How to run a complete electrical thermography survey, apply BS7671 load correction and fault grading, generate an ISO-aligned report, and share it with your client, all from one Android tablet.
You have installed the app. You have set up your company profile and default template. Now comes the part that matters: running your first real electrical thermographic inspection inside SnapCor and delivering a finished report before you leave site.
This walkthrough takes you through the full inspection workflow, from the moment you arrive on site to the moment you email a client-ready PDF. Every step covers the feature that powers it, the thermographic principle behind it, and the practical benefit you get from using it, so this is not just a software tutorial. It is also a condensed refresher on how good electrical thermographic reporting should work. If you have not yet installed the app, start with the SnapCor installation guide and come back here when you are ready.
What you will need: An Android tablet or phone with SnapCor installed, a thermal imaging camera (any manufacturer), access to an electrical distribution board or switchgear under load, and appropriate PPE and safe systems of work for the site.
Before You Start: Pre-Inspection Setup
Good thermographic inspection results depend on what you do before you open the camera. SnapCor supports this preparation phase with features that save time and improve consistency on every job.
Confirm Your Default Settings
Open SnapCor and check Settings. Confirm the following are configured correctly for the type of inspection you are about to run:
- Reference temperature: 75°C is the most common value for cable terminations under BS7671. SnapCor lets you adjust this per inspection or per asset if you are working to a different standard or reference.
- Default inspection type: Set to Electrical for switchgear, distribution boards, busbars, MCCs, and similar assets.
- Company profile: Your logo, company name, thermographer name, and certification level will appear on the report cover page. Update these if you are working under a subcontract arrangement or if you have a new qualification to add.
If you are working to ISO 18436-7 or the Infraspection Institute standard for electrical systems, SnapCor's report structure already maps to the key documentation requirements: equipment identification, thermal images, temperature data, severity classification, and recommended actions.
Prepare Your Asset List
You can enter assets manually as you go, but for multi-board or multi-site inspections, importing a pre-built asset list saves significant time. SnapCor accepts asset lists via spreadsheet import, so you can prepare a list with asset IDs, locations, circuit descriptions, and nominal ratings before you arrive on site.
This also matters for trending. When assets have consistent IDs across periodic inspections, SnapCor automatically tracks temperature changes over time and flags degradation. That is only possible if the same asset ID is used in every survey, which is much easier to control from a master list than from on-site manual entry. TI Thermal Imaging's WEBCOR platform uses the same approach at enterprise scale.
Step 1: Create a New Inspection
On the SnapCor home screen, tap New Inspection. Enter the following:
- Client name
- Site name and address
- Inspection type: Electrical
- Camera model: Select your thermal imaging camera from the list (FLIR, Fluke, Hikmicro, Testo, Seek, Workswell, InfraTec, or other)
- Date and time: Auto-populated but editable
- Ambient temperature: Record the ambient at the start of the survey. SnapCor uses this in every load correction calculation.
This metadata feeds directly into the report cover page, the fault grading calculations, and the trending engine. Getting it right here means the rest of the workflow runs automatically.
Pro tip: If you inspect the same client regularly, SnapCor lets you duplicate a previous inspection as a template. This pulls in the same site details, asset list, and configuration, so your second visit to a site takes seconds to set up.
Step 2: Capture and Import Thermal Images
Capture your thermal images using your camera as normal. There is no need to change your capture workflow. SnapCor works with standard JPG and radiometric JPG files from any manufacturer.
When you are ready to process, import images directly into SnapCor from your camera, SD card, or device gallery. You can import individually or in batch.
For each image, SnapCor displays the thermal image alongside a visual photograph (if captured). This pair is essential for professional reporting because the thermal image shows the temperature anomaly, but the visual image shows the reader exactly which component is affected, its location, and its condition. Most standards and client specifications require both.
Setting Your Object Parameters
When you import a radiometric image, SnapCor reads the embedded metadata (emissivity, reflected temperature, distance) directly from the camera file. You can override any value if site conditions differ from what the camera assumed. Getting emissivity right is critical: FLIR's guidance on emissivity reinforces that incorrect emissivity is one of the most common sources of measurement error in field thermography.
Step 3: Tag Each Image to an Asset
This is where SnapCor's inspection-led layout starts to pay off. For each thermal image, the app prompts you to:
- Select or create the asset (for example, 'DB-01, Main Distribution Board, Ground Floor')
- Enter the component (for example, 'L1 busbar connection, 400A MCCB')
- Record the measured temperature from the thermal image
- Record the load in amps at the time of the survey
- Record the component rating (nominal amps)
The interface walks you through these fields in a logical order that mirrors a traditional fault page. If you have ever filled out a thermographic fault report in Word or Excel, this will feel familiar, but instead of typing into a template after the survey, you are doing it once, on site, as you go.
Step 4: Automatic Load Correction and Fault Grading
This is the feature that changes how electrical thermographic inspections are reported.
The moment you enter the measured temperature, ambient temperature, actual load, and component rating, SnapCor runs the ITC load correction formula to estimate what the component temperature would be at full rated load. That corrected temperature is then compared against the reference temperature (default 75°C for cables under BS7671) to assign a fault grade.
Understanding the Four Fault Grades
SnapCor uses the same four-tier severity classification widely adopted across the UK and international thermographic inspection industry:
The key point: these grades are calculated from the load-corrected temperature, not the raw measured value. A component reading 45°C at 60% load is not necessarily 'Minor'. At 100% load, the corrected temperature might push it into 'Important' or 'Serious' territory. That is why load correction matters, and why doing it manually with a calculator is both slow and error-prone.
Overriding the Grade
SnapCor always lets you override the calculated grade. This is an important design principle. As the TICOR documentation on BS7671 explains, load correction formulas are tools that support thermographer judgement, not replacements for it. If you know the component has been running at that load for 20 hours straight, or if there are environmental factors the formula does not capture, your professional assessment takes priority. SnapCor records both the calculated and overridden grades in the report.
Step 5: Add Fault Descriptions and Remedial Recommendations
For each finding, SnapCor lets you add a fault description (what was found) and a remedial recommendation (what should be done). You can type these manually, or use the built-in remedial library.
The Remedial Library and AI-Assisted Annotation
SnapCor includes a standardised library of common fault descriptions and remedial actions for electrical thermographic inspections. For example, if you identify a loose busbar connection, the library offers pre-written descriptions covering the anomaly, the likely root cause (torque degradation, oxidation, mechanical stress), and the recommended action (re-torque to manufacturer specification, clean contact surfaces, re-inspect after repair).
The AI-assisted annotation feature can also draft descriptions based on the fault data you have entered. You stay in control: every suggestion is editable, and you can save your own preferred wording to the library for future use.
Benefit: Consistent, professional language across every report your team produces, even when different thermographers have different writing styles. For FM clients managing multiple sites, this consistency is often a contractual requirement.
Step 6: Review the Inspection Summary
Before generating the report, SnapCor presents a summary view showing:
- Total assets inspected
- Number of findings by grade (Minor, Important, Serious, Critical)
- Any assets with missing data or incomplete entries
- Trending comparisons against previous inspections of the same site (if available)
This is your quality gate. Review the summary, go back and fill in anything that is incomplete, and confirm you are happy with the fault grades and descriptions before generating the final output.
Trending in practice: On a periodic inspection, the summary view highlights any asset where the Delta T has increased since the last survey. This is where SnapCor's value compounds over time. One inspection gives you a report. Three inspections give you a degradation curve that supports genuine predictive maintenance decisions.
Step 7: Generate Your Report in Under 60 Seconds
Tap Generate Report. SnapCor assembles a fully formatted PDF that includes:
- Branded cover page with your company logo, client details, and inspection metadata
- Executive summary with fault count by severity grade
- Individual fault pages, each with thermal image, visual image, temperature data, load correction output, fault grade, description, and remedial recommendation
- Fault summary table across all assets
- Trending graphs (for periodic inspections with prior data)
- Appendices and methodology notes
The report is aligned to ISO 18436-7 documentation requirements and informed by BS7671 reference temperatures. It is designed to be client-ready: professional enough to attach to a formal maintenance report, detailed enough to satisfy an insurance audit, and clear enough for a non-thermographer to act on.
Generation takes around sixty seconds. The report appears as a PDF on your device, ready to share. This is the moment where the on-site workflow pays off: instead of promising the client a report 'by end of the week', you can hand them a finished document while you are still standing at the distribution board.
Step 8: Share the Report and Sync to the Cloud
Once the PDF is generated, you have several options for sharing it:
- Email directly to the client from your device
- Upload to your client portal or document management system
- Sync to SnapCor's cloud when you are back online (Wi-Fi or mobile data). The inspection and report appear on your team dashboard for review, storage, and retrieval
For teams, the cloud sync is where SnapCor becomes more than a reporting tool. Managers can see live status across all active inspections, review reports before they go to the client, and retrieve historic data for any site from a central dashboard. Enterprise clients get unlimited cloud storage and multi-region hosting.
What to Do After Your First Inspection
The first inspection teaches you the workflow. The second is where you start to feel the speed. Here is what to focus on next:
Build Your Remedial Library
Every time you write or edit a fault description, consider saving it to your custom library. Over 5 to 10 inspections, you will build a vocabulary that covers the faults you see most often, and every future report will be faster because of it.
Set Up a Recurring Client
If you have a client with periodic inspection requirements (annual, bi-annual, quarterly), set up the site as a recurring client in SnapCor. This ensures consistent asset IDs across surveys and unlocks the full power of the trending analytics.
Explore the Analytics Dashboard
After a few inspections, the SnapCor analytics dashboard starts to show patterns: average findings per site, most common fault types, grade distributions over time. This data is useful for client reporting, but it is also useful for your own business. If 80% of your findings are Minor, your clients are maintaining their equipment well. If Critical findings are spiking, there may be a conversation to have about inspection frequency or maintenance strategy.
Try a Different Inspection Type
SnapCor supports electrical, mechanical, building envelope, solar PV, and process/pipework inspections. If you offer more than one type of survey, try running a building envelope or solar inspection to see how the templates and grading adapt. The SnapCor YouTube channel has walkthrough videos for different inspection types.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the first inspection take in SnapCor?
The first one takes a little longer as you learn the interface, typically 10 to 15 minutes of additional time compared to your normal survey. By the second or third inspection, most thermographers report that SnapCor is faster than their previous workflow because the load correction and report generation happen automatically.
Can I edit the report after generating it?
Yes. You can go back into the inspection, update any finding, and regenerate the report. The PDF rebuilds in under 60 seconds.
What happens if I have no mobile signal on site?
SnapCor works fully offline. You can capture, analyse, grade, generate, and export a PDF without any network connection. Cloud sync happens automatically the next time you connect.
Does SnapCor replace my thermal camera's software?
SnapCor is a reporting platform, not a camera control tool. You still use your camera's native software or app for image capture and camera settings. SnapCor takes over at the point where you would normally move images to a laptop and start writing a report. It replaces the desktop reporting step, not the camera step. For more on how SnapCor fits alongside camera manufacturer software, see the integration section of the SnapCor website.
Can my client see the report in real time?
You can email the PDF to the client the moment it is generated. For enterprise clients, SnapCor's cloud dashboard can be configured for client-facing access so they can view inspection status and download reports directly.
How does SnapCor compare to desktop reporting tools?
Desktop tools like FLIR Thermal Studio and Testo IRSoft are powerful analysis platforms, but they require you to take images back to a laptop, import them, process them, and build a report manually. SnapCor collapses that entire post-survey workflow into a single on-site step. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. Some teams use camera-native software for detailed radiometric analysis and SnapCor for field reporting.
Start Your First Inspection Today
Every thermographer remembers the first time they generated a report on site instead of carrying a backlog home. That is what this walkthrough is designed to give you.
Open the app, create a new inspection, and work through the steps above on your next job. The workflow is designed to match how you already work. The difference is that the report writes itself while you do.
Try SnapCor Free for 14 Days >>
Not yet installed? Follow the SnapCor installation guide to get set up in 3 minutes. Already running inspections? Share your experience with us on the SnapCor YouTube channel or contact the TI Thermal Imaging team for training and inspection services.
SnapCor is a thermographic inspection reporting platform built by TI Thermal Imaging. Reports are aligned to ISO 18436-7 and informed by BS7671 reference temperatures. Always combine software outputs with qualified thermographer judgement and applicable site-specific safety procedures.