HVAC Leak Detectors 

get the fieldpiece stuff. elitech is great. but if they buyin get something nice from a supply house locally so that you can get the service for it in town withoht shipping yourself.

I find that interesting, its definitely not even an available practice here. EU has always been significantly ahead with regulations and practices though. Most of our tech is a decade behind yours.

@@HVACTIME Well I wouldn't say you guys are behind tech wise , because most of the new tools come from the States as well as most innovations and new tech in general . You should see the bullsh*t that's being sold in the supply houses over here it's horrific. Chiller technology for example , you guys are the world's leaders in that . EU is ahead as far as the DX VRF stuff , but that's not even European tech , that's Japanese technology . I think the biggest difference is that Europe is obsessed with "efficiency " and small savings in energy consumption, where the US are more about getting sh*t done and less regarding towards the costs , although with the current economy that seems to be shifting . To sum it up, EU is ahead is some aspects ( regulations and energy efficiency) but at the same time we're behind in other ways...

@@HVACTIME I’ve actually heard this from a guy who has immigrated here to the US from the EU, and we’ve had this discussion bout how HVAC equipment there is more advanced. One big thing he told me was, it works great there, but the US is different as EU equipment tech wouldn’t work the greatest here. Which makes sense to me, we’re comparing continents and lots of different variables than what we face here. Though EU hvac will always pique my interest

I feel ultrasonic is a fascinating tech but still ahead of its time. MKBHD on RU-vid did a video about that at one point. Products that are the future but the market isn't ready for them. While I support it I cant make a recommendation for it YET.

@@HVACTIME fair enough. I am going to buy one when i can afford to drop that kind of money on it.

I have one but I had better luck with a heated diode tester.

I would say that the disadvantage with ultrasonic would be in that you have to recover all the refrigerant and then put in nitrogen and then pull a vacuum afterwards. So I would think that ultrasonic would be advantageous for when you have already used heated diode or IR and you are not confident in the results. It would definitely be an excellent step two for when step one is not good enough.

​@@HeyChickensu must not be union lol. Got a leak, just dump nitro in and find the leak. Aint nobody reclaiming. Unless Osha is near 😂

Im not sure what the hype is with the optional co2 sensor? What purpose are we using these for that im unaware of? Or is it literally just reaffirming the room air co2 levels in HVAC servicing monitoring public health type thing…

@@f1reguy587 Leak checking systems that use CO² as a refrigerant, and using CO² as a trace gas for finding leaks.

About to buy a sonic one

Infinicon hasn't failed me yet. Working tech for 5+years.

Still has a place in my heart

100hrs of operation

Yes majority of companies do NOT supply detectors of any kind. I've recently learned that union shops do a lot of that but rarely on the non union side. We have a sharable detector for our techs who are working on getting their own. We definitely do not have ours test/inspected/certified at all.

I wouldn't do that, and who wastes r22 these days? Stuffs liquid gold.

Which is your top pick?

@@HVACTIME Honestly, the DTEK select. My early days in the trade I learned on a halide detector working in refrigeration. Then as I became a mechanic I used Dtek heated diodes working in mission critical environments. Had a coworker turn me on to ultrasonic. Never purchased one due to no real reason of having a need. Plus was hard to use in data centers with a lot of white noise. Started working on large tonnage chillers and then moved to the H10. Had an old timer mechanic who swore by them. He was one of those guys who has forgotten more than I’ll ever learn so I purchased one. My go to is the Dtek.

This is considered a tool in your arsenal. Just like manifold gauges, meters, basic tools. You provide your own shit. Company typically provides acetylene, nitrogen, vacuum pumps and recovery machines. The way the industry is today.

@@Strictly4Defense never had a company in the 10 years I've been doing this no provide a leak detector

@@bpscottland74 I said "the way the industry is today" but interesting. It was easy for you financially wise back then. Now we gotta spend our own money.

Lol, Dude relax. R22 is not “band” it’s just really expensive and they aren’t making it any more, There is plenty of refurbished R22 drum still being sold at most vendors in the United States. I try to get my customers to use alternative refrigerants like TDX20 is a good.

If I remember your in the EU, right? Y'all are setup very different and higher regulations than the US. We are not setup for the hydrogen testing even if we wanted to use it. Not saying we shouldn't be, just stating that's not our reality.

@@HVACTIME yes, i am from the EU. but just because lax regulations "allow" stuff like R22 for tracing to be used does not mean you cant use something better, it requires a special detector yes but 2% hydrogen/nitrogen gas mix is even very common in the US and can be bought at every gas supplier for roughly the same amount a plain nitrogen bottle costs from what i see from 2 minutes of google-fu. and arguably it saves you money because its simply so fast to use (and r22 aint cheap), you just dump it in like nitrogen (pushing in a whole tank takes about a minute in a decently sized chiller) and the leak detector is just stupidly sensitive so you can trace out a whole system in just a few minutes as you will not get false readings because you bumped the sensor or because its windy or the insulation is outgassing wich slows you down, there is no such thing as false readings with hydrogen. my company also used regular tracing gases (even tried propane/R290) but the 2% hydrogen bottles just make so much quick work of it as you cant have false readings that its simply not economical to do so once you have the detector in your van. if you know someone with a hydrogen detector or can borrow one from a supply house for testing i dare you to try it, you might change your mind. its basically become the norm for difficult leak detection projects in the socialistic hellscape called europe. ps: our regulations are not that different from yours. kyoto and montreal are still the basis. europe just differs in procedures and some methods. the biggest differences are simply because american systems are just so far behind because of the lax regulations around efficiency. just to give an example, i have a heat pump heating my home (floor heating) and it gets a COP of around 6 on average (mind you my country is basically in canada from a american perspective) simply because it only needs to make 80F water even when its freezing 14F outside. those kinds of numbers are impossible for the single speed systems generally used in the US. its not a dig, its just a result of american hvac industry pushing your goverment to keep their margins high instead of pushing them to do better. as a result the rest of the world is sailing you (america as a whole) by and reaping the benefits of japanese made HVAC systems that are nearly double as efficient as whatever crap goodman is pushing out its factory these days for the american market, because the rest of the world aint buying them. come to think of it i doubt such a unit would even be allowed to sell here due to its poor performance.

@@SupremeRuleroftheWorld are you saying that even if you have the tiniest of leaks, the most impossible to find, a hydrogen detector WILL find it, and fast?