Now if you have not heard about this incredibly useful piece of equipment I am not at all surprised, its fairly new to the UK, although its been around in the US for a while. This very useful gadget comes into its own when you need to identify, measure and record those drafts in paranormal locations.

The velocity Stick can measure very small air movements using only the small amount of energy that it takes to keep the hot wire tip of the probe at a constant temperature. The hot tip is of course cooled by the movement of air, the draft, hence all this is required is to measure the extra energy required to keep it at the correct temperature. When processed by the electronics this will give you the amount of draft.

This measurement method is far more accurate than the normal propeller type anemometer, which requires a lot of air movement to start it turning. The small air movements caused by the small drafts that we need to measure do not normally have enough energy to turn a propeller.
 

We use our new toy to measure the small drafts around doors and windows or along corridors or stairs. It is often surprising how much air moves about a building, particularly old buildings. Air movement can often explain banging or opening doors and windows and of course the odd movements of curtains or other light objects. Often attributing these movements to drafts is a judgement, the velocity stick takes out the guesswork.

With a fairly simple simple calculation you can even work out how much pressure the air movement is applying to a door and to use this to check if there is enough pressure to move it.

One bonus with this device is that it can be used as a very quick and accurate spot measure of temperature. We have all heard the comment "Gosh my legs have gone really cold over hear". With this device we can and would have checked for drafts as part of our baseline measurements. We would also have a measure of the rooms ambient te3mpreature at baseline and during the vigil, armed with this and our velocity stick we can do a quick and very accurate spot temperature check around their legs.

The normal probe thermometer takes a while to register due to the metal probe needing to reach the temperature first. The infrared type of thermometer is not known for its accuracy, you are never absolutely sure what it is actually measuring.

Overall this is a very useful piece of equipment.