GOT SHORTS?

I'M TALKING ABOUT ELECTRICAL SHORTS!

Short circuits, overloaded circuits, faulty breakers, over-fused panels and damaged wiring are one of the main causes of house fires.

According to the US Fire Administration, during a typical year, home electrical problems account for 67,800 fires, 485 deaths, and $868 million in property losses. Home electrical wiring causes twice as many fires as electrical appliances.

Most electrical fires result from problems with "fixed wiring" such as faulty electrical outlets and old wiring. Problems with cords and plugs, such as extension and appliance cords, also cause many home electrical fires.

In urban areas, faulty wiring accounts for 33% of residential electrical fires.

Many avoidable electrical fires can be traced to misuse of electric cords, such as overloading circuits, poor maintenance and running the cords under rugs or in high traffic areas.

The problem is, that you may never notice the problem lurking there, ready to flash into flame until it actually does. This is where Thermal Infrared scanning comes in. A thermal camera actually "sees" heat, not visible light like your eyes. Here is an example:

This is what an overheated wire looks like to the IR Camera

By scanning the home, including the main electrical panel, sub panels, outlets & switches and other electrical components, you can spot problems that can then be diagnosed by an electrician and corrected before it burns your house down.

During my regular "visual only, general home inspection" I often find older, outdated panels, a very old style of wiring called "Knob & Tube" and a lot of "homeowner" style additions to the electrical systems. These are all huge red flags! Older, outdated panels and knob & tube can prevent you from getting fire insurance in many cases. It is statistically proven that an under powered house of less than 100 amps of service is much more likely to have overloaded circuits. There may only be 4-6 circuits for the whole house with only one outlet in a room. (current requirements, in comparison, are for at least 7 circuits just in a kitchen alone)

Where are you going to plug in your big screen TV, the game system plus lamps, electrical heaters, computers, toaster oven etc. etc. You can see how it is so easy to overload that one plug by adding an extension cord or a multi-plug adapter to get more places to plug all this in.

Does this look familiar? This would add up to about a 30 amp draw on this 15 amp circuit! (not counting the "kitty" night light LOL)

Is your house still on glass fuses? That's like from ancient times! Back in those days they printed "In God We Trust" on the penny because people would place them under burnt out fuses to make the circuit work until they remembered to replace the fuse, if they ever did. This, in effect makes the circuit wire the fuse. Not a great idea. Red hot wires inside wood walls or in the attic with cardboard boxes stacked over them or, better yet, covered with insulation, is a great way to "remodel" the house a bit sooner than you had planned. This of course would be a "full, foundation up" job since that is all that would be left.

Have I convinced you that an IR scan for electrical problems of your house might be a good idea?

Dana Bostick Magic Leak Finders

Got Leaks?

GOT LEAKS?

I CAN HELP YOU FIND THEM!

Water leaks into your house can be a real pain! They can result in mold, wood rot, damaged paint and finishes, destroyed furniture, warped flooring and more. All amounting to potentially thousands of dollars in damage and repairs.

I am amazed that people actually know about an existing leak but do not actually do what is needed to locate and stop it. At least not effectively.

The last three Thermal Infrared Inspections I have done were to locate leaks that had gone on for years! One was a rather large medical office building that had been fighting roof leaks into examining rooms (making them unusable) for two years. They had several roofers out to find the leaks and make repairs. In a matter of a few hours, I located the source with an Infrared scan done from the interior and on the roof, marked the spots for repair and solved the ongoing problem to their satisfaction.

Another was a large three-building condo project in the Marina. Their problem had been going on for 11 YEARS! THIS IS TRULY NUTS! Two hours of work with my Thermal Infrared camera, combined with my knowledge of building science, revealed the problem to be located in some deteriorated flashing on the side wall of an upper floor that could not be reached except by erecting scaffolding. Infrared really does see what the naked eye cannot. The scan showed moisture saturation behind the wood exterior siding that they were not even aware of. I was able to show them the probable path the water was taking to get inside and show up where it eventually did. The entry point was over 20 feet away! No wonder they could not find it! "Roofers don't do siding". They had spent many thousands of dollars having a new "spray-on foam" roof installed in an attempt to resolve this ongoing problem. WRONG WHY!Unfortunately , leaks are often, incorrectly, attributed to a roof when the the roof is not the problem. "The right why leads to the correct solution" Infrared scanning, if done by an experienced operator, can produce the "right why" in many cases.

A final "case study" I will give is sort of funny. In this case, the homeowner had been fighting a leak problem for several years by doing his own diagnosis and then throwing a ton of money at the solution he though was the right one. He had a two story house with single story extensions on both sides. There were french doors onto these lower sections that were decks. He had correctly diagnosed that the decks were the source of the water but just not the exact right place. he spent many thousands of dollars putting new, high-tech" deck coatings on them only to have the leaking continue. He was rather upset to say the least. He called me out to do an Thermal Infrared scan to try to locate the problem. Now here is the funny part. I didn't even need the infrared scanner to locate the leaks! He was paying for the scan so I did "wave the camera around" a bit and verify the location of the moisture intrusion in the ceiling of the living room. I even found one spot he did not know about since it did not show up visually but was there on infrared and verified by moisture meter. His real problem was those damn french doors! (Side Note: they are almost always a problem) They had been installed without proper "pan flashing" under the threshold and they were too low, almost flush with the exterior deck level. Any exterior door needs to be installed properly, with at least 1-2 inches between the the bottom of the threshold and the deck/slab. They should have pan flashing under the threshold that prevents any water from moving to the interior and directs it back out doors. Once I had explained this concept to him, he saw where the true problem lay and resolved to have the doors properly re-installed.

So when you have a leak, it may not be coming from where you think it is! Get a Pro in to determine the "exact right why" and you have a good chance of handling the problem the first time.

Dana Bostick Magic Leak Finders