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Infrared Thermography for Electrical Systems

Bowtie Engineering’s infrared (IR) thermography finds electrical hot spots, loose connections, and overloaded circuits before they cause outages or fires — and it’s performed with your building in service, so there’s no disruption to power. What sets Bowtie apart: on every IR job, you also get a report of any and all code violations we find while the covers are open, at no extra charge. That gives you time to make repairs before they become outages, with everything documented and available through the BowVue™ platform.

What is infrared thermography?

Infrared thermography is a non-contact inspection that uses a thermal imaging camera to detect heat that shouldn’t be there. In electrical systems, excess heat is the earliest warning sign of a problem — a loose connection, an overloaded circuit, a failing breaker, or an imbalanced load. Because these faults get hotter before they fail, an IR scan catches them while they’re still repairs, not outages. It’s the first basic step in an electrical maintenance program and, because it’s done with equipment energized and in service, it requires no shutdown.

What does an infrared inspection find?

Every finding is photographed with its corresponding thermal image and documented so you can prioritize repairs by severity. No shutdown required.

IR thermography only works when equipment is energized and under load — heat only shows up when current is flowing. That’s an advantage: Bowtie performs the inspection while your facility runs normally, so you get a complete picture of your electrical system’s health without scheduling downtime or interrupting production.

What makes Bowtie's IR different: the free code-violation report.

When our technicians open your electrical panels to run the thermal scan, they’re already looking at your equipment up close — so we document any and all code violations we find while the covers are open and include them in your report at no extra charge. Most providers scan for hot spots and stop there. Bowtie gives you a second layer of value on the same visit: a heads-up on code issues so you can fix them on your schedule, before they become outages, failed inspections, or safety incidents. Everything is documented and available through BowVue™.

Infrared thermography is the first step in a complete maintenance program. It tells you where the heat is; a full NFPA 70B maintenance program acts on it with testing, cleaning, and repair. Most clients run IR inside Bowtie’s broader electrical maintenance service, so findings feed directly into scheduled work and your compliance records.

See our full Electrical Maintenance service→

Frequently Asked Questions

No. IR thermography is performed with your equipment energized and in service — heat only appears under load — so there’s no disruption to power or production.

It detects excess heat from loose connections, overloaded or imbalanced circuits, failing breakers, deteriorating insulation, and overheating transformers and motors — problems that get hotter before they fail.

Yes. While the panel covers are open for the thermal scan, Bowtie documents any code violations we find and includes them in your report at no additional cost, so you can address them before they become outages or inspection failures.

Most facilities benefit from an annual IR scan, with more frequent inspections for critical or high-load systems. Bowtie sets intervals as part of your NFPA 70B maintenance program.

Yes. Infrared inspection is one of the condition-assessment methods a documented NFPA 70B maintenance program relies on, and Bowtie documents each scan for your compliance records.

In Short

Bowtie’s infrared thermography finds electrical hot spots before they cause outages — performed in-service with no downtime, and every job includes a free report of any code violations we find while the covers are open.