Renting Thermal Camera (how much, Home Depot, phone, leaking)

[Shet]

I want to check the air leaks in my single family house in northern NJ. Looking to rent Thermal Camera from nearby Home Depot ($53 for 4 hours or $75 for one day). Do you guys think it is a good idea?

[harry chickpea]

You can do that or just get a non-contact infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight and aim it at the areas in question. Then you get to keep the thermometer so you can re-check. It all depends on what you want.

[Barking Spider]

To properly use a thermal camera, you should have some training, and it helps to have training with the particular camera as well. A lot of people do not really understand how they work, and will not get accurate results. Without getting too technical you have to set it for the reflective quality of the material you are going to scan, and also set it for the distance between the camera and the surface you are scanning (among other things).
Its not really a pick up and point type of tool to use it for its full potential (and accuracy).
A point and shoot thermometer is not really going to give you a very accurate reading since the field of measurement can be huge when you are 6 - 8 feet away, making the readings really pointless. Those are really only accurate when you are very close to the material you are measuring temps on. For instance, if you shoot the beam on a surface a few inches away from you, you are measuring an area maybe a couple square inches square (depending on the unit used). If you shoot the beam on a surface that ten feet away, you are measuring an area that is several square feet. They will usually tell you on the thermometer what the measurement grid is, and how much larger it gets the further away you are.

You would probably get a more accurate answer to your concerns if you hired someone that does this for a living, and has the proper equipment, and knows how to use it.

[399083453]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

You can do that or just get a non-contact infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight and aim it at the areas in question. Then you get to keep the thermometer so you can re-check. It all depends on what you want.

A non-contact infrared thermometer is not even close to the same thing. I have both a thermal camera and a non-contact infrared thermometer.

I bought a seek thermal camera for my phone for $200. It works great. I've used it so many times. I've found so many areas of cold air leaking into parts of my house and spots in the attic where warm air is escaping. Its best to find the issues, then fix them and look at it through the thermal camera again to see if you fixed it correctly.

If you rent one, do it on the coldest day possible. They work best when the temperature difference between the outdoors and indoors is further apart.

You dont need special training to do what you want to do, but you should become familiar with the camera model your going to rent before you rent it. Get the model number and look at youtube videos or pdf manuals.

[Shet]

Thanks guys for all the inputs.