How an Insurance Mandated Survey Saved a Commercial Landlord and its Tenants from Costly Repairs and Downtime.
Red Current Ltd was engaged to conduct a thermal imaging survey for a commercial property landlord at the request of their insurance provider. The primary aim was to assess the condition of key electrical assets and identify potential risks that could lead to:
- Property damage
- Business interruption
- Safety related hazards
Just a 'Tick Box' Exercise?
Sometimes mandated inspections are regarded as a standard ‘tick-box’ requirement to meet insurance compliance. However, in this case, any preconceived perception shifted significantly when the survey revealed a critical defect that could have had serious consequences for both the Landlord and their commercial tenants.
Below, we explain how Red Current's unique approach ensured this critical defect was detected and rapidly alerted to the client.
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Insight - Why Insurance Companies Require Thermal Imaging Surveys
Insurance providers are increasingly mandating thermal imaging surveys due to their proven benefits in:
- Identifying hidden defects
- Preventing equipment failures
- Reducing overall risk
These surveys provide:
- Early Detection of Risks: Thermal imaging can identify potential issues, such as poor connections, overloading, overheating components, and equipment malfunction, long before they escalate into serious problems.
- Compliments the Periodic Fixed Wire Testing: Thermal Imaging can identify electrical issues that are unlikely to be detected during fixed wire testing and inspections.
- Enhanced Safety: By uncovering defects that could lead to hazardous conditions, thermal imaging reduces the likelihood of accidents and ensures a safer working environment.
- Cost Savings: Proactive identification of issues helps avoid costly emergency repairs and unplanned downtime.
- Compliance and Risk Management: Demonstrating a commitment to preventive maintenance enhances the Business’ risk profile and strengthens its relationship with insurers.
Equipment, Experience & Expertise - Not all thermal imaging surveys are equal.
Thermography isn't just having an expensive camera and taking some pictures. To fully realise these benefits, it is critical to engage a company with suitably trained and experienced practitioners. This ensures the use of high-specification equipment, adherence to recognised standards, and implementation of robust survey and reporting processes. Such practices provide auditable results and enable continuous improvements to be identified and adopted, maximising the value of the survey.
Red Current’s Unique Survey & Reporting Process Provided The Critical Observations
This case study highlights how Red Current's meticulous approach played a crucial role in preventing what could have been a 'major event'. It is founded upon our commitment to training, development and an on-going innovation cycle.
- Training: All thermographers are fully trained to a minimum of PCN/ITC Level 1 (ISO 18436) and follow a structured development plan progressing towards PCN/ITC Level 3.
- Standardised Processes: We have developed a set of standardised processes to ensure meticulous asset inspections, achieving consistency, accuracy, reliability and repeatability of the reported results.
- Peer Reviews: Every report is reviewed by a Senior Surveyor to ensure standards are followed and no anomalies are missed.
- Professional Development: We operate a continuous learning and resource sharing process. Our survey review and internal verification procedures identify improvements before a report is distributed, ensuring any misdiagnosed anomalies, adjustments or additional insights are shared with the team so each surveyor is constantly refining their expertise.
- Continuous Innovation: Regular analysis of survey outcomes allows us to identify trends and refine Red Current’s survey and reporting processes, ensuring we deliver the highest standards of service.
Highest Quality 'On Site' Survey Practices
Red Current's 'on-site' thermal imaging survey process is designed to be comprehensive, efficient, and non-intrusive. This ensures:
- No customer equipment is switched off during the survey, allowing operations to continue without interruption.
- We use the most advanced thermal imaging equipment available - so the resolution and image quality is the highest standard
- Our surveyors meticulously inspect each asset throughout the installation - capturing images regardless of whether anomalies are present.
With a large number of the highest quality images, our surveyors (and their peers) then have the training, systems, processes and QA checks to ensure we find the issues for our clients. So what did we find?
The Result
During this specific survey, our high-quality, systematic approach (and our use of thorough peer reviews) identified an 11kV transformer showing unusual thermal patterns.
The cooling radiators on the transformer exhibited abnormally low surface temperatures, signalling a potential issue that required further investigation.
Detailed Thermal Analysis Was Required
Recognising the potential severity of the issue, our team conducted a more detailed thermal analysis of the transformer. The results revealed that the cooling system was not functioning as intended and we suspected this to be due to insufficient oil levels within the transformer.
Transformer oil serves two critical functions:
- Cooling: It circulates through the radiators, transferring heat away from the transformer’s internal components.
- Insulation: It provides electrical insulation to the transformer windings, preventing short circuits and maintaining the equipment’s integrity.
In this case, our survey showed that the oil level had dropped so low that it could no longer circulate effectively - meaning the transformer’s cooling system was rendered ineffective. This was likely to lead to an increased risk of overheating.
Furthermore, the lack of sufficient oil compromised the insulation of the transformer windings, posing an even greater risk to the equipment’s structural and operational integrity.
Risk Assessment
The defect identified was particularly concerning because the 11kV transformer was a single point of failure for multiple commercial tenants. If the transformer had failed, the consequences would have included:
- Significant Operational Downtime: Each tenant would have been unable to operate for an extended period, leading to production losses.
- Costly Repairs or Replacement: Replacing or repairing a damaged transformer of this capacity is both time-consuming and expensive, with claims potentially running to £100ks.
- Safety Hazards: Transformer failures can result in fires, explosions, or other hazardous conditions that put personnel at risk.
- Business Interruption: The resulting downtime on the tenants would have led to significant productions losses leading to further claims.
Mitigation Measures
Upon identifying the issue, the findings were immediately reported to the operations management team with a recommendation that corrective action is taken urgently. These included:
- Schedule an Emergency Service of the transformer: To restore oil levels and complete a full assessment of the transformer to identify any additional issues caused by prolonged low oil levels.
- Implementation of Preventive Maintenance: Regular monitoring of transformer oil levels and thermal performance to prevent recurrence of similar issues.
- Contingency Planning: Developing a redundancy strategy to mitigate risks associated with single-point failures.
Outcomes
By identifying and addressing the defect early, the Landlord avoided a potentially disastrous failure. The immediate benefits included:
- Avoided Downtime: Preventing an unplanned shutdown saved the tenants’ significant production losses.
- Cost Savings: Early detection eliminated the need for expensive emergency repairs or transformer replacement.
- Improved Safety: Addressing the defect reduced the risk of hazardous conditions for onsite personnel.
- Enhanced Insurance Compliance: The proactive measures demonstrated a commitment to risk management, strengthening the facility’s relationship with its insurer.
Reflections
This case highlights the critical role of thermal imaging in preventive maintenance and risk management. While a survey may be perceived as a formality, this case has proved invaluable in uncovering a defect that could have had severe financial and operational repercussions.
For our client, the experience underscored the importance of embracing advanced diagnostic tools and expertise. By investing in a comprehensive thermal imaging survey, they not only ensured compliance with insurance requirements but also safeguarded their operations against unforeseen risks.
Conclusion
Thermal imaging is more than just a compliance tool; it is a powerful diagnostic method that can identify hidden issues before they escalate into costly problems. This case serves as a testament to the value of proactive maintenance and the impact it can have on operational reliability and safety.
Key to realising the benefits of electrical thermal imaging is ensuring that the survey provider has developed robust survey and reporting processes that enable post-survey analysis, thereby promoting the professional development of its surveyors while continuously improving its processes to ensure consistency, accuracy, reliability, and repeatability of the reported results.
Red Current remains committed to delivering industry-leading thermal imaging services. Over many years, we have invested in developing comprehensive processes and knowledge bases focused on component failure modes and the recognition of defective operating temperatures.
Each of our surveyors undergoes rigorous training, achieving industry-recognised thermal imaging qualifications and building their expertise through our well-defined survey and reporting processes.
