Preventing Fire Loss and Insurance Costs Through Infrared Testing

In my last blog, I wrote about reducing your commercial energy bill. An added benefit to using thermography to reduce your energy output is that you might also be able to substantially reduce your insurance costs.

By performing an infrared scan as part of your preventative maintenance plan, you may identify possible sources of electrical failure. CNA estimates that more than 30% of fire losses can be attributed to electrical failure. That's a HUGE number that can be largely preventable! (Check out their safety bulletin here: CNA Commercial Property ). In fact, by preventing proof of thermal scans as part of your preventative maintenance program, many insurers will provide discounts on the cost of insurance.

CNA points out that infrared testing can prevent loss due to electrical failure or fire for several reasons, including:

1. Reducing damage caused by over-torquing connections. Infrared can pinpoint which switchgear connections actually need tightening, preventing over-correction and early failure.
2. Detecting loose or corroded connections.
3. Identifying faulty connections.

Remember, electrical connections get hot before they fail - and infrared scanning is the best way to "see" what the naked eye can't. The investment in hiring a certified infrared thermographer is well worth the knowledge that you won't see hundreds of thousands of dollars go up in smoke!
Interested in learning more? Give me a call at 803-3328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Do Infrared Roof Scans Work on All Roofs?

Here’s a few key factors to consider when thinking about whether infrared inspections should be part of your roof maintenance program:

1. Roof construction: Infrared roof inspections work best on built up or single-ply membrane installed over, and in continuous contact with, a layer of insulation or an insulating deck. Roofs that have concrete pavers are not good candidates.

2. Time of Day: Generally infrared inspections are best performed at night after a sunny day. Daytime highs should be above 40F. There are other weather factors to consider – give me a call at 803-3328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Schools and Universities - The Time to Use Infrared is Now

Earlier this month, I wrote about my concerns about mold and mildew in the roofing materials and insulation in schools. Thermal scans can accurately detect areas of water intrusion, helping to save costs on remediation. It's not just our public school system that's in trouble, though.

Universities, often buildings built decades ago (or in some cases, buildings that are hundreds of years old - Harvard, for example, was established 1636!), may be notoriously energy inefficient. Buildings may be sitting on top of steam lines that are old and crumbling. Roofs may be disintegrating in areas, leading to potentially dangerous environments. The costs of heating and cooling buildings that are, shall we say, less than energy efficient, can be mind-boggling.

A relatively new form of infrared thermography, aerial imagery, offers several advantages to university school systems.Because we can take high-angle, straight down infrared images, we can capture large images at once, so we can see all of the building and "hot spots" in context. So - although might sound super expensive, the infrared report is actually less expensive to produce and more accurate than if a thermographer spent days walking the campus. Call me if you want to learn more or if you'd like a quote on aerial infrared thermography!


Interested in learning more? Call me at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!Edit Posts

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!

Amazing use of Thermography! Fracking and Released Gases

As I've mentioned in the past, one of the people who works for me is a college student. She's taking an environmental science class, or as she not-so-fondly refers to it "Dirt Class." Last week she was excited to see infrared thermal imaging used in yet another real-world setting.

Turns out her class is looking at fracking. Now, no political statements here - fracking is a way to release natural gas for use as a fuel source. It is supposed to be a clean and environmentally friendly way to release this almost un-exhaustible source of fuel. Basically, highly-pressurized water and chemicals is forcibly injected into the rock layer. The rock fractures and gas is released and captured. Fracking is highly controversial.

All that water and chemical has to go somewhere - and that's where my favorite student made the connection. You see, alot of the water is vented back out as steam which appears quite benign. Only through the use of infrared cameras can you see the chemicals also being released into the atmosphere. Here's a video from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (www.gao.gov), entitled Vented Gas Visible Through Infrared Camera.

Now, I sincerely hope you don't have to call me to check for dangerous gas emissions leaking from your home or business - but isn't it nice to know you could? Remember - what you don't see - CAN hurt you.

Interested in learning more? Call me at                         803-328-2889             and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial  users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!

Why is Abnormal Heating a Problem? Thermal Imaging Can Explain Why

Thermal imaging is a quick and efficient way to screen for anomalies. One of the anomalies infrared thermography detects is heat. Why is heat a problem?

Indulge me for a minute and rub the palms of your hands together very quickly, for 30 seconds. What happens? Exactly, heat is created because of the friction of your hands rubbing together. It's a simplistic example, but something very similar can happen inside of anything with movable parts - through use, misalignment, or other issues, excessive friction can occur. You may not even see it - but an infrared camera in the hands of a certified thermographer can.

Of course, friction isn't the only thing that can cause heat. High electrical resistance, problems with current flow, reduction of cooling air or fluids - can all cause excessive heat. If an abnormal thermal signature shows up in the infrared image, you can then begin to pinpoint why the anomaly exists - and get it fixed before it becomes a bigger problem.

Interested in learning more? Call me at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!


IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Why Buying an Infrared Camera is Not Always the Answer

Since an infrared camera can detect heat loss through infrared radiation, does that mean everyone should run out and buy an infrared camera? What about your maintenance team? We talk alot about predictive and preventative maintenance. Is an infrared camera an important tool for your team to have?

That depends. All of the infrared images in the world mean nothing if you don't have someone who has been trained to read them. For example, seeing a uniform heat pattern radiating along the length of a wire has a completely different meaning than seeing a heat pattern with a gradient to it. One means the heat loss is caused by a termination problem, and other is a probable load problem (and no, I'm not going to tell you which is which!)

Different types of surfaces require different heat transfer formulas. These are some of the reasons why we recommend using the services of a thermographer who has been certified and continues to receive ongoing training.

Interested in learning more? Call me at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!


IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Infrared Thermography - Definitions You Need to Know

There are alot of misconceptions about thermography - exactly what is it, and what can it do? Can it really see through walls? Target moving people in a room? Is it the equivalent of being able to have Superman vision? Well, I'm sure my grandson would love it if that were the case - nothing would be cooler than to have a real superhero for a granddad!

What is infrared radiation? In laymen's terms, it's part of the electromagnetic spectrum. You can see some forms of light, but the light you can't see is what we call infrared light. How can you see what you can't see? You could walk around wearing night goggles (probably not really practical) or you could use an infrared camera to detect certain levels of infrared light.

How? Well every object radiates infrared energy.  Like a lightbulb glows, every object has a kind of "glow". This glowing is a function of infrared radiation - one of ways heat transfers.  Why is that important to us? Check in next week and we'll talk about how the heat transfer from infrared radiation is important in the world of infrared thermography.

Now, I've got a superman cape to find.

Interested in learning more? Call me at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!
IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

What is Condition Monitoring?

Anyone else ready for spring? I saw the first daffodil of the season this morning, giving me hope that spring is really on her way! How is the weather where you are?

Our regular readers may remember the series I wrote about predictive maintenance and why it makes important business fiscal sense. This series of articles is about Condition-based maintenance (CBM). Condition-based Maintenance is a predictive maintenance technique. It simply means that maintenance is performed when equipment performance deteriorates or if multiple indicators show that equipment is going to fail.

The purpose of Condition-based maintenance is to maintain the correct equipment at the right time so you can prioritize and optimize your maintenance resources. The goal is to help your maintenance personnel fix the source of the potential problem, when it’s needed, minimizing spare parts cost, system downtime and time spent on maintenance.

What business needs does condition monitoring serve? Although there are several, here’s a few to get us started:

1. The need to predict equipment failures
2. The need for a holistic view of equipment condition
3. The need for greater accuracy in failure prediction
4. The need to optimize equipment performance

I know you won’t be surprised when I tell you that infrared thermal imaging is one of the techniques used to successfully perform condition based maintenance. Next week, we’ll discuss specifics on how infrared thermography can be successfully used for your business. As always, comments and questions are welcome!

Interested in learning more? Give me a call at 803-328-2889 and let’s talk!



IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Basic Steps to Create a Predictive Maintenance Program

Creating an effective Predictive Maintenance Program requires some upfront work. Not every piece of equipment in your facility is mission-critical. Knowing the failure rate of your equipment and your manufacturer recommendations is very important. You will need to create some type of database that holds this information as well as the tracking measurements of your program. Generally, these are the basic steps to setting up a Predictive Maintenance Program:

1. List your critical processes, applications and equipment

2. Prioritize each item on your list in order of the impact a failure would have. For example, high failure impact would be equipment that:

• Directly impacts safety, the environment, revenue, or customer relations
• Is unique or costly to replace, or used constantly (24x7)
• Is difficult to find spare parts for or has a long lead time for repair

3. Determine how likely your equipment is to fail. You can use PdM software, past maintenance history and internal operator experience (e.g.: when units broke/ how often, why, and what they cost to fix) to make this estimate.

4. Create an inspection schedule based on failure probability and critical impact.

5. Set up a database that contains the above information for each process, application and piece of equipment.

6. Take baseline data and store it for each piece of equipment. Be sure to include repair histories, manufacturer recommendations and operator knowledge: when units broke/ how often, why, and what they cost to fix.
Most facilities either purchase or develop a specialized database. These databases are referred to as asset management systems (AMS) or computer managed maintenance system (CMMS). In addition to the information above, many of these systems also track warranty status, depreciation records and purchasing information.

So why am I, a certified thermographer, writing about predictive maintenance? Because steps 3, 4, 5, and 6 are generally when we get called in. The use of infrared (IR) cameras in predictive maintenance is well established. Using an infrared camera, we produce thermographic images of your equipment. These temperature measurements provide an early warning of potential equipment failures and unsafe working conditions.

We help create your baseline data, and then be part of your regular inspection schedule. Most mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic equipment can be measured and tracked for your preventative and/or predictive maintenance program using infrared thermography. Most of our clients find that bringing us in while they are creating their programs is most cost-effective and efficient way of creating initial baseline data (and many times we find immediate issues that need attention!)

Interested in learning more? Give me a call at 803-3328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

This article series was developed using ideas from http://www.plantservices.com/articles/2009/124.html?page=full and http://www.myflukestore.com/crm_uploads/part_one_of_a_predictive_maintenace_series.pdf for source material.

Infrared Inspections of Flat Roofs

Here’s a few key factors to consider when thinking about whether infrared inspections should be part of your roof maintenance program:

1. Roof construction: Infrared roof inspections work best on built up or single-ply membrane installed over, and in continuous contact with, a layer of insulation or an insulating deck. Roofs that have concrete pavers are not good candidates.

2. Time of Day: Generally infrared inspections are best performed at night after a sunny day. Daytime highs should be above 40F. There are other weather factors to consider – give me a call at 803-3328-2889 and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Ways to Save on Your Commercial Utility Bills

If you are responsible for the maintenance of a large building or factory, rising energy bills are an ongoing concern. This past summer has seen record heat waves, resulting in increased energy consumption as we try to keep cool. Now as the seasons start to change and it begins to get cold, high energy costs continue to be a factor.
Proper building insulation is the most significant factor in reducing the energy consumption required to heat or cool a building. Unless you have a very old building, today’s insulation does not “go bad”. This doesn’t mean you can breathe a huge sigh of relief just yet.

Building showing massive heat loss

Two insulation factors can affect energy performance. First, missing insulation is a common problem. Once the walls go up, it’s hard to tell if your insulation is installed properly or if it’s missing entirely in places.

Second, if you have or have had any type of water leaks or moisture seepage, the insulation may be wet. Wet insulation has almost no insulating value at all.



Missing Insulation



Thermal imaging services can accurately identify weak areas inside a building envelope. Using infrared thermal imaging, we can accurately determine the areas where insulation is insufficient, areas where there are water penetration problems, and air leakage through the building envelope.

Commercial building thermography is non-invasive and cost-efficient. Local insulation improvement can reduce heat loss during the winter or heat escape during the summer. The larger your building, the greater your potential savings.

When was the last time you checked what was going on behind the walls? Want more information? Call me at 803-328-2889 or drop me an email!

We believe so strongly in using Infrared Thermal Imaging for your Predictive Maintenance, that we created a Discount Membership for our repeat customers. Learn more about it here: http://www.irinfraredservices.com/PremierMember.html

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Infrared Services - New Website Highlighting Infrared Thermal Imaging

It's been a hectic few weeks! We have a new look to our website and would love you to check it out. It's designed to be easier to navigate and to make it easier for you to find what you need. Please let me know what you think!  http://www.irinfraredservices.com/

This also marks the debut of our new Premier Customer Membership group. As you know, I'm a big believer in predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance is such a great tool for commercial business owners to maintain the health of their buildings as well as to proactively maintain machinery and equipment. It's almost like preventative healthcare - making sure you get in for your regular check-ups gives you the best chance of identifying potential issues early and while it they are still manageable.

Scheduling regular thermal roof scans can also save you money on insurance and roof replacement costs.

We believe so strongly in using Infrared Thermal Imaging for your Predictive Maintenance, that we created a Discount Membership for our repeat customers. Learn more about it here: http://www.irinfraredservices.com/PremierMember.html

Thank you so much for your continued business! We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North and South Carolina!

Electrical Commissioning - What is It?

I know I talk alot about using infrared thermography to identify heat loss, electrical surveys, roof surveys and predictive maintenance through thermography scans. I'm going to spend the next few weeks exploring "commissioning" - what it is, why it's important and how to get it done.

First - basics! What is commissioning? It is defined as the Process by which an equipment, facility, or plant (which is installed, or is complete or near completion) is tested to verify if it functions according to its design objectives or specifications.

In laymen's terms, this means that we check to make sure it works like it's supposed to work! There are multiple kinds of commissioning: electrical commissioning, mechanical commissioning, and HVAC commissioning.

I am focusing on Electrical Commissioning this week simply because the electrical distribution system is the foundation for every other system in your commercial building. Let's face it, if the electrical system isn't working, neither is your communication, fire and/life safety, security, or any other mechanical systems!

It might seem like overkill to go through the commissioning process, but did you know that Factory Mutual did a study on losses associated with electrical failures? Over 50% of the 766 losses were caused by inadequate maintenance and testing, costing close to $4 million dollars! I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't be happy taking that kind of preventable loss to my bottom line!

Electrical power system commissioning:

• Determines if the components and system have been properly installed and are not damaged
• Reduces downtime
• Reduces risk of equipment failure
• Increases safety
• Improves insurability
• Reduces liability exposure of the designers and installers
• Improves system performance
• Determines whether components and systems operate properly and meet the design intent
• Determines if components and systems are in compliance with the project specifications and design
• Reduces construction schedule delays
• Saves money

So if you have a new or remodelled commercial building, or are installing, upgrading or maintaining your commercial power system, feel free to give us a call and set up an electrical commissioning visit to your site. Make sure you are getting what you pay for, and that your building and systems are functioning according to specifications!

Sources:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/commissioning.html
http://www.powerstudies.com/content/resources/Cx-TypicalProblems.pdf

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans.

May is Roof Scan Month!

Since May is my self-designated “Roof Scan Month”, I wanted to review some of what we’ve covered this month. (Relax, there’s not really a quiz!)

Infrared roof scan inspections can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor and materials.

Benefits of using Infrared Thermography for Roof Scans are:

* Flat roof leak detection for buildings, plants, facilities
* Identify water damaged portions of a roof quickly and accurately
* Eliminate unnecessary replacement of good roofing
* Document problems before the warranty/bond expires
* Locates wet insulation which may indicate a failing roof system
* Identifies areas of heat loss

Infrared technology is used by to detect moisture through temperature differentials across virtually every type of roof surface. Infrared analysis is a non-destructive testing method that quickly identifies both large and small areas of saturation.

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans

Outright Failures Identified by Thermal Scans

This month we are talking about maintenance and how thermal imaging should be an integral part of your building maintenance program. It's easy to tie in how catastrophic equipment failure can hurt your business. It's also easy how to see if your equipment is running at peak, it can save you money.

However, infrared inspections can save you money in other ways. And in today's economy, who doesn't want to cut costs?

* Reduced inventory of maintenance parts
* Labor cost savings by avoiding serious equipment failures

(downtime for labor personnel while equipment is non-functional)
* Energy savings by sealing building leaks
* Savings from decreased downtime through increased output
* Reduced waste and scrap parts by improving equipment operation
* Safer working conditions (reduced injuries to maintenance and operating personnel)


IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Baseline Infrared Imagery

Although I strongly believe in scheduling semi-annual or annual infrared thermography scans as part of your maintenance plan, it is helpful to create a baseline scan for all new equipment as well.

What is a baseline scan? A baseline scan provides baseline data for comparision for subsequent infrared scans. It makes it easier and quicker to troubleshoot potential issues and helps spot problems before they become catastrophic. With baseline scan records, trend analysis of motors and bearings can provide an early warning of impending problems.

Your company invests a substantial amount of money into equipment. To get the best return on that investment, it makes sense to keep that equipment at its peak efficiency - and to have the peace of mind to know it is operating that way from the point of installation. Doesn't it make sense to have a baseline scan done of any new equipment?

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

What is Predictive Maintenance?

I talk alot about thermal imaging being part of a predictive maintenance plan. So what exactly is predictive maintenance? What makes it different from preventative maintenance? And lastly, which is more cost effective - predictive maintenance or preventative maintenance?

What is Predictive Maintenance?

Predictive maintenance is a way to evaluate your current equipment to determine its condition so you can predict the optimimum time to perform maintenance. The goal is to perform maintenance when maintenance activity is most cost-effective and before the equipment loses performance within a threshold. Most Predictive Maintenance inspections are done while your equipment is in service so your normal system operations aren't disrupted. Thermal imaging scans are an ideal way to do predictive maintenance on your equipment.

Predictive Maintenance is different from preventative maintenance which is usually performed on a set schedule based on usage statistics or time. Preventative maintenance is done regularly whether it is needed or not.

Preventative Maintenance is labor intensive, ineffective in identifying problems that develop between scheduled inspections, and therefore is not as cost-effective as Predictive Maintenance. On the other hand, since Predictive Maintenance inspections are performed while your equipment is in service, you minimize the disruption of normal system operations as well as labor costs, result in substantial cost savings and higher system reliability.

Infrared thermography is used for the predictive maintenance of mechanical, electrical, and building diagnostic systems. Some specific examples include:

• motors


• pumps


• bearings


• compressors


• conveyor idlers


• loose connections


• corrosion


• load imbalances

Implementing an infrared thermography program as part of your predictive maintenance is easily justified by its ROI.

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

What is Infrared Thermography?

Recently I talked to someone about how thermography could reduce his maintenance costs for his building and identify structural issues before they become expensive problems. During our conversation, I realized how it is still a relatively new service for many so I thought I'd do a series of blogs explaining what infrared thermography is and why you should incorporate an annual scan into your building maintenance plans.

What is Infrared Thermography?

Simply explained, it is the production of non-contact infrared or heat pictures from which temperature measurements can be made.

IR Infrared Services uses a portable infrared imaging system to take pictures of your building and equipment. Those pictures show levels of heat in color. For example:



This equipment looks perfectly normal to
the naked eye, right?





But an infrared picture shows a dangerous
issue that, if left unfixed, could cause
alot of expensive damage.

Thermal images provide visible pictures for quantitive temperature analysis. You can then take corrective action before costly system failures. This is why Infrared (IR) thermography is a valuable tool for predictive maintanence and process monitoring systems.

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Flat Roofs and Moisture Issues

A friend of mine lives in a condo. The condo is part of a group of buildings with flat roofs. There have been repeated issues with roof leaks over this past winter. The roofers have been out multiple times, fixing the leaks when they show up. Drywallers and painters are a constant fixture. In her frustration, she wondered why they can't just find and fix the roof leaks or why they don't just replace the entire roof. She wonders how much her HOA fees will increase because of the repeated visits from the roofers.

It's stories like this that prove the value of infrared imaging. Often the place where the leak shows up can be very far away from where the actual roof damage exist. As water enters the roof through the waterproofing layer(s) by tears, cuts, poorly sealed penetrations, failed flashings and caps, the insulation below can become laden with water and trapped in the roof substrate. If left in disrepair, the concrete deck absorbs or traps water, the wood deck rots. The metal deck rusts, and water intrudes into the building’s interior. Often the visible signs (wet walls, for example) are not even close to the actual roof damage, so examining the roof above where the leak occurs often reveals nothing. That's not where the problem is.

Infrared imaging is a proven method for identifying and defining moisture problems in your roof. This way you can correct problem areas without the tremendous expense of replacing the entire roof. Next time, I'll explain how this works!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial and residential end users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit www.irinfraredservices.com or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thermalimageguy

Baby It's Cold Out There!

As temperatures continue to drop around the Carolinas, how sure are you that you are not losing precious heat because of unseen heat loss? Rather than put another sweater on (and maybe some gloves and a hat!) consider a thermal imaging scan.

A infrared inspection will inspect the quality of insulation inside your building, as well as numerous other areas where heat loss can occur, such as cracks or breaks in building seals. Temperature scans inside and outside – along ceilings, floors, walls, windows, doors, vents and pipes – immediately show problem areas. A thermal imager with a blower door will quickly locate other sources of heat loss, such as insufficient insulation or broken seals, leaking HVAC ductwork or improper construction techniques.

Another quick hint is that wood alone is NOT a good insulator. Replacing inefficient wood doors with insulated fiberglass or metal doors is a good investment. With energy prices out of sight, replacement costs can be recovered quickly.