Are you a first time home buyer or it’s been so long inspecting your house for the good?
Inspection has been a crucial part of buying a new house. There can be a leakage in the walls or a naked wire in the ceiling welcoming an uninvited problem in the future.
Well, nobody likes to waste their time, money, or effort on something they love the most. Buying a new house can be as emotional as welcoming a new being into your lives as it is a place you connect to and feel like home, especially buying your own house for the first time can be challenging.
Putting an end to your insecurities, thermal cameras have been proven the most loyal in detecting the hidden problems while buying a new home or finding out energy and heat loss, cracks in the foundation of the house, structural mishaps, glitches in the ventilation, infestations, unattended insulations and everything that could of concern in your new or old house.
Thermal imaging cameras; what are they and how they work?
Thermal cameras, as the name defines, detect temperature with the help of different levels of infrared light. You must have seen images with only different colors from red to yellow and blue. Thermal cameras record the temperature that is represented by a particular color, which allows you to see how much heat is being radiated.
How does it work?
As every object emits some kind or level of infrared radiation, which offers one of the ways to detect heat that is transferred through it. It is not possible to see with a naked eye but can be detected when the temperature is too hot or too cold.
Why you need a thermal camera for house inspection!
For a layman, it sounds a bit absurd but it proves to be a real deal to detect unseen problems like;
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Water infiltration
There are times when the leakage of water is not apparent to the ceiling or the walls but it keeps doing its destruction to the structure of the house inside the walls. As the water releases its heat gradually, a thermal camera can detect the change of temperature in the problematic area, which is invisible to the naked eye.
Purple and dark blue or black colors indicate cooler temperatures, which show signs of leaking water inside the ceiling.
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Heat insulation
It effectively detects the loss of heat from any surface.
Using a thermal camera you can detect the durability and built of the doors or any surface effectively. This door shows brighter yellow shade, which means that it is a hollow core that gets a lot of heat because of the sun. The potential problem with such doors can be loss of heat in winters and more cooling costs in summers.
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Overheated or faulty circuits
It is not possible to discover temperature readings inside the walls or sockets outside. An overheated circuit can be measured with the help of a thermal camera that shoes temperature in the form of color readings. For instance, the below image depicts an overheated dimmer switch that is being burdened with the wattage it is not designed for.
Thanks to technology, you can easily make sure the house you are living in or going to buy suffers no defects or if it needs any renovation before it is too late. With the help of thermal cameras you can also discover;
- Excess of moisture in the building materials
- Cold air infiltration
- Joist placement in the building structure
- Electrical drops, breakers, wire connections, and faulty panels
- Pipe locations
- Pest infestations
Limitations with thermal cameras
As far as the advantages are concerned, there are some limitations that come as a package with thermal cameras, just like any other thing.
- It only detects temperatures of the solid surfaces or objects.
- It does not detect the temperature of the objects that reflects light such as glass, metal, or shiny objects.
- Thermal cameras do not see through the walls, so it can show you the close to accurate but not the exact always.
- There is a specific weather condition that shows the right results. Yes, you have heard it right. Cooler dry weather with low wind and heat is ideal to get the correct temperatures that are not tweaked by too much hot or cold climate conditions.
- A good camera with proper training is necessary to operate these cameras or wrong results could cost you thousands of dollars if not much.
It is not just about having a camera and means you are a professional, but proper training is necessary to get hold of the actual problem rather than seeing some colored images and calculating your results.
It will be nothing more than an over-equipped fool. For More Related Articles visit usercopmared.com
Best thermal cameras for home use
A high-quality camera sound promising for home inspections on your own, which you can trust with the accurate results without being a pro, but you must know what you are into.
- FLIR E8 thermal imaging camera comes with 320 x 240 IR resolution, wifi, and MSX. Its user-friendly interface makes it easier for you to use it. Quick recharging, picture in picture feature, locations detection, and precise measurement range makes it the best amongst others.
- Extech i5 thermal imaging camera is the easiest to use with its fully automatic design and controls for everyone from a professional to the beginners. Small in size, lightweight, miniSD card slot, long hour uninterrupted usage with a single charge. Its one-handed operation and large screen is a steal for users.
Buying a new thermal camera; things to ponder
It could be overwhelming entering a market an looking at all the different types, brands, and cleverly-marketed thermal cameras, but do not let them fool you as it is not always about the price and the brand, but the features that contribute in performance.
It does not matter if you are buying a simple camera or the fancy one, it is important to make sure it has some of the best features and specifications that enhance its performance.
- Resolution
- Focus; fixed, manual, auto-focus, multi-focus or laser-adjusted focus.
- Temperature
- Lens operation
- Image saving
- Color alarms
- Color palettes
- Battery life
- Budget
Well, where the quality and accuracy depend on these features, your needs and requirements play a crucial role. It is important to understand what are your needs or how often you are going to use it as you would not want to spend too much on something you are going to use once. Where every product is different from the other every individual’s need varies.
Even if you think it is not necessary or your house looks just perfect from the outside, trust us you need one good thermal camera.
Good luck with buying one!
