The performance of silicon dosemeters is greatly affected by the ambient temperature. The expected variation in sensitivity with temperature is considered and compared with experimental results for a number of coaxial and planar devices; certain anomalies are observed at low dose rates for load resistances less than about 100 k Omega . It is suggested that these are largely due to thermoelectric EMFS arising from small (<1 degrees C) temperature differences between different parts of the system. The choice of input impedance, the sensitivity obtainable and the effect of mains pick-up are also considered.