Andrew Mawby: Metal Roof Color Temperature

These were the three pieces of metal I had painted. The black tape is an emissivity target to get accurate temperatures.

Metal Roof Color Temperature - Color Matters Big Time

I used my FLIR infrared camera to determine the temperature of three pieces of metal I had painted three different colors.

The experiment was done at the end of May 2020 in central New Hampshire. I took the photos just a few minutes after solar noon. The strips of painted metal had been in direct sunlight for about 30 minutes to heat up. It was a cloudless day.

One of my FREE newsletter subscribers, David Andersen, had provided great information to ensure the temperature readings were accurate. He's a level III thermographer and had been trained on how to take infrared photos. He pointed out that two things are important :

the spot where the reading is taken needs to be a 1-inch by 1-inch piece of black tape. This gives true accurate readings between the three samples.
the photos need to be taken in the shade so you're not getting a sun reflection temperature.

I had my camera all set up and then used a cookie baking sheet to create temporary shade for a second or two to take each photograph.

I put the strip on a piece of plywood and tilted it to about a 5:12 roof pitch. This creates a realistic setting. The samples and wood were aimed directly south to get the maximum infrared rays from the sun.