Discovery of Orientation of Radiant Heating Coils Using Thermal Imaging in the Rittenhouse Section of Center City, Philadelphia, PA

Project Description:

Our client at a private residence in the Rittenhouse Section of Center City, Philadelphia needed to have “radiant heating coils” of non-conductive materials oriented as part of an overbuild. The project’s goal was to expand the width of the staircase. In addition, the client needed concrete GPR scanning performed to orient the structural components of the decking, as well as the structural and continuous components of the structural beams. Any electrical conduits in the concrete slab also needed to be identified if detected.

This type of project comes up frequently, as often there are no records of how the coils were laid into the decking, and often it is not possible to locate the coils with GPR concrete scanners alone. This makes construction, demo, and renovation very challenging to perform safely without compromising the integrity of the system. Once one coil is damaged, the entire network often has to be replaced which involves demolition and re-doing the entire floor and layout.

American Geophysics was able to use our Flir Thermal Imaging Scope to orient the layout and orientation of the radiant heating coils residing in the floor. With the information we provided, the renovation was completed successfully without damaging any of the priorly installed systems.

• Products: “FLIR Thermal imaging scope/camera, GSSI Mini-XT 2.7 GHz GPR concrete scanner, RD8000 PDL pipe and cable locator
• Thermal Imaging
• Thermal Infrared Imaging
• GPR Concrete Scanning
• Geophysical Services