Thermal Imaging

[Leon96]

Hope somebody could shed some light on this

I bought a new build around 14 months ago and have had the following thermal imaging report carried out by the developers as part of snagging and draught issues.

Thermal imaging is not something I have much experience with. I’m under the impression that the blue areas are cold areas where heat is escaping. The developer have mentioned loft insulation that was checked and fine. We do have trickle vents that do let a lot of cold in so they are looking at changing them, however some of the walls on the front house are showing pretty much blue everywhere. The front of the house is north facing onto the fields which are the rooms that are showing a lot of blue for example the living room.

Any advice would be great as the developers just keep looking to fob me off.

Thanks guys

 

[denso13]

I’m under the impression that the blue areas are cold areas where heat is escaping.

Blue is colder so less heat escaping. Windows etc tend to be more orange/red as they are less thermally efficient than the walls, i.e., more heat escaping.

 

[Leon96]

Blue is colder so less heat escaping. Windows etc tend to be more orange/red as they are less thermally efficient than the walls, i.e., more heat escaping.

I this not the other way round?

 

[RandomGrinch]

The front of the house is north facing onto the fields which are the rooms that are showing a lot of blue for example the living room.

Thermal imaging needs proper interpretation.

Your survey was performed with the camera in an automatic temperature ranging mode...

Because of the radiator in the image, red is all the way up at 70C and blue is at 17C.
Whereas, in this picture...

The range is much tighter, the camera isnt ranging to accommodate the radiator; red is 27C and blue is 14C.

Because of the auto ranging, the colours are different between photos. Blue does not necessarily mean cold!

Also, be aware when interpreting the images, if the camera is pointing towards an uncovered window.
Glass is reflective to IR, so the imaged temperature will be that of the reflected surface i.e. the opposite wall of the room, rather than the surface temperature of the glass pane.

 

[RandomGrinch]

I this not the other way round?

@denso13 is talking about a heat loss survey where the images are taken from outside the building.

 

[Leon96]

Thermal imaging needs proper interpretation.

Your survey was performed with the camera in an automatic temperature ranging mode...
View attachment 337049
Because of the radiator in the image, red is all the way up at 70C and blue is at 17C.
Whereas, in this picture...
View attachment 337050
The range is much tighter, the camera isnt ranging to accommodate the radiator; red is 27C and blue is 14C.

Because of the auto ranging, the colours are different between photos. Blue does not necessarily mean cold!

Also, be aware when interpreting the images, if the camera is pointing towards an uncovered window.
Glass is reflective to IR, so the imaged temperature will be that of the reflected surface i.e. the opposite wall of the room, rather than the surface temperature of the glass pane.

Thank you for the substantial answer, certainly more info than expected so I appreciate that. Looking at the second image where you mention the range being a lot tighter, do you believe there could be some draught there or out of the ordinary heat loss. The internal temp at the time was 19 degrees with the outside temp being 11

 

[RandomGrinch]

Looking at the second image where you mention the range being a lot tighter, do you believe there could be some draught there or out of the ordinary heat loss

I'm afraid my playing with IR cameras is purely lab based and the posted pictures aren't the most detailed - this isn't my speciality!

What you are looking for in the images are not the colours themselves, but anomalies - i.e. the picture of the cloakroom clearly shows an anomaly above the door - then you look at the temperature range on the image, and see if it really is a big deal.
If the range were only a couple of degrees, then the dark blue could be 16C, when the room is 17C; and it could be ignored.
In your case, the Dark blue appears to be 11C, so this is clearly a problem.