Guest blogger, Tim Woolley

Being the IT manager at Landscape Forms I get to see a lot of cool new technology.  The other day Brandon, our Lighting Engineer, brought in something I’ve been dying to get my hands on for a long time.  He was testing a brand new Infrared Camera that he planned on using to test LED circuit boards before shipment. The camera is to be used as a quality assurance tool to test the thermal dissipation of heat throughout some of our cool new lighting products. By seeing exactly what the heat is doing and where it is going, we are able to properly manage it, ultimately making our LED products last longer.

Brandon brought the camera to me for help to get it started.  So, being the helpful person I am (and dying to test the $5000 gadget), I volunteered to take it home to “see what I could do.”  After a couple hours with Tech Support, I finally got it working. Now, it was time to play.

Hello, My Name Is Tim and I am a Home Improvement Junkie

I admit it. I am a home improvement junkie. You might remember my recent blog post about how I spent my summer vacation.  Some of my previous projects had been an effort to improve the energy efficiency in my home. For example, I’ve added insulation to my attic, wall receptacles, windows, doors, and anything else that seemed like it needed it.  The thing is, I had no idea if my projects actually saved energy or not.  But now I would know. With the help of the infrared camera, I could get the validation that I was looking for!

A New Journey Begins

So, off to the attic I went.  I immediately saw exactly what I was looking for.  This thing was incredible – I could find every nook and cranny where heat was escaping my house. I mean every nook and cranny; every light in the ceiling, exhaust pipes under the insulation, and even a smoke detector junction box.

Next I went outside to get a view of the house from outside.  The outside temperature was around 30 degrees that night, so it was perfect for my testing.  I was now starting to get a little concerned.  My house looked like I had decorated for Christmas.  There were color variations everywhere! I was shocked by what I thought was the energy leaking out of my house in more places than I could count. The camera was so sensitive that I could even see where the 2x4’s used for construction were in the walls.

Not So Much Fun Anymore

This was not good; my house was leaking heat like water through a sieve.  I spent the next hour taking infrared pictures of every variation I could find.  It was like coming across a car wreck – I didn’t really want to see it, but somehow, I just couldn’t stop looking. After taking several hundred pictures, and the creation of a long “to do” list, I was finished.

The Day Could Still Be Salvaged

I was still outside feeling sorry for myself when my wife let the dogs out (yes, now we know “Who let the dogs out?”).  Wow, I could literally see my dogs with this thing across the yard, in complete darkness, right through the woods!  Talk about cheating in hide and seek!  When my 3-legged lab walked up to me and I took a picture of her standing in the yard, I noticed something strange looking in the grass right next to her.  What the heck?  It was her foot prints!  This thing was so sensitive I could see her footprints where she had walked.  Now I was playing Daniel Boone and tracking the dogs through the woods.  This was fun again!

A Dose of Reality

It wasn’t until the next morning when I showed Brandon the pictures that he explained the sensitivity settings, and how I should have turned down the contrast a little.  He then showed me the software that allowed me to click on the color variations on the pictures and see what the actual temperature difference was.  For the dog tracks, there was about ½ degree difference.  Then I started looking at the house and checking the differences there.  Most of the color differences were less than a few degrees.  In other words, I was not paying to heat the neighborhood after all! What started as huge repair project just became a few leaking receptacles, and a door seal.

All’s Well That Ends Well

In the end, my experience with the infrared camera was great. It is amazing technology and a great way to find out how efficient your home really is. But it’s also a ton of fun to track your dogs through the woods in the dead of night.

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Tim Woolley is in his 14^th year at Landscape Forms, and is the Information Technology Manager.  He has 3 kids out of college, and one still working on it.  His wife never knows what he will bring home as his next big adventure.  Loves the occasional weekend motorcycle trip, working in the yard, and trying to find his golf ball in the woods.