Thermal Imaging Training / Classes

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by Phil Henderson

Hmmm.....my first post shows me as a "non-member" .....must have missed something on the profile. Where's the complaint dept. ?

Welcome to NACHI, Phil. Warts and all

Andy;

I also took courses at Snell. Good guys and very knowledgable. From my background (physics and medical imaging) they seemed to be able to adopt and adapt their teaching.

But, I believe, that thermal imaging, specifically tailored to our field, is still in development. That's why I am working with iNACHI and John and Northwestern University to put such a course together.

Check out the Boulder class in May. John and I will be teaching.

Hope this helps;

[Kevin A. Richardson]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Do you have Additional requirements to remain Level (any) certified with the provider you went with?

My provider promotes 1-2 yrs of field experience between certification Levels so you can better grasp what it's all about. If I take Level II today, my Level I 2yr certification restarts the clock to today.

Both of my Level I and II certifications were taken at The Infraspection Institute. Once you have attended the required 32 hours of instruction and passed the final exam, you are awarded the certification level. After that, there are no further requirements.

It is up to the individual graduate to advance his/her career and experience through various means, such as on the job trianing, work experience, continuing education, etc.

I'm not sure I follow the logic of waiting two full years to take the Level II course. I'm not against the idea, just do not understand the logic. Level II expands on the theory learned in Level I and then takes it a step further and includes "accurate" temperature measurement. After taking the Level II class, I know how to calculate reflectance, emittance, and transmittance in order to take "accurate" tempertaure measurements. I also was taught how to "calibrate" my own camera.

Level II is not rocket science, but it was no walk in the park either. It cover advanced IR theory, physics, algebraic calculations, and temperature conversions. It was very challenging!

I thought it was more beneficial for me to take the Level II soon after the Level I so that the theory was still fresh in my mind. Whatever works for you

Kevin

[Kevin A. Richardson]

Originally Posted by wdecker

Welcome to NACHI, Phil. Warts and all

Andy;

I also took courses at Snell. Good guys and very knowledgable. From my background (physics and medical imaging) they seemed to be able to adopt and adapt their teaching.

But, I believe, that thermal imaging, specifically tailored to our field, is still in development. That's why I am working with iNACHI and John and Northwestern University to put such a course together.

Check out the Boulder class in May. John and I will be teaching.

Hope this helps;

Hey Will,

What course did you take from Snell? Have you taken any of thier webinars? If so, how did you like it?

Kevin

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by Phil Henderson

Hmmm.....my first post shows me as a "non-member" .....must have missed something on the profile. Where's the complaint dept. ?

Phil,

Hi, good to see you.

Sign in to the message baord and your membership status will show up...

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Snell, ITA, ITC, - anybody got more feedback on those OR others.

Have little bit of consrtuction background in home building and commercial construction. Have a few years home inspection experience. EDI certified for moisture intrusion / stucco testing. Do a few EIFS / Stucco / Moisture / Mold inspections and a few court cases on moisture intrusion or defects each year.

So question #1 is Level I or Bldg Science?

Question #2 is - thoughts on Training? I have been to way too many classes over the years where many of the students knew more about ..... than the instructor. These classes are way too costly to get into that situation.

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

Next thought.

Buy TiR / $4200.

Go to class learning camera use, interpretation & other goodies. $1500 +/-

Travel, Food & Lodging. $0 if close to home OR $1,000 if not.

Loss of Inspection Income for 3-4 days @ minimum $800 p/day = $2400 to $3200

Total Output = $8100 to $14,000

Thats a butt-load of jobs in the midwest just to break even, before you start making money.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by dbowers

Next thought.

Buy TiR / $4200.

Go to class learning camera use, interpretation & other goodies. $1500 +/-

Travel, Food & Lodging. $0 if close to home OR $1,000 if not.

Loss of Inspection Income for 3-4 days @ minimum $800 p/day = $2400 to $3200

Total Output = $8100 to $14,000

Thats a butt-load of jobs in the midwest just to break even, before you start making money.

Very true.

[David A. Andersen]

Originally Posted by krichardson

Both of my Level I and II certifications were taken at The Infraspection Institute. Once you have attended the required 32 hours of instruction and passed the final exam, you are awarded the certification level. After that, there are no further requirements.

Kevin, I was awaiting your completion to get the scoop. Not picking on the provider, just want to know for me.

ITC requires class attendance, two quizzes, a final and a field exercise to be completed in 90 days. All are weighted as to final certification. (just for any one's info.)

It is up to the individual graduate to advance his/her career and experience through various means, such as on the job training, work experience, continuing education, etc.

ITC requires CEU's in two years to remain certified. This can be through the next Level, other related training, or writing a paper to be published.

I'm not sure I follow the logic of waiting two full years to take the Level II course. I'm not against the idea, just do not understand the logic. Level II expands on the theory learned in Level I and then takes it a step further and includes "accurate" temperature measurement. After taking the Level II class, I know how to calculate reflectance, emittance, and transmittance in order to take "accurate" tempertaure measurements. I also was taught how to "calibrate" my own camera.

The "up to two years" experience is to use the next Level Class to remain certified. For those working for a company, this may coincide with employment advancement. They suggest this additional experience (not require it) before taking the next level to learn by doing. As I said before, the 2 yrs I have under Level I will end when you are certified Level II.


Level II is not rocket science, but it was no walk in the park either. It cover advanced IR theory, physics, algebraic calculations, and temperature conversions. It was very challenging!

I'm waiting to hear from Charlie B when he finishes Level II.
You posted that Level I was qualitative and Level II was quantitative. I found ITC BS qualitative and Level I Quantitative (though not as advanced as Level II is likely to be). I don't even remember anything about "Qualitative" in Level I. We had the high power switch gear guys in class and they work off of exact temps. One thing I noticed in Level I was that there was about $600k more camera in class than in BS.

I thought it was more beneficial for me to take the Level II soon after the Level I so that the theory was still fresh in my mind. Whatever works for you

I felt I had time to let things sink in and do after course study. Things that were not fully covered in BS left many questions which I felt working up the Levels would (and is) answering.
Kevin

Level II is not rocket science,

Our Level I WAS!
Bob Roberts did all kinds of work at NASA!

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Our Level I WAS!
Bob Roberts did all kinds of work at NASA!

David I also had Bob Roberts as my level one instructor he is the Senior instructor as listed in the front of the training manual, very knowledgeable. He stated there are only 50 ASTM certified level 3 thermographers in the United States.

What I don't understand in reference to what I was told this last weekend from a friend of mine who has been doing Infrared since 1994 and was trained by Snell he stated he was a level 3 thermographer as to Snell standards but was not a level 3 ASTM. ITC certification is according to ASTM standards with the 3 levels of training. Not sure if I understood exactly what he was talking about I am going to pursue this information and go to Snell's training site and see if there training qualifies for ASTM or not. Have not had the time yet perhaps someone else can chime in on this.

BTW I have my level 2 training seat confirmed by ITC in Dallas the last of April and have done something that might be of intrest to others wanting training from ITC. I asked for my training manual to be sent to my home pryor to the start of the class to get a jump start on my reading and Dr Bob has agreed to this but ITC is in the process of re-writing the level 2 manual so I have not received the up-dated manual as of yet.
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[Mathew Hawley]

Charley,

Great idea about getting the manual sent prior to the class.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by cbottger

David I also had Bob Roberts as my level one instructor...

Actually, his name is Bob Rogers... http://www.infraredtraining.com/about/team_america.asp

I enjoyed his knowledge in the course too.

[John McKenna]

Originally Posted by cbottger

David I also had Bob Roberts as my level one instructor he is the Senior instructor as listed in the front of the training manual, very knowledgeable. He stated there are only 50 ASTM certified level 3 thermographers in the United States.

What I don't understand in reference to what I was told this last weekend from a friend of mine who has been doing Infrared since 1994 and was trained by Snell he stated he was a level 3 thermographer as to Snell standards but was not a level 3 ASTM. ITC certification is according to ASTM standards with the 3 levels of training. Not sure if I understood exactly what he was talking about I am going to pursue this information and go to Snell's training site and see if there training qualifies for ASTM or not. Have not had the time yet perhaps someone else can chime in on this.

BTW I have my level 2 training seat confirmed by ITC in Dallas the last of April and have done something that might be of intrest to others wanting training from ITC. I asked for my training manual to be sent to my home pryor to the start of the class to get a jump start on my reading and Dr Bob has agreed to this but ITC is in the process of re-writing the level 2 manual so I have not received the up-dated manual as of yet.
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I think you mean ASNT, not ASTM.

ASNT approved the Level I, II, III courses, but ASNT does not certify
anyone personally except NDT Level III only.

So when a person says they took an ASNT approved coure, that does
not mean that ASNT certified them, or their methods, or anything to
do with their home inspection. Some use these terms in error.

The normal home inspection is not done by any of these standards anyway.

[David A. Andersen]

Thanks Larry,

Damn it! Too much Irish stuff going on around here this week!

Yes, Bob could pull some stuff off the top of his head!
Got me going on some Ham Radio stuff ( that you don't want to know about)!

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Thanks Larry,

Damn it! Too much Irish stuff going on around here this week!

Yes, Bob could pull some stuff off the top of his head!
Got me going on some Ham Radio stuff ( that you don't want to know about)!

Yes thanks Larry Double dammit just typed what David said without thinking
his name of course is Rogers hope he don't follow this BB. He also teaches night school for electronics

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

I think you mean ASNT, not ASTM.

ASNT approved the Level I, II, III courses, but ASNT does not certify
anyone personally except NDT Level III only.

So when a person says they took an ASNT approved coure, that does
not mean that ASNT certified them, or their methods, or anything to
do with their home inspection. Some use these terms in error.

The normal home inspection is not done by any of these standards anyway.

John I stand corrected was looking in my book at the wrong page. but the point I was trying to make was there appears to be more than one level 3 catagory available going to have investigate further. I don't understand All I think I know about this

BTW when I have a camera in my hand I am not doing a NORMAL inspection