Ben's Flir One Thermal Camera

[bennelson]

Here's a few more fun photos for you.

Hot tap water in my bathroom sink.


Possible missing ceiling insulation in my utility room.


North and south views of my house.



Ceramic coffee cup vs insulated travel mug


I've also been helping out over at my parents' house on a little remodeling to get some more heat to the kitchen floor. Part of it is over basement, and part of it is over dirt. Using the camera pointed at the floor, we could CLEARLY see where the basement stopped. (I forgot to actually snap a still photo!) Camera worked great for that.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by bennelson

This image is very interesting because it really helps to visualize why radiant floor heating is so comfortable. Most people relax by sitting down or reclining on a couch, which puts them in the colder part of the room. If this image was of a room with a radiant floor, the greatest warmth would be closer to the area where people tend to relax.

In other words, the thermograph would be reversed, top to bottom.

Originally Posted by bennelson

The stud area clearly illustrates the rule of thumb that because of thermal bridging, a normal stud wall reduces the nominal insulation value, and yields an effective total insulation value that is 18% lower than the rated value of insulation. So if you built a normal stud wall and filled the cavities with mineral wool, a 6" cavity (5.5") would have an R-value of R23. So applying the 18% thermal bridge penalty would give you an effective R-value of R19 for the wall. This is assuming standard stud spacings. That's a big loss.

When you said, "the wood stove may heat the surface of the wall, but not the studs", I think you are incorrect. The wood stove is actually heating the sheet rock (R-0.9 per inch), which is a pretty good thermal conductor, and the sheet rock is conducting the heat through the stud (R-1 per inch) and out of the house. Look how clearly defined the stove and pipe are, and how 'vague' the stud area is.The blue 'stud shadow' is wider than the width of a stud because the heat in the sheetrock in the area of the stud is being drawn toward the stud and out into the cold.

A 1/2" layer of Poly-Iso foam over the studs before the sheetrock would certainly help reduce (but not eliminate) the thermal bridging. A better strategy would be to build the wall, using staggered studs, or some similar strategy, like perhaps a Mooney Wall.

By the way, if you present the Mooney Wall on your personal blog, don't forget to cite Build It Solar, they certainly deserve the credit, in the same way as you should cite other sources of information and ideas that you might elaborate on.

It will enhance your credibility.

-AC

[jeff5may]

The thermal imaging devices, like the lepton series of sensors, are awesome little gadgets for the price. The key quality in this domain of products is cost effectiveness. It is a fledgling application, and obviously the industry leaders have saturated the market from above. Nearly all of the users who could justify buying a product for four figures have done so. Now, companies such as flir have set their sights on the entry-level market at the next level down.

There are half a dozen companies that have been manufacturing the high-dollar thermal cameras for decades. The sensor arrays and software engines have been through many generations of improvement. Up until now, their market focus has been on aerospace and military applications. To these companies, the entry-level market is below their quality (and profit margin) level. They just can't put a low-rez sensor on a missile or weather satellite.

The only exception so far has been flir. With virtually zero competition in this emerging market, they have a distinct advantage. I imagine the reason they improved the original flir one so soon is that customers were not overly impressed with them. Obviously, they sold all they initially released, and have been having trouble keeping them in stock. Why not improve the device? Like cell phones, if they market a new device every year or two, bleeding-edge buyers will gladly fork over 3 figures for the "new and improved" model. Repeat customers are a good thing.

Whether or not the new unit is four times better or not is in the eye of the beholder. With such a new product, it is easy for the OEM to make subtle or drastic improvements, depending mainly on the "bugginess" of the prior design. Remember that the bulk of flir's technology ten years or so ago was in ultra-high sensitivity and resolution devices. They are basically "dumbing down" the tech they already have to feed the masses.

Whether or not the tech is obsolete or not is for you to decide. They have many sensors in use today helping to predict the weather for the NWS and NOAA today that were put in service in the 90's. Not to mention what's in all the NRO spy satellites that still don't exist yet, but were made who knows how long ago. How much longer have our astronomical and planetary observatories and unmanned spacecraft lived past their expected life cycles? I myself became immune to the obsolescence factor before the days of high speed and wireless internet service. SWMBO, not so much (she has a galaxy in her purse, literally).

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by AC_Hacker

This image is very interesting because it really helps to visualize why radiant floor heating is so comfortable.
-AC

That's exactly what I was thinking when I took that photo.

My brother-in-law has a room with radiant flooring. I'll have to take a photo of that next time I'm over there.

[bennelson]

I just climbed around in my attic, something I was NOT looking forward to doing, seeing as how cold it has been out lately AND my attic access isn't exactly convenient.

It's sort of a story-and-a-half house, so getting above the upstairs bedroom means crawling on my belly through fiberglass insulation. YUCK!

Still, the thermal images are enlightening! Also, it's very challenging to hold a camera, a flashlight, crawl on your belly (without accidentally putting a foot through the ceiling) and focus the camera and take a picture all at the same time!

I'll post some images and my thoughts on them later.

[Stoker]

Just a few pics for examples of the quality of images you can expect with Flir One. Certainly doesn't have the resolution of a $6000 camera, but the optical overlay makes images readable. I'm pretty happy with it for $250

Stoker

Photos: thermal hand print on the door frame.
2 wires exiting my panel, each running a portable heater

[Stoker]

Besides, since plastic pocket protectors and slide rules went out of fashion, what's a true geek to do....

[Mikesolar]

If you go through the article on the improved FLIR One, there is reference to the C2, coming out this year. I think I will wait for it. A $700 price tag is a bit more than the combined $350 (for the upgraded FLIR One) and a used iphone (maybe $300?) and it is all in one package.

More and more I need it again. Damn thieves....

[ecomodded]

Those marketers are Sly , just when your happy with the product they entice you with the improved version.

at least it was only $250 .. Some people want the new version of the same car they just bought because it has improved cup holders etc. etc.
I guess you can always sell the old model to someone less educated

[pinballlooking]

Originally Posted by Mikesolar

If you go through the article on the improved FLIR One, there is reference to the C2, coming out this year. I think I will wait for it. A $700 price tag is a bit more than the combined $350 (for the upgraded FLIR One) and a used iphone (maybe $300?) and it is all in one package.

More and more I need it again. Damn thieves....

The big thing with the new one is it works on more than just iPhone.
If you have a phone that it will work with you can save money.
It is great it is going to work with Android.
The C2 does look really nice but it will be to costly for me.