ReplyI started as a maintenance tech. Honestly, you don't really need anything beyond a standard yellow jacket analog set for cheap.
Professional Member
Hi everyone! I got a job doing maintenance and really need to buy some new gauges. The AK900 look great (read all the threads on here I could find on them) but I'm also wondering how long they would last. Is it like snap on vs other brands where the initial payment pays off in a long life? Usually I buy everything as cheap as I can but I really want to be good with refrigeration so would pay the extra if it will make me very accurate and last a long time. Thanks
Professional Member
I started as a maintenance tech. Honestly, you don't really need anything beyond a standard yellow jacket analog set for cheap.
Professional Member
That's what I was thinking but then I wondered if I should just bite the bullet on the AK900 and have it when I eventually move onto more complicated things. If I buy a standard set for $60 and a clamp on thermocouple for $100 I'm already half way there. I also read that it's best to have two sets, one for r22 and one for r410. So then I'm only $80 away from what everyone on here raves about. If they last five years, that's $16 dollars a year.
A standard $60 dollar pair of r22/r410 gauges plus a $30 dollar thermocouple should be ok for now though right?
Professional Member
You dont needs a set for 22 and a set for 410. As long as you purge the lines on each connection, youll be good. You dont need digitals as a maintenance tech, trust me on that. its overkill. save the money and pput it towards the tools youll need/use
Professional Member
For the two different gauges it seemed people where saying they would either be more accurate for either r22 or r410 because of the pressure difference. Like this: "Sorry to say, I recommend more one set of gages. Gages, especially analog, are not accurate unless the pressures are near the mid rang of the gage set". I'm glad a set of standard gauges will work though, thanks!
Professional Member*
If you want to be maintenance tech your whole life then buy cheap maintenance tech tools (analogs).
If you want to move up in the ranks....get the tools (digitals) and perform the job like a true professional. Digital gauges will help you accurately and quickly diagnose refrigerant related issues.
Good tools aren't cheap. Invest in them and make yourself better,
The AK900's are wonderful and are as tough as nails. Spend the $300 bucks, you won't be disappointed.
Professional Member
I have a DRSA 1200 and an AK-900.
The 1200 is about 3 1/2 years old and the 900 is a Beta test model that I've had in almost continuous use for about 3 years.
I don't think that there is a "normal" condition that they could see in the field that mine haven't seen.
Rain, heat, sub-zero temperatures, impacts, oils, you NAME it.
They still function perfectly.
Mine are not the oldest DRSA on this forum, either. Many have them that are 5-7 years old.
Professional Member
Hogwash. I see zero need to buy the expensive stuff until either A) you can afford it or B) it becomes necessity (moving into repairs)Originally Posted by Brent Ridley
I got moved to repairs two months ago with my "maintenance" tools. They work just fine.
Am I going to buy a set of digitals? You bet I am. SMAN4's in the next month or so.
Banned
Get an RSA (digital gauges). You won't regret it. Analogs stray off pressure way too much to be as accurate as you need to be. Testo 550 or 557, SMAN 3or SMAN 4....or that other brand.
Only problem with DC, by the time you buy a decent manifold, buy the better temp clamp, you've spent more than you might pay for another GOOD brand of RSA.
Plus the Testo and SMAN have more useful functions than the DC
Professional Member*
Northstarair,
So, what your saying is just because someone performs maintenances they shouldn't get good tools to help do the job more accurately? They should only buy cheap tools?
I disagree.
Professional Member
Brent, you obviously missed my point A "A) you can afford it". Chances are, if he's new to the field, he can't afford to buy a set of digital. You get what works and what you can afford
Professional Member*
Northstarair,
I don't know what he can and cannot afford. He simply asked about getting a set of AK900's. I think he should purchase these and it will help him become better at his job.....you obviously think differently.
To the OP,
Good tools won't solely make you a better tech. They will help you understand what is happening with the system better and more accurately. The rest is on you....you need to educate and train yourself. Don't wait on others to train you. You in the right place, stick around here and absorb all the knowledge possible.
Professional Member*
Get the AKs they are great. And they will help you be a better tech because they are more accurate and you will be more efficient because you watch both temps and pressure s in real time with one hook up. Watching the numbers while you adjust or expirement is great knowledge you can't get out of a book. I got mine very reasonably with a 1/4 turn manifold and love them. Most people against RSA have never owned a good set. You will not regret it.Hi everyone! I got a job doing maintenance and really need to buy some new gauges. The AK900 look great (read all the threads on here I could find on them) but I'm also wondering how long they would last. Is it like snap on vs other brands where the initial payment pays off in a long life? Usually I buy everything as cheap as I can but I really want to be good with refrigeration so would pay the extra if it will make me very accurate and last a long time. Thanks
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
Professional Member
An AK-900 with the Dc manifold included is about 3 bills.
There is no factual basis for this criticism of DC.
Professional Member
hvac5646,
to continue to disprove your unfounded allegations.
At TruTechTools, an SMAN4 is $449.88 plus tax, so let's call it $475 to round numbers.
Same site, the Dc Ak-900 with manifold and a set of clamp sensor comes up to about $426 pre-tax so maybe $450 after tax.
Perhaps you should check pricing before you go spouting misinformation.
As to the "useful features" the DC has a feature that no other RSA has, the bar graph which shows you what is going on in the system in greater detail because of the speed at which it responds (1/4# each 1/4 second on the low side)
Can your Testos or SMANs do that?
Professional Member*
i'd like to know when there will be digitals that use transducers to read pressure, thats when i'm more likely to spend that kind of money
Banned
And you should (not just maybe) read my posts more thoroughly (which you have a habit of overlooking key words and thru selective editing always change my meaning) because you failed to include the the part of it that stated to the OP should get a "decent manifold", not the one included in DC.
Like it or not some guys like the option of evacuating thru a manifold. And most of the replacement manifolds being discussed are four port types:evacuation manifolds. That is going to to make the cost of ownership higher.
You failed to make a comparison price wise to the 550.
Bar graph might be useful to you but it means nothing to me.
My instruments react fast enough to system changes.
Banned
All the digitals use transducers...or were you referring to something else?
Professional Member*
I go through a set of analogs once a year. It's easy to bust up a yj guage then you wonder about accuracy etc. I bought a set of ak900s and if they last me 3 or 4 years it will be about the same costwise but I won't have to worry about accuracy and its easier to check SH and SC bc the sensors are dangling right there off the guage.
Professional Member*
I don't have the AK900, but assuming it is built to a similar standard as Digi-Cool's previous instruments, it is unquestionably the toughest DRSA on the market.
I've had my Digi-Cool BTD-1000 for about 8 years, and my DRSA-1250 for about 3 years, both work flawlessly.
My BTD-1000 has survived repeated unreasonable abuse too.
Posting Permissions
! -George Carlin