Infrared camera - interpreting results 23 December 2022 at 3:23PM in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 11 replies 578 views

Brebal

I’ve got an infrared camera on loan from octopus which is great! I understand the basics of warm and cold but not sure what’s normal, etc. 

I’ll attach a pick of a room where the window obviously shows blue and colder (brand new window, double glazed) and the wall around it is the same. Is the wall supposed to be that temp, or higher? 

Currently it’s 5° outside and about 14° in my house 

I’m checking because one cavity company told me all the insulation is wet and sunk and another told me it’s totally fine (and he showed me with his camera so more inclined to believe him, but I didn’t know what I was looking at…)

chris_n

You are too far away to get any meaningful information especially with the chair in the way. One thing to bear in mind is the temperature of the glass will not be correct as it is outside the emissivity range of the camera, if you want to check the surface temperature of the glass put some black insulating tape on it and let the temperature stabilise first. Unfortunately for you you would have been better off with the camera when it was really cold outside. 

Brebal

Ok thanks, well I can get closer and move the chair. Can’t do much about the weather 😂. I’ll try the black tape thing. 

Wasn’t sure if walls should be showing blue at all… presumably it’s normal for them to be somewhat cooler than internal walls but I don’t really know. 

FreeBear

You'll get cooler air dropping down from the window(s) - This might lead you to an incorrect conclusion.

Taking shots from outside on a cold, still night would give you a better indicator of heat loss through the walls. Internally, I'd use a camera to look at the ceilings and smaller areas around doors & windows.

Ectophile

The colours should only be taken as relative indications.  The camera will re-scale them so that the coldest thing it sees is blue or purple, and the hottest thing is yellow or white.

markin

Heating the house to 18c - 20c to get a bigger contrast and looking outside in would give a better idea. 

Brebal

This is from the outside  - 19° inside, 7°outside 

This is weird? Blotchy patches? (Rear of house and doesn’t show on external photos) 

It looks cooler in corners of all windows. They’re brand new windows so not sure what I can do about that? 

All corners of brickwork are cooler too. 

Looks like draughts under kitchen counters. I’m going to try and get access and check around the pipes. 

chris_n

Take your pictures square on, the first 1 doesn't show anything. The second would give more detai if square but it looks like an insulation issue. 

The last two may be down to the space below / behind units not being heated but it's definitely cooler, so may have some air leakage maybe around waste pipes or something. 
Corners are often cooler as air doesn't circulate as well there.

Brebal

chris_n said:

Take your pictures square on, the first 1 doesn't show anything. The second would give more detai if square but it looks like an insulation issue. 

The last two may be down to the space below / behind units not being heated but it's definitely cooler, so may have some air leakage maybe around waste pipes or something. 
Corners are often cooler as air doesn't circulate as well there.

That’s great, thanks. I’ll try again. 

It’s a good gadget but prob need to know a lot more than I do to work out what’s it telling me! 

FreeBear

chris_n said: Take your pictures square on, the first 1 doesn't show anything. The second would give more detai if square but it looks like an insulation issue.

And take the images at night (the later, the better). That way, you should avoid the effects of sunlight warming the brickwork.

markin

Also look at all the rads for cold spots signs of sludge.