Hartzler Engineering & Consulting Services
Effective Tools for Tough Questions
How can you see temperature?
While our eyes are perfectly designed to observe light in the visible spectrum, we need to use creative tech tools to visualize the thermal energy in equipment, wiring, and our surroundings.
FLIR or Forward Looking Infrared cameras have sensors that can detect infrared (IR) radiation that is invisible to our eyes. The infrared radiation emitted by an item is related to its temperature.
By using FLIR cameras we can see the real-time temperature of things. This can be very useful in diagnosing overheating electrical connections, failing fuses, or simply understanding where heat is produced in an appliance.
Hartzler Engineering uses FLIR ONE Pro camera technology to capture informative images and document temperature data.
Fire Investigation: Why do an Arc Map/Survey?
Most commercial and residential buildings have electrical service with fuses or circuit breakers to protect the wiring. By carefully looking at the electrical system wiring and protection, we can learn quite a bit about how and where a fire developed.
Electrical wiring is often covered with plastic insulation that is easily damaged by heat from a growing fire. The damaged insulation allows abnormally high electrical current flow and arcing to occur at the location of heat impact. The arcing melts the copper wire at the point of heat impact and the high electrical current trips the circuit breaker or fuse that protects the wire. This removes electrical power from the wire and prevents any additional arcing.
The location of the physical residue of electrical arcing can be used to pinpoint where the heat of the fire first damaged the wire and the entire circuit + appliances connected to the wire. Carefully plotting this information on a map or diagram, along with thoughtful consideration of the building construction and furnishings, can reveal the story of where the fire started.
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