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I found another informative video made by Trutech and Energy Conservatory. Warning it’s very long and drawn out.
LINK

Originally Posted by Achso017

Thanks for that. It’s both informative and depressing. Both high end brand new flow meters are unreliable. I hope whoever you sent that to can give you a good procedure to improve their effectiveness.

I just re-read your post before this and realized that they gave you an answer already. Not designed for residential? Then when are they going to release a residential design? Looks like your baffle box is the best way for now.

I wouldn’t say these flow hoods are useless. Though the Alnor does measure a bit low, it is consistent in measurements taken with other grilles and when positioning the grille in different areas of the flow hood.

Both are very good and consistent with return air measurements, unfortunately the Alnor is not made for flow above 500cfm. The Testo is excellent for higher volume return air reading.

Originally Posted by heatingman

As far as certified testing, or proving to yourself accuracy, just measure in a second or 3rd way, and establish a correction factor to use and do the math.

The third method was stated but not shown in the video. A Retrotec duct tester was configured as a powered flow hood. It measured ~126cfm.

Originally Posted by mgenius33

Ok I posted the video. It's my first, so please don't hate...

LINK

Thanks for that. It’s both informative and depressing. Both high end brand new flow meters are unreliable. I hope whoever you sent that to can give you a good procedure to improve their effectiveness.

I just re-read your post before this and realized that they gave you an answer already. Not designed for residential? Then when are they going to release a residential design? Looks like your baffle box is the best way for now.

Originally Posted by mgenius33

Ok I posted the video. It's my first, so please don't hate...

LINK

Nice video.

I find this interesting. I believe the difference in readings may be due to the differences in how the instruments make measurements, and the effect of what must be turbulent flow in the hoods. The baffle box is buffering the turbulence. Or at least thats my take on it.

On the alnor, you can take vent open and vent closed in 2 steps in 2 step mode, and that may yield a more accurate reading. They list troubleshooting in their manual. High and low readings are listed.


But in any case, if the reading is repeatable, then that would be all you need to prove a system balance, or an improvement.


Just use the same instrument.

As far as certified testing, or proving to yourself accuracy, just measure in a second or 3rd way, and establish a correction factor to use and do the math.

Traverse the duct running to the register in question if possible and compare that.

I would post this in the T and B section and see if Wayne chimes in.




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Originally Posted by STEVEusaPA

Nice job! I gave you a like. I’d give you one here but..still doesn’t work for me.

Here’s what the cool techs are using.

Originally Posted by mgenius33

Ok I posted the video. It's my first, so please don't hate...

LINK

Nice job! I gave you a like. I’d give you one here but..still doesn’t work for me.

Ok I posted the video. It's my first, so please don't hate...

LINK

IMO, supply air readings at the supply diffuser are a crap shoot. I tried contacting both Testo and TSI Alnor with comments and a video about using a baffle box in order to provide more accurate readings. Neither of them responded. When I called I was informed that balometers or flow hoods aren't designed for residential supply air grille readings. They are designed for use with larger type, like 24"x24" commericial diffusers.

My numbers in this statement are not exact, they are ~ approximate. I did log them and recorded a video though.
With my Testo 420 flow hood using the 14x14 skirt I would get an ~10% high reading, with the Alnor I would get ~10% low reading. With a baffle box the Testo reading was reduced by ~10% and the Alnor was increased by ~10%.
So, initially the readings were about 20% difference, but with this baffle box they read within 5% of each other. Again, no comment from the manufacturers.

So, with the design of the CPS Easyhood, I would think you're looking at spending $350 for a cool toy to play with. Then when you find it doesn't perform consistently, it will sit in the garage at home collecting dust. Flow hoods do perform very well with return air grilles. Unfortunately, the CPS is too small for use with most R/A grilles. Even if you use a large skirt to increase the top of the funnel, the bottom of the funnel is still way too small.

I have yet to make a youtube video, this may be a good starter.

I asked at NCI what they thought of it, after I bought one of course. As it turns out, they did side by side comparisons with a flow hood. I don't remember the specifics, but they decided it wasn't very accurate. I only use mine for before and after testing when I change a duct.
Since things are slow today I may do some side by side comparisons with my Testo flow hood at home.

Cool. I think I might spring for it myself. I’ve been trying to get more informed on duct design to help customers with “problem” areas and I think having an accurate before and after result to duct changes would help the process.


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I’m skeptical, but I’d love for it to work.
As spring rolls around I’m going to give it a workout on an investment property I’m redoing. I’ll go side by side with my buddy’s flow hood and compare the results.

So you’ve used the flow hood that thing goes into? I’ve found a few videos on it but most are from CPS. I haven’t found many reviews on it. I wanted to hear about how well it worked before I plunked down $350.


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I was just playing with this yesterday. They changed the software and the U/I is pretty horrible, so I’m re-learning it.
They do have a few videos
https://youtu.be/CNHMRRQD5cc

ABM EasyHood

Has anyone used the abm easyhood? I’ve been looking for a good way to measure airflow on individual registers and this seems like a pretty good deal. I’ve got the abm 200 anemometer already but I have a hard time getting accurate readings on grilles since often times the air does not exit evenly.