Interpretation of thermal images

[jayroc2k]

I have been loaned a Flir One Thermal imaging camera by the energy company. I took several photos but struggling to make heads or tails of it. 

 

Its a Victorian house with mixed levels of insulation but all new timber sash double glaze windows. Some rooms have full internal insulation with insulated plasterboards while, others are plain old solid brick

 

house feels draughty but the thermal images are not telling me anything I don’t know

 

some attached to help interpret. Thanks

 

so far draughts are from 

- front door (key hole, surrounds etc)

- skirting (feels bad)

- electric points in plasterboard 

 

[Cpd]

If there was an item that the Buildhub tool loan could do with it would be one of these cameras..... would love to have a Go with one one day. Look forward to hearing from others who know about these things how they interpret your images. 

[jayroc2k]

5 minutes ago, Cpd said:

If there was an item that the Buildhub tool loan could do with it would be one of these cameras..... would love to have a Go with one one day. Look forward to hearing from others who know about these things how they interpret your images. 

Agree. It’s at worst hugely fun, and it can be quite revealing in knowledgeable hands.  If you are with Octopus the energy company, it’s free to use for a week. 

Expensive to rent otherwise. 

 

There are Chinese copies on eBay. But from my limited experience, it’s only as good as ther software it runs. 

 

[ProDave]

4 minutes ago, jayroc2k said:

Agree. It’s at worst hugely fun, and it can be quite revealing in knowledgeable hands.  If you are with Octopus the energy company, it’s free to use for a week. 

Expensive to rent otherwise. 

 

 

 

Tell me more please?

[Ferdinand]

Is that one of your new sash windows that is cool round the edge?

 

And is that a fireplace or a blocked up fireplace?

 

Will putting minimal something one window reveals help those pillars? Even minimal will increase the thermal escape path.

Well done, Octopus.

 

F

(My octopus last week was as tasty as expected btw. Two tentacles left.)

Edited March 9, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

I have a Seek Thermal camera, and it needs using with care in order to get anything useful from it.  The main thing to remember is to only try to do a thermal survey when there is a high temperature differential between outside and inside.  A cold, clear, frosty night is ideal, as that will give a wide contrast range and allow heat leaks from inside to out to be far more easily identified.

 

Finding air leaks with a thermal camera is really not at all easy unless they are pretty big.  Most leaks will only show from the way the air movement has heated/cooled something adjacent to the leak.  For finding leaks a blower is far easier to use and doesn't require specific weather conditions to work, either.

 

Where a thermal camera really works well is when looking for areas of missing or no insulation, and spotting thermal bridges around doors, windows etc.  it's also an invaluable tool for tracking down potential faults in an electrical installation - it's easy to spot early signs of impending trouble from poor connections, loose terminals etc from the heat generated when under load.

[jayroc2k]

12 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Is that one of your new sash windows that is cool round the edge?

 

And is that a fireplace or a blocked up fireplace?

 

Will putting minimal something one window reveals help those pillars? Even minimal will increase the thermal escape path.

 

Well done, Octopus.

 

F

 

 

Yes. New it’s a photo of the new timber sash that have intergrated brushes. The seal is not as good as I expected but the bathroom window that is a new “thermally broken” aluminium double glaze window by a uk company is tremendously worse. 

 

That aluminium  window made me realise that it’s really best to stick with recommended brands on this site. 

 

Renovation now over so can’t do anything beyond draught proofing. House is warmer than neighbours but not as warm as a barrat homes new build. 

 

Added photos

aluminium double glaze window (claimed it’s thermally broken - doubt it)

Old school plasma tv hanging on 40mm insulation Plasterboard (blue bit under is where insulation was removed to feed cabl)

Effect of a rug on ufh timber floor

Edited March 9, 2019 by jayroc2k

[Jeremy Harris]

This is an image taken on a fairly cold morning of the outside of one of our living room windows, for comparison:

 

 

I set markers over the highest and lowest temperature spots (useful, as it give a sense of the temperature range being displayed) but left the false colour settings to auto-adjust (this means you cannot compare the colour from one image with the colour from another, as they won't represent the same temperature).

 

The above image shows that, as expected, the window frames have the lowest thermal resistance and that the glazing is reasonably good.  However, a 2°C  increase in the frame outside temperature versus the wall outside temperature isn't too bad.

 

This image is the same window on the same day (5 minutes earlier) from the inside looking out:

 

 

Again, I put markers on the highest and lowest temperatures in the image and allowed the false colour range to auto-adjust (so the colours in this image bear no correlation with the colours in the previous image)  The same characteristic is present, in that the window frames are the components with the lowest thermal resistance, but again, a 4°C difference between the wall temperature inside and the coldest part of the window frame inside isn't too bad, and is probably as good as it's likely to be able to get.

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, jayroc2k said:

Renovation now over so can’t do anything beyond draught proofing.

 

You could secondary glaze if you really needed to.

 

Quite unobtrusive with just bevel edged glass and mirror hinges, especially for sashes.

 

At the old house we used to put those on nearly all the windows through the winter, and some had them on permanently.

 

F

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by Ferdinand