Would thermal imaging help with this situation?

Not me. Once they started to flow over the drain curb, I would turn the water off and leave them in there to drain down slowly rather than leave the water running unattended. Sometimes I forget them on my second pass.

An even quicker an better solution is to NEVER leave the scene while you have a running faucet. Take the extra 3-5 minutes and JUST STAND STILL, DO NOT LEAVE THE AREA! Leaving a running appliance is just asking for an incident. The mind can only handle so much during a hectic day of information gathering, eventually the worst will happen if you leave the scene to do other tasks.

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That was my practice - start the shower, inspect the rest of the bathroom while the water level rises to the weir of the shower tester, turn off the shower and leave the water standing, do a quick check below to make sure water is not coming through ceiling cutouts, then move on and collect the shower tester at the end after I do the IR inspection.

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Amen Chuck. Looked at one of your sample reports…wow. Outstanding. Do you do a lot of thermal work?

Thank you. I did up until I retired this spring. I did thermography inspections with about 75% of my home inspections.

The temperature of the water can be close to the temperature of the wall, but there is definitely a difference. If the accuracy of the thermal camera is high enough to detect the difference, the water can be distinguished from the wall.
I’ve seen my friend using IRay T3S to detect water leakage in his house.

This is correct you can test your shower pan all you want and it may not leak. A shower pan especially one made out of plastic or fiberglass needs a live load to flex. Generally the P-trap underneath is supported and as the shower pan flexes the shower drain flange with putty underneath it is slightly raised from the pan. This results in real world leaks that cannot be detected by simply over filling the shower pan.

I see no reason for testing the shower pan with a plug if the shower has been used by the occupants during a live load. The live load is what puts the stress on the pan not your inch and a half of water.

I did the same exact thing.