When you use your kitchen scales, you must be sure that you are measuring the correct amount.
After all, many recipes could be ruined if your scales are out of alignment, even by a small amount.
In this post, I will run through 6 things you can do to test the accuracy of your kitchen scales.
6 Ways You Can Check The Accuracy Of Your Scales
Here are 6 six ways you can test the accuracy of your kitchen scales. Try each one individually to ensure all aspects are covered.
Some of these can be used on a digital scale, and others on mechanical scales. Choose whatever works for you.
1. Make sure your scale is zeroed out
The first thing you want to do when testing your scale’s accuracy is to make sure that it defaults at 0. This is easy to do! All you need to do is place the scale on a level surface and then press down upon it with your hand for a moment.
Lift your hand and see if the weight reading quickly changes to 0. If not, then you are going to need to adjust the scale. With a digital kitchen scale, you should have a button or two for this (consult your manual), but with the analog variety, there is usually a wheel on the underside of the scale that allows you to make adjustments.
Once your scale is ‘springing back’ to 0 every time that weight is removed, the next step will be testing it with one of the other methods we’ll detail in this article.
2. Test your scale with the ‘Water method’
The ‘Water method’ is an easy way to test the basic accuracy of your kitchen scale. You can either a 20-ounce bottle of water and weigh that, and it should come out as 20 ounces, or if you only have a 1-liter bottle handy, then you can fill that with water, which should come out to one kilogram or approximately 2.2 pounds.
If that’s not the reading you get, you’ll want to play with the adjustment on your scale until you get the expected results.
To check sensitives scales, weigh some pennies.
Depending on the type of scale that you have, you might need to check the sensitivity. Some scales are only accurate within 2 -5 grams, while others are designed to be more exact, and if you have one of these, then there is a simple way to test it.
3. Pennies or quarters!
A penny only weighs 2.5 grams, making it an excellent test for a sensitive scale. Be sure to use a current penny, as older pennies tend to wear down, and you might get mixed results. Place a single penny on your scale, and it should give you a 2.5-gram reading.
Now, if you get a 3-gram reading, don’t panic. Add another penny, and if the reading goes to 5 grams, then this means that your scale is only meant to be accurate within 1 gram. You can confirm the reading by weighing a nickel if you like, as a modern nickel should weigh exactly 5 grams.
4. Weigh 2 items of uneven weight
When you get up in the morning and weigh yourself, you’re generally still a bit woozy from sleep, so your weight might not be evenly distributed on the scale. Does this mean that your scale will be inaccurate?
It shouldn’t – so let’s test this next!
You’ll want to take two items which are at least a few pounds each, and get yourself a notepad and a pen. Then, write down the weight of each object after weighing them separately, and then you’ll want to place them both on the scale, spaced as far apart as you can.
If your scale is accurate, the combined weight should match the added weights that you’ve noted. If it does not, try it again and see if you get the same number. If you do, this should give you an idea of your scale’s ‘margin of error.’
This will allow you to keep using your scale, but you’ll also know the exact degree to which it is accurate.
5. Test your scale with heavier weights
Now that you’ve tested smaller weights to get an idea of how accurate your kitchen scale is with them, you want to ensure that it’s also accurate if the objects being weighed are a little heavier. The easiest way to do this? Flour or sugar.
Flour and sugar conveniently come labeled with their exact weight, and the thin paper packaging will not affect the overall weight very much. This means you can take a 5-pound bag of flour and a 5-pound bag of sugar out of your grocery bag after shopping and test your scale with them.
If you don’t get 10 pounds, just test again to ensure the numbers are consistent, and then you can adjust your scale or note the difference for future use.
6. Try repeated weighings to ensure the results are the same
Finally, you want to make sure that your scale is consistent, and the easiest way to do this is to take all of the items we have weighed today and weigh each one 3 times to ensure that the numbers are still the same.
If you consistently get the same results when weighing these items again, then this is a good sign that your scale is accurate!
Conclusion
Testing your kitchen scales is vital if you want to ensure the correct amount of ingredients is added to your recipe.
Digital scales can read incorrectly as the battery goes flat or it is on an uneven surface.
If your kitchen scale is showing signs that it is broken, check out my guide on fixing scales here.