Spent $300 on a thermal camera for my phone and it caught a hot neutral before it got ugly

Honestly, I was on a service call last week for flickering lights in a 90s split-level. My regular meter wasn't showing anything wild. I pulled out this little FLIR One camera I bought on a whim. Ngl, it showed a neutral in the main panel running way hotter than the hots. Turned out to be a loose lug on the neutral bar that was starting to arc. That $300 saved me from what could have been a real bad day and a fried panel for the homeowner. Anyone else use these for troubleshooting? What's your go-to find?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_derek2mo ago

Man, that's a solid save right there. Good call grabbing that camera. Always feels good to catch a problem before it blows up.

amyr572mo ago

Last year my neighbor's dryer vent was totally clogged with lint. The fire inspector said it could have ignited any day. Now I check mine every month with a cheap borescope from the hardware store. It's crazy how something so small can burn a house down.

perry.jessica26d ago

yeah but is a borescope really enough though? like you can see the lint but what about stuff growing inside the vent? i had a buddy who cleaned his with one of those kits and still ended up with mold because the moisture never dried out properly. you gotta make sure you're actually getting all the way to the outside vent and checking for any critters or nests too. have you actually pulled the vent cover off and looked at the outdoor flap? that's where it always gets me.