Cheap Thermal Imaging Camera

[Theog]

Afternoon all,

I live in an old drafty house and there are thousands of jobs ahead. These jobs may include new windows (currently old single glazed), general insulation, potentially underfloor void insulation (but I'm guessing this isnt possible due to damp rising issues) and a few other things to keep the heat in.

So far I have done the cavity walls, put insulation in the roof, and one of my rooms has 100mm of rockwool for internal insulation (on top of the cavity on the external wall).

The boiler is pretty good, but the pipes and radiators are very old, and may need redoing in the next 5 years or so. The hot pipes are uninsulated and go under the floor boards into the air voids (which really helps out!).

Now you know my background, I'm thinking about getting some form of thermal imaging camera. This will enable me to see where the house is leaking heat. Also, would be interesting to see if the wall with 100mm of rockwool is 'cooler' on the outside. Also, I'm interested in using it over time to see how new potential upgrades help. Other interesting uses could be: Checking radiators for hot / cold spots, which external windows leak the most heat, areas in roof, flooring heat loss (carpet vs bare wood).

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone has bought a cheap one by any chance? I see there is the 'flir one thermal imaging camera' but I'm not sure if my phone will support it, as it tends to be a little tricky.

Thoughts welcome.

Best,

Theo

 

[Ducklakeview]

I have a Flir one pro and love it..

Mike

 

[Theog]

I have a Flir one pro and love it..

Mike

Ok interesting... if you were to take a pic of the roof, say 5m up, would it still work with that range, or will you need to get the ladders out to get an accurate picture?

 

[Theog]

@Ducklakeview - on a side note, where did you get your profile pic from? You know if there is a high rez version?

 

[Ducklakeview]

@Ducklakeview - on a side note, where did you get your profile pic from? You know if there is a high rez version?

There is. PM me your email and I'll send it you.

Mike

 

[Ducklakeview]

I have a Flir one pro and love it..

Mike

Ok interesting... if you were to take a pic of the roof, say 5m up, would it still work with that range, or will you need to get the ladders out to get an accurate picture?

I've used it looking at the outside of our house from over by the lake, which highlighted the missing insulation from when it was built.. Now rectified of course..

Mike

 

[Theog]

I have a Flir one pro and love it..

Mike

Ok interesting... if you were to take a pic of the roof, say 5m up, would it still work with that range, or will you need to get the ladders out to get an accurate picture?

I've used it looking at the outside of our house from over by the lake, which highlighted the missing insulation from when it was built.. Now rectified of course..

Mike

Blimey that sounds impressive! How far range are we talking there (good visibility that is).

 

[john-e89]

Afternoon all,

I live in an old drafty house and there are thousands of jobs ahead. These jobs may include new windows (currently old single glazed), general insulation, potentially underfloor void insulation (but I'm guessing this isnt possible due to damp rising issues) and a few other things to keep the heat in.

So far I have done the cavity walls, put insulation in the roof, and one of my rooms has 100mm of rockwool for internal insulation (on top of the cavity on the external wall).

The boiler is pretty good, but the pipes and radiators are very old, and may need redoing in the next 5 years or so. The hot pipes are uninsulated and go under the floor boards into the air voids (which really helps out!).

Now you know my background, I'm thinking about getting some form of thermal imaging camera. This will enable me to see where the house is leaking heat. Also, would be interesting to see if the wall with 100mm of rockwool is 'cooler' on the outside. Also, I'm interested in using it over time to see how new potential upgrades help. Other interesting uses could be: Checking radiators for hot / cold spots, which external windows leak the most heat, areas in roof, flooring heat loss (carpet vs bare wood).

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone has bought a cheap one by any chance? I see there is the 'flir one thermal imaging camera' but I'm not sure if my phone will support it, as it tends to be a little tricky.

Thoughts welcome.

Best,

Theo

Theo I can thoroughly recommend Aero therm for an old house. It’s a plaster skim applied to just 1mm thick. It’s property is to reflect heat back into the room. It’s based on Areogel developed by NASA for the space shuttle heat tiles. Amazing stuff, I’ve got a square steel plate in the freezer with it on one side, take it out of the freezer and it’s not cold to touch, then put your hand on it and it radiates your hand heat straight back, very weird sensation. I’ve used it on most external walls on the inside, brilliant for keeping heat in, also eliminates mould as the walls don’t get cold to form condensation, I have thick stone walls with rubble filled cavity so we used to get terrible mould in the bathroom in the deep reveals as the missus has the water hot enough to boil lobsters, but it’s eliminated the problem. No need to remove skirting boards etc as it goes on just 1mm thick. The only drawback is it’s soft, so you can dig a thumb nail into it easily but for difference it makes that’s a small price to pay.

 

[Theog]

Theo I can thoroughly recommend Aero therm for an old house. It’s a plaster skim applied to just 1mm thick.

This sounds too good to be true no!? I will look into this into more detail that's for sure.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[john-e89]

Theo I can thoroughly recommend Aero therm for an old house. It’s a plaster skim applied to just 1mm thick.

This sounds too good to be true no!? I will look into this into more detail that's for sure.

Thanks for the heads up!

I’ve got prior knowledge of it Theog, my wife did some marketing for them, we have zero interest in the product though as she’s no longer doing commercial marketing, it’s just we got it at trade price and I too was sceptical but it’s truly amazing stuff, very big abroad in Sweden etc, where it’s properly cold! I’d buy it at normal price without hesitation. If you google it it’s the 2nd on the page, I have no idea of the green labelled product on there, I suspect there will be law suits getting put out!

 

[john-e89]

N:B it has to be applied by their guys as it needs to be trowled on in a sweep in one direction then left and flatted back in another direction, if not it vastly reduces its properties.

 

[Theog]

Theo I can thoroughly recommend Aero therm for an old house. It’s a plaster skim applied to just 1mm thick.

This sounds too good to be true no!? I will look into this into more detail that's for sure.

Thanks for the heads up!

I’ve got prior knowledge of it Theog, my wife did some marketing for them, we have zero interest in the product though as she’s no longer doing commercial marketing, it’s just we got it at trade price and I too was sceptical but it’s truly amazing stuff, very big abroad in Sweden etc, where it’s properly cold! I’d buy it at normal price without hesitation. If you google it it’s the 2nd on the page, I have no idea of the green labelled product on there, I suspect there will be law suits getting put out!

Interesting. I'm putting it on my list of 'to look into' that's for sure! Might work well in some of my smaller rooms up stairs as a tester!

 

[Ducklakeview]

Ok interesting... if you were to take a pic of the roof, say 5m up, would it still work with that range, or will you need to get the ladders out to get an accurate picture?

I've used it looking at the outside of our house from over by the lake, which highlighted the missing insulation from when it was built.. Now rectified of course..

Mike

Blimey that sounds impressive! How far range are we talking there (good visibility that is).

The Zed is about 4m away from the front door of the shop, those houses at the back are prob 20m away..




Mike

 

[Theog]

Wow that image is insane! I'm really thinking about getting one now!

 

[Ducklakeview]

I use it a lot as a diagnostic tool, great for helping troubleshoot cooling system problems and also handy for for finding parasitic drain culprits, as a heat signature will often give the source away.

Mike

 

[Theog]

I use it a lot as a diagnostic tool, great for helping troubleshoot cooling system problems and also handy for for finding parasitic drain culprits, as a heat signature will often give the source away.

Mike

I'm far from technical when it comes to cars, but i would love to see the engine bay with thermal camera. Also when on a ramp to see the exhaust system working!