Recent Thermal Building Envelope experience?

[BigAl07]

I'm currently using the CGOET (low res I know... it's a start) and will be doing a series of "Thermal Building Envelope" evaluations. I'm a certified Green Professional and I have clients who just want to get an idea of where heat/cold is escaping their building envelope. I've got handheld cams for the vertical structures and I'll be utilizing our H520 with the CGOET to capture horizontal structures on the buildings.

Has anyone "recently" done this with their sUAS and if so how did the final project turn out for them? Any suggestions? The Manager of the buildings is going to crank up the heat tomorrow afternoon to get them as warm as possible. The temp tomorrow evening (after sun is down) is expected to be 35F so hopefully there will be a significant temp difference from inside to outside to help emphasize any penetrations/leak in the building envelope.

I look forward to hearing back from others as to what you've done and how the project turned out.

I'll update this thread afterwards.

Safe Flights
Allen

 

[Steve Carr]

Just from casual use of the _ET, any snow cover hides heat loss points rather well. The heat gets dissipated under the snow. From your description that won't be an issue for you. It would be interesting to see an example of what you find.

 

[BigAl07]

Just from casual use of the _ET, any snow cover hides heat loss points rather well. The heat gets dissipated under the snow. From your description that won't be an issue for you. It would be interesting to see an example of what you find.

Yes even a very thin layer of moisture will "obscure" the heat footprint (not the right term I'm sure LOL). I've done several "Ground Level" evaluations over the last few years (I work in the construction industry 8-4) and adding the potential for an Aerial Evaluation is very exciting. Just gotta wait for the sun to go down as to not skew the results. I should know more later tonight and I'll def post the results once they are compiled and ready to present to my client. Actually AFTER I present them LOL.

 

[Steve Carr]

Thinking back to the days when I was a certified energy auditor this setup would have saved hundreds of hours crawling all over hidden spaces looking for gaps in insulation and moisture intrusion. Looking for heat signatures on a visual display at a reasonable price is a huge step forward.

 

[BigAl07]

Thinking back to the days when I was a certified energy auditor this setup would have saved hundreds of hours crawling all over hidden spaces looking for gaps in insulation and moisture intrusion. Looking for heat signatures on a visual display at a reasonable price is a huge step forward.

And IF this evening goes as planned I should be able to mark my H520 "Paid In Full" by April

 

[BigAl07]

It would be interesting to see an example of what you find.

This evening went very well. Our client was impressed and pleasantly surprised from the results. A little bit of back story.... the client recently paid a contractor to add insulation to a couple of Government buildings. Apparently they paid a LOT of $$ to this contractor to insulate the roof area. Shotly after the fact it was found that they had used a sub-contractor who has less than stellar ethics and in some other areas the buildings merely LOOKED insulated but in fact were not. They had only installed the "Aesthetic" portion of the job and installed no insulation what so ever.

We met our clients about 5 hours after the sun has disappeared (we have nasty weather moving in right now) and discussed exactly where their areas of concern were. We walked around the building for our safety checks (poles, power lines etc) and all was clear. In fact it was completely clear all the way around both units. We launched and immediately you could see where heat was escaping the sidewalls but it was from glass door panels and a couple of areas of wall penetrations (piping etc). The expected problem areas were the actual Roof Panels. Upon lifting above the edge of the roof we were shocked at just how COOL the roof was even though they had it almost 75deg inside the building and it was 42 degree outside.

In Conclusion: The client is very pleased that it appears these (2) buildings were thoroughly insulated but they did also note a few areas they plan to beef up their insulation in a few areas.

We are supposed to sit down with the client next week and schedule more buildings to be evaluated. I know it's awful but I'm kind of hoping we get to EVAL one that the sub-cont did Sub-Par so we can see/show the difference. Some samples of the presentation will be attached below.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Well, for what you’re doing and the clients expectations.....I’d say the CGOET performed quite well and met all expectations. Pretty solid tool.

 

[BigAl07]

Well, for what you’re doing and the clients expectations.....I’d say the CGOET performed quite well and met all expectations. Pretty solid tool.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that comment... The short comings and low res of this tool didn't affect this process and we were able to provide a finished product that met and exceeded our client's expectations. We knew going into this what the CGOET is capable of and it handled this project splendidly. That's a Win-Win!

Now the CGOET is NOT the sensor I'd suggest for Solar/Energy Inspections or anything needed any level of precision what so ever. This is not the camera for that at all.

 

[DoomMeister]

Looking at the photos you posted I would venture a guess that you were facing north in the first two photos. The space in front of both buildings looks like it absorbs sunlight for most of the day.

The bottom photo suggests there are two beams running the length of the building and are supported by four columns in the central part of the structure. I see slight thermal leakage where the roof panels are in direct contact with the support structure of the building.

The thermal imaging is actually a little better than I expected from hearing reviews of the CGOET.

 

[BigAl07]

Looking at the photos you posted I would venture a guess that you were facing north in the first two photos. The space in front of both buildings looks like it absorbs sunlight for most of the day.

The bottom photo suggests there are two beams running the length of the building and are supported by four columns in the central part of the structure. I see slight thermal leakage where the roof panels are in direct contact with the support structure of the building.

The thermal imaging is actually a little better than I expected from hearing reviews of the CGOET.

You nailed it. There are several areas where beams/posts are indeed transferring heat to the external structure exactly like you stated. However, the desire of this mission was to verify (or not) the installation of Roof Insulation Panels behind the aesthetic panels which we know the contractor did NOT install in some other buildings in the area.

While this was a "rough" evaluation it did far exceed our clients expectations and even more so their needs.