When should a student accommodation block have its electrical thermography survey?

During term time, at a busy time of day, when the building is full. Over the summer many rooms are empty and the landlord supply carries far less current, so a loose connection may not show. Avoid move-in week, survey the landlord installation and communal plant, and leave individual flats alone unless access has been agreed in advance.

Why term time beats the summer

The summer vacation looks like the easy slot: fewer residents, quieter corridors, more freedom to move around. For thermography it is usually the wrong one. A poor connection shows by the heat it gives off while current flows through it, and the current follows the residents. With half the rooms empty, the rising mains, landlord boards and laundry are lightly loaded, and a connection that would run warm in November can look normal in July (see what load a survey needs).

The exception is a block let for summer conferences or groups at near-full occupancy. Then summer can work, as long as the building is genuinely busy on the day.

Picking the day

Avoid move-in and move-out weeks. Lifts and corridors are full and the site team is stretched.
Pick a busy time of day. The site team will know when the building peaks: often the morning rush and the early evening, when kitchens, showers and laundry are all in use.
Colder months help. Electric heating and hot water plant carry more load in the heating season (see the best time of year for a survey).
Exam periods are fine. The camera is silent and nothing is switched off, so residents revising in their rooms won’t notice.

What should be in scope

Intake, main switchboard and sub-mains to each block or core.
Rising busbar or rising mains and the floor tap-offs (see rising busbar in a multi-storey building).
Landlord distribution boards for corridors, lighting, common rooms, gyms and cinema rooms.
Laundry supplies, which carry some of the heaviest loads in the building.
Plant rooms and lift motor rooms: hot water plant, pumps, ventilation and lift controllers (see lift motor rooms).
EV chargers and solar PV where fitted (see EV charger and battery storage supplies).

Consumer units inside flats and cluster kitchens are usually out of scope, or included only where the operator has arranged access (see tenant boards in a landlord’s survey).

Build-to-rent and co-living

Build-to-rent blocks are occupied all year, so there is no empty summer to avoid. The same rules still apply: pick a busy time of day and, where you can, the heating season.

Working around residents

The route is agreed with the building manager before the day. The thermographer signs in like any contractor, is escorted where the operator asks, and points the camera at electrical equipment only. Panels are opened by the site’s electrician or an authorised person under the site’s own safe system of work (see who opens the panels).

What the landlord gets

A report that locates every finding by board, circuit and phase, with the measured temperature, the difference in °C from a matching reference and the load at the time. Ti Thermal Imaging issues it the same day. Ti inspects and reports; the operator’s electrical contractor investigates findings with the circuit isolated and carries out the work.

Why load matters

On a London data centre build, commissioning thermography by our team found 16 busbar sections reading above 80 °C under test load, the highest 103.5 °C at a tap-off unit. They showed because the busbar was carrying load. A residential block’s rising mains is no different: survey it when the building is full.

Frequently asked questions

Can we survey over the summer to avoid disturbing students?

Only if the building is busy over the summer. A half-empty block gives a lightly loaded survey, and that weakens the result. Term time causes very little disturbance.

Do residents need to be told?

That’s the operator’s call. Most give the usual notice that a contractor will be in plant rooms and corridors.

Does it replace the EICR?

No. Thermography finds heat at connections under load; an EICR tests the installation (see does a thermographic survey replace an EICR?).