We typically charge a flat day rate, with no additional charges for travel or other expenses. Prices vary greatly depending on location and other factors. Our rates are competitive, and although not typically the lowest, when you use our services you absolutely get what you pay for — our technicians are top-notch! Feel free to reach out to receive a quote.

Absolutely! The visual inspection should not be overlooked (no pun intended). There are many anomalies still best observed with the naked eye. We closely examine equipment for any signs of previous overheating, installation errors, safety concerns, and specific code violations.

This one gets a lot of discussion. The short answer is no. The long answer is yes, but not always …or… sometimes, but it depends. The truth is, at least when it comes to panelboards, oftentimes you can detect hot spots with covers in place. This depends on a few things: (1) the design of the panel (typically 208V vs. 480V), (2) the location of the hot spot (e.g. whether it’s hidden away on the neutral bar or directly attached to a branch circuit breaker), (3) the temperature of the hot spot (naturally, the hotter the better here), (4) the quality of the IR camera (a $20,000 camera will outperform a $200 one), and (5) the skill level of the thermographer (i.e. whether or not they’re able recognize an unusual heating pattern on the breaker fronts, etc.). As a rule of thumb, the more you take off the more you see. And therefore, it is unfortunately true that by not removing all panel covers (front trims and dead fronts), a less thorough inspection will be the result. But the question really is: Can a valid thermal inspection occur by removing only those covers deemed necessary? … Yes. In fact, many experts would agree that oftentimes the risk is simply not worth the reward — that is, at least for certain types of facilities or situations, removing every single panel cover is overly cumbersome and precarious. Therefore, one could make the case of removing covers selectively, presenting some major advantages that include: (1) increased safety for personnel, (2) reduced risk of accidental power disruption or damaged wiring, (3) decreased wear on enclosure parts, and (4) enormous time-savings — In fact, for many types of facilities this approach could be an excellent ‘bang-for-the-buck’.

The 2023 NFPA 70B declares, “a well-administered Electrical Preventative Maintenance Safety Program will reduce accidents, save lives, and minimize costly break downs and unplanned shutdowns of production equipment”, and further states, “routine infrared safety inspections of energized electrical systems should be performed annually prior to shutdown”.

That’s right. The NFPA 70B states that IR inspections are to be performed annually. And as of recently (2023), the NEC now considers the inspection a ‘standard’, whereas previously was only a ‘recommended practice’. Basically, the language has shifted from you should do this to you shall do this, and failing to perform annual IR inspections could be considered a violation enforceable by OSHA. Although the language seems to imply heavy industry, it wouldn’t be out-of-the-question to at least include main switchboards/distribution in all smaller commercial buildings and light-manufacturing facilities.

Before this shift in the NEC code, we typically recommended that smaller facilities and most commercial buildings have the inspection done every 2-3 years ; many medium-sized production facilities annually ; and as for heavy-manufacturing or food-processing facilities, a minimum of annually. In fact, maintenance personnel in these types of places are quite familiar with the inspection and often request it bi-annually…in other words, by the time they’ve finished gathering parts and making repairs (some 6 months later), a multitude of new hot spots have formed (these are typically large, round-the-clock operations that need to stay up and running to meet consumer demand).

This is a very common question. Unfortunately there’s no one answer because heating is entirely component-specific and load-dependent. It also depends on whether you’re referring to a temperature rise (over a reference temperature) or simply a maximum temperature. Consider two different scenarios: (1) A battery under a trickle charge showing a 5 Degree F rise compared with an adjacent terminal (e.g. 75 vs. 70 Degrees F). Of course 75 degrees is not hot, but the problem is that when load picks up, it has the potential to be entirely too hot, possibly catastrophic!          (2) Now consider a contactor in an air compressor control cabinet running at 150 Degrees F on all 3 phase terminals using high temperature-rated cables… Well, that could quite possibly be within the manufacturer’s specifications and not an issue at all. Unfortunately, many individuals would choose to report the 2nd scenario and miss the 1st one entirely!

If you’re still looking for some kind of answer, we can provide some considerations regarding overloaded circuits: In our experience, overloads are often detected when conductors/breaker components show temperatures roughly between 110 – 140 Degrees F in a room temperature environment. Typically, below 110 Degrees might indicate that the device is running safely below its rated limit (e.g. no more than 16A on a 20A breaker), and greater than 140 degrees would not likely be observed for overload conditions as they will have exceeded the circuit rating and triggered the overcurrent protective device (e.g. breaker). Of course, these are just rough estimates which vary by manufacturer/model and certainly wouldn’t apply for cooler or warmer environments … Overload conditions should be corrected of course. The NEC limits continuous loads to no more than 80% so that hot spots do not arise!

No, we don’t provide specific testing of motors. However, we’ll typically surface-scan them in conjunction with our routine inspection simply due to the convenience of being in a mechanical room with an IR camera. Infrared testing alone isn’t highly effective for motors, however, it is a great complementary test to perform alongside others such as meggering, vibration, or ultrasound.

Yes, probably so. But generally new sites don’t benefit as much as older sites (10+ years old). However, some things to consider: Brand new buildings are often still ‘working out the kinks’, and the number of kinks to work out greatly depends on the quality of the electrical installation. In some instances, the number of findings in a new building can be significant. But if you were to ask us, we might recommend getting the inspection done just once, then perhaps waiting some time for the next one (assuming not much was found the first time, and that you’re not a heavy manufacturing facility).

Yes, we like working with utility companies. In fact, we have dedicated cameras for outdoor inspections as well as narrow-angle lenses for long distances. Bear in mind that we only work from the ground, and for utility poles we typically require a driver.

Yes, we do. In fact, we can produce IR images of pretty much anything — whether checking buildings for air leaks, roofs for water intrusion, solar panels for dead cells, etc. Keep in mind, however, that some of these types of inspections require specific weather conditions, so your best bet might be to hire a ‘local and ready’ inspection company. But if you’re located in or around Middle Tennessee we might be able help.