Who we serve · Food, dairy and agricultural processing
For food, dairy and agricultural processing.
Electrical gear, refrigeration loads, roofs over wet processes. The scan is the easy part. It has to fit inside a food-safety program, a contractor approval process and a production schedule. We plan it that way from the first call.
02 · What is at stake
In a plant that never stops, a failure is counted in product.
A loose connection or an overloaded conductor runs hot for months before it fails. In a plant running continuous production, that failure is measured in lost product and lost line time. Published insurer guidance puts most electrical equipment losses down to operating conditions and environment. It names contamination, corrosion and humid air. That is a washdown plant, described in an insurer’s words. Carriers increasingly expect a documented, recurring infrared scan of electrical equipment.
03 · The plant
Five places in a processing plant, and what each asks of an outside thermographer.
The plate is a schematic section, stamped as one. It carries no temperature and no reading. The annotations name parts of a kind of plant, not findings in any particular one.
- OPEN PRODUCT
- MOTOR CONTROL
- COMPRESSOR
- FREEZER PANEL
- TRANSFORMER
01 / 05 Processing plant section
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01
Before the camera comes in
Your food-safety program governs the visit, and the camera is equipment it controls.
We complete your contractor training or work escorted. We follow your hygiene and garment rules, and your medical screening where it applies to contractors. Our handheld imager is declared before the visit as portable equipment for product areas. We supply its condition and its brittle-component list. We accept your control and inspection procedure. Where your glass and brittle-material policy excludes it from a zone, we scan from outside the zone.
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02
Why the scan runs in production
An unloaded circuit reads room temperature, so we scan while you run.
Panelboards, switchgear, motor control centers, disconnects, busway and drives are scanned energized and under load. Covers come off under your electrical safety program, by your qualified electrician or a qualified contractor arranged for the visit. Equipment that runs only during a processing campaign is scanned while the campaign runs. Equipment that runs year-round can be scanned any time. The off-season is for onboarding, roof work, and recording equipment during a planned shutdown. If the scan finds nothing above our reporting threshold, that is the finding. The record carries the same conditions, coverage and equipment list as any other.
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03
Where our work stops
We scan the electrical that serves refrigeration, not the ammonia process.
Motor control centers, starters, drives, compressor motor connections and control panels are in scope. Pressure vessels, piping, relief systems and the mechanical integrity program are not. They belong to the plant and its refrigeration contractor, and responsibility for them stays there. What we produce documents electrical condition. It is not a mechanical integrity inspection, and it is not offered as one. We complete your contractor orientation, and we report any hazard our work identifies.
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04
The honest scope limit
A freezer roof is a different assembly, and we name the scan for what it is.
ASTM C1153-23 addresses roofs with insulation above the deck, in contact with the waterproofing. An insulated metal panel freezer roof is a different assembly, outside that practice’s stated scope. Over a freezer, heat moves inward, which reverses the contrast the roof method depends on. We scan a cold-storage envelope for panel joints, insulation gaps, moisture and ice. We report it as a thermographic envelope scan. We do not call it an ASTM C1153 roof moisture survey, because it is not one.
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05
One visit, three vantage points
The electrical room on foot, the yard and the roof from the air.
Substations, transformer yards and rooftop gear are scanned from the air. Nobody approaches energized yard equipment to get the image. Where the roof has insulation above the deck, our roof moisture surveys follow ASTM C1153-23. They run after sunset, in the conditions the method depends on, and move when those conditions are not met. One visit, one report. Written authorization from the owner is in place before every visit and every flight.
04 · From guesswork to measurement
From guesswork to measurement.
Guesswork is how most electrical rooms are checked today. Measurement is what a calibrated scan leaves behind.
Guesswork
Measurement
- A hand on the panel door, a nose for hot insulation, and a scan whenever someone remembers. At audit time, the records you need are the records you cannot find.
- A scan on a set interval, every temperature difference measured against a reference and written down. A report an auditor and an underwriter both accept.
- Run to failure. The first sign of a bad connection is the outage it causes, and the outage is measured in production.
- Loose and overloaded connections found while they are still only warm. Fixed on a work order, not a callout.
- Renewal comes around, and the condition of your equipment is argued from memory.
- A dated, condition-based record, which carriers increasingly expect to see.
05 · What you receive
What lands in your hands.
- 01 Radiometric thermal images Full-radiometry files, so your reviewer can re-measure any point instead of taking our number on trust. R-JPEG
- 02 Findings table Every anomaly numbered and located, with two measured differences, the load at the time, and its severity class. We document each finding both ways, following NFPA 70B, 2026 edition. The first compares it with a similar component under similar loading, usually the same part on the next phase. The second compares it with the ambient air. Class 1 means look into it. Class 2 means schedule the repair. Class 3 means monitor until it can be corrected. Class 4 means repair now. CSV + XLSX + PDF
- 03 Paired visual imagery A photo of the same part beside every thermal anomaly, so the finding names a real component. JPEG
- 04 Equipment inventory and location map What was scanned and where it sits, indoors and out. The next inspection covers the same list, so the two can be compared. PDF
- 05 Method report Emissivity and reflected-temperature settings, load and conditions, and the limits of the result. It records whether each panel was scanned open or through a window. PDF
- 06 Maintenance import file Findings mapped to your maintenance software’s import format, keyed to your own asset IDs. Equipment that doesn’t match your register is listed separately, never imported. CSV
- 07 Summary page What was scanned and what wasn’t, and why. Counts by class, top actions, change since last scan, next date. A record-of-repairs sheet comes with it; fill it in, and the next scan picks up from it. PDF
Records that survive an audit
Each finding carries the date, the person who performed the inspection, the equipment identifier, what was performed and the result. Those are the fields a maintenance program keeps. A finding on refrigeration-serving equipment drops into your own documentation without translation.
Questions we are asked
Notes.
Q1 How do you get approved to work in our plant?
We complete your contractor orientation and follow your hygiene and garment rules. Our handheld imager is declared before the visit and goes through your equipment control procedure.
Q2 Can you scan while we’re running?
Yes, and it has to be that way. Heat follows current, so load is the precondition. An unloaded circuit reads room temperature. The schedule works around your production, not against it.
Q3 Do you inspect our ammonia system?
No. We scan the electrical equipment that serves refrigeration: motor control centers, starters, drives, compressor motor connections and control panels. The ammonia process itself belongs to the plant and its refrigeration contractor.
Q4 Will a drone fly inside our plant?
No. Aerial work is exterior only: substations, transformer yards and roofs. Indoor work is handheld.
Q5 Our freezer roof is insulated metal panel. Can you scan it?
Yes, as a thermographic envelope scan for panel joints, insulation gaps, moisture and ice. It is not an ASTM C1153 roof moisture survey. That practice covers roofs with insulation above the deck, and a freezer reverses the heat flow the roof method reads.
07 · Where this goes next
- Electrical & industrial thermal inspection Electrical and mechanical thermal inspection, panel to substation: the method, the standards and the deliverable set.
- Roofing Condition inspection, and ASTM C1153 moisture survey where the question is what is in the roof.
- NFPA 70B thermography, documented The decision page: what the standard asks a record to contain, and on what interval.
- Field note What an electrical thermography scan needs from your facility.
- Irrigation districts and canal companies Locating conveyance loss along a reach, and proving a repair held.
- General contractors, owners and lenders Draw support, and work recorded before it is covered.
- Facility and plant management Electrical thermography against NFPA 70B, and the roof over the plant.
- Property and CRE management Roof condition across a portfolio, keyed by building and comparable year over year.
Next step · The gate, then the scan
Start with the equipment list and the gate.
A short call covers the equipment list and who removes covers. It covers your contractor and food-safety requirements, and which prequalification platform applies. And it covers when the equipment carries load.
We reply within one business day.