Did you use it externally on your property (images?) , to compare window/wall/door heat losses, especially during cold-snap that would have had elevated temp differentials/loss;
if hiring one one of the problems seems to be hiring it in the right weather conditions.
About 2 years ago the house had cavity wall insulation installed so there weren't any areas that were bad at all. The parts of the house that did flag for me as not being ideal are the windows and doors predictably. The glass just acts as a mirror to the thermal camera so it can't detect it's temperature - unless you coat or affix something to the glass (with a known emissivity value) but I didn't go that far
. The frames of the double glazing isn't as good as once hoped, especially the front door of the house as it's all glass and frame. Probably cheap double glazing installed by the previous owner and not a lot I can do to improve it without replacing it with something a lot more expensive. A curtain on the inside of the house around the door and windows would be cheaper! Some heat is being lost at ground level too interestingly.
The loft is always a good place to check. The loft hatch is the type with the steps attached to it so it's difficult to insulate and the seal is probably past it's best.
From inside the loft you can detect all the little areas where heat is making it's way in to the loft area from the house. Some careful rearranging of insulation and blocking any holes where cables pass through helps (ceiling lights). I was surprised how much heat was detected at the gable ends too. These are all tiny heat losses but they all add up. The fourth image below is of a vent from a bathroom which is uninsulated and just leaking heat in to the loft space.
Some interesting boiler and plumbing images which is located in my garage. The first image below is of the oil boiler which informed me of a few things - the insulated panel at the top of the boiler needed replacing and that the exhaust venting had no leaks. The second image below is of some of the heating system pipework and what I take from this is just how poor the standard foam pipe insulation is, so much heat being lost here. I'll be replacing the insulation with phenolic insulation later this year. The last image below is just for fun - it's of the dying embers from inside of the biomass boiler which maxes out the sensor of the camera
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Here's some more not so random uses of the thermal camera - I had a binding brake caliper on the car during the summer so the camera really helped diagnosing that (check out the brake disc temperature), and checked out the radiant heat of the stove in the livingroom and it's impact in the surrounding area.
I've certainly got my worth from the thermal camera! Still got a few more projects planned where it'll be of great help.
