I'm so glad I saw this video. I was thinking all 3 of my vacuum gauges were junk because I was testing them on small volumes rather than a larger volume like a tank. I just assumed the less the better but, less fittings and hoses, the less chance of a leak. Ill have to re-test all my stuff again... I was getting to think none of these gauges work....LOL. Again thanks Jim
I've had the exact same problem and so glad Jim shares his knowledge as he's part of the reason I understand vacuum at all. I was on the verge of figuring this out on my own. It made no sense why the smaller test I did the more it seemed to leak. But it wasn't consistent either. I did manage to hold a vacuum under 500 microns on just a core tool for over 10 minutes with a lot of tests. The worst leaks seem to be hoses themselves. Never again will I do a standing vacuum test without the hoses isolated
x2 After buying for myself our company went out and bought bluvacs, brass couplers and one core tool for our techs. And when they have trouble with the vacuum i go install my brass coupler instead of theirs and it pulls right down. Sometimes i have to change the gaskets once a week if i am using the coupler alot. The gaskets that go for hoses slide in the coupler but seem a little short and have to play with it to get them set right. Keep up the videos Jim
Matthew, Open the gas ballast for a minute or so before you shut off the pump. This will break the deep vacuum and not allow the oil to pull into the hoses. You can also loosen the hose at the pump with the core tools isolating the system if your pump does not have a gas ballast.
What a great demonstration of the bluvac. I made a video a while back while I was trying to learn the best way of pulling a vac and I ran into some problems and I thought the Appion system was not doing what the manufacturer claimed it would, but I determined it was the gasket in the brass connector that I attached the bluevac to was bad. After replacing the gasket this system works great and I would recommend it to anyone that's wanting to take their vacuum to the next level.
I have over the years since this video found everything you said to be spot. And I have continued to upgrade my vac setup and use the BluVac pro+ and the trublu hoses and accutools core tool.
We sell the entire kit in pieces as a build your own kit. Go to the Rapid vac kit, select build your own, and then add the parts you want. Thanks Eddie
I bought the field piece vacuum guage and had to send it in for a replacement before I even used it on the job site. I will have to get a bluevac. In the mean time I will use my supco. Thank you for the video.
Geez, my Rothenberger pump pulls nowhere near that low of a vacume when connected directly and running. Its very slow after 300 and its almost new. Yours dropped down to tens in seconds. I wonder if changing the oil would help
You can close couple them with a 1/4" flare coupling and let them degas for awhile if you like, but they will easily pull down below 200 microns out of the box. In a few uses they will begin to perform even better.
I had this problem, you can't shut off the vacuum pump while its in a vacuum or you will pull the oil out of the pump. Here's what you need to do, after you shut off both of your valve core tools at the condenser you will then need to loosen the hoses at the vacuum pump to break the vacuum then you can shut off the pump and no oil will be sucked into your hoses or you have a pump with a blank off valve makes sure that it is closed before turning off the pump.
Have a question.. Please help!! I have the Bluvac LTE and I am using the Navac NRPD8i vacuum pump with the digital micron gauge. I am pulling a vacuum and my BluVac LTE will pull down to about 800 microns then start ticking back up at a steady quick rate. Meanwhile, micron gauge on my NAVAC pump is holding at 250 microns. I tried multiple couplings, one brand new. Any suggestions.
Hey Jim, can I buy that 6" hose that comes with the mega flow kit? That is one hose that I didn't get with my kit. I want to use it in place of that brass connector.
Testing a leak rate with a larger volume only hides the leak. If you have a big leak, are you going to get a bigger tank? Ridiculous. You just proved there's no reason to get specialized fittings.
Yea sorry those core removes are not as good as the YJ. I dont care who "vacuum rated them." What entity gives this "vacuum rated" badge? YJ core removes are teh best and only. i heard someone saying he had to replace the gaskets alot. Thats because your spinning the housing. But to get it tight enough you have too. And on that "vacuum rated" core remover the gasket sits atop the brass. So if you twist the housing and not the nut youll twist the gasket. So they wear out fast. On the YJ core removes(which ive used to pull to and HOLD at 180 microns for 30 minutes on many occasions, in the field) the gasket sits encased in brass. It does wear out but not as bad as the other ones. But the only issue with it is that if you over tighten it will bulge the gasket so its hard to stick the stem back through. But much better than tearing them up over and over again. Anyway APPION has nice stuff.... but not their core removers. I dont care who rated them as anything. They are the same as the C&D valves. Ill use that appion mega flow kit.... with YJ core removers. lol
