Micron gauge! What's the best one!

[hanna]

Hi Guys,
I'm a newbie to this forum but not to this business.
I am tired of trying to use crap micron gauges and need some of you old timers to give me some advice. Which one do you think is the best and why?
hanna

[Huntinwalkerstyle]

Yellow jackets full digital

[kdean1]

Bluevac. Great gauge - I love the leak rate display. Excellent customer support and Dennis (the designer) is on this forum, too.

[gonnagetcha]

First - Bluevac
second - anything that's not built into a digital manifold

[jpsmith1cm]

First - Bluevac
second - anything that's not built into a digital manifold

I'd add to this.

"Don't settle for second place"

[HVAC/Stud]

BluVac

STUD

[stay gold jonny]

Bluevac or its UEI counterpart.

[chuckcrj]

Microns are for wimps

[Rickeyc]

Bluevac

[danielworkerbee]

Thermal Engineering Analog

[jpsmith1cm]

Thermal Engineering Analog

I've done a side-by-side between the Thermal and the BluVac.

The Thermal is very SLOW by comparison.

[Tech Rob]

Thermal Engineering Analog


I've done a side-by-side between the Thermal and the BluVac.

The Thermal is very SLOW by comparison.

We will see about long-term reliability. For now, I'm going to stick with the battle-tested veteran Thermal Engineering. Slow as it may be, I'll take reliability any day over the experience I have had with flaky digital gauges. If you take two digital gauges, hook them both up to the same system, or even just set them side by side on a table, you'll get two totally different readings 100% of the time.

[chuckcrj]

We will see about long-term reliability. For now, I'm going to stick with the battle-tested veteran Thermal Engineering. Slow as it may be, I'll take reliability any day over the experience I have had with flaky digital gauges. If you take two digital gauges, hook them both up to the same system, or even just set them side by side on a table, you'll get two totally different readings 100% of the time.

You will get the same result with 2 different Thermal gauges IME.

[Tech Rob]

You will get the same result with 2 different Thermal gauges IME.

Thank you. :cheers:

[Crazecodyk]

I use a JB...so far so good

[jpsmith1cm]

We will see about long-term reliability. For now, I'm going to stick with the battle-tested veteran Thermal Engineering. Slow as it may be, I'll take reliability any day over the experience I have had with flaky digital gauges. If you take two digital gauges, hook them both up to the same system, or even just set them side by side on a table, you'll get two totally different readings 100% of the time.

I disagree with this.

I've done it and had multiple digital meters agree, within stated tolerances, on the value.

[tech45]

Another gauge worth mentioning is the Robinair 14010. It is similar to the Thermal with a nicer meter and perhaps a sightly wider ambient operating temperature range. I had this as a company tool for a few years and I miss it .

My Bluevac is currently malfunctioning and I need to send it back. Not sure that it is a fault of the tool or if it took a hit on a job or truck but I called and they ( Bluevac ) insist on me sending it in. They are above and beyond good folks.

[ga-hvac-tech]

I do mostly Residential... and I know that is less sensitive than other areas of the trade... having said that:

Question: What would be the difference between one micron gauge which read 475 and another that read 495 and another that read 505... if they all three HELD the vacuum?

My point is: Are we splitting hairs here?

I have used a YJ 69075 for 7 or 8 years... no issues other than short battery life... which I solved with rechargeable batteries.

[chuckcrj]

I do mostly Residential... and I know that is less sensitive than other areas of the trade... having said that:

Question: What would be the difference between one micron gauge which read 475 and another that read 495 and another that read 505... if they all three HELD the vacuum?

My point is: Are we splitting hairs here?

I have used a YJ 69075 for 7 or 8 years... no issues other than short battery life... which I solved with rechargeable batteries.Yes, I agree, a difference of 30 microns is no big deal.

We took 5 thermals and connected them to the same vessel and pulled a vacuum. We had a range of 200 microns all the way up to 1500 microns. Which one do you trust? Some of them had recently been sent back for repair and calibration and had new sensors....

[ga-hvac-tech]

I do mostly Residential... and I know that is less sensitive than other areas of the trade... having said that:

Question: What would be the difference between one micron gauge which read 475 and another that read 495 and another that read 505... if they all three HELD the vacuum?

My point is: Are we splitting hairs here?

I have used a YJ 69075 for 7 or 8 years... no issues other than short battery life... which I solved with rechargeable batteries.


Yes, I agree, a difference of 30 microns is no big deal.

We took 5 thermals and connected them to the same vessel and pulled a vacuum. We had a range of 200 microns all the way up to 1500 microns. Which one do you trust? Some of them had recently been sent back for repair and calibration and had new sensors....

Good point!

When we start at 760,000 and concern ourselves with 475 or 600 or 525... that is really a small measurement. Now if we go over 1000, well IMO that is not a good thing.

I remember reading a thread a while back; someone used an empty refrigerant jug and some fittings to compare micron gauges... was that your test?

The results confirmed what I suspected... Probably NO micron gauge is dead accurate... which brings me back to the thought in the previous post: When we are discussing 1/1520 (what you have when you go from 500 to 501 microns)... is this going to drop the quality of the repair to the point I will not stand behind it?

My personal standard is: Take it down to indicated 500 or below, and it had better not rise above 600... remember this is residential. I tend to get the joints brazed and let the pump run for a while... doing other things. Usually after 45 min to an hour... the YJ 69075 indicates below 300 and sometimes does not rise above 400-450. IMO that is a good residential vacuum... :)

[jim bergmann]

Take a look at this video and grab the slider and walk it through by hand.

http://youtu.be/_Epr8D42pKs

[marvin]

i would go with the blu vac. bit of a learning curve but the results
are worth it.

[beastmode]

Ihave a yellow jacket digital...but an will do the job, but i dislike just better

[Newtech72]

I use a digital Supco SG64, no issues.

[SuperDave89]

JB love it has battery or 115v hookup!

[WeebMan]

I dont have one yet. But I do like to do lots of research before buying tools. My first one will be a bluevac. Just trying to decide if I want the lte or the regular version.