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EDWartens UK

Free course · Condition monitoring

Infrared Thermography Training

A short, practical foundation in thermal imaging for plant work: what the camera actually measures and what it never sees, emissivity and reflected apparent temperature, loaded electrical surveys and three-phase comparison, motors and bearings and couplings, building envelope and lagging and moisture, solar PV hot cells and substrings, and the route survey and written finding that turn a pretty picture into a work order.

See the modules

Free to learn. Verifiable certificate £19 when you pass the final exam (optional, VAT included).

Level
Beginner
Modules
6
Video
5 hours
Price
Free

Outcome

What you will be able to do

Set emissivity and reflected apparent temperature before trusting any reading, and say why a bright busbar reads wrong; plan and run a loaded electrical survey and classify a hot joint by comparing it with the same connection on the other phases; read motor, bearing housing, coupling and belt drive patterns and know which need vibration or ultrasound to confirm; choose the conditions a building, lagging or moisture survey needs; inspect a PV array and trace hot cell, bypass diode substring and whole module patterns back to their causes; build a route survey with baselines and repeat intervals; and write a finding that carries load, ambient, the comparison used, a severity and a re-inspection date.

  • Set emissivity and reflected apparent temperature, and recognise when a shiny surface has made a reading worthless
  • Plan a loaded electrical survey, record load and ambient with every image, and work safely with an authorised electrician
  • Classify a hot joint by comparing it with the same connection on the other two phases
  • Read motor, bearing, coupling and belt drive patterns, and say which finding needs vibration or ultrasound to confirm
  • Choose the time of day and temperature difference a building, lagging or PV survey needs before you leave the office
  • Write a finding a plant manager can act on: image pair, conditions, comparison, severity, action and re-inspection date

Software

None required. Camera makers' free report software is discussed in the notes, not needed to finish the course.

Hardware

None. A thermal camera, or a clip-on thermal module for a phone, makes every practice task real; each task also has a version you can do with a notebook.

Syllabus

6 modules

Each module has video lessons, notes and a short quiz. The final exam closes the course.

  1. 1What a thermal camera actually measures2 lessons
  2. 2Electrical and mechanical inspection4 lessons
  3. 3Building envelope, insulation and moisture1 lesson
  4. 4Solar PV inspection1 lesson
  5. 5Route surveys, and where infrared stops2 lessons
  6. 6Final assessment0 lessons

How it works

How this course works

  1. Watch the video lessonsOne module at a time, at your own pace.
  2. Take the module quizA short quiz at the end of each module shows what stuck.
  3. Keep your notesWrite in My notes beside each module and ask the trainer if you are stuck.
  4. Sit the final examPass it once you have been through the modules.
  5. Certificate, if you want oneOptionalPaid, and only after you pass. Anyone can check it online.

Certificate

An optional certificate when you pass

Learning is free. Pass the final exam and you can have a certificate for £19, including VAT, with a number employers can check online. It records that you completed a free online course; it is not a regulated qualification or a CPD certificate.

  • Your name, the course, its study time and your final exam score
  • A unique certificate number and a QR code to its verification page
  • Issued by Wartens Ltd; add it to your LinkedIn profile in one click
  • Pay now or after you pass: it is issued the moment you pass the final

How the certificate works

Sample certificate for Infrared Thermography Training

Credits

Who made the lessons

The video lessons belong to their creators. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, quizzes and the final exam.

  • Infrared Training Center

    The Infrared Spectrum sessions on building thermography, PV inspection, shipboard route surveys and acoustic imaging

  • Online Infrared Training Center

    what thermal imaging is, the electrical inspection tutorials and the mechanical thermography walkthrough

  • Pass Thermal

    infrared thermography seen from the maintenance department rather than from a camera vendor

  • GTI Predictive

    how thermography sits alongside vibration analysis and balancing in one condition monitoring toolkit

Questions

About this course

Do I need a thermal camera?
No. The course teaches what to point a camera at, in what conditions, and how to judge what comes back, which is the part most camera owners are missing. Every practice task has a version you can do with a notebook and a plant walk. If you do have a camera, or a clip-on thermal module for your phone, use it.
What do I need before starting?
Nothing formal. It is written for electrical and mechanical maintenance staff, substation and MCC technicians, plant reliability engineers and solar site staff. If you can read a single line diagram or identify a bearing housing, you have enough.
Is this the same as a Level 1 thermographer certification?
No, and it must not be described as one. Level 1 thermographer courses from bodies such as the Infrared Training Center or courses built on ISO 18436-7 and ASNT SNT-TC-1A are paid, classroom based, and include a practical examination with a camera in your hands. This course is preparation and background reading for that. EDWartens is not affiliated with any of those bodies and issues no credential on their behalf.
Which standards does it follow?
Be aware that most published severity tables you will find online, including the delta-T criteria quoted everywhere, come from American practice such as NFPA and NETA. The notes say so plainly and teach the method that transfers: compare like with like under similar load, record the conditions, and set your own plant's action thresholds in writing rather than borrowing a table you cannot justify.
How long is the course?
Five content modules and a final, about two and a half hours of video lessons and roughly five hours in total with the practice tasks and practice questions. It is a short foundation course, not a full Level 1 syllabus, and it says so rather than padding itself out.
Is the course really free?
Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate do I get?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you have finished every module and passed the final at 60 percent, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons?
The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.

The Professional Module is five live days of Siemens PLC, HMI and SCADA with an instructor, then a resume session and a CPD certificate.

See the Professional Module