by Jay Bowen
Instructor – ITC Level III

At one time or another, almost all windows and roofs leak, which can be a huge problem because of the concerns about molds in the home. Molds and decay organisms need water to grow, and the growth can be inside the walls, out of view.

Flashing is one of the most critical details of construction and is often improperly installed. It is the component that keeps water from entering joints between dissimilar building materials or other locations subject to water penetration. A large number of construction problems are water issues that can many times be traced back to the omission of or incorrect installation of roof and wall flashing.

In this narrative, Jay Bowen relates a true story about how leaks can go from bad to worse with the wrong contractor.

One of the most frequently asked questions we get from our students and readers is "How much do consultants charge for IR inspection services?"

This groundbreaking survey is intended to provide you with the answers. The results of this survey will be made available only to fully opted-in subscribers of this newsletter residing in the United States, and should prove invaluable to you for both pricing and marketing your services. We are planning to start sending results later this month.

You can use your personalized update link to ensure you are fully opted-in. Just make sure all parts of the update form have been filled out. This link can be found at the bottom of every message we send to you.

Since service pricing depends on many factors around the world, we have decided to conduct several surveys for different world regions. The next one will be for Canadian thermographers.

For many years the scientific, range and phenomenology, and research market has seen major advancements in thermal imaging systems used to identify, measure, and track the heat signatures/energy signatures of various sources, both friendly and foe.

We've heard many of you who work in this field refer to yourselves as "range rats." And, for years, we've also seen that there is a real community of range rats, but no meeting place or portal for you to post information on upcoming industry events, to share ideas, tips-and-tricks or to provide an online community. FLIR Systems is proud to present www.rangerats.org as the meeting place for all RangeRats.

Straight from the World Wide Web, here is what's going on in the world of infrared thermography.

• NEWS OF THE WEIRD
  Macon Telegraph, GA - Feb 3, 2006
  ... shuffling noise, and "Mary Poppins" in Wisconsin moved between walls and ceiling for five days before homeowners tracked her down with thermal-imaging equipment ...

• Energy Smart
  Upstate House, New York - Jan 23, 2006
  ... With an infrared camera, he scans the walls for cold spots where insulation was improperly installed. And he tests the boiler's efficiency. ...

• BMW vehicles to sport "Night Vision"
  Mobilemag.com - Jan 26, 2006
  ... automaker announced on Wednesday. Thermal imaging is the power behind infrared sensors that "see" objects ahead. The images "seen ...

• Local volcanologist buzzing about Augustine eruption
  Alaska Star, AK - Jan 26, 2006
  ... seismic instruments on the volcano were recording a number of small steam explosions and airborne gas measurements and thermal imaging measurements were ...

• The World's First ATEX Certified Infrared Sightglasses and Windows
  Emediawire (press release), WA - Jan 17, 2006
  ... The Ex-PORT is understood to be the first of its kind to get such certification, confirming Hawk IR's status as a world leader in electrical thermography. ...

• Putting on the Brakes
  Washington Post, United States - Jan 15, 2006
  ... Called a thermal imager, it would tell him the condition of the brakes, the source of most violations: A white glow meant good. No glow meant bad. ...

• Thermal Imaging Systems Detect Fevers
  Government Technology, CA - Jan 12, 2006
  Thermal imaging cameras will be used to quickly detect the presence of fever in ... Both customers chose the FLIR ThermaCam A20 system, which offers software ...

• Camera has outstanding thermal sensitivity
  Manufacturing Talk, UK - Jan 12, 2006
  ... is the most highly evolved thermal imaging system available ... purchase of a P65HSV Infrared camera - a $17,000 ... Thermography products support such applications as ...

• Thermovision infrared cameras win innovation award
  Laboratory Talk, UK - Jan 11, 2006
  ... A-series cameras are uncooled, compact, lightweight thermal imaging systems designed ... mounted infrared cameras', says Guy Pas, Flir Thermography division vice ...

• Camera helps spot emissions leaks at plants
  Baytown Sun, TX - Jan 9, 2006
  HOUSTON — A leading manufacturer of an infrared camera used to spot emission leaks at plants was in Houston on Monday showcasing the $73,000 camera the ...

Here is a selection of recent new threads by IR Community members. Feel free to click the links, see how people have responded, and post your own response if you like.

• New! GasFindIR and VOC emissions
  A forum for the discussion of topics relevant to locating volatile organic compound emissions using the FLIR GasFindIR camera.

• Fiberglass Tank Inspection
  We began to wonder if we could use the EX320 to inspect several large fiberglass tanks to look for structural degradation or flaws. There is enough temperature differential between ambient air and the incoming process liquid, that we'd speculate that it might be possible to scan for thin spots or weakness in the tank. Anyone have any experience or success in doing this type of inspection?

• Lock-in Thermography
  I have read many articles about Lockin Thermography that its Amplitude and Phase could be determined in steady-state mode. Does anyone have experience about this, please help giving me some advice.

• ThermaGRAM Board for Thermacam PM250
  I am looking to buy / borrow / rent a Thermagram computer board and cable to analyze some data stored on 8mm video tape. We own a Inframetrics Thermacam PM250. Or if someone knows how to retrieve data and scales from the tape, our software cuts off the range bar which is needed for calibrated data. Please call John - 203-384-7057

• Detecting Selective Leaching in Gray Cast Iron
  Does anyone have any past experience in using thermography to detect selective leaching in gray cast iron?

• Stainless Steel Tanks
  I was wondering has anyone out there used a thermal imaging camera to carry out corrosion and stress analysis on stainless steel tanks. I have only used the camera for Electrical inspection and wondered could I use it for this particular application and how successful would it be, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

• Is it supposed to be a thermal bridge?
  I took this pic inside a house. And I am not sure of what it can be? An advice please

• Leak Detection Spray Rack
  I am trying to find information on either buying a spray rack or direction on how to build one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

And of course if YOU have a question or want to start a discussion on a topic, we would love to hear from you. Just post a new thread on a message board.

Brainteaser of the Month 

Here is this month's brainteaser. Readers who email us the correct identification and explanation of the thermal pattern in the thermogram are entered into a drawing to win a prize from ITC.

Please put "Brainteaser" as the subject of the message.

Click here to email your guess

Do you have an interesting image that you think would challenge other thermographers? If so please email me your image (preferably in native .img, .jpg, .tif, .tgw, or .tmw format) with an accompanying visible photo and explanation. If your image is used, you receive a gift as well.

Last Month's Brainteaser

Last month's brainteaser shows the thermal imprint left by a sleeping cat after it moved to another location. Congratulations to our winner Dan Simon of GM. Now I know many of you know Dan, he's been in the IR business a long time. Its nice to see one of the masters win a prize!

And thanks to our thermogram contributor, none other than our own Jay Bowen. Dan gets his own low emissivity traveling coffee mug.

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