The benefits from using thermal imaging

Thermal imaging can be used for various investigations, without the kit necessarily costing the earth, or needing a degree in physics to operate.

We have used the technology to find and plot the routes of hidden heating pipework but it can also be used for identifying voids in concrete, roof leaks and short circuits within cathodic protection systems. We have also employed it successfully to help prove that ventilation ducts, supposedly blocked for spread of fire mitigation during a 1960’s refurbishment of a Listed Building, were in fact still open and operational.

A short circuit in a recently installed cathodic protection system. The short was hidden beneath parking bay lines, a proprietary car park decking system and 50mm of repair mortar.

For voids in concrete, we were able to assess the likely extents of large ‘shadows’ behind gunite repairs to cross-head beams under a major viaduct, drilling into them and then filling them with hot water. The water was then drained and analysed for water soluble chloride, as a guide to the levels of contamination and potential for hidden reinforcement corrosion.

We continue to experiment and find ‘new’ uses for the equipment, to augment and expand our existing services, including proving that a colleagues BMW Boxer Twin (motorcycle) was in fact a horizontally opposed single, with one cylinder not firing (the vibration seemed ‘normal’).