Attaching a thermocouple to smooth, thin aluminium vessel

[Fife43]

Hi guys,

I am looking for any advice to attach a thermocouple with a spade connector to a thin aluminium vessel. Is there an adhesive I could use to glue it to the vessel? I will have liquid in the vessel that will be heated to potentially 100%. Thanks in advance.

 

[snowhead]

Is this vessel lagged to keep the heat in?
What diameter is it?

Maybe a strap around the outside to hold the sensor against the vessel.

 

[Wilko]

If you want to know the temp of the contents then the thermocouple may need to be inside the vessel. Glued to the outside it will need further treatment to ensure it's not reading the local air temps, if that make any sense. What are you boiling?

 

[Fife43]

Is this vessel lagged to keep the heat in?
What diameter is it?

Maybe a strap around the outside to hold the sensor against the vessel.

Thanks for the reply. The diameter is 10" and I don't think it is lagged in any way. Cheers.

 

[Fife43]

If you want to know the temp of the contents then the thermocouple may need to be inside the vessel. Glued to the outside it will need further treatment to ensure it's not reading the local air temps, if that make any sense. What are you boiling?

Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand what you mean. What further treatment would you suggest and would it be possible to use an adhesive? I am making essential oils so would be boiling off alcohol at around 70 degrees ish. Cheers.

 

[Wilko]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I understand what you mean. What further treatment would you suggest and would it be possible to use an adhesive? I am making essential oils so would be boiling off alcohol at around 70 degrees ish. Cheers.

Hi - I'm thinking about thermal insulation for the unit. Perhaps spray on insulation, a styrofoam type box or an insulation wrap up? This will keep the surrounding air off it and make the temp of your boiler more stable. Send in a pic of your unit

 

[Fife43]

Hi - I'm thinking about thermal insulation for the unit. Perhaps spray on insulation, a styrofoam type box or an insulation wrap up? This will keep the surrounding air off it and make the temp of your boiler more stable. Send in a pic of your unit

Would the spray on thermal insulation be strong enough to use as an adhesive as well to hold on the thermocouple spade connector? It is a water distiller that I attempting to control the temperature on. I don't have a pic of the vessel as I have not stripped it down yet.

 

[Wilko]

@snowhead idea of a strap (of some sort) then insulation perhaps

 

[Fife43]

@snowhead idea of a strap (of some sort) then insulation perhaps

Hi guys, I was wrong stating the vessel to be aluminium as it is stainless steel which would make more sense as it is used primarily to distil water for drinking.

 

[Richard Burns]

Your temperature measurements at a thermocouple on the outside of the container will be inaccurate if you are intending to distil at specific designated temperatures as the internal temperature in the vessel will be slightly higher. However you should be able to compensate for this by experimentation.
Having an non insulated vessel will make the measurement very inaccurate.
You would be looking to have good thermal contact from the thermocouple to the vessel and introducing a layer of adhesive will reduce this unless it is thermally conductive adhesive.
Direct pressure contact of the thermocouple to the vessel would be the best approach. this most easily done using Snowheads idea as this does not require an attachment to the vessel. Alternatively a spring clamp could be attached to the vessel wall (possibly with a suitably temperature resistant adhesive) to press the thermocouple directly against the wall.
If you were to have a tight fitting, say silicone rubber, sleeve over the vessel then the thermocouple could be slid beneath the sleeve.

 

[Fife43]

Thanks guys this has given me food for thought, Cheers.