FLIR CAMERA for your PHONE!

[Joe Jones]

I decided to gamble and spend some money on a FLIR ONE PRO camera. It plugs into the bottom of my iPhone and uses the iPhones brain and electronics to produce thermal images without the usual expense of a camera with this capability. I was reluctant but I wanted to try something because I just figured that in a shop that runs a plasma machine, it might be nice to have the ability to look at heat signatures.

I went outside tonight to try it out. Except for some low wattage external lights on my house, it is almost pitch black outside. This is a video I made with the camera…

[Joe Jones]

This is inside of my home

[Joe Jones]

They make two models. They make a basic model that sells for about $220 and the pro model which sells for close to $400. They also make each of those with two different mounts… One for the iPhone and one for android phones. The iPhone camera will also plug into an iPad for a larger view of the image. There are a couple of apps for editing images and some other features that make this thing potentially quite useful.

People have done reviews on this camera and have come back with good reports. The only thing that they universally complain about is the limited battery life. The internal battery is rechargeable via a USB cable and you honestly get about 40 minutes of life out of it. This includes the up to two minutes boot up time every time you turn the camera on while it is plugged into your phone. So if you want to walk through your house and do a quick scan of your doors and windows to see where cold air is leaking in, or if you want to look at your water heater or your pipes under your house to see if there’s an issue this is a great phone camera accessory for that purpose but it is not something you can take out on a long hike to film The wilderness. The battery just does not run that long and unfortunately they did not design it with an external power port So that you could carry a larger battery and keep the camera alive. On the plus side the camera draws no power from your phone.

Joe

[WyoGreen]

I've had a Flir One camera for many years, and it has always worked good. One thing I use it for is checking for hot connections in the electric breaker box. Like you said, it is also handy for finding cold spots around windows and doors. It's easy to see how good of a job the insulators did on your outside walls!

[Joe Jones]

I've had a Flir One camera for many years, and it has always worked good. One thing I use it for is checking for hot connections in the electric breaker box. Like you said, it is also handy for finding cold spots around windows and doors. It's easy to see how good of a job the insulators did on your outside walls!

I DID notice that! I looked at my breaker panel. When the AC would kick on, the 220 breaker would turn bright yellow, and then slowly cool down again when the AC shut off. I also experimented with the COLD vs HOT water issue. One of my bathrooms is at the opposite end of the house. So in order to take a hot shower, I have to run the water out of the shower AND sink faucet for about two minutes to get the hot water from the heater in the garage to the shower stall. Just for $%^&s and giggles, I turned on the water and watched as the faucet changed from purple to bright white, letting me know the hot water had arrived

One of the summer projects this year, is to install a smaller hot water heater close to this bathroom. It will provide hot water immediately for it's smaller capacity, and then then be refilled as a pass through heater from the main heater in the garage. I figure this will save me a bit on my monthly water bill.

One thing that has always bothered me, is my inability to check the propane level in my tank outside. I can walk out there in the freezing cold or the hot summer and look at a gauge, but for WHATEVER reason, the propane industry has not created a color changing strip of tape that they can place vertically on one side of the tank, which will clearly indicate the current level of the propane contained inside. Tonight I am going to point this camera at my tank to see if I can SEE the propane level by the difference in the temperature between the lower portion with the liquid propane, and the upper portion which is only gas.

Not EVERY propane tank has a gauge. My neighbor is the local propane guy, just like in that animated TV show. He asked me if I knew of any way to check the level of a propane tank VISUALLY from a distance. He has one method, which is to splash some hot water on the side of the tank. The water on one side of the propane line will evaporate more slowly, creating a straight line of dryness to indicate the level of the liquid inside. I like to think OUTSIDE of the box. so I am hoping that this camera will let him check the levels from the comfort of his truck!

Joe


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[tnbndr]

One of the summer projects this year, is to install a smaller hot water heater close to this bathroom. It will provide hot water immediately for it's smaller capacity, and then then be refilled as a pass through heater from the main heater in the garage. I figure this will save me a bit on my monthly water bill.

You don't need another hot water heater. Look into recirculating systems. Can be a pump system or as simple as just another line that keeps water circulating based on gravity (hot/cold).

[Joe Jones]

You don't need another hot water heater. Look into recirculating systems. Can be a pump system or as simple as just another line that keeps water circulating based on gravity (hot/cold).

An apartment building I lived in as a teenager had that system. The building was long and narrow, but the large water heater at the rear of the building gave up instant hot water at the front apartment almost instantly. But that was in COMMIEfornia.

I have been told by locals that a recirculating pump in Kentucky is a very costly "luxury" because the water loses so much of it's heat running through the freezing cold pipes under the house in the cold winters. So in order to use one of those pumps here, I would have to hire someone to crawl under the home and wrap all of the hot water pipes with thick insulation and zip ties. Also, a return pipe would need to be run back to the water heater. Sadly, I don't FIT under my home

I know it works well, but I will look into finding some string bean reliable teenager who is willing to take on the project.

Another problem is, I replaced my flexible HVAC ducting under the house with ALL STEEL, dual wall, internally insulated ducting. I was having issues with mice chewing holes into the flexible ducting and then nesting inside of the warm ducts. This created a smell in the house, and put me in the hospital from the dander and whatnot that blew into my home from the nests. So I spent some $14,000.00 on the hospital bills (AFTER insurance payments) and another $6,500.00 on the steel ducting, just so I can safely breathe in my own home. Hearing a mouse trap snap in my house puts a big smile on my face They are not dirty city sewer mice. They are just field mice. It is a part of life here, along with snakes.

The steel ducting is large, and permanently installed. So it is nearly impossible to get beyond it to the other side. A person would have to dig a trench beneath the ducting and shimmy under it, like a dog escaping from a yard in order to wrap the hot water pipes on the other side of the main ducting.

I have been thinking about just taking the plunge, and digging stand-up height trenches under the house, leading from the side crawl space entry to the areas under the kitchen and the two bathrooms, and the laundry room, while staying away from the concrete support pillars in the ground. Concrete floors would be poured into 30" wide trenches that would be lined with concrete filled cinder block walls, and of course a sump pump would be incorporated somewhere in the maze, to take rain water out of it. I wanted to make a small stairway down into the trench, with a pedestrian door, since I am not a crawl through the small opening kind of guy.

I may still do that, but a second water heater in the attic seems to be a far simpler solution. The water would run under the house into the second heater that would provide the initial hot water source for a shower, until the hot water from the garage heater arrived to replenish it. Up to the attic and into heater #2, and THEN down to the shower and sinks.

The other semi-easy option is to install an electric instant hot water heater into the closet opposite the shower head, and run 240 VAC power to it. I looked into the price of those things. They are 'Spensive, Lucy!

Joe


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[djreiswig]

I think some of the recirculating systems just use the cold water pipe. You pump the cold water in the hot water pipe back into the cold water pipe which sends it back to the water heater. You don't need a third pipe since they are connected at the water heater. I think they use a button to run the pump for a time before you turn on the faucet.

[Joe Jones]

I think some of the recirculating systems just use the cold water pipe. You pump the cold water in the hot water pipe back into the cold water pipe which sends it back to the water heater. You don't need a third pipe since they are connected at the water heater. I think they use a button to run the pump for a time before you turn on the faucet.

I don't think that is how it works. I think it is a looped system, where the hot water is always circulating at a slow pace out of the water heater to the various faucets, etc., and then back into the heater to be warmed up more and repeat the cycle. A low volume water pump doesn't take a lot of electricity to do this. It is akin to a water fountain in your yard. It just MOVES water.

Since the hot water pipe is presumably insulated and ALWAYS HOT when the hot water is circulating through it and back tot he water heater, it does not lose much heat while traveling through the loop. It may come back into the water heater reservoir 30 degrees cooler, but not much less than that. The idea is to always have hot water at all of the faucets, and the pipes do not suck the heat out of the first (n) gallons of hot water to pass through them, because they are already hot.

I will do a search to learn how these pumps work. I could be wrong.

Joe

Ah....






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[rdj357]

I think some of the recirculating systems just use the cold water pipe. You pump the cold water in the hot water pipe back into the cold water pipe which sends it back to the water heater. You don't need a third pipe since they are connected at the water heater. I think they use a button to run the pump for a time before you turn on the faucet.

I don't think that is how it works....

[Joe Jones]

Thanks Robert. The small bit of research I did led me to the same conclusion. I think I will look into installing this onto the water system in my home. I run some 20 gallons of cold water down the drain just to get a hot shower ever time. Water isn't really expensive, but it sure seems like a waste, and since my home is on a septic system, it is BETTER to not require the system to handle that much extra water each time I shower.

I cannot imagine why all new homes are not automatically equipped with such a system.

djreiswig was right, but when I read his response, I pictured forcing the heated water back into the CITY water supply line, and that is why it didn't make sense to me. I see now that this system opens a valve and allows HOT water to replace COLD water in the hot water line, by back feeding the colder water back into the water heater for reheating at the T-intersection. That makes perfect sense now. Before today, I had never looked into how these systems work.

In the apartment in CA., there was a wall mounted pump next to the water heater. It looked like an old Chrysler starter motor, but the hot water outlet was plumbed to it on two sides. It ran 24/7. The building had 9 apartments between two floors, and it was nearly 200 feet long. I asked the manager what it was, and he told me that if we ever had COLD water from the hot water faucet in our apartment, I should run out to see if the pump was running, and if NOT, then call him immediately. There was no valve control. The building just had a loop of hot water running all around the building that was constantly being fed with hot water from the heater to our apartment fixtures, and then back through a very thick insulated copper tube that ran along all four lower apartments, along the outer wall on the rear side of the building above the bedroom windows, which looped back into the water heater as colder water. I lived in one of two twin buildings that shared a common driveway.

Anyway, I have to do SOMETHING. This winter and last, it took nearly 10 minutes of running two open faucets to get hot water to the shower at the far end of my house! The pipes under the house are not insulated, so I am guessing that MOST of the heat is lost along the way.

Joe


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[rdj357]

Our home is a single level 2,800sf home with a slab foundation, plumbing in the slab. We have the system that you mention. This is a return line system as you said. Having owned a plumbing business, I can tell you that it is common in larger homes and commercial buildings. The flow is regulated by a ‘circ setter’ - formally a Circuit Setter Balancing Valve at each fixture. This allows the flow required to be set so that distant fixtures can receive a proportionate flow even though the line friction loss is higher due to the longer length.

[Joe Jones]

My local plumber is going to come out to see what is needed to install this onto my home.

Joe