Electrical panels can look normal from outside while internal joints, lugs, busbars, and breakers heat under load. Thermal imaging gives maintenance teams a non-contact way to identify these risks.
What thermography detects
- Loose terminations and high-resistance joints.
- Overloaded circuits and phase imbalance.
- Hot breakers, contactors, and cable glands.
- Early signs of insulation stress.
When to scan
Thermography is most useful when panels are under representative load. Scanning during low load may miss the actual thermal stress.
A thermal image is only useful when paired with load data, severity grading, and corrective action tracking.
Follow-up
Repairs should be rechecked after tightening, replacement, load balancing, or panel redesign.
Plan a survey that reveals real operating risk
Scan equipment while it is carrying a representative load and record current, ambient conditions, panel ID, and the comparable phases or components. A hot connection viewed during light production may look harmless, while a normal component can appear suspicious when its load is much higher than its neighbours. Context is what turns a colourful image into an engineering finding.
Close the loop after the camera is packed away
- Rank findings by temperature difference, load, equipment criticality, and failure consequence.
- Assign an owner and safe completion window for every actionable item.
- Record the repair method instead of marking the item simply “done”.
- Re-scan under similar load and attach the verification image to the closure record.
This evidence is valuable during maintenance reviews because it shows not only what was hot, but whether the underlying defect was actually removed.
Technical Standards & Regulatory References
For industrial thermography scans, panel fire risk evaluation, and Delta-T threshold criteria, refer to:
- ISO 18434-1:2008: Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines - Infrared thermography for electrical distribution systems.
- NFPA 70B: Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance - Thermal anomaly severity levels and corrective action thresholds.
- ASTM E1934: Standard Guide for Examining Electrical and Mechanical Equipment with Infrared Thermography.
- NETA-MTS: Maintenance testing specifications for electrical power distribution equipment and thermographic evaluation.
For details on how standards, evidence, and estimates are interpreted across our engineering services, see our Claims, Evidence & Attribution guidelines.
