certification questions

[Mark Leuthold]

Gentleman,

I have some generic questions regarding certifications within the world of infrared thermography. I have been a certified HERS rater for 3+ years. I purchased a camera (Fluke TiN1) about a year ago.

I have been hired by industrial entities to find compromises in building and thermal envelopes. The local utility companies have also my retained services for "problem" houses. Using the blower door in conjunction with the camera is a very powerful method for diagnosing envelope issues.

I would like to thank the postings and individuals participating on this discussion board for my informal education over the past 6 months. Your conversations, discussions, experience, and wisdom has helped tremendously from my very ignorant beginnings in infrared.

My question is as follows:

I am very interested in completing some level of certification. An understanding was starting to form in my mind but confusion has no taken hold. Blind ignorance is no longer my problem just sorting through what may or may not be redundancy or necessity. What are the advantages, differences, credibility, liabilities, etc. associated with infrared certified, Level I certification, Snell certified, "John McKenna certified", "2-day free Denver seminar certified", etc?

I appreciate everything this board has done thus far and look forward to any help or direction in answering my question(s)? Thank you in advance for any feedback.

Mark Leuthold

[ldapkus]

You are dealing with building science. Go for the building science thermographer certification through FLIR or Snell.

[Jason Kaylor]

I would say neither of those Mark. Call Lauren over at Clean Edison 212.659.3658. They have developed a speciality class that meets the new Resnet (HERS) standard and the one that BPI will more than likely adopt as well. The class is currently done through FLIR ITC, but other facilities will be bringing it on in the future. Right now that class is in the $750 ballpark, it might be $895....I forget, but I know it is less than $1,000. It is a speciality class that really addresses the use of a blower door/duct blaster in conjunction with an infrared camera. I would also assume it covers doing IR on combustable equipment. I know that combustion is not part of a HERS rating, but because of the potential of a BPI HERS rater coming in the future I would image the class would cover IR applications for that as well.

Using a blower door during an IR inspection creates some unique environments, that generally, make infrared diagnostics a lot easier. It can also create some unique issue that can potantially lead to mis-diagnostics (false positives). So for a HERS rater or a BPI rater that is not already infrared trained I highly recommend doing an infrared class that is part of a BPI or Resnet training facility, like Clean Edison (or similiar)

Jason Kaylor – JJ
VP of Specialty Products
877/207-1244
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