Customer Reviews

Black & Decker TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Even if you are an unfortunate non-tech "regular" person. Man, what fun to aim and read this dandy little hand-held temperature detector. This device reads the temperature difference between a "reference point" and wherever else it is pointed around the house (probably only from the inside!). The trick here is to see where temperatures are somewhat lower than the reference point. The reference point, by the way, should be some wall or surface that you suspect is kind of the "average" temperature of the house. This means that the home owner can more easily track down places where cold outdoor air could be leaking in, or where the insulation does not stop heat losses like they should. Leaks almost certainly will be the big heat loss killers (or heat gain into an air conditioned space inside in the summer).

Once leaks and losses are narrowed down, then a trip to the hardware store to get some caulk, weather stripping, and limited insulation for hopefully less than one hundred dollars will go a long way to spending less on heating and cooling.

A couple notes on this instrument:
- This can read temperature differences up to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so there is plenty of range. This can be important for finding dangerous HOT spots around the house, and having little to do with energy savings: heating or stove problems hidden from view, electrical shorts behind the wall, etc.
- You can set the infrared beam to indicate temperature differences of either 1 degree, 5 degrees, or 10 degrees, giving you a good choice of the sensitivity you are inspecting; and the differences are visual - a green spot for temperature within allowed limits, red spot for too hot, and blue spot for cold beyond the limited tested.
- Windows and transparent surfaces (and probably shiny surfaces) will not test well with the instrument. Not a big deal.

This tool is an excellent buy.

Since the KINTREX IRT0421 Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer is the main competition, let me provide some comparisons of the two products.

I purchased this Black and Decker product because it has an innovative feature: A LED spot is projected on the surface that you are scanning. If the surface temperature is higher by 1 degree (or 5, 10 degrees) than a reference point you set, the LED color will turn red. Similarly if the temperature is lower, the color will turn blue. This saves me a lot of neck pain because I would not need to keep looking up and down between the ceiling I am scanning and the LCD screen on the device.

However, the KINTREX device is far more technologically advanced (not surprising as KINTREX specializes in making precise measurement devices while Black and Decker is just a home and garden gadget makers.

The disadvantaged of the Black and Decker product vs. KINTREX:

Measurement Range: -22 to 302 °F (-30 to 150 °C) vs. -76 to 932 °F (-60 to 500 °C), i.e., useless for measuring your oven.
Distance to Spot Ratio: 6:1 vs. 12:1, which means you will have to stay twice closer to what you are measuring.
Battery: 9V alkaline battery (not included and costs about $5) vs. 2 AAA battery (included). KINTREX also claims that because of the low voltage its battery life is 60% longer.
Padded Nylon Carrying Case with Belt Loop: not included vs. included.

This is a big improvement over the regular thermal detectors (I have a Craftsman I was given as a gift already). Instead of trying to keep looking at the ever-changing digital readout - this tool allows you to look right at where you are pointing it to see the changes in hot or cold. Fun and much easier to use than the regular variety.

Length:: 2:38 Mins

Lots of details have already been presented by other excellent reviews. The accompanying video provides some details that may have been overlooked and shows how simple this is to use.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

I haven't had my Leak Detector very long, but I already used it on all my appliances and also found the south wall of my home has some major air leaks.
Great for checking that pesky bottom drawer in the fridge that always freezes your vegetables,too. Finally got it set right.
Will be checking the insulation in my attic and boxing as soon as it starts to get cold and windy.
My son owns a remodeling business, and he has already asked me to borrow it a couple of times for different jobs. He likes it alot. He found a hot spot in light fixture wiring thru the drywall. Lifesaver.

Neat toy, You point the device at for instance your wall and it sends a green light to indicate where its measuring.

When you scan over a temperature variation the color of the LED changes either to red to indicate it senses a higher temp or purple to indicate a lower temp at the same time you get a the temperature displayed on the units LCD screen.

A few years ago I had a company run CAT5, coax and a a ton of Siemens wire for some security cameras along with satellite TV an alarm and some updated phone lines. Well it turns out that in the process of running all that cable they made a TON of air leaks everywhere.

Found a spot where when they drilled through the fire stop they messed up the insulation and that area was 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding areas you could feel the heat coming in from the outlet they put there.

While playing with the scanner I noticed that the Smarthome keypadlincs and other smarthome light switches I have generate a TON of heat!

For instance a keypadlinc that is a x10 transmitter only read 85.5 degrees compared to the surrounding wall that was 9 degrees cooler.

A keypadlinc that contains a built in dimmer measured 95.37 degrees. Compare that to a normal electrical switch that generates no heat and uses no electricity to sustain itself.

Now your thinking thats cool but how does that affect me?

Well heat is power loss regardless of whether you are talking about loss through the transfer of from inside to outside the home or heat created by the consumtion of energy it all cost you money.

I really need to look into how much its costing me just to have these smarthome switches in place. If they are generating that much heat are they consuming 3-5 watts per hour? multiply that by 15 switches in the house over the course of a year and that adds up! The question then becomes does the convenience of being able to control multiple lights from 1 switch outweight the annual cost? Don't know yet.

This thing has tons of uses from measuring how inefficient your insulation is to seeing where your air conditioner and furnace ducts are not properly sealed, were hot water pipes aren't insulated properly (mine aren't at all yet)or just which windows aren't properly sealed.

I should point out that the family is a bit ticked off at me lately as I have been walking around the house pointing this thing at everything. I made my older son unplug his cell phone & tooth brush charger because they were generating heat and consuming energy I put a power strip on our loft TV which rarely gets used but yet the tv, receiver, subwoofer cable box and dvd player were once again all generating heat all using electricity even though they were turned off. (even in standby the cable box was generating INSANE heat 92 degrees IN STANDBY!!)

I also ordered a P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor from amazon that hasn't come yet but with that I will get a dollar amount on how much energy we are wasting.

As a final note the reason I am going through all this trouble? Well last months electric bill was $375 and I almost popped my pants well this months bill? $482.00!! Yeah i did %^$% my pants!

Personally, I thought we were ok energy wise, every bulb in the house is either florescent or LED, the only halogen bulbs I have are some landscape lights (300 watts worth) but these last two months have opened my eyes.

Next few months I'll be making changes so that I will never see any more bills like those.

I was looking for an easier way to check for door and window drafts than a lit candle, so, when I saw this product, I immediately ordered it. Amazon was lightning fast with Prime shipping, and it was received less than 24 hours later.

I understand margin of error. However, the unit doesn't seem to be very good at accurately sensing even ballpark temperature. For example, as a test, I pointed the unit at my dog, and it showed 120 degrees. At the back of my daughter's head, it was 117 degrees.

If you'd simply put a piece of tape over the orange LCD screen and instead only watched the flashlight color cycle between Green and Red (hotter than the origin) and Blue (colder), that'd be fine. Even if the temperatures are wrong, the deltas are probably still correct.

But, if you're looking for something to also correctly sense temperature via IR, look elsewhere. As a leak detector, it may work, and thus fit its name, but having the temperature numbers available and having them be so wrong is misleading and ultimately unhelpful.

2 stars because you could ignore the LCD completely and look only at the colors and have a semi-useful unit. I returned it.

I am an French engineer involved in Infrared since 1976.
I was a user and promoter of very expensive Infrared cameras ($50,000 and more)
This product's characteristics are amazing considering its price.
Accuracy, usefullness, ease to use, ergonomic, ...I could not believe it.
It is more than perfect.
A great tool that everybody should have for a first diagnosis of heat losses location.
Congratulations to Black abd Decker and thank you.

This product worked just like it said it would. I was able to narrow down where some of my heat was escaping. I'm excited to compare next years heating bill with this year so I can see just how much I'm saving. This product was definitely worth the money.

Bought this tool 3 weeks ago. Used many many times already. sensitive and accurate, The color beam makes this tool so easy and fun to use, I won't get one without it. The only suggestion I have is the temperature setting only has 1 degree, 5 degree, and 10 degree, I wish they have 2, 3 , and 4 degree settings too. Anyway, this is an excellent tool, I bet you will find many many different ways to use it.