You know when you are taking the temp of the suction line and indoor/outdoor dry bulb temp. Are non-contact therm ok? I was looking at these.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93984
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95382
The probe thermometer seems appropriate. But i've mainly seen people use the thermometers that have the wire that you can put anywhere. Like wrap it around the pipe and so on.
I wouldn't use either of those.
Look at the testo contact thermometer, many use the thermocouple temp probe with a meter, there are pipe clamp options for many meters, and there are standalone temp devices.
but the two you picked are inadequate for any serious work.
Pipe clamp thermocouples are the way to go. You clamp it on and plug it into a multimeter that can read it, or a device like my Fieldpiece superheat/subcooling meter-calculator, which also reads system pressure. If your tool budget is fat you can get a digital gauge manifold that has everything on board. You merely connect the manifold as a standard analog gauge manifold, hook up the pipe clamp thermocouples, and you're good to go.
High quality instruments + high quality analysis = high quality diagnosis = high satisfied customer/low callback ratio. Gotta love that kind of math. :D
Cooper SH66 for DB readings.
Field Piece with "K" type ,Model # SC 67:)
Buy the one in the blue bag , comes with the clamp to read Temp
Fieldpiece ST4.
Barrie
DPSwitch, beenthere & shophound, or anyone, - I had & used both, a refrigeration clamp-on dial read & a digital strap-on pipe surface probe for SH & SC, I used both at the same time to get SH & SC.
At some of the HVAC Supplies near me in NE Iowa, ONE (Heil supply) had NO thermometers of any kind, NO anemometers to check velocities, & NO inclined manometers, NO magnehelic gages with which to check ESP, etc., you coulsd NOT buy anything there!
No wonder I see none of them with all these necessary instruments, nor doing these critical checks toward good A/C performance! What is happening to HVAC here in the Midwest North country? - Darrell
Some supply houses don't want to stock tools that don't have high sells volume.
Those are often the same places that don't put on any training classes either.
Dip is right. For one thing the Harbor Fright is junk. The IR tester is not good cause you can get false readinf.Quote:
Originally Posted by DPSwitch
The stem thermometer cannot be attched to the SL to get a good reading.
I have a four station CPS Temp Seeker. I have an an alagator type probe for SC and a disck shaped probe with a convex surface to read SH.
It also has a dry bulb and RH probe. Under Two Bills,
Google CPS Temp seeker. It's moderately priced and is accurat. If you got money to burn buy Testo, Tif Fluke and a slew of others with multi port capability
The temp seeker lets you monitor 4 temps at once which is a plus.