All,
I seem to be spending more and more time handling/dealing with instruments these days and I’m concious I need to careful about radium contamination.
Are there are recommendations for a low cost but effective Geiger counter I can keep in the workshop to just keep an eye on things and figure out how “hot” these things are when handling? Would also be good to ensure my shed hasn’t become too uninhabitable.
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th April 2014 at 08:52
XF940,
The costs issue for me is that I don’t see myself spending a great deal of time handling these things hence not wanting to make a massive investment. Part of the plan is that I’m going to measure the various gauges in as much detail as possible with a view to producing CAD drawings so that making passable replicas in GRP and plastic to get around any issues down the line. I’d rather put a good replica instrument in a static cockpit than have a bunch of holes in the panel.
So I’m looking at it from the point of view of taking a reading off of each one so I know how “hot” it is and trying to make a sensible decision about how much time I should spend handling it. I’m trying to take a “sensible risk” and apply some common sense really.
Interesting you said “solid state” – I’ve been looking at the Pocket Geiger Type 3 which is such a thing and uses your smartphone as the display and comes in at around £60. I also saw a small pocket one fitted with a SBM-20 Geiger tube manufactured in 2013 but having read what you wrote, I’m starting to wonder how old the tubes actually are…
By: Bruce - 15th April 2014 at 20:40
I bought my one new, at over 800, so 300 looks like a deal to me!
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th April 2014 at 19:44
Don’t know what you consider to be ‘low cost’. But something like a Mini S900 with a beta/gamma probe would be ideal. Do not contemplate any of the ex-MOD ‘geiger counters’ as most use obsolete batteries or use valves that are likely to be soft or dud and impossible to replace. You need a decent solid state device. The ex-soviet or eastern bloc instruments are a pile of junk and should’t be considered.
If you can pick one up, something from NE (Nuclear Enterprises) is always a good buy (these were supplied to NRPB/Nuclear Electric etc), but you need to make sure you get the correct type of instrument as they have ‘rate meters’ and ‘dose rate meters’ which are two different instruments. If you just want to see whether something is radioactive, then a Rate Meter (i.e. geiger counter) is required. A dose rate meter is used to determine body dose and may (will) not be fast reacting enough as a survey instrument, and ensure you get the correct type of probe/tube.
There is a seller with a Mini 900 on ebay at the moment but it’s not ‘cheap’.
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April 15, 2014 at 2:54 pm