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Bought a $400 thermal camera for a panel check and it found a hot leg I would have missed
I was doing a routine service call on a 1980s split-level. The panel felt warm, but all the breakers felt fine by hand. I used the camera to scan the bus bars and saw one phase connection at the main lug was glowing at 140 degrees. It was tight, but the aluminum had degraded. Without the camera, I'd have just logged it as normal. Has anyone else caught a hidden fault like this with thermal imaging?
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jennyh416mo ago
Honestly, my thermal camera mostly just proves how bad my coffee maker is. Good catch on that lug though, that's wild.
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josephl676mo ago
Nah, that thermal cam is way more useful than that. It's not just for finding bad appliances. Spotting a hot lug like that before it starts a fire is the whole point. My buddy found a bad breaker in his panel that was way too hot to touch. Those things pay for themselves by stopping problems you can't even see.
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