A loose electrical connection doesn't fail on a schedule — it heats up quietly for weeks, then arcs, and takes a panel or a production line with it. A bearing starved of lubrication climbs a few degrees per week until it seizes. Neither shows up on a walk-past, but both are radiating the evidence the whole time — in infrared. A thermal camera turns that invisible heat into a number, and that number, compared against a threshold, is an early-warning system for the two things most likely to cause an unplanned shutdown: electrical faults and mechanical wear. The catch is that a folder of thermal images fixes nothing. OxMaint AI maintenance management software turns each reading into a severity-ranked work order with a trend behind it, so the heat you found becomes the repair you scheduled.
See the Failure Weeks Before It Happens — Then Turn the Heat Into a Work Order
Loose connections and failing bearings both broadcast their trouble in infrared long before they fail — but only if someone scans, measures the temperature rise, and acts on the number. Thermal imaging gives 3 to 16 weeks of warning; a severity threshold tells you how urgent it is. OxMaint AI schedules the scan routes, logs each reading against the asset, and converts an over-threshold ΔT into a prioritized corrective work order with its trend attached.
The ΔT Severity Scale: A Number, Then a Priority
Thermal imaging isn't about the absolute temperature — it's the rise (ΔT) over a reference: a similar component under the same load, or ambient. That rise is what classifies the fault. Start free and grade every reading against these bands in OxMaint AI.
These are common electrical criteria — a 38°C rise at a bus-bar connection, for instance, sits well past the 15°C threshold that signals serious risk. Your reference standard sets the exact bands. Book a demo to configure your severity thresholds in OxMaint AI.
Two Domains, Two Ways of Reading the Heat
Electrical and mechanical faults both show as heat, but you read them differently — one by rise over a reference, the other by the trend over time. Start free and run both inspection types in OxMaint AI.
On the mechanical side, a bearing climbing 2–3°C each inspection cycle matters more than one sitting at a stable, slightly-elevated temperature — the trend is the signal. Book a demo of trend tracking in OxMaint AI.
A Thermal Image Proves Nothing Until It Becomes a Work Order.
A camera finds the hot spot; a folder of images never fixed one. The value is in the handoff — the reading tied to the asset, ranked by severity, routed to a technician, and verified back to baseline after the repair. OxMaint AI closes that loop automatically, so no finding dies between inspection rounds.
The Scan-to-Work-Order Loop
A thermal program only pays off when every scan closes a loop — from the route to the verified repair. This is the five-step cycle OxMaint AI runs. Start free and run the full loop in OxMaint AI.
How Often to Scan
Scan frequency follows risk and duty — critical electrical and fast-moving equipment need eyes on them more often. This is a common starting cadence. Book a demo to schedule scan routes in OxMaint AI.
| Asset type | Typical scan cadence | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical systems | Quarterly minimum | Annual full-facility baseline scan |
| High-speed rotating equipment | Monthly | Trend bearing & coupling temps |
| Steam systems | Monthly | Traps, lines, insulation |
| General mechanical | Quarterly | Adjust to run-hours & criticality |
| All electrical scans | At ≥ 40% load | Below this, readings understate the fault |
How OxMaint AI Runs Thermal PdM
The camera is the easy part — the program is scheduling, ranking, trending, and closing the loop. That's what OxMaint AI builds around the reading. Start free and turn thermal scans into a running program.
Frequently Asked Questions
Turn Invisible Heat Into Scheduled Repairs.
Thermal imaging gives you weeks of warning on the faults most likely to shut you down — but only if the reading becomes an action. Scan on a route, grade the ΔT against a threshold, rank the work order, and verify the fix back to baseline, and a hot spot stops being a photo and starts being a prevented failure. OxMaint AI runs that loop end to end, so every scan closes with a repair, not a folder no one opens.
