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Thermal Imaging

Thermal Imaging Procedures

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In New Zealand, thermal imaging isn’t a statutory requirement, but there are more and more insurance companies, building inspectors and risk management specialists that are catching onto the significant benefits of predictive and preventative maintenance programs using thermal imaging technology, not otherwise recognised in statutory obligations. 

Standard thermal imaging procedures involve interpreting and producing images across a range of applications, such as electrical monitoring & building envelope diagnostics by viewing otherwise invisible heat radiation with highly technical infrared monitoring equipment.

The infrared images produced during a thermal imaging inspection are then processed through specific software that allows the thermographer to add additional details that may be of use for future inspection comparisons… especially when the report is part of a routine maintenance program.

Other benefits of utilising a certified thermographer in NZ is to analyse abnormal heat anomalies observed in industrial premises that could potentially identify fire risks and premature component failures in advance, which subsequently saves the company time and money which would otherwise be spent on business interruptions or claims on insurance.

Here’s a list of applications that thermal imaging can used for…. HERE

Contact us today for a free thermal imaging inspection quote!

 

Booking & Job Completion Process

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Here’s how the thermal imaging inspection works:

inspection reports1) Pick up the phone and give us a call 7 days per week. We give you a live ‘locked in’ quote over the phone based on the size of your home and the type of inspection required. Compare the difference between our ‘quick scan’ and complete report here.

2) We then arrange a time to meet at your property, and we begin the process at an agreed time. An inspection on an average size home takes approx 1.5 hrs.

3) We scan your home room-by-room… one wall at a time. We document our findings for each and every room as we go. We have a compulsory ‘double-check’ policy in our company which simply means that not only do we scan with the camera, but we also go over every wall top to bottom with our state-of-the-art moisture meter made in NZ, for NZ conditions.

4) Once the process is complete, we then take the information away and compile a complete report of our finding. This report is emailed to you within 12-48 hrs.

5) Payment is usually C.O.D. An invoice is issued with all reports. If you can’t pay on the day, or you can’t be present for the inspection, that’s fine, you can simply do a direct deposit.

6) You can email/call us into the future with any further questions relating to your property inspection and findings.

If there’s any potential problems with your home that require attention, there are many professional tradespeople who can assist. We can discuss this matter as it arises.

Contact Us to book an inspection today!

Read about our ‘quick scan’ here

Thermal Imaging Consulting Service

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We are a certified thermal imaging consulting service in NZ.

View our full list of services here

We specialise in:

Building inspections for signs of leaks and moisture

Electrical Inspections: In-plant inspection of – transformers, bus; switchgear, fuses, circuit breakers, cable trays

Mechanical Inspections – Predictive maintenance applications

Read a detailed list of our inspections here

Thermal Imaging – Live Video Demonstration

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Now you can see LIVE how thermal imaging works in your home to detect moisture and cut heating bills!

Some NZ home owners may not be aware of what thermal imaging is, and how it actually works. Below is a link to a live demo that featured on prime time news… using the exact same camera we use. This video is only 4 mins long, and certainly worth watching if you’re considering getting a thermal imaging inspection. 

We use the infrared camera to detect signs of leaks, moisture, missing insulation and heat loss in New Zealand homes.

thermal imaging

Book a thermal imaging inspection today!

The ‘Quick Scan’ is Our Most Requested Inspection!

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Why should you pay full price for a thermal imaging inspection if there aren’t any problems in your home! 

There are two types of home infrared scans our company can undertake…

Every home owner has different inspection needs, from a basic leak detection right through to a complete detailed report.

Get a ‘Quick Scan’ first!

A quick scan is great value, gets problems identified fast, keeps the inspection cost down and gives you a great peace of mind that your home is healthy. A quick scan is cheaper than a complete report.

nz home heat loss

Comparison – ‘Complete Infrared Report’ V’s ‘Quick Scan’:

Both types of Scans Include: Complete thermal imaging scan of all interior walls & complete non-invasive moisture meter reading of all walls. Both scans could reveal any areas of concern regarding moisture, leaks, heat loss and any evidence of missing insulation.

QUICK SCAN: This type of infrared scan is excellent value, and gets to the heart of any potential issues fast. The advantage of this type of inspection is the option to upgrade to the complete report if problems arise that concern you. You may not have any moisture or heat loss problems in your home, so a quick scan is the best starting point for leak detection, home moisture ‘check ups’, and home pre purchase inspections.

 

detect water leak

A quick scan does not include photos or a written report. The home owner must be present to view the live camera images, view moisture readings and identify areas of concern (Our moisture meter is made in NZ, for NZ conditions).

COMPLETE REPORT: This type of internal inspection includes a complete infrared scan of your home, complete double check with moisture meter and full written report including thermal imaging photos. A complete infrared report is an excellent way to save money during rectifications. With our complete report, you can supply the photos to appropriate contractors so they can go directly to the issue without needing to pull down other parts of your home to ‘find’ the source of the problem.

We guarantee you will not find better value thermal imaging then our quick scan. Call for a free quote!

Infrared Thermal Imaging Camera – How Does it Work?

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A home inspection using a certified thermal imaging camera operator could certainly save you from buying a house full of water! If you suspect mold, moisture or missing insulation in your home, a thermal imaging camera could potentially pick up the source of the problem within minutes… saving you time & money.

The actual camera used in the home inspection is a very sophisticated, highly sensitive and very expensive piece of equipment. Some cameras are basic and will ‘do the job’, while others have highly sensitive detectors that will pick up  thermal anomalies in your home as small as 0.1 of a degree.

Thermal imaging cameras pick up the infrared radiation that is emitted off objects. Every object you see around you emits heat radiation (via electromagnetic wavelengths). The sensor in the camera then converts the detected infrared radiation into a thermal image via the on board camera processing system.

Some people perceive that an infrared camera detects moisture, but in actual fact it detects the infrared radiation being emitted from the moisture.

The infrared camera our company uses has a highly sensitive sensor on board, so the slightest of variance in emitted radiation from any ‘object of concern’ in your home will be detected by our camera. 

Read the different applications we use our IR camera for – Here

Infrared Thermal Imaging Helps Reduce Scheduled Downtime in Businesses

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The economics of our infrared inspections has an excellent payback on average, be it a homes, factories or power plants. A large US based company who has performed 1000’s of infrared inspections reported an average payback of 4:1. This means that every dollar invested into an IR inspection results in $4 saved. We perform PREDICTIVE and PREVENTIVE maintence inspections, meaning that problems can be indentified before they blow your pocket apart!

Reduce unscheduled downtime: (using a bakery as an example)

Manpower: In the event that there is an electrical or mechanical fault unexpectedly, a business can run into high costs and no return because of ‘suprise problems’ they didn’t expect. Can you imagine the costs to have 30 people on the assembly line standing around waiting for a problem to be fixed? We can detect both electrical and mechanical faults ahead of time… especially if it’s a routine check.

Product loss: Using the bakery example… an electrical fault could be extremely costly if the breads are in the oven and an electrical problem shuts down the power. We can usually detect these types of faults in advance,  and pinpoint the problem effeciently with our advanced infrared camera. Regular predictive maintenence can detect ‘hot spots’ in wiring and power boxes that the human eye can not see, allowing the faulty parts to be changed at a scheduled time rather then in the middle of production.

Equipment damage: Equipment can be damaged, yet still run. Most larger companies do have some kind of regular maintenence program in place, but again, what if there’s a set of ball bearings under extreme load and high temperature that the human eye can’t see? High power equipment can fail at critical times, so using predictive maintence may save your company large amounts of money by detecting and issues early. We can perform regular infrared thermal imaging inspections on your equipment before the problem arises, and detect hot spots, air leakages, insulation issues and heat loss on critical workplace components.

What’s the benefit of finding potential ‘larger scale’ problems early?

We can pinpoint problem areas, therefore reducing the time taken for a planned outage. Your maintenence program can also be prioritised in order of importance of machinery to the overall business.

If you know the problem in advance, you can have the appropriate parts ready to install, rather than holting production while waiting for the part to arrive.

Contact us today, we can give the critical mechanical and electrical components in your workplace an infrared scan, and detect the ‘unexpected’ system failures in advance.

Moisture Inspection – Specific For NZ Home Owners

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Moisture inspections are critical in NZ due to the wet climate. We conduct non-invasive thermal imaging moisture inspections for both current home owners and pre purchase inspections.

Here’s an outline of why you should consider NZ Leak & Heat Loss Detection Ltd to perform a moisture inspection on your property …

Current home owners – See details and thermal imaging photos of typical moisture ingress

Pre Purchase Inspections – Don’t buy a home until you read this!

Contact Us today for a moisture detection scan today!

What is a Thermal Imaging Building Inspection?

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If you’re interested in getting a thermal imaging ‘building envelope’ inspection on your home, it’s important that you have a small understanding of how thermal imaging works and what you’re actually getting for your money. Here’s what’s actually happening in the pictures you see on this website…

Everything you see around you (objects), be it a wall, car, wood, heater, fridge (everything) has a certain temperature and they all emit waves of energy called ‘infrared radiation’ (IR). The hotter the object, the more energy it emits. A thermal imaging camera translates these energy waves into a viewable image, which shows a “heat picture” of the object the camera is pointing towards at the time. On the actual screen of our thermal imaging camera, hotter objects show as white, cooler objects show as black, and objects in between these temperatures show up as a gray.

Here’s an example of how thermal imaging can be used outside of building inspections: Firefighters can use thermal imaging cameras to see right through smoke, as the infrared radiation that’s being emitted from ‘hot spots’ can not be blocked by smoke. This enables them to find victims faster, identify the seat of the fire earlier, detect areas that may still have a fire burning underneath rubble that they can’t see, and detect areas of structural danger and damage to the building envelope.

The actual detector we use within our thermal imaging cameras are somewhat similar to the human eye, and are very sensitive. The TI’s detector (called a focal plane array, or FPA) and the eye are both receivers. They receive electromagnetic energy and convert it into an image for our brains to interpret. The eye receives wavelengths of energy called “visible light,” while the FPA (the detector on our camera) receives wavelengths of heat energy called “infrared.”

Technically speaking, no thermal imaging camera can actually ‘see through’ solid materials. For example, in New Zealand most homes will be either build or contain at least one of the following ‘objects’ – drywall, plaster, concrete, steel, wood, paneling, down comforters, doors, sofas and the like… and non of these objects are actually ‘transparent’ to infrared. Our IR cameras can only “see” the temperature difference on any given surface.

The slightest of temperature differences on the walls in your home will show up in our cameras. EG. If you walk up to a wall in your home and place your hand flat and leave it there for 5 seconds then pull it away, the image through our camera screen will see a perfect hand shape… exactly like you would have seen had you put your hand in black paint and put it on a white wall (or vica versa depending on which object is warmer/cooler at the time). When water leaks behind your wall, it affects the surface temperature of the wall in the area of the water leak… hence why our camera will see it right away. It’s the same with air penetration through your insulation… the cool/warm air will blow onto the back on the wall… hence affecting the temperature on the surface of the wall.

It’s the air leaks, water leaks and mold growth you can’t see with the human eye that can make your ‘relaxation time’ at home very uncomfortable. We specialise in the detection of any problematic areas … usually within minutes in most cases, and totally non-invasive.

Contact us today for a infrared scan of your home!

The Ideal Time of the Day to Do an Infrared Building Inspection on Your Home

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Here’s a simple run down on why we use the cameras we do, and why a thermal imaging inspection on your home could be more effective early in the morning or late in the afternoon, rather than the middle of the day…

The problem with our real world environment is that for a majority of the day say between 10am and 3pm our environment is very much in equilibrium (i.e. very little difference between inside and outside of a building). Early morning and late afternoon our environment is in a “heating” or “cooling” phase, giving us a good differential or change in our environment. Good thermal imaging camera operators will always take advantage of these two keys times, however, practically, it does not leave a lot of the day to work with, so that’s why our company (NZ Leak & Heat Loss Detection Ltd.) use a highly sensitive camera that can work at all hours of the day.

For example: An infrared camera of average sensitivity makes it very difficult to work in the middle part of the day, and you simply just won’t see a void in the wall, moisture, stud or missing insulation. You will just get a uniform surface with no apparent defect at all. So if the camera is sub-standard, or operator is not properly trained and certified, it is impossible to know what he/she is NOT SEEING, when they are using a camera of average sensitivity. Defects such as excess moisture in the wall, floor or ceiling simply won’t appear, and you have nothing to reference it against. Consequently, that is why we use the appropriate camera because we need to work in “less than ideal” times, i.e. during the day. In saying that, there are many applications that we need to do late at night, or very early morning when the environmental conditions are optimal, or we would simply be wasting ours and your time during the day (rendered facade on high rise, concrete cancers etc). (Thanks to IPI Australia for some of the above info).

Our cameras are highly accurate, and re-calibrated once per year to assure accuracy.

Would you prefer to turn a blind eye to what’s behind your walls, and get a nasty surprise down the track? We can do a scan of your home in less than an hour in some cases, and you can have a piece of mind in the process!

Call us today – Contact Us.