Radiant heating question

How do you guys check in slab or below floor radiant heating systems to ensure they are producing heat in the rooms they service if you cannot access the piping? I imagine a thermal imaging camera would do well here but I don’t own one.

You need one In your tool bag

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Nice! Very Nice!

If I did more homes that had this type of heating system I might invest in one. In the meantime, can I borrow yours?:smiley:

seven inspections with radiant in the last month here, and 3 I would not have got with out the ir because people are doing their homework and the other 4 I would have to say “I think the heat works” with out it. I see alot of kitchen and bath with recent renos having the nuheat electric under the ceramic, clients are very happy to see the results. Charley’s right…

Sure I have 3 which one do you want

Never needed one to see if the radiant heat operated properly. Nice toy, though. Waiting for the $999 model.

How could you spot a leak? or a bad install? I will try and find a pic from last year when I brought Bill Devries in for one in a new house. Unless Bill sees this and has it handy. Without the ir there would be no way to have helped the owner.

I would love to see that pic if you can find it.

Pics are in the report, pdf from Home Inspector Pro. Won’t copy and paste for me because it’s secured. Not sure how to do this. Homeowner was screwed by dirty contractor, still not solved and contractor is pretty much bankrupt so not sure how it will work out.

Got it.
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Pics from Bill Devries of Magnum Property Inspections.
Thanks for your help on this one Billy!

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As I see it, you are providing an additional service to the inspection and…hopefully…charging an additional fee for it in exchange for the additional liability.

There is no requirement (nor client expectation) for such service as part of a standard home inspection.

There is when they call up asking for it… (as posted)

Not true.

When they ask for it, it is an additional service ADDED to a standard inspection which…hopefully…you are adding an additional fee.

You Probably will have to wait until the price is $25.00 before you can afford one with over 16000 post on this board there is no time for you to do inspections I would not want you to be without grocery money;-):wink:

You must not be too good at calculating math, bud. Been a full time inspector since 2004. I just spent over $8000 on some new equipment (blower door, combustion analyzer and a few other meters) a few months ago…but did not consider your fancy flashlight (aka IR camera) to be essential.

You are a fraud, by the way. Now that you have your new toy, you advertise to the public that all other inspectors(just like you, two years ago) are not doing the whole job.

Before you were telling people that they were not doing a full home inspection without an IR camera (I think you bought yours around the same time as McKKKenna did)…you (a retired HVAC tech) were telling people that they were not doing a full home inspection without performing a service call on their HVAC unit.

You love yourself waaaaaaaayyyy too much, but still your insecurity and need to be “better” than others reeks with your every post.

By the way, you charge for a 2500 sq ft house what most of us do for a 1200 sq ft condo…but I especially like how you tell people that they are NOT getting a full inspection without IR imaging, then you offer to provide them with a $350 for a 2500 sq ft house WITHOUT IR imaging. Why would you want to list an inspection and price an inspection that you say is no good? Especially so cheap?

But then…we all charge what we are worth. Your low prices are right in line, IMO.

Have fun with your toy, Charley…and have fun thinking how much better it makes you than others to have one…but don’t try to convince anyone smarter than you (which is just about everybody) that your toys make you a better home inspector.

Like I said, when they get down to the price that I think they are worth, I’ll buy one. When I do, I’ll still charge more than you, as do most of your competitors.

Meanwhile, instead of trying to tell others how bad they are…try improving yourself. Here is something you won’t find with an IR camera that reflects upon you to the public as an inspector…your bio with Active Rain.

This shames an entire profession. If you don’t recognize the spelling and grammar errors, find a second grader and ask him to help you rewrite this. Judging as to how this bio was presented to real estate professionals with the intent to be referred by them, I shudder to think what one of your reports must look like. Is that the idea of IR photos…to take the reader’s attention away from the fact that your reports are written in crayon? It makes sense why you would sell them so cheap.

Pretty typical post for you why are you being so nice for a change

Actually Jim that particular one was not a standard home inspection, I was called in because they were paying $700 per month the first winter in propane, brand new house and they paid alot extra to have this system installed, I didn’t have the camera then so i called Bill in. I was convinced that day that I would get one, took another year and now 10 months later I wouldn’t do an inspection without it. Yes I did add $75 to each inspection for it. I have also been called by contractors that are working in house with radiant to help them find the tubing before drilling etc. Found a separated 6" run for the master bedroom in a drywalled garage ceiling during a 30 day inspection in a brand new house, received a $50 tip and a bottle of scotch on top of my fee for that one. I can hardly wait to upgrade next year to get deeper into it with flat roof inspections.
… I think IR will be standard in home inspections in the next couple of years, like I said people are doing their homework.

Because this is in the public domain for Google to search. I bit my tongue the whole time I was typing it.

Charles Pay no attention to Bushy he has been against IR from the get go He drops down in the tech threads and tries to impress people with his knowledge of which he has very little. Can you just imagine the time it takes to Post over 16K post on this board how in Gods creation would one have the time to do any inspections.

Glad to see you have an interest and yes I personally think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Maybe…and that would be a shame for the home inspector who spends more than a grand for his camera…for it to be considered ONLY another part of a standard inspection instead of an EXTRA service for which he can charge more.

Right now, with the skill levels being as widely varied as the style of cameras, the public’s only assurance is that no two IR camera scans are likely to produce the same report.

I’ll use my $1K camera to assist me like I use my moisture meter and other expensive tools as I conduct my SOP inspection. If I were to pay more than that for my camera…I would certainly want to do more (and charge more) than a basic home inspection.

Charley is doing a complete home inspection…with a complete internal and external IR scanning…for $450 on a 2500 sq ft house. If that is the future of IR cameras, there is not much of a future.

The public expects to pay for quality. Doing a complete home inspection and throwing in the IR for free is a detriment to the industry, the IR technology itself, and the public…for good inspectors will not make enough money to invest in good equipment, good education, marketing, etc…and stay in business.

People with IR cameras…who are smarter and better than Charley Bottger…do not have to lie to the public and tell them they are getting “less” of a standard home inspection if their inspector is not using that technology in his inspections.

Instead, they sell their IR service as something that goes beyond the normal home inspection and, accordingly, justify the cost at the appropriate level above the standard home inspection.

If Bottger were a foundation contractor instead of a HVAC guy with a new camera, he would be doing the same $350 inspection…but would be including mud jacking with it - and claiming that any inspector who doesn’t fix cracked foundations is doing less than a full inspection.

I am not against IR, at all. I am against inspectors attempting to minimize IR as something to be included with a standard home inspection at the standard home inspection fee. I think that is totally stupid.

I am also against the weak minded and inferior inspectors attempting to dupe the public into thinking that a standard home inspection actually “requires” IR cameras…especially that silly “ceiling shot” with the missing batt of insulation that would have been discovered anyway during the attic inspection. Just like the roof leak over the living room ceiling. Good home inspectors have been conducting good home inspections for decades by applying their skills and senses. No IR camera can replace that.