On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:01:47 -0600, nick hull wrote:

In article ,
Anthony Matonak wrote:

You might be able to do almost as well using a non-contact thermometer.
Go out on a cold night and scan the likely places, like around windows
and doors. It's slower but works on the same principle.

I've done that from the inside, spotting cold spots that needed more
insulation. It works and is cheap

I've found that method to work much better with non-contact thermometers, the reason
being that the instrument works better at room temperature than it does in the cold
outdoors.

All that's required is to generate some small amount of negative pressure in the
house - several bathroom vent fans running will do it - and then scan around the
windows and doors. If you're using one of the cheap units with fixed emission
constant, pretty much ignore the actual reading and look for downward change. The
fixed emission constant, usually 0.95, is good only for near-black-body radiators.
Painted surfaces generally aren't.

John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com -- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made with meat?