I finally figured out why the motion sensor in that old Denver bank kept giving false alarms

It was picking up the heat from a steam pipe that ran behind the wall, about 18 inches from the sensor head. The building manager swore the pipe was cold, but my thermal camera showed it hitting 130 degrees at 6 PM every day when the cleaning crew ran the floor buffer. Has anyone else had to map out hidden heat sources like that before placing a sensor?

4 comments

4 Comments

evan_green522mo ago

Classic case of the building manager not wanting to admit they were wrong... gotta love when a simple fix gets complicated by pride. Thermal cameras don't lie, even if your boss does.

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iris9272mo ago

Wait, @evan_green52, they actually argued with a thermal camera reading?

the_iris2mo ago

Right? Had a customer try to argue with a digital tire gauge last week. Some people just can't handle being shown proof.

spencer78221d ago

Keep a digital gauge in your glovebox for situations like this. Had a guy at the shop swear his gauge was off by 5 PSI. Pulled out three different digital ones, all read the same. He still grumbled about it while I aired up his tires for free. Sometimes you just have to let them be wrong.