Can a Harbor Freight Vacuum Pump Pull a Deep Vacuum? 

Got in a pinch today when my Robinaire pump died, Harbor Freight was the only choice I had since the supply houses around here are closed on Saturdays Just pulled a 2 ton 30 year old Carrier system down to 300 Microns in 40 minutes. This is with the king valves open, pumped indoor, lineset, and outdoor unit down. Not bad for $90 bucks

Glad to hear it seems ok. I do not work in the industry, just a regular homeowner trying to install a mini split. I got a bargain on this pump, paying just $71. A lot of the jargon used in the industry is over my head, just trying to learn and see if I can do this without paying someone thousands. PS: I already called the HVAC company who put central air in my house, and with whom I have always done business. Guess what? They refused to say they would even inject coolant into the new mini-split on the grounds that they did not install it!!! One thing that really bothers me about this entire industry (home a/c) is that it appears to be CHOCK FULL OF CROOKS! We had a 2nd home in nearby city, just to lessen the commute, and once called a busy HVAC guy to check the a/c and attend to the usual (like replacing a $9 capacitor). He charged well over $1000 for an hour's work, and insisted on immediate online payment. He admitted to "earning" $7000 for his half day's work, and stated that he was trying to hurry because he wanted to spend the rest of the day on his jet ski's. The more I learn about typical a/c problems (such as replacing inexpensive capacitors and contact switches), which I have seen commonly marked up from, say $9 to $260 each, the more I realize how homeowners are gigantically just ripped off as a matter of everyday business. I'm sure I will hear defenses from industry workers, but I don't care. Seen all this with my own eyes!

I used a newer model of this pump rated st 3.5 CFM and 75 Microns. It easy pulled to 300 microns fairly quickly. Cost $149.95 in new inflated dollars.

I actually bought this pump to do vacuum bagging for fiberglass work. It works great for that in a home workshop environment. A couple of years ago the evaporator core in my car went out and I used this pull a vacuum after I replaced it. Don't know if it did everything 100% correct, but 2 years later the car is still making cold air so I count that as a win.

I have had this pump for 9 years or so doing 100+ automotive ac jobs a summer with it and it's never failed me. I just purchased the battery operated one with a 12Ah battery that is working just as good if not a little better

I’m a 40+ year HVAC&R tech I used one in a pinch it did work better than expected. My primary pump is a 40 year old cast iron pump that out performs most new pumps.

I have the Harbor freight 3CFM pump I've done plenty of 5 Ton Goodman units And had no problem pulling them down to a 130 microns And it didn't take too long to do it I will say I'm pretty impressed with the Harbor freight pump And for the price couldn't beat it

Surprised! I bought one years ago for a vacuum fixture for my milling machine. It worked fine for that. I have been planning a mini split install, now at least I know I don’t need a new vacuum pump! Thanks for the video.

I'm an HVAC Technician.I bought this exact pump a few years ago as a backup and it surprisingly has held up pretty well. Really worth the money.

Zack, I enjoyed watching your demo of the vacuum pump! You do good work !

I bought a “kit” on line for about $150. My logic was I am a homeowner who is installing two units. If I had to call in a hvac tech (maybe twice because of timing finishing both units at the same time) it would have cost me way more. I probably will not need to use the kit again. Worked great for my needs.

I bought an Amazon version. I would trust it for my own autos and home A/C as an initial test and check. But I wouldn’t use it professionally in any situation. Thanks for the video. I used it mainly for the initial set up. The instructions mentioned an oil inlet but couldn’t find one. Very helpful.

I use the harbor freight vacuum for pulling down A/C systems in cars and it works great.

Thanks man...good to know..Good Job!

Works well every time I use mine. No leaks at all. Manifold gauges work good too.

Very interesting, thank you for sharing your test.

good job with the test, it help me to make decision what to do, thanks

Thank you, sir! I really appreciate the video.

thanks for the video!

Thanks for the info.

I think you did a really fair test! Cheers from outback Australia...

FYI. Most auto parts stores have free tool rentals. Most have a very similar pump. Nice to have as an option if you need a pump in a pinch. Usually can keep for days for free. Sometimes you get lucky and you get a brand new pump with bottle of oil included. I think the other fitting is the ACME fitting. Easy to connect to auto 134a cans and hoses. Just need and adapter from yellow Hackett to connect. Good video 🤪

Not surprised at all I've been using

My pump quit working supply house was close harbor freight was nearby I bought one been using it for five years still working good

On mine the second fitting was the same size but it was a blind fitting to store the dust cap while in use.

I own a harbor freight vacuum pump and as much as I use it works well. I also use there floor jacks and they have held up well

It is a rebranded FJC pump. Used it the first time yesterday, pulled 200 microns no problem while testing with non-vacuum hoses. Be careful when use Fieldpiece manifold with an internal micron gauge, stupid me released vacuum by opening a valve on a different hose after shutting down the pump and it sucked some oil out of the vacuum pump into the connected hose, lol. BTW manual says this pump uses 46 viscosity oil, I plan to switch it to synthetic Supercool oil.

Nice im about to try it out

Reed valves do rust with humidity. Gentle steel wool works wonders sometimes.

Thanks

well done

Have used this primary for a few months in light commercial until I was able to get the pump I wanted. Never had a issue.

I bought the Harbor Freight 3.0 CFM 2-Stage vacuum pump years ago for automotive AC work, then I got into doing my own residential system. The pump always pulls to 25 microns and with a micron gauge attached o the 1/4" port. I used it when I installed my 3.5 ton heat pump 4 years ago and it pulled to 400 microns after about an hour. My 7 CFM bullet doesn't do much better and you have to use YJ pump oil on it or you won't get a deep vacuum. The port on top is the automotive 1/2" ACME size port and fits the one hose that came with the H.F. A/C gauge kit. I purchased a 1/2" ACME to 1/4" adapter online just in case.

I have the 2 stage 4.5 CFM of this variant. I go usually between 30-40 microns in my heatpump systems.

Good vid 👍

I used my 2.5 cfm vacuum pump to pull a 400 micron vacuum yesterday on a 30lb recovery bottle. It worked but it took about 15 minutes.

I have this exact pump and have had it for about 7 years now. I use it for automotive A/C and have never had issue with it. I've left it on non-stop for many many hours. I also use it for bleeding brakes. Made up my own adapter set and large glass catch tank, it makes bleeding brakes alone very easy. Also works as a general purpose fluid extractor, as well. I'm sure it's bad for the internals of the pump but I'm in 7 years of hard use and abuse and it's still going. For what the thing costs? Highly recommend.

yes

The two stage pump can do less than 100 mTorr. Works great. The decay test has nothing to do with how well the pump works. That has to do with how dry the system is.

I've been using the Harbor Freight pump at our shop (Heavy Construction Company) for three years now. Has not let us down once. A/C in our trucks and heavy machines is Ice Cold.

Good video. Thanks for the review on the vacuum pump's ability. Harbor Freight's equipment, like this pump, is meant for the guy that's looking for a way to do a "do-it -yourself" job and that's it. I can see a place in the market for this kind of stuff, where a guy that's going to use this pump only a couple of times, at home, to do some a/c work and pay a reasonable price to accomplish the task. If your trying to make a living using this pump, you're probably going to be disappointed.

I might try one out for that price, I was skeptical of weather or not they would pull enough vacuum

I bought this product because local vacuum and charge cost for 1 car was similar to the cost of this pump and I thought, owning the tool would pay for itself after a couple uses. It did well on first car. Then I stored the pump 2.5 years before needing again. The cast aluminum oil tank broke during storage and was unusable for second use. I would say the quality difference is what makes it inferior. I believe better brand pump wouldn't have broken from being hit during storage. I don't HVAC enough to warrant the purchase of a better brand so this time I'll just be paying for a vacuum and charge.

The top port is for a R134a gauge set connection.

I figured it would do half decent honestly. It would probably do better if it had some quality vacuum pump oil in it. Ive been wanting to get one of the pneumatic vacuum pumps they sell and see what it can pull for microns. It has no practical use in our trade but it would be fun to experiment with.

According to instructions, the smaller threaded Red plug is the oil fill port...Why you used the larger Black air vent port plug ?? Thx for the video.

I purchased one just about like that from Harbor freight. It worked great twice. I moved and apparently it must’ve been damaged even though I can’t see any damage doesn’t work anymore. It sounds like it’s doing something but it won’t pull the vacuum.

In the 5 years HarborFreight has upped the quality of many of their products . But don’t worry they still sell a line of cheap stuff for those who want them

Could u review the kozyvacu 500 and the 2 stage harbor freight vacuum?

I bought this pump used at a garage sale, no instructions. What weight vacuum pump oil should be used with i?

I suspected it would be fine for small systems. Good for small side jobs, like you said just residential work

I overfilled with oil a little bit obove the line is there a problem or its okay ?

I have seen that in Harbor Freight and been curious about it myself so it was nice to see a video about the performance of it in real time. Nice know it could be used in a home air conditioning system. I suppose in the end 500 Micron does the same regardless of Automotive use or home use. I have shopped at Harbor Freight numerous times before and find that their quality has come a long way from what it used to be. Hand tools not so bad but anything requiring torque is generally pretty poor or for short-term success. Or both. Let's face it, most of that stuff is made in China and they don't care about generating Goodwill they care about generating more money. End of story. Love your Channel by the way and your basic philosophies involving life and religion.

I have a question -- would this do at all well in a vacuum former, or is it too low in CFM?

I was hoping this pump would pass and hoping it will fail as well. In summer months when I am busy for long days or weekends it is good to know if my good vacuum pump fails and it after hours or weekends when my distributors are all closed, I can run to Harbor Freight to pick one up just to get the job done. On the other hand where there is so many consumers buying mini splits on the Internet, this can eliminate customers contacting HVAC contractors to perform this procedure.

Shoot just bought me a new one of them, works great 😊

Seems like a decent pump

Same as a vevor

I'm not surprised the pump worked well lol.

These pumps will last longer than you’d think. What will happen is that one day it just won’t pump into a deep vacuum. That’s when you know it’s time for a new one. It really doesn’t matter to me that it’s 2.5 cfm. But here’s the back story… one contractor I’d worked for wanted to provide a high volume pump but want the cheapest priced ones for their techs. So what we got was a pump that weighed over 50#. All of our work was in roofs meaning all the gear had to be tag lined from the ground. It didn’t take long to decide to buy the cheapest and lightest vac pump since it would be an out of pocket expense to get a suitable tool. The pump I wound up with was one of these with another name on the side. I used it for hundreds of hours and was more than happy to have not roped the heavy POS up on every job…

Harbor Freight tools are hit or miss but their prices are usually tempting 🤔. With clean copper it seemed like the the 40 min was a long pull for only 300 microns? It would have been interesting to put the micron gauge straight to the pump to see where it would pull down to. Great video, thanks 👍.

Can you clarify what size fittings are used for the pump. The manual says R12/22 and R134a but I don't know what fitting sizes that translates to.

Pretty surprised. Would be curios how this time compares to other brands.

Should we jimmy up a shut off valve?

I'm thinking you should have done a breakin procedure and/or used better oil. I did that with a cheapo 1stage from Amazon and easily pulled 130 micron on a system with 30ft lines (I didn't test pump alone.) Break in: Fill with oil and let sit for 10 minutes, remove all caps and start it wide open, let it run for a minute (will be fuming, so do it outside), put cap on intake side and let it run for 20 minutes (check oil level throughout), open everything again, drain oil. You can use the crap oil it comes with for this process, then refill with some good stuff (I used TSI Supercool v32). Going forward, if possible, always start/stop the pump wide open (no vac) and obviously keep caps on when storing and keep oil in the range at all times.

I'm about to buy one just to repair my vehicle AC. Sounds great as a home gamer RU-vid mechanic who works on their own vehicles

I wonder how long it will last or how many vacuums it does

Looks good to me

I’m curious about the harbor freight dual stage pump

*What's the name of the oil? Thanks. 🙏*

Is that the single stage or dual stage pump?

minisplits and appliances it would be good.

I bought a Harbor Freight Brake Bleeder Kit Pneumatic.....but it did not perform well.....so I’m considering buying one of these vacuum pumps and connecting it through a glass mason jar to create a direct vacuum at each bleeder screw....instead of their air compressor version 🤔

so will this pump connect directly to the harbor freight automotive manifold gauge set yellow hose?

I’ve been wondering if this would be a good substitute to leave on a job site overnight for a contaminated system. Come back 12 hours later and see how her did.

they have two newer two stage units, one battery. HERCULES 20V Lithium-Ion Brushless Cordless 2-Stage Vacuum Pump - Tool Only

can anyone give me good advice for my first vacuum pump purchase ? i have a 500$ budget and i was trying to figure out if a corded is better vs battery powered or not and which brands to get i have a four port field piece digital gauge set to go with it i got for 700$

Quiero comprar una máquina para doblar láminas de madera . Cuál me recomienda.. es verdad que hay una variedad pero me gustaría la opinión de la experiencia.. gracias.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🙈🙉🙊 you could try a torture test on it or do a head to head test with the 2cfm battery navac with dry and wet conditions 🤔

Can u show where the residue goes when vacumning a old contaminated system?

I don't work in the field of hvac... I work as a facilities maintenance electrician... I do have my EPA universal... Took a 10 month program... I don't intend on going into the field of hvac... I do however want to put my knowledge to use at my facility because we have air conditioning units on all our electrical panels and I would like to get them working... Would you recommend ror someone like me

I have used one for years...

I would simply buy 2 and carry one as a spare. or alternate using them

2:59 - Please help me understand the reason for overfilling the vacuum pump with pump oil. Or, the difference it makes in your test (parallax error from the camera angle, perhaps?)

I was on my way to start a major job and realized we forgot the vacuum pump. After some brainstorming on what we could do, We decided to stop at the closest Harbor Freight and buy this Vacuum Pump. It simply got the job done and gave it to the apprentice.

I’ve always wondered how our vacuum pumps rated. I’ve used vacuum pumps, my whole life to bleed the brakes on my vehicles and to do vacuum bagging for carbon fiber and fiberglass, etc.. but I never really understood how vacuum pumps are measured. I know vacuum is a factor, but you were talking something about microns filters. I understand the smaller than microns the harder it would be for air molecules to pass so is that how vacuum pumps are more precisely rated?

Robert Deniro doing vacuum pumps review??

Surprised

Pump cost $76 today after 20% off Labor Day coupon.

Have the exact same pump doesn’t say anything on it. Been working fine for the half dozen times I had to use it

Can anyone tell me if its normal to have oil vapor just bought it last week and put it to the test today.

I would be more COMFORTABLE with RonbinAir vacuum pump with good records in Reliability 😂😅

Unfortunate there is only one 1/4" inlet. With core and depressor removed, you can only achieve maybe 1.5 CFM at best with 1/4" hose. Would take too long to evacuate anything other than line set and coil on new installations. Thanks for the review. I've seen them and was curious about it's performance. Now, I wonder if anyone has a video on Harbor Freight 3 CFM 2 stg pump? How well would it do on a complete system with exposed/saturated oil?

Mine does so far after a year and around 40 cars

I thought it did ok, but it didn’t have an evaporator coil, lineset or outdoor unit, I have used my reclaim machine as my vacuum pump, I was in the middle of nowhere and my pump took a dump 😂

why did why did you take out the Schrader valve

Cant say i trust any gauges at all anymore. At least not on this job. Tried the old sears vacuum gauge on a pump and deadhead i would see 22". Hook it on the car,i was getting 25" on the gauge set. Unsure if that was good , borrowed another pump and the sears gauge gave me 23". Hooked it on the car,id see like 27". Whatever, if that's good enough ive got time, let it run for a week i guess.

Hmm

So, the pump is able to pull a deep vacuum. That's all fine and dandy, but there is this critical question: For HOW MANY TIMES will the pump perform as expected before it breaks down? I'm just not convinced that this pump will stand the test of time. The main reasons I feel this way is that stupid 90 day warranty offered for this pump (and most other items at HF that have an electrical cord), as well as comments from actual buyers of both pumps sold at HF. Ironically, the 2-stage pump had more negative reviews than it's cheaper, single-stage sibling. But the reviews reveal nightmarish experiences for some people when putting the pump through it's paces, like blowing oil everywhere and the motor suddenly failing without warning. I'll stick to my Robinair for now.

I have a unbranded vacuum pump that looks very similar to the HF pump you have here I use for wood turning. I ran it todayfor about 20 minutes to hold a bowl on my lathe. When I finished the pump side was very HOT. I don't have much experience with these pumps. Do they normally get so hot? Thanks for any information you have.