Heat loss through HVAC systems wastes energy and costs home and business owners each month the issues go unnoticed and unattended to. As Chip Wade, expert craftsman, shared with us several years ago, inspecting HVAC systems with thermal imaging technology is the best and fastest way to show home and business owners right where their HVAC energy losses are coming from.
Some things never change.
Since Chip’s video, innovations in thermal imaging technology deliver more detail in imagery and video, as well as being able to identify, in some cases, the extent of the issues.
Watch Chip’s tour through a 100-year-old home to get a better understanding of how thermal imaging can be used to quickly and efficiently identify heat loss through HVAC systems.
Fluke TiR1 Thermal Imager discontinued, suggested replacement: Fluke PTi120 Pocket Thermal Camera.
Transcript:
“When you’re inspecting a home for sale or renovation these days, you’re going to run into the question of energy efficiency. It’s on the mind of everybody who’s paying an energy bill right now.
The Fluke TiR1 thermal imager is a great way to check for heat loss in duct work, walls, and around vents. This hundred-year-old house, as expected, has pretty much a few areas that could use improvement.
Let’s start with vents. Now ideally when you close a vent, you want to eliminate all the hot air coming through it. Take a look at this closed vent through the Fluke TiR1. These old vents just don’t seal very well, and you can see the energy loss.
Now we’re in the upstairs bathroom where we found another issue that’s widespread through the ductwork in this house. If you look at this closed vent through the imager, you see that heat is coming out all four sides and if you look just to the right, it’s actually coming out above and underneath the baseboard. That tells me that we’ve got some poor duct connections and really minimal insulation. And all that’s going to cost a homeowner in lost energy.
Let’s head to the basement to see how the ductwork’s looking.
Here we are in the basement. Just looking up you can see that there’s no insulation on this ductwork. Now look at it through the Fluke TiR1 and you can see and show your client what it means to them. Just look at all that bright orange.
This homeowner is effectively heating his basement without meaning to. And that means that living spaces aren’t getting the heat they need. For the homeowner, that’s money going right out the window.”