Thermal Imaging

What is thermal imaging?

Facilities managers and business owners have a responsibility to ensure that all electrical wiring complies with regulations. This helps maintain a safe working environment for employees, avoiding the accidents and injuries that can occur as a result of overloading, deterioration or damages that may appear in electrical installations over time. Failure to comply to these regulations, specifically the EICR, can lead to heavy fines and at its most serious – prosecution.

ElectriQL has a number of ways it can help customers with fixed wire testing including EICR testing, Emergency light testing and maintenance and PAT testing. One of the most efficient methods we use in these areas is thermal image inspection, technology that helps detect ‘hot spots’ before they become a major problem.

Traditionally used by firefighters to identify areas of heat through smoke and darkness, Thermal imaging converts heat into an electrical signal to display differences in temperature as a visible light. The visibility of the light seen is completely dependent on temperature, a brighter light means a warmer temperature and lower light means cooler temperatures.

Why is thermal imaging used in electrical testing?

Identifying temperature visually provides valuable data when undertaking electrical testing because it visualises problem areas that the untrained eye can’t pick up. A circuit board could look fine to the human eye but a thermal image that shows a specific section of the circuit filled with bright light clearly highlights overheating, which could lead to major electrical faults.

This helps detect a wide range of electrical faults including issues with fuse panels, transformers, faulty electrical equipment and sockets. Identifying these issues and investigating them further means the ElectriQL team can work out what is causing the problem. We have used thermal imaging to identify load imbalances, damaged insulations or fuses, corroded connections and more. Often these areas are highlighted before they become a major problem, for example finding a damaged fuse and fixing it early dramatically reduces the risk of fire. Preventative maintenance can save businesses money and meet legal requirements.

How can thermal imaging help your business?

Another advantage to using thermal imaging is the lack of disruption when in use. There is no point of contact with any live devices which means our engineers can scan the electrical equipment without having to turn it off or put themselves in danger.

When undertaking electrical testing for our clients we offer a flexible solution that is tailored to specific needs and requirements. Despite this tailored service we are always likely to include thermal imaging because of the key data it provides. We recommend carrying out this test alongside EICR testing, emergency light testing and maintenance and PAT testing for a full service that covers all eventualities.

Contact us today by calling 0800 917 721 or emailing [email protected] to discuss how we can help you.