Building on the success of last year, we’re now able to offer free thermal imaging surveys to any household in Cumbria from late October 2024 through to the end of March 2025.

Thermal imaging can identify cold spots in your home, such as draughts around windows and doors, missing and defective insulation, water ingress, damp, and cold bridges. It can indicate both quick fixes and areas that require professional advice and support you on your journey to make your home warmer, healthier, cheaper to heat and lower your home’s carbon footprint.

The thermal imaging camera detects the heat emitted by objects and shows it in a colour-coded way – the colder areas are shown in blue and the warmer ones in red.

This year, alongside our amazing army of volunteer thermal imaging surveyors, we are working with two of our Cold to Cosy Homes home energy advisors to provide coverage of the whole of Cumbria. Anyone is eligible for the home survey. Both advisors and volunteers are trained to the same standard and will be offering the same basic thermal imaging survey.

The community groups who are volunteering to offer surveys to their friends and neighbours are: Sustainable Keswick, Greening Levens, Sustainable Arnside,  the Melbreak Communities, Brampton to Zero, Peninsular Environmental Action Together (PEAT), Sustainable Duddon, St Bees Green Future and Ambleside Action for a Future. Collectively, these fabulous volunteers allow at least ten times as many households to benefit from thermal imaging surveys than if CAfS worked alone. We’ve also provided the cameras, which are high spec FLIR cameras which are calibrated to give accurate readings.

The window for conducting thermal imaging is late October as the weather turns colder, through to end of March, before the weather warms up.

To take advantage of a free thermal imaging survey in your area, click the book now button to leave your name, email, contact number and nearest town or village. We will pass this on to the relevant community group or our home energy adviser to contact you. 

After you’ve made contact, the surveyors will arrange a convenient time to do the survey, which will take about an hour. They will let you know if there is anything you need to do in advance – for instance ensuring that your heating is on, as the inside needs to be warmer than the outside for the survey. As the surveys are carried out inside your home, they also check whether there is anything they need to be aware of – for instance vulnerable residents or lively pets – before they visit you.

The surveyor will share the images with you, which will help identify areas of heat loss. You can then seek professional advice from CAfS about how to address these issues to improve the energy efficiency of your home. You will also be given an information sheet regarding draughtproofing and insulation – a combination of simple quick fixes and guidance on when to see professional advice. Further support is available though our Cold to Cosy Homes service and Home Retrofit Planner service for larger home improvements, retrofit and renewables installations.