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Just realized using a thermal camera for a panel check beats the old 'feel for heat' method every single time
I was doing a service call in a 70s split-level last week, and the homeowner mentioned a faint smell. My old way was to just feel the breakers and lugs with my hand, maybe use a temp probe if I was being fancy. This time, I pulled out my Flir One thermal camera that hooks to my phone. In two minutes, I spotted a single breaker on the kitchen circuit running at 185 degrees while the others were cool. The heat pattern showed it was a bad connection at the bus, not just an overload. My hand never would have felt that specific spot without burning myself, and a probe would have taken forever to scan each point. It turned a guess into a fact. I fixed it before it became a fire. Has anyone else made the switch and found stuff they would have totally missed?
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adams.uma4mo ago
My buddy found a hot neutral in a crawl space with his thermal cam, something his old tick tracer never would have caught.
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sage6756mo ago
That "turned a guess into a fact" feeling is the best.
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oliver_campbell96mo ago
It's a good feeling, but I'm pretty sure a fact is just a fact. You don't really turn into it.
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betty_carter6mo ago
Remember my friend who swore his old car had a secret compartment? He spent years tapping panels, finally found a weird latch under the seat. Just a bunch of old maps, but the look on his face was pure gold.
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