Thermal imager for the poor: what can a pyrometer do?

Have you checked the reliability of the thermal insulation of your home using a thermal imager? If yes, then you know that the service is not cheap, and buying a thermal imager for your own use is even more so. Prices for good models start at 50,000 rubles. And using a thermal imager is not so easy.

At the end of the article, I will tell you about my experience of examining a house with a thermal imager, but for now I will tell you about an inexpensive device for 700 rubles, which can replace an expensive thermal imager.

Surely you understood that we are talking about a pyrometer.

I call the pyrometer a "poor man's thermal imager" - after all, this device also measures the temperature of an object, but with a limitation.

The pyrometer directs a laser beam at the object and measures the time of its return. Depending on the type of object (wood, siding, profiled sheet, gas block) and temperature, the return time of the beam is different. Thus, the pyrometer measures the temperature.

What are the limitations of the pyrometer?

• it measures the temperature at a single point;
• poorly measures the temperature of reflective glossy materials;
• on some models, batteries run out quickly due to frost;

How to see heat loss with a pyrometer?

Everything is quite simple: you need to select an object for measuring the temperature (for example, the slope of a plastic window), and lead the pyrometer along one line, then along the perimeter of the window.

While looking at the temperature on the device, you will see where the heat is leaving and where there is not enough insulation or plaster layer.

It is not easy to work as a pyrometer, but it is much cheaper than a thermal imager. With the proper skill, you can "shoot" all the weak points of the house: windows, doors, roofing, main units, blind area.

As promised, link to the article:

• How did I bring the manufacturer of "warm" films on windows to clean water with a thermal imager?