Question: Someone told me that a way to check to see if a
surface was getting too hot was to take the ambient temperature
plus a certain number of degrees. Does anyone know the number of
degrees for this equation? Answer: Gasman gave the numbers in
one of our earlier QA. You can use one of those new fancy and
inexpensive infrared thermometers to get an idea of the
temperature. Some things to keep in mind.... If it gets anywhere
near those termperatures, it should be protected. It is unlikely
that any of your normal "testing" fires bring the surface up to
it's highest possible temperature...in other words, it is likely
to get a LOT hotter at some point then the temp you see. Darl
materials soak up radiant heat much faster. In the spirit of
keeping a great margin of error, many people use the "rule of
thumb" which states that you should be able to put your hand on
a combustible surface for a couple of seconds without being
burnt. Since 120 degrees is abou the maximum comfortable
temperature for your skin to tou