Playing with a thermal camera

Jayne

Jayne

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The woman is afraid that the house will burn down due to crappy wiring. Perhaps a legit concern. Back in my data center days we used to thermal scan everything looking for hotspots in the panel and breakers and such coming loose. I'm sure the electricians on here can explain that for real.

We picked up one of the Flir ONE scanners that plug into the phone and I've been nosing around. First stop at the breaker panel and I see this. The breakers in the lower left by my finger are the feed to the stove which had been running for about 20 min when the picture was taken. The crazy bright spot on the right? That goes to the master bath... which hasn't had anyone in it all day. Hmm.... what's going on there?

IMG_3661.jpg
 
I bought one for our labs... it IS a really fun toy too!

FLIR makes rifle scopes and they're quite spendy. The phone plug in is what...3-400$ something like that? It's been 2-3 years since we picked it up but it still works fine.
 
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Interesting - I may have to get one. Will it work scanning around windows and figure out leaks?
 
O heck yes , they work great! We use them for hot spot analysis on printed circuit boards (among other things). They're really quality units. Im pretty sure we paid a bit north of $300 but I think we did get some optional battery pack, etc. You can turn on the temp readings and they'll show up on the screen too, as I recall.

Glad to see the price is dropping. That makes getting one of their rifle versions in the upcoming future possible
 
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We do IR scans on hundreds of panels at work along with the main gear , 1000's of amps..

Did you get the temp scale on the bright yellow spot?
Deffinatly, pull the cover and tighten those lug on the hot breakers. Flip the main off, unless you have rated tools and PPE . no reason to tingle your dingle...
 
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yes
12151791 said:
Interesting - I may have to get one. Will it work scanning around windows and figure out leaks?
Click to expand...
Yes, it will do that. Though you won't see quite the definition in colors like the panel above.
 
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12151791 said:
Interesting - I may have to get one. Will it work scanning around windows and figure out leaks?
Click to expand...

Yep you can stand back and look at the whole or portion of the house and if its enough of a leak it will show up. Pick a day that it is hot out or really cold that way it would stand out more with the diffrence in temps.
 
Jayne said:
That goes to the master bath... which hasn't had anyone in it all day. Hmm.... what's going on there?
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As @Mirac asked, how warm is warm? The image scale is probably relative, so you should consider the real numbers.

Also, are those AFCI or GFCI breakers? Both will run slightly warmer than regular ones. AFCI breakers run circuitry to detect arcing faults and GFCI breakers have a small coil / transformer to detect the imbalance. The added circuitry makes them run slightly warmer. It is also possible that a breaker next to the one your looking at heated it up via conduction.
 
I bought a version of this from SEEK Thermal last year after losing a deer in some thick undergrowth. Having it snap into the phone is super handy and they work great!

SEEK Thermal
 
Tim said:
I bought a version of this from SEEK Thermal last year after losing a deer in some thick undergrowth. Having it snap into the phone is super handy and they work great!

SEEK Thermal
Click to expand...
I have this same unit for servicing HVAC and electrical.

In the image above it may be a arc proof breaker or the breaker is not making contact on the bus bar due to being loose. If it is a normal breaker replace the breaker but also look at the bar for an arced spot. Don’t put a breaker back on an arced spot, move it down or up. Breakers are cheap insurance to keep issues from occurring.
 
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