Exterior chimney heat loss with FLIR thermal imager.

[Brian26]

Took my FLIR outside this morning to check for outside leaks as it was 3 degrees this morning and knew any heat loss on the exterior would show up well. The heat loss on my exterior chimney is quite evident in the picture. One good thing about my chimney setup is the other side is completely exposed in my house as the ceiling goes to the roof line. I shot the interior as well and its radiating the same heat back inside.

I also discovered that I need to insulate my basement foundation. It was glowing red. I was actually picking up heat on the snow a foot away from it.

Also, the temperature sensor does not seem to be accurate outside when it's 3 degrees.

 

[chance04]

Yikes. I'd hate to see what place looks like. Where did you get a FLIR?

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[Brian26]

Yikes. I'd hate to see what place looks like. Where did you get a FLIR?

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FLIR makes a $200 unit called Flir One that attaches to your smartphone. Its worth every penny as what you can see with it is amazing. Mine has probably paid for itself many times over. I saved a small fortune in energy costs when I used it to find my HVAC return in my wall cavity was wide open into my attic. My AC was literally pulling 100+ degree attic air in on the return side. Same thing in the winter with cold air. It has since been fixed and confirmed with the flir.

http://www.flir.com/flirone/

 

[Destructor]

Can clearly see your smoke chamber and flues. After a light snow driving around it's easy to see heat loss through roofs around town. One can often see how a roof was framed as the snow over framing members is the last to melt.

 

[laynes69]

I have a Seek thermal can, and it's amazing what they find. In these sub zero temperatures, it's easy to find the trouble areas of the home.

 

[begreen]

That's pretty dramatic. It really illustrates heat loss through the foundation. This is why I tell folks with stoves in uninsulated basements that they are wasting a lot of wood.

Do you have an insert in the fireplace? Was it burning at the time?

 

[kevreh]

That’s a cool tool. How else can it be used around the house?

 

[firefighterjake]

That’s a cool tool. How else can it be used around the house?

Well you can use it on your wife/girlfriend/significant other and be able to say "According to the FLIR you are wicked hot."

 

[firefighterjake]

Well you can use it on your wife/girlfriend/significant other and be able to say "According to the FLIR you are wicked hot."

Firefighters use a similar thermal imager . . . we tend to use it for search and rescue (it allows us to see images through the smoke) and to find hidden, smoldering fires. It is quite useful for finding smoldering fires behind walls so we don't have to tear down half of the home's walls to search for a small fire. We also can use it for bad ballasts in lights.

 

[Brian26]

That's pretty dramatic. It really illustrates heat loss through the foundation. This is why I tell folks with stoves in uninsulated basements that they are wasting a lot of wood.

Do you have an insert in the fireplace? Was it burning at the time?

I have a Drolet 1800 insert in the fireplace. Liner is not insulated but I stuffed as much roxul as I could up top and down below. I also have a block off plate installed. I have been burning it for 5 years and the liner is always clean with minimal buildup.

The basement is unfinished and more just used for storage. I may look into insulating it somehow. What do people usually do? Glue some foam board insulation on it or something?

 

[Brian26]

That’s a cool tool. How else can it be used around the house?

It has a ton of uses. I just used it recently when I was running low on home heating oil. I heated the side of the tank with a blowdryer and you can see the exact level of oil in the tank. The purple just below the bottom of the 53 was the oil level.

 

[Sprinter]

Firefighters use a similar thermal imager . . . we tend to use it for search and rescue (it allows us to see images through the smoke) and to find hidden, smoldering fires. It is quite useful for finding smoldering fires behind walls so we don't have to tear down half of the home's walls to search for a small fire. We also can use it for bad ballasts in lights.

Yeah, I wish we had something like that when I was doing it but we didn't. Looking for victims, hot spots, preventing the dreaded "R" word (rekindles) etc. Would have been a real asset.

 

[peakbagger]

A very popular use for flir in industrial locations is to scan circuit panels. Frequently bad connections will pop up as they are high resistance and get warm. They usually scan prior to an outage and then go in while its de-energized to check the hot connections. Unfortunately the connections are only hot if the circuit it live.

 

[maple1]

I saw the same thing from my basement walls when I was taking pics with mine last winter.

 

[firefighterjake]

It has a ton of uses. I just used it recently when I was running low on home heating oil. I heated the side of the tank with a blowdryer and you can see the exact level of oil in the tank. The purple just below the bottom of the 53 was the oil level.
View attachment 220800

I look at the gauge . . . and just for fun use a dip stick with marks on it. Low tech vs. high tech . . . we both get the same results though, right?

 

[DickRussell]

...
The basement is unfinished and more just used for storage. I may look into insulating it somehow. What do people usually do? Glue some foam board insulation on it or something?

Start your reading here: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/how-insulate-basement-wall

 

[allan5oh]

Use spray foam for your rim hoist that should help substantially with heat loss around the foundation