Thermographic Surveys for Maintenance

Thermographic analysis is right up there with megger logs and vibration analysis and should be part of your machinery history records. It is worth every pfennig.

A good thermographic surveyor with marine experience will observe every piece of machinery you specify and provide you with digital color photographs to document the signature of each component. This, along with vibration analysis, gives you a baseline for condition monitoring. Thermographics are superb for troubleshooting and preventive maintenance of electrical distribution systems.

I have been anxiously awaiting the price of infrared imaging devices to drop a bit further to the point I can justify purchasing one of my own. If you like using an infrared thermometer for routine observation you will fall in love with a color calibrated imager. Fluke is getting very close with their new models.

We use IR thermography since 2004 in our Yachts as part of predictive maintanance and We have managed to reduce the repair costs up to 65%. On the other hand there were many cases where we have prevent many electrical and mechanicalproblems before they actually occur.

Actual examples, hmmmmmm. Water saturated insulation in reefer boxes, failing insulation in motor windings, poor insulation in A/C ducting, high resistance wiring connections all over the place, overloaded wiring, wiring conductors failing inside insulation (invisible) due to flexure, hot bearings, leaking exhaust connections beneath insulation blankets, malfunctioning steam traps, leaking drains, steam leaks, (OK steam stuff probably won't sell the owner but substitute A/C stuff) leaking bypass valves or relief valves. There is a long list of little issues that effect efficiency and cost money for a long time before a failure occurs ... it really is a preventive maintenance tool that can pay for itself if used regularly to monitor and record information.

Remember where all the energy produced on your boat comes from. Every single BTU or Watt moving around the pipes, tubes, and wires comes from the owner's fuel tanks and he is paying a lot of money for those little buggers. It's the engineer's job to keep them all moving in the right direction to the right places at the right time, and tools that help do that can save some real money.

we have bought a FLIR camera which at the end has paid back all the money. But as far as i can recall its actual price was about 12,000 EUROS including the training and certification of our DPA