Did you know that there is an easy way to pinpoint the source of cold air entering your home? In fact, you can measure the temperature of walls, doors, windows, or any surface with a handheld infrared sensing device from Black and Decker called the TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector. This device is available to borrow from the Newton Free Library at their “Library of Things.”
To use this battery operated device, you just focus it on a surface that you want to use as the reference and turn the device on. When the green light circle appears on the surface, you get a readout of the surface temperature, and then you move the device onto different surfaces to see how the temperature changes. Temperatures that drop cause the circle to turn blue and temperatures that rise cause it to turn red. You can adjust the temperature difference that causes the circle to change color. It can also be used outdoors in winter to focus on your windows and doors to see how much heat is escaping from these areas.