We decided to update from Mercury to digital, New Thermometer following a couple of health hiccups. Get home and read the fine print, it is a throw away after a life span of 3 years or less. Sealed unit, cannot replace battery, but somehow "dispose of correctly statement " also in fine print.
It could be a safety measure to prevent children access to button battery, I would have thought a screw or two would suffice, but do not know any ankle biters these days either.
Having spent many professional years at the forefront of electronic design I can assure you that my first aid kits contain mercury thermometers and I suggest you take that piece of electronic junk, toss it in the bin and buy a mercury unit instead.
Like compasses, mercury thermometers just work - unless they are obviously broken. They don't need a battery, they don't have maximum storage temperatures (probably about 40C), they don't have LCDs you can't read if they are too hot or cold. Toss it.
Dougwe said
03:00 PM Mar 8, 2023
Don't worry Craig, Mercury won't hurt you. Now Kryptonite, that's a different matter
Craig1 said
03:46 PM Mar 8, 2023
Part of the problem is that " ye old mercury unit " has always been a fair B.....D to shake down after use and is very difficult to see as well, also from new. Just a potential landfill I guess.
Tony Bev said
03:56 PM Mar 8, 2023
H Craig
I had something similar, but do not remember the brand name, or if it had a replaceable battery
But...
Opps, egg on my face here, I never actually read the instructions
I assumed that it was OK, as I purchased it from a chemist shop
When I really wanted to use it, (for a second time), about three years after I purchased it, it just did not work
I recently purchased something similar from Aldi, in Bunbury, but it is infrared Ear and Forehead thermometer
It is called Essential Health. and it comes with 2 X AAA 1.5 volt batteries, which are replaceable
Whenarewethere said
04:56 PM Mar 8, 2023
We bought an Omron blood pressure gauge years ago, still works ok, & sort of calibrated it in a round about way.
It came with a "free" digital thermometer. It didn't last a year. Back using the mercury thermometer.
I have a couple of other mercury thermometers which go to 110°C. Can't see why I should "update".
deverall11 said
05:21 PM Mar 8, 2023
The beauty about a mercury thermometer is that there are no moving parts.
The mercury expands when subjected to temperature and voila, you get a reading.
This thing will give you that accurate result time and time over many years and
never break down. About as simple as it gets. The are only two situations where
you will get a fail.
The first one is the obvious drop it and it breaks.
The second one is if it is subjected to temperatures higher then it was designed for
and blows the top off.
Same result, it will break.
Cuppa said
05:53 PM Mar 8, 2023
It may be made in China, but there is a good chance it was designed & ordered by Australians.
Being unable to replace the battery is ridiculous.
Mike Harding said
07:07 PM Mar 8, 2023
Cuppa wrote:
It may be made in China, but there is a good chance it was designed & ordered by Australians.
Is there indeed?
Ordered? Perhaps.
Designed? How good is the chance it was designed by Australians and what is your reference?
Tony Bev said
07:21 PM Mar 8, 2023
Just found the old digital thermometer, by asking "her who knows" where is it
It looks very similar to the Original Poster one
It says Vicks on the front, and Vicks Aus, on the back
It has a replaceable button battery
After reading the instructions, (on the Internet), I conclude that it does still work
dorian said
06:58 AM Mar 9, 2023
Cuppa wrote:
It may be made in China, but there is a good chance it was designed & ordered by Australians.
Being unable to replace the battery is ridiculous.
I doubt that there was any Australian input other than writing a legible instruction sheet. Forty years ago it used to be the case that the design of a plastic mould could cost $10K or more, but I have no idea what the costs are today.
There are plenty of products and manufacturers to choose from:
As for the non-replaceable battery, I guess it could be argued (weakly) that a button battery poses a hazard to children, but this risk could be eliminated with proper design.
Whenarewethere said
08:48 AM Mar 9, 2023
A few months ago all the old non compliant button cell packaging had to be removed from shops as I found out at Jaycar.
But they shoved all the batteries in "lucky bags" with other old stock.
There happened to be a few lucky bags with the button cells I needed. So I bought the bag, took the batteries & told them to bin the rest of the rubbish.
Not sure how compliant with selling button batteries with non compliant packaging this is, but Jaycar obviously thought it was a workaround.
Craig1 said
03:18 PM Mar 9, 2023
Our new new one is by Vicks, it has 2 replacable 1632 batteries, access by a quarter turn disc, then a sharp knife need to lever disc off the rubber o ring seal,
so almost child proof me thinks. With one of those " lifetime warranties "
We decided to update from Mercury to digital, New Thermometer following a couple of health hiccups. Get home and read the fine print, it is a throw away after a life span of 3 years or less. Sealed unit, cannot replace battery, but somehow "dispose of correctly statement " also in fine print.
It could be a safety measure to prevent children access to button battery, I would have thought a screw or two would suffice, but do not know any ankle biters these days either.
Having spent many professional years at the forefront of electronic design I can assure you that my first aid kits contain mercury thermometers and I suggest you take that piece of electronic junk, toss it in the bin and buy a mercury unit instead.
Like compasses, mercury thermometers just work - unless they are obviously broken. They don't need a battery, they don't have maximum storage temperatures (probably about 40C), they don't have LCDs you can't read if they are too hot or cold. Toss it.
Don't worry Craig, Mercury won't hurt you. Now Kryptonite, that's a different matter
I had something similar, but do not remember the brand name, or if it had a replaceable battery
But...
Opps, egg on my face here, I never actually read the instructions
I assumed that it was OK, as I purchased it from a chemist shop
When I really wanted to use it, (for a second time), about three years after I purchased it, it just did not work
I recently purchased something similar from Aldi, in Bunbury, but it is infrared Ear and Forehead thermometer
It is called Essential Health. and it comes with 2 X AAA 1.5 volt batteries, which are replaceable
We bought an Omron blood pressure gauge years ago, still works ok, & sort of calibrated it in a round about way.
It came with a "free" digital thermometer. It didn't last a year. Back using the mercury thermometer.
I have a couple of other mercury thermometers which go to 110°C. Can't see why I should "update".
The mercury expands when subjected to temperature and voila, you get a reading.
This thing will give you that accurate result time and time over many years and
never break down. About as simple as it gets. The are only two situations where
you will get a fail.
The first one is the obvious drop it and it breaks.
The second one is if it is subjected to temperatures higher then it was designed for
and blows the top off.
Same result, it will break.
Being unable to replace the battery is ridiculous.
Is there indeed?
Ordered? Perhaps.
Designed? How good is the chance it was designed by Australians and what is your reference?
It looks very similar to the Original Poster one
It says Vicks on the front, and Vicks Aus, on the back
It has a replaceable button battery
After reading the instructions, (on the Internet), I conclude that it does still work
I doubt that there was any Australian input other than writing a legible instruction sheet. Forty years ago it used to be the case that the design of a plastic mould could cost $10K or more, but I have no idea what the costs are today.
There are plenty of products and manufacturers to choose from:
https://www.made-in-china.com/products-search/hot-china-products/Digital_Thermometer.html
As for the non-replaceable battery, I guess it could be argued (weakly) that a button battery poses a hazard to children, but this risk could be eliminated with proper design.
A few months ago all the old non compliant button cell packaging had to be removed from shops as I found out at Jaycar.
But they shoved all the batteries in "lucky bags" with other old stock.
There happened to be a few lucky bags with the button cells I needed. So I bought the bag, took the batteries & told them to bin the rest of the rubbish.
Not sure how compliant with selling button batteries with non compliant packaging this is, but Jaycar obviously thought it was a workaround.
so almost child proof me thinks. With one of those " lifetime warranties "