Attaching sensors to hot water tank

[Greycon]

Hi,
I need to attach 5 small (think size of an LED) sensors to my domestic hot water tank, from top to bottom. The tank is covered in a hard insulating material. I don't know what it's made from, it came with the tank.

Does anyone know if this material actually adheres to the tank?

I think I can use a small piece of copper pipe to cut holes in the insulation, but I need a relatively clean area of copper for the thermal glue to attach the sensor.


Hopefully somebody out there has cut through this stuff before...

Cheers,
Con

 

[petej]

Is it foam insulation ? usually yellow,green or blue if it is it is very easy to cut, you could possibly use a metal drill bit turned between your fingers carefully for your size of hole I use a pen knife to cut larger rectangular holes for standard cylinder stats.

 

[Greycon]

Pete, thanks for replying. It's Yellow (ish) and is indeed foam. Encouraged by your words, I used the nozzle from my vacuum cleaner, and managed to easily extract a core of insulation, leaving a clean area of copper tank underneath. I plan to drill this core witha small drill bit, insert the temp sensor, add a splodge of heat-conducting glue, and re-insert the core.

Thanks for replying.

Cheers,
Con