Going IR

[davidlord]

When I ordered the camera the guy at Inspector Tools (Brett I think) said he would charge it so it would be ready to go when I got it. I have been playing with it since Tuesday afternoon and the battery is still above the halfway point on the battery scale.

I simulated a whole house scan today on my afternoon inspection and I will simulate a whole house scan on my morning inspection tomorrow.

I will let the battery go till it says it needs to be charged.

[Chris Bernhardt]

What I have noticed about the Bcam is that the little battery indicator is useless. When the battery starts dying the thing either starts losing function or dies. The battery indicator serves no useful purpose.

Chris, Oregon

[Brian G]

I can't believe they didn't arrange for easy swapping of batteries. That's been common in digital cameras for quite a while. Dumb.

Brian G.

For the Money You Would Think.... [:-dunce]

[kurt]

And, it's a NiCad battery. It's not even Lithium Ion. That sort of cheese bugs me. It's why I don't own one (yet).

[Chad Fabry]

The battery indicator serves no useful purpose.

It uses current. Who pays for the power to spin the meter?

[qhinspect]

I seen a presentation on the internet today about the Fluke TIR and TIR1. In the morning I'm going to go and look at them for my self and likely buy it. Any more thoughts on the TIR davidlord?

[qhinspect]

Got the Fluke TiR and did my first inspection with it. 2100 square foot house, it used one bar out of four.

Image Insert:

17.64 KB

Picture of my daughter and her cat.

[Michael Carson]

Purchased a Flir BCam SD, battery lasts me one full day. I am able to find things like this light switch on a new home that was missed the previous week by another inspector.

Download Attachment: IR_0251.jpg

33.04 KB

[Scottpat]

Originally posted by Michael Carson

Purchased a Flir BCam SD, battery lasts me one full day. I am able to find things like this light switch on a new home that was missed the previous week by another inspector.

Download Attachment: IR_0251.jpg

33.04 KB

What was causing the heat? I have seen that on switches for multi-bulb fixtures that did not have the proper ratings for the amount of Watts being used.

[mthomas1]

Unexpected find of the week for me: checking the floor in front of the dishwasher, caught a toe-kick register that had been covered up by the cabinet installers.

[Michael Carson]

I do not have the answer yet on the switch, the uncle is an electrician and I am awaiting his phone call. I will keep everyone posted as to what is found.

Originally posted by Scottpat

Originally posted by Michael Carson

Purchased a Flir BCam SD, battery lasts me one full day. I am able to find things like this light switch on a new home that was missed the previous week by another inspector.

Download Attachment: IR_0251.jpg

33.04 KB

What was causing the heat? I have seen that on switches for multi-bulb fixtures that did not have the proper ratings for the amount of Watts being used.

[randynavarro]

Originally posted by Michael Carson

Purchased a Flir BCam SD, battery lasts me one full day. I am able to find things like this light switch on a new home that was missed the previous week by another inspector.

I don't think the inspector "missed" anything.

Purchasing an IR cam doesn't automatically elevate one's expertise over another.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Michael Carson

I do not have the answer yet on the switch, the uncle is an electrician and I am awaiting his phone call. I will keep everyone posted as to what is found.

If those were snap switches, the heat could easily have been caused by loose connections at one or two of the switches.

If those were dimmers, that could just be the normal temperature of the dimmer if it's serving a large load.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[qhinspect]

Originally posted by Jim Katen

Originally posted by Michael Carson

I do not have the answer yet on the switch, the uncle is an electrician and I am awaiting his phone call. I will keep everyone posted as to what is found.

If those were snap switches, the heat could easily have been caused by loose connections at one or two of the switches.

If those were dimmers, that could just be the normal temperature of the dimmer if it's serving a large load.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

If they were snap switches installed, great call. Just like a traditional home inspection, you see a likely problem and you recommended further evaluation/repair by an electrician. [:-party]

I was scanning a basement with my IR camera when I came across a drain pipe that had leaked water. It would have been likely that I would have caught this problem without the IR camera but the IR showed the leak easily and directed me to the crack in the pipe.

I don't think the inspector "missed" anything.

Purchasing an IR cam doesn't automatically elevate one's expertise over another.

I agree with this comment. But you have to love the IR camera.[]

[davidlord]

The IR camera is just a tool but it's the coolest HI tool yet. My clients think it's the coolest also. You will eventually need to have it in your bag.

[RickSab]

Wow. Most pages on a subject in a long time. Anyone near Chicago? There is a free seminar 5/22 8 am to noon at

Renaissance Oak Brook

2100 Spring Road

Oak Brook, IL 60523

It's being put on by FLIR. I'm going to see whats new.

Rick

[PBusch]

I was wondering, do you find if you pull your camera out to help identify a potential problem and your client sees you do it do they typically want you to scan the whole house and everything in it. I'm just afraid it would end up wasting time and causing more issues because now you have to also educate them on what is shown on the screen.

[qhinspect]

Originally posted by PBusch

I was wondering, do you find if you pull your camera out to help identify a potential problem and your client sees you do it do they typically want you to scan the whole house and everything in it. I'm just afraid it would end up wasting time and causing more issues because now you have to also educate them on what is shown on the screen.

No. At least from the Fluke, they quickly understand what they are seeing. If you tell them that you use it to help identify a potential problem and nothing more, I can't see why your clients would expect more.

[PBusch]

I'm just trying to foresee certain types of situations that may arise.

[qhinspect]

Originally posted by PBusch

I'm just trying to foresee certain types of situations that may arise.

Just did an inspection where water seepage was noticed with the IR camera. No visual signs of water seepage or any indication that water seepage would or had occur. Yet the IR just saved me a headache when the next rain comes. Just a note, it has been a week since we had rain.

What I was seeing.

Image Insert:

10.98 KB

What the IR showed me.

Image Insert:

11.07 KB

[Bain]

Those last photos are nifty. You said no rain during the past week, but there had to be moisture beneath the carpet for the IR to display the dark blue seepage, right?

[randynavarro]

How do you know it was moisture vs. an air leak?

[qhinspect]

Originally posted by randynavarro

How do you know it was moisture vs. an air leak?

I felt the moisture plus the moisture meter pegged off when testing the wood strip holding the carpeting in place at that location but no moisture at any other location against the wall.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by qhinspect

Originally posted by randynavarro

How do you know it was moisture vs. an air leak?

I felt the moisture plus the moisture meter pegged off when testing the wood strip holding the carpeting in place at that location but no moisture at any other location against the wall.

So, if you routinely check the base of all of your walls, you probably would have found it anyway without the IR camera using the moisture meter; no?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[qhinspect]

Originally posted by hausdok

Originally posted by qhinspect

Originally posted by randynavarro

How do you know it was moisture vs. an air leak?

I felt the moisture plus the moisture meter pegged off when testing the wood strip holding the carpeting in place at that location but no moisture at any other location against the wall.

So, if you routinely check the base of all of your walls, you probably would have found it anyway without the IR camera using the moisture meter; no?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

To answer your question/attack.

I seen the dark area with the IR camera, I reached down and felt moisture with my hand. Anytime I think there is moisture from a condensation problem or water leaks, I use my moisture meter to check that area (It also gives my clients something else to see if for some reason the seller argues the point). If that area does show high moisture, I check the surrounding areas with my moisture meter for comparison. I look at all information that is available to me to help determine the possible reason for that moisture to be there and come to a conclusion. In this case, there was not enough information to tell me what the likely problem is.

When it comes to the IR camera, I scan the basement and actually found two leaks on the carpeting. The first is from a leaky clean out on the waste pipe where I had to take a cover off to see where it was leaking from and the second is what I wrote above. It was likely that I would have seen the leaky waste pipe but unlikely that I would have seen the high moisture at the picture given above.

Since I and my clients were already in that room looking at the walls, outlet and other items, I strongly feel that I would not have seen the problem shown in the picture above.

So to answer your question directly; no, I do not routinely check the base of all the walls and unlikely that I would have discovered the high moisture at this location. When I see an area where moisture is likely or is present, I check that area plus the surrounding area to try to get a better understanding of the situation.