SAE or Metric? and 1 other stupid ??

[doglips]

Ok this is going get the well DUH award I'm sure...but I got to ask. Do most HVAC/R units use SAE or metric nuts and bolts??? I've been lead to believe SAE is the norm.

On another post Trane got bashed.... Then I see other post bashing other brands....so what would be the best / worst brands...and why?

Thanks all

[Green Mountain]

Anything American is SAE. Of course things are never 100% standard. I searched for a month on the internet trying to find a 36mm flare nut wrench that would fit the flare nuts on larger Sanyo equipment suction lines.

Best equipment is the product that your contractor will stand behind. Let's face it. More and more equipment is being built by robots and computers. That's a good thing. No margin of error when a robot is working.

A condensing unit has a GE fan motor, a Honeywell contactor, a Copeland or Tecumseh compressor. So all that is left to decide is what color do you want to paint it and who's pressure sensitive lable do you want to stick on it?

[ct2]

Anything American is SAE. Of course things are never 100% standard.


go to a bearing supply company and try to find an SAE bearing -----for anything ----1/2 id x 1" od 3/4" x 11/2"

all out! they dont make em in sae sizes any longer, but as to the orig question , nuts and bolts on american products that are still assembled in America ...will be SAE or USS

[bigbird]

I think there was one more. SAE,METRIC & wentworth i think it was called .From england years ago.

[ct2]

ah ye BB wentworth and there is also the "ACME" as in thread that is not the acme co in the roadrunner shows


an ACME thread is a thread that you would find on the lead screw of a vise or the lead screw of a lathe.


as far as the best/worse model:

anyone that is installed correctly would bethe best and the worse : would be one that the company I work for installed

[gruntly]

Even in Canada most of the HVAC equip I work on is SAE.

S.I. is reserved for imported stuff from countries other than the U.S. and some stuff made in Canada...Just not HVAC. Because Canada deals with the U.S. so extensively, we're like a middle ground.

Most HVAC here comes from the U.S. but not all. There is a mix of other things like cars, industrial machinery, etc coming in and going out. Point is, if we need to work on anything other than stuff built in the U.S. we have to buy double the tools to do so. I really have no idea what we(Canada) sends out... SAE or S.I. Probably SAE to the States and S.I. everywhere else.

I understand why the U.S. rejects S.I. The cost of re-tooling and education would be astronomical. No-one here thought it was a good plan back in 1976 when this country accepted S.I. but it was done as an apparent attempt to increase business with the eastern continents. Cost alot of people alot of money with a few making tons for the changeover. It should have been left to the individual companies to decide if it was necessary, but the government stepped in and legislated the changeover. Then halfway through they basically dropped it...It's only ever been a partial changeover. One of P.E.Trudeau's screw-up legacies. Every vehicle I have owned since 1976 have been a combination SAE vs S.I. and all of my vehicle have been "North American" brands (GM, or Chrysler) with the exception of one MG I owned for a year in 1982-3.

If this post sounds confusing, try and figure out why some things up here are SAE and some S.I.

[Carnak]

Originally posted by gruntly
Even in Canada most of the HVAC equip I work on is SAE.

S.I. is reserved for imported stuff from countries other than the U.S. and some stuff made in Canada...Just not HVAC. Because Canada deals with the U.S. so extensively, we're like a middle ground.

Most HVAC here comes from the U.S. but not all. There is a mix of other things like cars, industrial machinery, etc coming in and going out. Point is, if we need to work on anything other than stuff built in the U.S. we have to buy double the tools to do so. I really have no idea what we(Canada) sends out... SAE or S.I. Probably SAE to the States and S.I. everywhere else.

I understand why the U.S. rejects S.I. The cost of re-tooling and education would be astronomical. No-one here thought it was a good plan back in 1976 when this country accepted S.I. but it was done as an apparent attempt to increase business with the eastern continents. Cost alot of people alot of money with a few making tons for the changeover. It should have been left to the individual companies to decide if it was necessary, but the government stepped in and legislated the changeover. Then halfway through they basically dropped it...It's only ever been a partial changeover. One of P.E.Trudeau's screw-up legacies. Every vehicle I have owned since 1976 have been a combination SAE vs S.I. and all of my vehicle have been "North American" brands (GM, or Chrysler) with the exception of one MG I owned for a year in 1982-3.

If this post sounds confusing, try and figure out why some things up here are SAE and some S.I.

Metric will be a farce in construction until they make metric sized sheet rock