Was dead set against buying a thermal camera for appliance work, but a $150 unit changed my mind

I always thought thermal cameras were a gimmick for appliance repair guys. But last month a fridge compressor in Denver was acting up and I couldn't tell if it was truly dead or just cycling weird. Borrowed a $150 Seek thermal camera from a buddy and saw right away the compressor was hot while the condenser was cold. Saved me three hours of guessing. Has anyone else had luck with cheaper thermal imagers on call?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_hayden12d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly feels like overkill for most jobs. A multimeter and some basic troubleshooting should catch a bad compressor most of the time. That said, if it saves you three hours once in a while, maybe it's worth the gamble.

lucashenderson12d ago

The old Supco hard start kit I keep in my truck has saved me twice this year alone on units that checked out fine with a meter. I hear you @the_hayden, but a meter won't always show you a weak start winding that's on its way out. Sometimes you get a compressor that passes all the resistance checks and still trips the overload after running for 20 minutes. A good start cap and relay setup can tell you right away if the issue is electrical or mechanical without tearing the whole system apart. That said, I still don't buy those mega-expensive diagnostic boards for residential work, just not enough call for them.