Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
About a year ago, my husband and I moved into our new home in the Parisian suburbs, a 2019 build with many large French doors across every room and floor. Those big windows-slash-doors bring a level of luminosity we’d never experienced in our previous rental, especially during the gloomy winter months, but we soon discovered that they also had a potential disadvantage: insulation.
Even though all of these are double-glazed and seem well-insulated, they’re still glass, which will always be less efficient than a properly insulated wall. These French doors seemed like the weakest link in our new home’s thermal isolation and the biggest culprit in our high energy bills last January and February. But I couldn’t really prove it. As winter time rolls around again, I’ve been wanting to get to the bottom of this. So I started making complicated plans with infrared thermometers, thermal cameras, and/or Zigbee sensors, until I came across a Reddit thread where people were explaining how they were using the Pixel Pro’s built-in temperature sensor to check their home’s insulation, and it was my aha moment. Of course, I have a thermometer with me at all times, so why not use it?
What do you use the Pixel's thermometer for? 17 votes Body temperature during fever episodes. 29 % Walls and windows. 18 % Food and beverages. 0 % Objects (irons, pans, plastic, fabric, etc...) 6 % All of the above, and more. 0 % Something else (tell us in the comments). 0 % I don't use the thermometer on my Pixel. 35 % Wait, my Pixel has a thermometer? 12 %
A quick thermometer test to check on the insulation
The first thing I did after reading those comments was pick up my Pixel 10 Pro XL, open the neglected Thermometer app, and choose Walls and windows. Then, I rolled my desk chair over to my office’s window and checked out the temperature readings: 19.8°C (67.6°F) directly on the glass (image at the top of the article)
21.1°C (70°F) on the beige fabric roller blind covering the window
19.2°C (66.5°F) in the central part between the two aluminum stiles, where the two French doors split and open.
It's so easy to check the temperature of glass, doors, and openings with the Pixel to see if there's any cold or hot air draft.
This was already more useful than I ever expected it to be. I moved my Pixel 10 Pro XL across several spots on the glass, aluminum, and roller blind, and the readings were consistent enough that I started trusting them a bit. My colleague Dhruv had tested the thermometer on the Pixel 8 Pro when it first launched and found it to be too inaccurate and capricious compared to a proper infrared thermometer. But maybe things have improved since then, especially since Google had to make the sensor more reliable to get it FDA-approved for body temperature readings?
... continue reading