Is there any easy way to test whether a pyro gauge is working?

[pickupman]

I have an old Banks pyro that looks like it's from the late 80's. It the needle will move a little bit, going to the 1-300 degree range, but it's obvious that it's is not reading correctly. I want to know how do I determine if the gauge itself is bad, vs the thermocouple? Since there isn't an easy way to test the thermocouple, I want to be able to determine if the gauge itself is good or not.

 

[whiteboyslo]

Ground out the leads on the gauge to one another. If the gauge pegs, it's probably the sensor.

Mike

 

[laserjock]

Several volt meters have thermocouple read outs. Chances are if you can read continuity it's okay. There's typically not anything that can go wrong with the probe besides it breaking at the junction.

 

[Still Strokin]

Banks should be able to tell you what ohms it will hold when you check it.

 

[riotwarrior]

Honestly....I have a similar banks gauge and all I did was turn on the stove element.

I stuck the probe into the element and watched the gauge move. Then I would turn up the element a bit and see if gauge would respond.

Over all it worked...maybe it was unconventional but it was controllable along with repeatable and that's what counted.

Super hates me cooking on the stove when it's car parts...which I do frequently actually

JM2CW

 

[gandalf]

Honestly....

Super hates me cooking on the stove when it's car parts...which I do frequently actually

JM2CW

I'll go off-topic here a bit, just to tell a tale.

When I was young, just a kid, we lived near Lake Erie, and we had a POS snowblower. I mean, that machine was an invention of the devil, and the reason they invented the term "POS". It would start, reluctantly, in the summer, when, of course, there was no snow. But in the winter, when we needed it, there wasn't a hope in Hell that it would run. It had an electric start, with a battery, a big old battery that looked like it would start a car. One cold winter day, when we needed to clear the long driveway, my father decided that the problem was that the battery was cold, that it would turn over the engine better if it was warm, so he brought the battery into the house to warm it up. He got impatient after a bit and decided to speed up the process. He stuck that battery, a regular lead acid battery, into the oven and turned the heat on low. It stayed in the for an hour or so, and was actually pretty warm when it came out. He carried it outside, hooked it up, and started cranking. That POS snowblower still wouldn't start.

I learned some new words that day. My mother, as you might suspect, was not home during this process.