Seriously guys, it doesn't.
FLIR/infrared cameras measure heat, nothing more, nothing less. Since most of us grow in a standard house, FLIR measures the temperature of your outside walls, roof, and foundation.
Is your grow room warm? How exactly is a piece of foil or fabric going to stop heat? It doesn't. The foil gets just as warm as the air around it.
The only thing that slows down heat transfer is insulation. Lots and lots of insulation.
I'm tired of people wasting money and I'm tired of well-intentioned people recommending it.
If you truly want to be thermally invisible, you would keep your grow room temperature the exact temperature of the rest of you house. And don't exhaust your heat if it would look strange. Up a chimney in winter would be ok, for instance.
I exhaust my air-hooled hoods outside most of the year, and I know its a risk, but its a pretty small one. The exhaust goes through a vent in the roof, and looks like a gas water heater vent. I know because I borrowed dad's FLIR camera to check it out. If you have a larger grow, it's a worthwhile investment to buy one, they are down to $1,000 new now.
It's just not that easy to spot a grow with FLIR. You should watch that SpikeTV show about the DEA. They have a warrant on a grower and do a FLIR image of his house. They look at the pictures and one of the DEA guys go "which one is the grow house?" It doesn't look any different than the other houses on his block. And he had a large grow.
Honestly, there are a lot more important worries than FLIR. Its pretty rare that a person gets busted by FLIR alone, with no prior investigation.
So there ya go. Take normal precautions. But realize if you get busted, its going to be because of a previous investigation.
Stay safe and save your money.
smallfry
FLIR/infrared cameras measure heat, nothing more, nothing less. Since most of us grow in a standard house, FLIR measures the temperature of your outside walls, roof, and foundation.
Is your grow room warm? How exactly is a piece of foil or fabric going to stop heat? It doesn't. The foil gets just as warm as the air around it.
The only thing that slows down heat transfer is insulation. Lots and lots of insulation.
I'm tired of people wasting money and I'm tired of well-intentioned people recommending it.
If you truly want to be thermally invisible, you would keep your grow room temperature the exact temperature of the rest of you house. And don't exhaust your heat if it would look strange. Up a chimney in winter would be ok, for instance.
I exhaust my air-hooled hoods outside most of the year, and I know its a risk, but its a pretty small one. The exhaust goes through a vent in the roof, and looks like a gas water heater vent. I know because I borrowed dad's FLIR camera to check it out. If you have a larger grow, it's a worthwhile investment to buy one, they are down to $1,000 new now.
It's just not that easy to spot a grow with FLIR. You should watch that SpikeTV show about the DEA. They have a warrant on a grower and do a FLIR image of his house. They look at the pictures and one of the DEA guys go "which one is the grow house?" It doesn't look any different than the other houses on his block. And he had a large grow.
Honestly, there are a lot more important worries than FLIR. Its pretty rare that a person gets busted by FLIR alone, with no prior investigation.
So there ya go. Take normal precautions. But realize if you get busted, its going to be because of a previous investigation.
Stay safe and save your money.
smallfry
