thermal imaging inspection firms.........

[pappasmurf]

my house is a 1930's semi detached dwelling with 9" brick wall construction and no cavity. i always feel a constant draft even though the house has been fully "re"-double glazed, the central heating system "re" newd, the ground floor fully removed of previous joists and wooden flooring and concreted over with kingspan therma floor insulation (200mm) and the whole ground floor now has full underfloor heating.
i dont know what else to do?.....my loft is also fully insulated and boarded up. i have considered getting somone in to carry out a full thermal imaging survey so as to finally pinpoint the cause of the drafts. but unfortunately the lowest price for these sorts of survey was £300!!.... does anyone know of a place where i can maybe hire a thermal imaging camera as i phoned my local HSS and they said no they dont hire out such things.

 

[Happyplumber]

Wow papa smurf i think you are getting a bit obsessive now about the drafts i think,you almost upto the standard of modern house in thermal insualtion

Well the floor is above what is required by building regs anyways.I would ring a few of the local hire firms and see what they can offer.Those cthermal imageing cameras are not cheap,so the cost of the intial outlay has to be recovered hence why they are 300 quid

 

[holty]

who you gonna call.....GHOSTBUSTERS!

 

[pappasmurf]

sorry i forgot to mention that i suffer from a serious condition called "LUMBAYGO" and is caused and aggrivated by cold and drafts

 

[Happyplumber]

I am sorry to hear that,well try and get someone in then but these older houses also need to breathe you know if you make them air tight then that can cause all sorts of problems to the building fabric as well

Modern houses are air tight and even tested so,but they are having problems with the amount of fresh air and air changes so its all balance

I am sorry i dont know what to advise you

 

[pappasmurf]

 

[Agile]

sorry i forgot to mention that i suffer from a serious condition called "LUMBAYGO" and is caused and aggrivated by cold and drafts

In that case I am surprised that you dont know that it should be spelt "lumbago" !

You may well be able to do what you need with an infra red thermometer as sold by Maplins and others for about £29.

Tony

 

[D_Hailsham]

If you have had all windows and doors replaced by double glazed units with proper draught proofing then I suspect that the draught you are feeling is caused by air circulating in the rooms.

You say you have underfloor heating downstairs. Presumably you have radiators upstairs.

Does the whole of the ground floor have U/F heating, including hall, kitchen etc, or is it just the living rooms?

What temperature controls do you have, e.g radiator thermostats, wall thermostats?

Is the upstairs zoned separately from the ground floor, i.e a separate wall thermostat?

Is the draught worse upstairs or downstairs?

If upstairs, where are the radiators located - under the window or elsewhere?

 

[pappasmurf]

first message to Agile......lambaygo was a typo error, so dont make me open up a can of whip ass on u!
secondly (a sensible answer) a message to D.hailsham........yes i have underfloor heating downstairs "evertwhere";kitchen/living room/hallways and yes the house's central heating system is operating on two different zones one controlling the upstairs radiators and the other thermostat/programmer controlling the downstairs underfloor heating.
the radiators upstairs all have thermostatic valves on them.
the draught is actually worse upstairs and i just know it is coming from my bedroom.......but where is the problem

 

[Agile]

UFH has different time responses to rads and your UFH should be controlled at different times from the rest. Usually start two hours earlier and end one hour earlier.

You seem to have overlooked the very useful suggestion I mentioned!

Tony

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Windows have a higher 'u' value than the rest of the building fabric. Sometimes you can get a flow of cold air coming from a window, The air in the room has simply lost its heat through the glass! This is now heavier than the rest of the air in the room and heads to the floor, often mistaken for a draught.

Another thought. Simply holding a candle at various suspect points in the room is a good way of exposing air flow.

Don't forget you do need ventilation too. When radiator sizes are calculated we may expect for eg. 1 - 1.5 air changes per hour. Thats the whole volume of air in a room to be changed 24 -36 times a day. It may seem a lot but its better than living with stale and often damp air that is condusive to ill health

 

[D_Hailsham]

Is there a fireplace in your bedroom - possibly boarded up?

You say that the upstairs is a separate zone and all rad have TRVs. Are they the only control over the upstairs temperature, or do you have a motorized valve controlled by a wall thermostat upstairs?

Slugb's comments about down-draughts at the window are worth following up; and the candle suggestion. That's why I asked where the rads upstairs are located - you forgot to answer this.

 

[htgeng]

That's why I asked where the rads upstairs are located - you forgot to answer this.

£1 says the upstairs rads are on internal walls. Last winter I had success finding draughts in my house. Turn on kitchen extractor to max and leave it 10 mins to depressurise the house slightly (its vented to outside and not recirculating ). Then using a smoke pen go around the doors/windows and the smoke will draw like a good un when you find a leak! I also found I forget to seal around a waste pipe in the bathroom and that was a major draught.

The pen is BES item 17313. Very good little device for your toolkit next time you order from BES.

 

[pappasmurf]

first message to Agile..... yes i know the controls of the underfloor heating and that it does take longer time to heat up then the radiator side of the central heating system. thus is the reason for having a seperate dual zone setup; as if i didnt, it would mean that the upstairs (radiator circuit) would also have to be on and running for a longer period then necessary!
i had a look at your suggestion of purchasing a infrared thermometre from maplins http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=221048

but i think i really would prefer something alot more graphical showing even the slightest of leaks. but thanks for your suggestion

second message to Slugbabydotcom... your theory of heat flowing down from the ceilings and windows when the room gets colder is something i am also aware of but unfortunately something i should also have mentioned is that even in the summer months it feels very fresh in the house and especially in my bedroom!.... i have even sealed up the skirtingboards with silicone in the whole room to eliminate the problem and even then it is always draughty and cold
as for holding a candle i have also done this and even tried licking the back of my hand to trace the root of this draught, and it always seems to be coming from the back of my bedroom cupboard; which i have removed and no evidence of any holes/gaps/voids. i have even sealed the skirting boards behind here aswell
as for living in a stale aired room... at the moment there is absolutely no worry of that!.... and the bad draught is definately codusive to me being ill anyway. thus i think this thermalnimaging is ,i feel, the best option i have left to give an absolutley pin point accurate indication to where the root of the problem is.

 

[D_Hailsham]

it always seems to be coming from the back of my bedroom cupboard; which i have removed and no evidence of any holes/gaps/voids. i have even sealed the skirting boards behind here as well.

Is the wall behind the cupboard an external or internal wall? If internal, what is the wall made of?

A thermal imaging camera will only tell you where the cold spot is; it won't tell you why.