Thermal Imaging Camera – A Must-Have Tool
Buy this one on Amazon and save $50 – Link: https://amzn.to/4377GVk
Thermal Imaging Cameras have become extremely affordable. What most of you might not know about me is that I use to be a professional home inspector. In those years of inspecting homes, I purchased a couple of FLIR thermal imaging cameras. As a home inspector, I choose the Flir E40BX. At the time I purchased that camera, the cost was outrageous, I paid $4000 for the single camera. It was important though, as a home inspector I wanted to have tools that could help me find things I could not find with just my human eye. I did find a lot of issues that I would have never seen with the help of the infrared thermal camera. I was infrared certified also.
Is this Thermal Camera any Good?
Now with all of my prequalifications out of the way, I want to talk about this little unit that I find in my toolbox now. At just around 5% or 95% less than I bought my home inspection camera for – I have better resolution camera and almost every capability that I needed while I was using the Flir E40BX. Crazy!
The question is, is it any good and would I recommend it to homeowners and even new home inspectors? In this article, I will answer that and provide real-life testing and explanations of how to use an thermal camera at home or on the job.
What to know
- 256 x 192 High-Resolution Thermal Camera
- The higher the resolution the better your images and videos will turn out
- The mK Thermal Sensitivity is 50mK (milliKelvins)
- The lower the number, the higher the sensitivity of the unit, as this means the core is able to differentiate between smaller temperature ranges and give a more detailed image. Many thermal imagers on the market today offer an mK measurement of >50mK, with higher quality models ranging down to >40mk and top-of-the-range units getting as low as >35mk. )
- Wide testing range -59 F ( -50.5 C ) to 1112 F ( 600 C )
- +/-2C/ +/-2%
- Pretty impressive for such a tiny device and sensor
- 6 color Palettes
- Iron Oxide Red (this is the one I prefer personally)
- Black Hot
- White Hot
- Rainbow Hot
- Red Hot
- Blue Hot
- Capture images or video in infrared
- Most portable infrared thermal camera I have ever tested and used. It’s tiny. 1.34 x 1.04 x 0.59 inches.
Testing
In this review, I will be using a Samsung Note 9 to pair with this device. It is capable with most Android devices if not all of them. For more info on that, you may need to contact the manufacturer to check the capability.
It is important to understand how you go about getting good images with a thermal camera. Delta T. is very important. That is the thermal temperature differences from one area to another. It is best to scan walls on a hot or cold day when the interior of the structure is opposite of exterior conditions. So if it’s hot outside it should be cooler indoors. If it’s cold outside it should be warmer indoors. This helps improve the overall quality of the scan.
Although the conditions were not in perfect condition to scan some of the walls and ceilings in my house during this review we still captured some awesome images to demonstrate how this camera may be beneficial to just about anyone.
- Electrical panel and scan of the breakers
- What someone might be looking for in a breaker panel?
- Overloaded breakers
- Loose connection points that may be heating up
- Hot Wires
- And many more things
- What someone might be looking for in a breaker panel?
- Attic Entry
- Potential heat loss
- Increased heating bills
- Windows
- You can test for bad seals and leaks that might run up your electric bill
- Locate leaks or water intrusion
- Scan the walls for insulation leaks
- Scan under a sink to quickly identify a plumbing leak
- Scan the ceiling for lack of insulation and find moisture issues
- The list of things you can do with a thermal camera is nearly endless
Conclusion
- Who would I recommend it to
- All homeowners
- Home Inspectors
- Hobbist
- DIY’ers (definitely put this in your toolbox)
- There are lot of people that can benefit from having this type of technology available to them.
- I would not recommend this unit too
- Engineers or other professionals need super precise readings. Those guys know that but it’s important for me to point it out.
If you are interested in getting one of these units check out on Amazon. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/4377GVk If you purchase something after clicking that link it helps and offers a little support at no additional cost to you. If you want this thermal camera, right now there is a $50 off coupon to bring the price to under $200. That is insane to me. Incredible value.
I hope you found this helpful or entertaining in some way. If you did, be sure to show the love and leave me a comment below. Hope that isn’t too much to ask for and I look forward to seeing you in the next article. Appreciate it, I’m out!
