Thermographic Inspections to Show Thermal Defects on your Building Envelope | Infrared Thermal Imaging Surveys

Head Office: Sayells Farm, 7 Harlington Road, Upper Sundon, Bedfordshire, LU3 3PE
Tel: 07967 233836 or 07775 623464
Email: info@airpressuretesting.net

Offices in London, Luton and Cardiff

We offer both air pressure testing and solutions

Introduction to Air Pressure Testing

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Accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2005

A UKAS Accredited Company Registered in England & Wales No. 527550

Thermographic Inspections to Show Thermal Defects on your Building Envelope

Air Pressure Testing uses Thermography—or infrared scanning—to detect thermal defects and air leakage in building envelopes. This can be the quickest non evasive survey you can undertake to help your buildings envelope attain compliance with part L of building regulations.

How They Work
Thermography measures surface temperatures by using infrared video and infrared still cameras. These instruments see light that is in the heat spectrum. Infra-red Images on the video record the temperature variations of the building's skin, ranging from white for warm regions to black for cooler areas. The resulting images help the auditor determine whether insulation is needed. They also serve as a quality control tool, to ensure that insulation has been installed correctly. Once the Thermographic survey has been completed the client will have an accurate overview as to the state of their buildings insulation and will know the areas that require remedial action.

A Thermographic inspection is either an interior or exterior survey. The energy auditor decides which method would give the best results under certain weather conditions. Interior scans are more common, because warm air escaping from a building does not always move through the walls in a straight line. Heat loss detected in one area of the outside wall might originate at some other location on the inside of the wall. Also, it is harder to detect temperature differences on the outside surface of the building during windy weather. Because of this difficulty, interior surveys are generally more accurate because they benefit from reduced air movement.

Thermographic scans are also commonly used with a blower door test running. The blower door helps exaggerate air leaking through defects in the building shell. Such air leaks appear as black streaks in the infrared camera's viewfinder.

Thermography uses specially designed infrared video or still cameras to make images (called thermograms) that show surface heat variations. This technology has a number of applications. Thermograms of electrical systems can detect abnormally hot electrical connections or components. Thermograms of mechanical systems can detect the heat created by excessive friction. Energy auditors use thermography as a tool to help detect heat losses and air leakage in building envelopes.

Infrared scanning allows energy auditors to check the effectiveness of insulation in a building's construction. The resulting thermograms help auditors determine whether a building needs insulation and where in the building it should go. Because wet insulation conducts heat faster than dry insulation, Thermographic scans of roofs can often detect roof leaks.

In addition to using Thermography during an energy assessment, you should have a scan done before purchasing a house; even new houses can have defects in their thermal envelopes. You may wish to include a clause in the contract requiring a Thermographic scan of the house.

Air Pressure Testing’s Infrared engineer will use high end Thermographic inspection device, not a cheap basic version as used by many of the other infrared companies, to give you a better idea many companies use a basic infrared camera worth approx £3000, our cameras cost in the region of £30,000 or 10 times as much and as such offer far more accurate images of the problems areas. For extra clarity Air Pressure Testing’s thermal imaging camera produces a 2-dimensional thermal picture of an area showing heat leakage.

Preparing for a Thermographic Inspection
To prepare your project for an interior thermal scan, you should take the should take steps to ensure an accurate result. This may include moving furniture away from exterior walls and removing drapes. The most accurate Thermographic images usually occur when there is a large temperature difference between the inside the building to the outside.

To help you further prepare for your Thermographic survey please see our comprehensive Thermographic Preparation Checklist

If you are a facilities manager and require ongoing diagnosis infrared surveys on your electrical and mechanical installations, please use our annual survey data form. The form is in a word format so please save to your computer and fill it in as required and send it back to us at info@aptthermography.net. Once we receive the information it should be all we need to undertake ongoing infrared surveys at your facility.

If you have any further questions or queries please call me directly on:
0777 562 3464 or email us at info@aptthermography.net

Air Pressure Testing have consultants working nationwide with a fast response time to any enquiry.
Should you require any further information or a quotation for our services, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@airpressuretesting.net

By Mobile - 07967 233836 (available 7am to 10pm)

By Fax - 01582 896 709

By E-mail - info@airpressuretesting.net

Sound Testing Services
Our company believes in working with our clients to achieve the best possible results for an Sound Test. We believe that by being involved at the beginning of a project we can save our clients expensive and difficult remedial works at the completion stage of a project.

Our Aim Is To Get You A Pass!

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