I stopped at:
(* I NEED TO RETURN TO THIS THREAD LATER, UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION *)
... the rest of the story...
They had me sign all manner of wavers, releases, and commitments before I could walk out with the instrument.
The model was a Flir I7 as seen below.
It was all charged up, and ready to go and had all the documentation with it that a new one would have.
There was also a "cheat sheet" included so that I could get going quickly.
[NOTE: If you are going to rent one of these, go to the Flir website and read the relevant docs before you rent, so that you'll make the best of your time.]
So, I opened up the built in lens cover, turned it on, waited a surprisingly long time for the unit to become operational... finally the picture appeared on the screen...
The device is shaped like a pistol, and the pistol's 'trigger' is the button that you push to record the image into the internal SD card memory (more later).
Pushing the button saves the image. There is a modest time-lag before the image is processed and saved.
[NOTE: to get maximum results the difference inside temperatures and outside ambient temp should be large. The greater te delta-T, the more definitive the results.]
It was about 28-sh out side, and my kitchen was about 60 F.
I took the imager outside and shot took an image of the kitchen addition of my house (the kitchen has a vaulted ceiling):
I have gone to considerable effort to insulate the kitchen walls, so I didn't expect too much heat loss there. I 'wised up' to thermal bridging late in the game, but on the last 2" EPS layer, I did off-set the 2" studs, so the thermal bridging is reduced.
I have not gone after my kitchen windows at all, and the heat loss is apparent. between the two windows is the door, and it is a real heat looser, too.
A surprise for me was the heat loss along the division between the roof (6" EPS) and the wall. Luckily, that area is still open, so I can get to work on that one.
To the right top, bairly visible in this photo (better view later) is a massive loss, because I have not completed my foaming there... so I have work to do!
Curious, is the glow from the stem wall. It's in an unheated area, but it might be residual heat from the previous day's sun...or it might mean that I need to insulate it too.
Here's the side where the massive leak is. Warm air, at the peak is leaking in and down and out through the eves. This is huge, and must be fixed soon.
This image is the front of my house. It was the first phase of my ongoing insulation efforts, begun 30 years ago.
At that time I was using standard insulation (R-11), and typical insulation practices (staple it in, cover it with sheetrock). So, it's no surprise that the walls are leaking like a seive. With no blocking, the cold air is able to leak up from the basement, through the balloon framed channels taking the heat with it.
The window and the door are both extraordinarily poor.
More to come...
Best,
-AC