house-smart

KY Ted and Kurt and All: Okay the technical paper on Infrared Thermometer Use and Misuse is ready and online at my website. http://www.h-s.bz/images/Infrared_Therm ... ok_PDF.pdf It's an Adobe Acrobate PDF and at almost 4MB it may take a while for you dial-up guys to download, but I think it's worth the wait. The paper is 30 pages of text, photos, graphics, and charts. Hope it is useful to you. Please let me know if you have another use that I didn't cover. Sorry Chad I didn't put in anything about engine analysis (you're covered the subject very well), but I do use one for that too. One note if you intend to do engine analysis with an infrared thermometer in addition to home inspection, you may want one that has a higher measuring range. The Raytek MT4, the most popular model for home inspectors, only reads to 525 degrees F. When the engine is much above idle the exhaust manifold is hotter than 525. In addition to an MT4 I also have a Raytek Ranger ST60 which reads up to 1100 degrees and combined with its very narrow field of view it is quite useful for the analysis technicques that Chad described. John Wells HOUSE-SMART Inc.___We're Smarter About Houses [:-graduate] www.h-s.bz

KY Ted: Very good question but the answer is not a quick one. In 2002 & 2003 I spent about 100 hours reseaching non-contact infrared thermometers (IRT) and comparing 6 different models. From that research I wrote a 10 page, 2 part article for the NAHIforum that included more than you'd ever want to know on the subject. I also presented an hour and a half seminar on IRTs at the National Association of Home Inpsector's (NAHI) National Education Conference in Clearwater Beach, FL, in Feb 2003. If I can work out the details with Mike I will try to make the written articles available to you here on TIJ. The best advise I can give you in two sentences is: When you point and shoot, what the IRT is not telling you is more important than what it is telling you. Don't wave it around Clients until you sure you know the difference. But it is a very handy tool. I own four. I use two regularly. John Wells www.hs1.biz

Mike: Retired Army? [:-taped] oh, I'm sorry, we all have our little crosses to bear. How does that Army song go again? [:-sing] "Over hill over dale, looking for a piece of _________, as those caissons go rolling along. etc. etc. etc." The important thing is we thank you for your service. John

Mike: I particularly like the visual nature of the new TIJ __ always something happening on the screen __ which fits very nicely with the nature of home inspectors. We are visual people. We react to visual stimuli. Mike is a clever guy and understood this when he designed the layout. The avatars are also great. I wasn't quite sure at first. "What are these cartoons doing here?" After a couple of minutes I realized that I didn't even need to read the poster's name to see which whinner was on a rant now ([:I] oh gosh, I'm sorry, for a second there I got it confused with that other inspector site)___ to see which member was sharing a thought with the group. Avatars for ever. [:-bonc01] John Wells www.hs1.biz

Mike O, Rose B, & Mike B: What do I think of the new TIJ? In the Navy (I'm retired Navy) when someone or some group did some thing that stood out above the pack they were told, "Congratulations on a job Well Done". Since Mike O is also a Navy "Graduate" (we're certainly not retired) I will say to him and Rose and Mike: Congratulations on a job Very Well Done. John www.hs1.biz