (less moving parts is often good regarding durability in my opinion), but is dead ugly.

Suitable for adults, whatever that might suggest

 

I dont think it would last long on my shed wall.

That looks reasonable, but cant understand why it says battery powered?
And they all look odd to me with the red liquid at the top and its difficult to see, in the picture, where the makers are that denote the Max and Min.

 

If you look on Ebay there are these Faithfull branded ones selling for around £16 and also these other ones for around £10 but the sellers of these second ones do not have the highest ratings.

Both seem to have pictures shown the min max indicator pins.

 

It's the same with human thermometers, @pete. I had quite enough of having lasers or whatever they were poked in my ear or between the eyes in hospital! I want an old fashioned one that you stuff under your armpit, but oh nononono....I might accidentally chew on it

 

@ricky101 , that cheaper one looks like a mercury one, very similar to the one I want to replace.
I've been reading feedback on other sites and those ones with the red liquid appear to have problems with the colour fading and the liquid getting air bubbles.

 

Strangely enough it appears medical and scientific thermometers can still contain mercury but not ones for sale to the general public.

 

Have had the Red filled single thermometers in the greenhouse for years, no such problems, usually me dropping and breaking the plastic part etc.
Find the Red indicator a lot easier to view than mercury.

 

Yes I have a very old red one and it's never faded,I wonder if people are having them in full sun or if the red stuff varies, I always thought it was alcohol but noticed one company was calling it a patented substance.

 

To be honest not sure why you are so again battery ones ?

Although we now have our own digital remote sensors we used to have an older version of one similar to these which would give outdoor , greenhouse and propagator min max temps that you could view from your armchair.
Their batteries would last at least a year.

Similar ones also do pressure/rain etc etc, as always you gets what you pay for.

First pic below just one at random, never seen it before , the second from a more reputable source ?

They only have a limited range and will not transmit though too many thick walls.

 

I have a little battery powered one, 2 AA. that works well enough. It lives in the greenhouse and has a sharp pointy probe that is generally stuck in the compost of a large pot. The important thing is not too drench it. When the batteries run down I recharge them and it's good for another few months.

 

I do have a radio sensor type one in both greenhouses and outside, but the base unit is in my bedroom so I can see outside temperatures at night, if needs be, from my bed.

So I want one outside to see during the day.

Now I'm not sure which is right, but I do find the sensor types are not that accurate up against a mercury thermometer, I bought the one below a couple of years ago and I wrote this on it shortly after I bought it.
Not sure what use it was intended for, and the other down side is you have to keep them dry, or they take days to dry out.

It just seems ridiculous that everything has to require batteries to function these days.

 

Your thumb got quite a whack there, pete.