Thermal imaging technology and heat-retention around the home...
Posted: August 29th, 2023, 8:45 am
I've been toying with the idea of buying a thermal-imaging camera for a few years now, with a view to using it around my home to help with heat-retention during the winter.
The location and construction of my house means that during the colder months, and especially on windier days, there's a definite sense that my gas-fired central heating seems to run fast just to stand still to some extent, with little sense that my home is ever really doing much to retain any warmth being generated.
The consumer thermal-imaging camera options have usually boiled down to standalone hand-held devices, or smaller thermal-imaging 'modules' that plug into mobile phones or laptops, with the plug-in modules generally being cheaper due to the fact that they can use the screen and processing capability built into the host-device.
Until recently, the mobile-enabled module segment of the market has been dominated by Flir, but the relatively low-resolution of their technology, along with the fact that they've insisted on using a module-embedded battery that is non-replaceable by design have been the two issues that have put me off any purchase up to now.
Recently though, Topdon have entered the module-market with a higher-resolution option which uses the host-device as the power-source -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TC001-Resolution-Sensitivity-20%E2%84%83-550%E2%84%83-Precision/dp/B0BFCVZC6R
The above seems to tick all the boxes necessary for me to now consider something like this to help with my energy-saving plans, and I'm seriously considering giving it a go over the coming winter.
Some Youtube videos demonstrating the above Topdon TC001 module, and it's versatility in assessing heat-loss and temperature-differentials around the home -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd4PrbsL6T8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFLtiDx65ek
Over on the separate 'Energy costs' thread, I've tended to document where I've been able to actually reduce my summer and winter energy-use, but as I've probably worked through most of the relatively low-hanging fruit on that side of things, and will hopefully benefit over the longer-term with those associated cost-savings, I'm now moving into a separate phase of looking to actively boost the heat-retention properties of my home, and making the best use of any warmth-generating energy being used, and with the primary issues for me likely to be related to cold air-gaps, draughts, and floor-and-wall insulation properties, then this type of modular thermal-imaging camera has the potential to play a large part in highlighting opportunities for improvements in all of those areas.
Has anyone used this type of technology themselves, for similar purposes?
Cheers,
Itsallaguess
I've been toying with the idea of buying a thermal-imaging camera for a few years now, with a view to using it around my home to help with heat-retention during the winter.
The location and construction of my house means that during the colder months, and especially on windier days, there's a definite sense that my gas-fired central heating seems to run fast just to stand still to some extent, with little sense that my home is ever really doing much to retain any warmth being generated.
The consumer thermal-imaging camera options have usually boiled down to standalone hand-held devices, or smaller thermal-imaging 'modules' that plug into mobile phones or laptops, with the plug-in modules generally being cheaper due to the fact that they can use the screen and processing capability built into the host-device.
Until recently, the mobile-enabled module segment of the market has been dominated by Flir, but the relatively low-resolution of their technology, along with the fact that they've insisted on using a module-embedded battery that is non-replaceable by design have been the two issues that have put me off any purchase up to now.
Recently though, Topdon have entered the module-market with a higher-resolution option which uses the host-device as the power-source -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TC001-Resolution-Sensitivity-20%E2%84%83-550%E2%84%83-Precision/dp/B0BFCVZC6R
The above seems to tick all the boxes necessary for me to now consider something like this to help with my energy-saving plans, and I'm seriously considering giving it a go over the coming winter.
Some Youtube videos demonstrating the above Topdon TC001 module, and it's versatility in assessing heat-loss and temperature-differentials around the home -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd4PrbsL6T8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFLtiDx65ek
Over on the separate 'Energy costs' thread, I've tended to document where I've been able to actually reduce my summer and winter energy-use, but as I've probably worked through most of the relatively low-hanging fruit on that side of things, and will hopefully benefit over the longer-term with those associated cost-savings, I'm now moving into a separate phase of looking to actively boost the heat-retention properties of my home, and making the best use of any warmth-generating energy being used, and with the primary issues for me likely to be related to cold air-gaps, draughts, and floor-and-wall insulation properties, then this type of modular thermal-imaging camera has the potential to play a large part in highlighting opportunities for improvements in all of those areas.
Has anyone used this type of technology themselves, for similar purposes?
Cheers,
Itsallaguess