Industrial Flat Roof Leak Detection

At work, the HVAC guy was in yesterday, trying to hunt down the leaks in the roof. (We had a leak the night before when it wasn’t raining, so there was an AC condensation buildup, the traps had gotten messed up this winter. )

He was tasked with sourcing the OTHER leaks as well (not sure how that’s his responsibility, but, to some a leak is a leak, if he can fix one, he can fix them all). Talk about mission impossible. Flat roof, with lots of stuff sitting on top, with holes poked through for whatnot.
Rainy day, the roof leaks. They can’t work on it in the rain. They come a day or two later. How do you catch the leak then?
My idea, send a ‘salesman’ out with my idea. Find the leak, mark it. 
You know those 3/4 rotor UAV/RC helicopter thingys?
Yeah, like that.
Use one of those in the attic space to fly right up and have a look at the roof.
I am thinking dual video cameras, with rotating polarizers and multiple colored lights to make the water leaks visually ‘pop’ out at the UAV operator.
Basically, it would need to be a ‘smart’ R/C able to fly up to a wall, maybe even brush it, but not drive hard into it even if told to.
The UAV would need some pretty good sensors to keep from trying to fly through the wires that hold the ceiling tiles up, insulation, etc. If done right, you could probably even get it to fly through the roof structure steel ‘by feel’, letting it bump and dodge it’s way through.
Hrmm, a RC flier that can ‘feel’ it’s way through an obstacle course. Might be fun in the woods too…

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3 Comments

  1. We always choose metal roofing instead of ceramic roofing because we believe that metal roofs last longer.`’`

  2. when it comes to roofing, the best type is still metal roofs but they are not that aesthetically pleasing compared to ceramic r;:’

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