jdk: What you describe is the basis for the assumptions used for the Celani experiment. However, the thermal conditions are not the same between the calibration and the experiment. The wire material is different. When H2 is loaded, the active wire resistance changes so it is likely that at a given electrical power these wires will be at significantly different temperatures.

When I asked the question very early on in my heat balance thread I was told that if the glass apparatus was covered in foil the internal temperature rose significantly. This tells us that a significant portion of the heat loss from the glass apparatus was via IR radiation. It also tells us that the placement of the thermocouples on the outer glass wall (the one used to calculate heat flux) will be susceptable to IR thermalization uncertainties. In fact in one of the threads there was a discussion surrounding the Cu bands and whether or not thermal grease was necessary.

Why introduce these uncertainties when with a relatively simple design change (thin wall conduction calorimeter) they can be totally dismissed.