Try this brainteaser

What does this look like to you?

1 Bathroom window next to a mirror.

window with leaking insulated glass

Without seeing more
Condensation build up?
Poor weather stripping(seals)?
or
Broken thermopane seals

Locked Vs unlocked sashes?

Regards

Gerry

My thought too…unlocked on left.

That is the key, but this is a teaser problem!
I will give this through today and give the west coast time to wake up! :wink:

That’s what I thought.:slight_smile:

You shut the left window just before the picture was taken?

What is below the “middle” window? The left does look like a reflection.

My guess is that both windows have a seal problem on the bottom sash and the left window is unlocked.

You asked the right question for the next clue!!

Go Carolyn!

So we have a cold exterior, with a warm air vent immediately below. Warm air is being directed up towards the window surfaces. The cold areas are areas that are protected from the warm air flow by the window sills and the sashes. The window on the right does not appear as affected on the upper pane because it is not immediately above the register. Although the fan shape flow that the register creates is clearly evident on the bottom pane of the right window and as well the left window. The bottom pane of the left window shows a slower moving heat flow in its center because if you look at a register vent, the part in the center is blocked from direct upward flow. The left side also contains a reflection of the thermographer I believe.

Close?

Very!!!

I will post later. I have a tornado squeaking by me as we speak! Another in Jackson, TN heading down the pipe!
Must get !

Be careful. Sending a prayer to you and everyone there.

-o< Thanks Steve! I think it worked!

We are getting reports that the University in Jackson, TN took a direct hit! No power in the city and they can’t see much.

I was saved by the Cumberland river again! Third tornado to come right at me and turn 90 degrees or shut down less than a mile from my house! Don’t ask me why, but the river has something to do with it.

Nashville is getting hit by a tornado as we speak. Please pray for our Inspectors and friends there. It’s on the ground and heading downtown.

I figured there was a register below…

Geez it’s going to be a long night…they just said another super-cell just up the road.

Sending up prayers noone else gets hurt - stuff can be replaced lives cannot.

Gnite all…

Hope everyone is still with us this morning. Dan?.. Carol?.. That must have been one wicked evening you just endured. Seeing all the damage on TWC last evening and this morning. I hope you guys didn’t get anuy of that after you signed off for the evening. Looks like it went on all night.

Picture taking from inside ? with the AC on as the darker areas are colder.

Sorry for the interruption! I had to take cover in the root cellar!

Let me give you the background on this scan.
It is a vacant new construction house. The heat was turned off before I arrived. I turn the heat on and commenced to make my first walk through to turn on all the electrical to begin my inspection. When entering the master bedroom I noticed the unusual pattern at the Windows and took a snapshot for later evaluation. [size=2]I am planning to attend ITC level 1 training in a couple of weeks and I’m gathering anything unusual I can come up with.

First, Try not to focus on the obvious areas of the scan. My reflection in the lower left window sash was an excellent observation! We tend to look at the cold/hot spots and focus on them.

We try to get as close to the object as possible, but we should also take a step back and take another scan to get a better overall picture of what’s going on. In this scan, I intentionally left out the heating register.

The reason I took this scan was that it was a good example of the effects of moving air on thermal anomalies.

It is important to get as large a temperature differential is possible. However, the HVAC creates havoc if the temperature is not stabilized in the building long before your arrival. Always take a walk through the building before you make any adjustments on the HVAC because the anomalies may go away when you change the thermostat setting.

I did not manipulate any of the Windows and none of the windows were leaking or partially opened or unlocked. The windows were cold because the heat was off. If I took a scan of the Windows before I turned on the heat, they would be blue all the way across.

As Steve posted, “[/size]The cold areas are areas that are protected from the warm air flow by the window sills and the sashes”. It gave the appearance of air infiltration. If we did not take two steps back, it would have been a safe assessment that the windows were leaking. It wasn’t until I posted the digital picture from a greater distance (actually camera focal length) that Steve was able to make such an accurate assessment of the thermal scan. Excellent job Steve !

The fan shape flow from the register is a good perception by conceptualizing airflow and what was going on in the room prior and during the scan.
I see a lot of infrared scans posted on the web (at other places) that do not deliver sufficient information because the camera operator (I will not use the title thermographer here) was solely focused on the hot/cold spot.

Just keep in mind that when you see a thermal anomaly or temperature differential, put on your thinking cap and ask what are all the possibilities that could create this anomaly? You should come up with at least three possibilities in every case (as we did on this thread). As more information is obtained/provided we can eliminate the other two possibilities and deduce the most likely explanation.

Then it’s time to pull out some other test equipment and verify!

Thank you to all for participating. I hope you enjoyed. The ITC newsletter posts a monthly brainteaser if you’d like to play some more.