Mucho Advice Needed

[RAY THOROMAN]

If I want to offer home inspection scans, moisture scans, energy audits, electrical scans, HVAC scans, what would be the best camera you'd recommend? I can do withOUT offering roof scans if it means a less expensive or less resolution camera. And less training.


Do you recommend offering energy aduits without BPI or RESNET Certifications? If not, could I get certified in one or another? Which is better?


John M., would you recommend offering energy audits after completing your course only, or just home inspection thermal imaging?


It seems the majority do NOT use blower doors, is that correct? Do I need one? What blower door do you recommend?


A few level one courses I checked into recommend that I purchase a camera and bring it with me. Did you guys buy the camera first or after training?

[rbibler]

Spend the money T400 You only cry once. and then every time you pick up that camera you will smile Dude nice Camera.

Best

Ron

[Brandon Clark]

I agree! It seems that for every extra amount of money you invest in a camera your opening that much more room for opportunity.

It cost's over $25,000 just to buy the rights to open a Dippin Dots Ice Cream Booth. That's not for anything but the rights to use the name and product.

An $8-$10K investment is NOTHING for a business start-up!

The Infrared Inspection industry is one of the few industry's you can realistically profit $40K+ in the first year(if you know how to market). Your camera is your only substantially large investment needed to get started. I look at it like a business investment. The more your willing to put into the business in the beginning than the more your offering yourself out to the possibilities of more income.

Do yourself a favor and buy the best camera you can possibly afford because if you don't than your just going to wish you did. It's going to cost you way more than you saved in the beginning to upgrade after your first year not to mention possibly missing some opportunities. This is all just my opinion. We may be on two very different wave-lengths or thought patterns so please don't take this is me trying to tell you what you need or something of that nature.

This is just the advice I plan on offering myself once I get done with my nuclear powered time travel machine.

Best of luck. I'd say 320 x 240 resolution should be on your lists of requirements.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by rthoroman

If I want to offer home inspection scans, moisture scans, energy audits, electrical scans, HVAC scans, what would be the best camera you'd recommend? I can do withOUT offering roof scans if it means a less expensive or less resolution camera. And less training.


Do you recommend offering energy aduits without BPI or RESNET Certifications? If not, could I get certified in one or another? Which is better?


John M., would you recommend offering energy audits after completing your course only, or just home inspection thermal imaging?


It seems the majority do NOT use blower doors, is that correct? Do I need one? What blower door do you recommend?


A few level one courses I checked into recommend that I purchase a camera and bring it with me. Did you guys buy the camera first or after training?

I tell all my students to call me when they have a list of complex
questions. It requires some discussion to wade through your
questions (which will lead to even more questions).

936-546-2435

[William R. DeVries, CMHI]

Originally Posted by rbibler

Spend the money T400 You only cry once. and then every time you pick up that camera you will smile Dude nice Camera.

Best

Ron

I can agree with this statement, I had a Bcam and upgraded two years later and I should have bought the t400 first. Now I am leagues ahead of where I was and can scan so much more with better information coming back to me via the screen and pictures.

A bigger bite will make your commitment that much more powerful, along with you may be the best camera in your area which will set you apart from the get go, with th better camera your starting point may be most others maximum topend.

[James H. Bushart]

As far as an energy audit is concerned....a thermal scan without a blower door test is meaningless.

The purpose of an energy audit is to determine for the client the most effective and least costly methods of reducing his loss of conditioned air (in addition to improving comfort levels and eliminating moisture intrusion).

The first and foremost cause of conditioned air loss is air leakage. Air leakage is not an insulation issue and air bypasses can be found anywhere in the room, although they are typically located at the top or bottom.

Air leakage can be measured and quantified by a blower door. Sometimes, but not always, it can be observed with an IR camera. Observing it does little in an energy audit, for the fact that the air leak exists is already a given before you arrive at the address. For every one you are able to see with the IR camera, there are many others that you cannot....but must still be addressed.

The blower door test will also alert the auditor to the need for the addition of mechanical air. Finding air leaks with IR cameras and sealing them without a measurement of the affect that it has on the air exchange rate could actually create deadly carbon monoxide issues. It is also done AFTER the contractor has performed his work to measure the effectiveness of his work by comparing the "before and after" tests.

"Hey, you can use some insulation over here...." is not an energy audit. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to either sell you a camera or a training class.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

"Air leakage can be measured and quantified by a blower door. Sometimes, but not always, it can be observed with an IR camera. Observing it does little in an energy audit, for the fact that the air leak exists is already a given before you arrive at the address. For every one you are able to see with the IR camera, there are many others that you cannot....but must still be addressed."

Geez......John M., IR guru, is not going to want to see this.......the truth!! When air leakage is quantified, it helps determine where to better expend your energies and retrofit $$$.

A furnace/boiler efficiency test is another item that should be included in every energy audit. Without knowing how the biggest energy user in many homes (in heating dominated areas) is operating, you're also guessing at where to spend your $$$.

BTW:
James: I see you're now BPI certifed. Looks like an intensive and wide ranging treatment of energy, housing, auditing, IAQ, etc. At Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1989, I took a "Train-the-Trainer" course in the "House-as-a-System" under Laverne Dalgleish, past president and a current director of BPI

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by Brian A. MacNeish

"Air leakage can be measured and quantified by a blower door. Sometimes, but not always, it can be observed with an IR camera. Observing it does little in an energy audit, for the fact that the air leak exists is already a given before you arrive at the address. For every one you are able to see with the IR camera, there are many others that you cannot....but must still be addressed."

Geez......John M., IR guru, is not going to want to see this.......the truth!! When air leakage is quantified, it helps determine where to better expend your energies and rertofit $$$.

A furnace/boiler efficiency test is another item that should be included in every energy audit. Without knowing how the biggest energy user in many homes (in heating dominated areas) is operating, you're also guessing at where to spend your $$$.

BTW:
James: I see you're now BPI certifed. Looks like like an intensive and wide ranging treatment of energy, housing, auditing, IAQ, etc. At Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1989, I took a "Train-the-Trainer" course in the "House-as-a-System" under Laverne Dalgleish, past president and a current director of BPI

RESNET and BPI energy audits require blower doors. That is
common knowledge. Home inspections do not.

yawn....

[James H. Bushart]

I was addressing the author of the thread's interest in "energy audits".

[John McKenna]

I was addressing Brian.

[Jason Kaylor]

Originally Posted by jbushart

"Hey, you can use some insulation over here...." is not an energy audit. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to either sell you a camera or a training class.

Good stuff, James. I am glad to see you guys going the extra step and bringing on BPI/Resnet in to your certification pool. There are a few guys on here that were ahead of the curve about 18 months ago and the nay sayers were all over them. Now a days the BPI/Resnet training discussions are more people looking for the training.

Here is another situation that is never covered in ANY IR training. A house is under a natural -5pa pressure (except the CAZ) and we have a perfect IR day with a 20F delta T. Now the air leakage should be very apparent to the camera (almost any camera). The home owner is a really motivated greenie type and decides to seal up all of the infiltration issues found by the IR scan and adds more insulation. Basically sealing the house down. Meanwhile the CAZ was already a mess with CO issues, before the structure was sealed down.

Is the IR inspector on the hook if someone dies? I don't see how they would not be.

Nick, there might be some sort of training you can put together to keep inspectors from falling in to a situation like that.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15609437





JJ

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by jkaylor

Good stuff, James. I am glad to see you guys going the extra step and bringing on BPI/Resnet in to your certification pool. There are a few guys on here that were ahead of the curve about 18 months ago and the nay sayers were all over them. Now a days the BPI/Resnet training discussions are more people looking for the training.

Here is another situation that is never covered in ANY IR training. A house is under a natural -5pa pressure (except the CAZ) and we have a perfect IR day with a 20F delta T. Now the air leakage should be very apparent to the camera (almost any camera). The home owner is a really motivated greenie type and decides to seal up all of the infiltration issues found by the IR scan and adds more insulation. Basically sealing the house down. Meanwhile the CAZ was already a mess with CO issues, before the structure was sealed down.

Is the IR inspector on the hook if someone dies? I don't see how they would not be.

Nick, there might be some sort of training you can put together to keep inspectors from falling in to this exact situation.

JJ

In my opinion, any auditor or contractor who recommends and/or retrofits a house in such a manner as to cause damaging CO issues is liable to the survivors for a wrongful death suit.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by jbushart

In my opinion, any auditor or contractor who recommends and/or retrofits a house in such a manner as to cause damaging CO issues is liable to the survivors for a wrongful death suit.

Should be some sort of liability. This is not new stuff. I have a training manual dated 1992 on house depressurization limits to prevent backdrafting and CO spillage!!

[James H. Bushart]

Somehow, I think this Minnesota lawyer will agree with you.

[John McKenna]

Do-It-Yourself Home Energy Assessments

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_hom.../mytopic=11170


Question:

How much liability does the gov't have telling people how they can seal the leaks in their own house (while providing just a casual warning about toxic gas issues.) ?

Should everyone avoid telling people to read the gov't website now?

Originally Posted by DOE Website

When in doubt, contact your local utility company, energy professional, or ventilation contractor.

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_hom.../mytopic=11170

Is the above warning enough to protect someone who tells people to read the government's website?

Originally Posted by DOE Website

Sealing Air Leaks

https://www1.eere.energy.gov/consume...air_leaks.html

I don't see any warnings on the above page.




You can order the above booklet from the gov't.
Are non RESNET and BPI inspectors allowed to read this?

The above sources of information supply info on how to find air leaks without a blower door. Are they allowed to reveal that kind of information? Will millions die now? Are people allowed to weatherize their own home and save money?

Note: I do not sell IR cameras, RESNET/BPI energy audits, blower doors,... or energy audit certifications. If you do, please reveal that in your post.

I sell an IR class and help people cut through the fog, save money and find balance regardless of who gets mad. I am a home inspector who also makes realtors mad. My students and my clients love me for the truth. That is all that matters.