IR for newbies

I would like to use this thread for IR newbies to post and please use this to learn. I am new to IR (been inspecting since 2002) and have a Flir E8.

No such thing as a stupid question. My goal is to better learn the industry.
Experienced IR welcome, please be professional as this is to learn. If you want to ridicule anyone direct to me. I have been known to be a dumb head at times.

I have found ITC free webinars and basic info to cameras and buildings to be very helpful.

My first image question is at the rear entry, vinyl floor has lifted. I would say this is moisture related. (could be just lifted from poor adhesion as well) I did not test with a meter (I know I should have)
I think part of the blue is from me walking on with snow. It was very cold out and this is at a unheated entry to a heated space. What are your thoughts!!

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Here is another related to boiler radiators. One question would be can you properly use IR on radiators with the register covers on? What would you say on these images if anything?

The home had 3 floors above the basement and this was on the 1st floor.

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Yes, “shooting the hole” works just fine, but you must adjust transparency settings if your using qualitative temp assessment.

That is not available in many low end cameras now is it?! :cool:

You must be mindful of the effects of “YOU” being in the scanned area. You will see your own footprints (even with shoes on) with appropriate TI Equipment all the time.

Could you explain in layman’s terms? (I think I need to review that material again and again)

Is the iron palette best (rainbow is prettier)?
I just want to point and shoot. My camera keeps defaulting to the MX settings.

Seems like I am being more patient with the self focus as my images seem more clearer.

a. Transparency settings allow you to fade out any IR in the image. Typically,usually there are 4 increment settings. 0/25/50/100) 0% would show no infrared imaging. 100% would be only infrared.

a. You will have to experiment with pallets.
b. Auto is my auto set.
c. Call Flir and ask them how to turn off MX completely.I use Fluke and have no such back imaging.

Auto is great collecting a subject. Span and level are paramount in focusing.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the input, I am disappointed with the IR threads as they seem dead, was looking for some new guys to ask questions. I know the big guns know there stuff.

Dear David:

There are many reasons that message board threads do not enjoy the popularity that they did just a few years ago. These include, but are not limited to the advent of specialized discussion groups on other social media and the ever growing amount of information that can be found online. For some message boards, the lack of participation is the result of hawkish behavior by members who drive away those with less experience or who offer differing opinions or methodologies.

You must also keep in mind that one need not be qualified in order to post to a message board. Consequently, information shared may be incomplete, inaccurate, and/or offered by persons with very limited experience.

If you have not already done so, I would invite you to check out our content-based website, IRINFO.ORG where you will find a wealth of information on infrared thermography. In addition to dozens of technical articles, our Tip of the Week section has hundreds of tips, all of which are available for FREE.

You are also welcome to contact me directly should you have a question or challenge that you wish to discuss.

I disagree I believe this message board should be for anyone that wants to learn something that they don’t know. I don’t know everything. And I have a lot to learn even after over 30 years of doing this. There’s no question that is stupid all of them require an answer and the honest answer.

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David, Mr, Seffrin hit all the key points.

Jim is an authority on the subject.
The little bit of knowledge I have incurred was through Infraspection Institute. I still have all the documentation and aids sent to my through Infraspection Institute. Unbelievable to tell you the truth.
Unfortunately I did not complete the course due to family matters but will but at it again shortly.

Take Jim’s advice.
Jim, I have seen David asking typical to profound questions that require an educator to achieve the best result possible, David learning!

David, anything Jim recommends, I would follow.

So happy you is part of InterNACHI. Hopefully I will be able to help answer questions more proficiently.

Best Jim.

Robert, My voice dictation made changes. I was talking about Transmissivity, not Transparency.

Transmissivity settings can sometimes be used when your looking through a consistent (object to object) screen, grill or translucent material to save from taking all the heater covers off.

The holes are too small to get a direct measurement (spot size ratio), so you end up with an averaged reading.

You must take one cover off to get a direct measurement and adjust Transmissivity (with the cover on) to get the same reading.

Thank you for the time to post and I will look at the sites.

A transmission rate can be thought of as, an average of many factors.
In addition to optic material, some of these factors are listed below:

· optic temperature

· target temperature (of the object you’re measuring)

· camera response curve (can vary from one camera to the next)

· debris on the optic

· scratches on the optic

· impurities in the optic material

· ambient temperature

· reflected temperature from the surroundings

· presence of protective grills over the optic

· lifetime exposure to humidity

· distance and angle of the camera relative to the optic

· thickness of the optic

In this thread we are talking about one application; qualitative assessment of heater radiators where the temperature is wanted but not critical.

What I proposed is a work-around for the OP’s question.
I have used this when I had a job of inspecting 400 fiber optic stations under a prescribed load. It was too dangerous and too much work to remove screen panels without taking them off line.

Took one apart. Tested it with and without the covers and adjusted the rest for transmission through the covers. If a problem was detected, it was shut down, taken apart, and properly evaluated.

We did not rely on scans that were close to the threshold temperature. But if they are well below, there is no reason to pull them all apart.

This is about as accurate as guessing on the emissivity of a target.

So much for the “for newbies” part.

On the radiators, if you compare multiple radiators, all demanding heat and you have an outlier that you can see based on the thermal pattern, you can infer that there is an anomaly that warrants further evaluation. You can make out the thermal pattern well enough in the image. You do not want to try to indicate temperature as you cannot do that with any degree of accuracy without taking additional steps as David indicates. I would remove the temp marker from the image.

Yea, but the OP is not your common newbie…

You got that right, I am about as uncommon as you get;-)

I had some interesting IR images today that I had somewhat of an idea what I was looking at.

David
The image of the radiator appears to be in Iron mode.
Change it to Rainbow with Flir tools and let’s take a look.
Just curious.
In addition, I got my camera back and it is working fine.

I took these the same day as I wanted to see what i looked like in different palettes. Glad you have you camera back!!

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I’m too new at this to ever come close as to if/or there are any issues with the radiator.
But, Here are the images side by side.
What is the conclusion …Are there any issues?
We don’t have radiators down here.

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