Increasing energy efficiency in your building is a high priority for any owner, commercial or domestic. Firstly, it's an intelligent way of reducing your expenses as increased energy efficiency will reduce your bills. Secondly is the added value of a property when you improve the building by having the best energy performance certificate (or EPC) possible. Many innovative ways have been developed to solve this problem, but none have been as effective as thermographic surveys.
Improved EPC
An energy performance certificate (or EPC) is now required whenever a new property is built, sold or rented. This internationally recognised certificate will state the energy efficiency rating of your building from A to G, with A being the most and G being the least. Making sure to have an improved EPC rating will enhance your everyday running costs and increase the value of your property. This makes improving your EPC a vital goal for house flippers to increase their profit margins. By embracing affordable Teledyne FLIR pre-owned thermal imaging cameras, DIY experts can quickly fix any flaws in their property and significantly improve its EPC.
Currently, as it stands in 2022, in England and Wales, all landlords must ensure their properties have an EPC rating of E or higher, with the department of business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) working to increase this minimum rating to C from 2030 onwards. These initiatives will require landlords to make substantial changes to their rented properties to meet this goal; this is where thermographic surveys can help. By choosing a high-quality thermal imaging camera for hire, landlords can easily find those areas of their properties that let their EPC score down and improve them.
Benefits of Thermal Imaging in Building Surveys
Monitoring the condition of any property is essential, and Teledyne FLIR thermal imaging cameras are an excellent tool to help with this. One of the most beneficial reasons to use thermography when surveying your building is that it's a non-invasive way of diagnosing problems. Thanks to the non-invasive nature of these surveys, they can be performed quicker with less disruption; this encourages people to survey their properties more often and identify problems early on before they become more serious.
Thermal imaging is an efficient tool for making these subtle problems stand out. Building Diagnostics with thermography can help reduce your cost of living by:
- Visualising energy loss as an easy to read image on your camera.
- Detecting missing or defective insulation
- Sourcing the location of air leaks
- Locating thermal bridges
- Finding faults in supply lines and district heating
- Sourcing the location of a water leak
This sample of how thermography can help reduce your cost of living is just a fraction of the applications thermal cameras excel at.
Hidden Problem Revealed Thanks To Thermography
Thermographic surveys may seem like they reveal very little at first glance, but in truth, they can show you a lot of the subtle or hidden problems with a property. Here are some examples of what you could find with a thorough thermal survey:
Insulation – Thermography excels at finding areas where your insulation is ineffective or missing. By conducting a thorough thermographic survey around the exterior of a building, you can easily see the places where the warm interior is leaking out through spaces with defective insulation. The difference between an interior and exterior should be at least 10°C.
This doesn't just cover domestic homes; commercial properties can also struggle with energy loss too. For example, a warehouse that's pre-fabricated and well-insulated can experience energy loss through the joints between the walls and roof.
Thermal imaging can show that your insulation is just as effective at keeping your air conditioning cooling inside as it is at revealing lost heat. In cold months, you want to keep the heat in, but in warmer climates, you want to see if the insulation is working to benefit any HVAC system you might have installed. By choosing to hire a thermal imaging camera, you can quickly assess if this is the case for your building.
Air Leaks – Air leaks lead to higher energy consumption and significant energy waste. With our thermal imaging cameras, you can detect the identifiable signs when cold air leaks through cracks.
Thermal Bridges – Typical problems from thermal bridges are decreased interior surface temperatures and potentially significant heat loss throughout your property. A thermal bridge is where the building envelope (the separation of the interior and the exterior walls) has a lower thermal resistance. This can be caused by construction constraints. However, heat will always follow the path of least resistance to escape to the outside, which is easily visible with a thermographic survey. This is one of the ways a building can waste energy.
Faulty heating – Underfloor heating is a wonderful thing when it works, but it's difficult to monitor without the help of a thermal imaging camera. A Thermographic survey can help you check the pipes and tubes used for floor heating without raising any floorboards. The pipes' heat is easily readable on one of our cameras and can visibly highlight any defects or damage-causing leaks.
High-End Thermal Imaging Cameras for Building Surveys
Thermascan is proud of our many years of providing high-quality thermal cameras for hire and the in-depth thermographic surveys we can conduct for you. By choosing us, you are choosing one of the UK's largest companies of specialists in thermography.
With our team of expert level two thermographers we are here to provide honest and impartial advice to help reduce your cost of living expenses.
If you are interested in exploring our superior range of thermal imaging cameras, then please consider browsing our catalogue for rent or sale, including our discounted range of pre-owned thermal imaging cameras.