refergeration gauges

I was looking on Ebay for some aircondition gauges and noticed that som eof them mention 'for use on aircondition system 10 Amps high rate chargine'

I am familiar with basic air condition systems and very familar with electrical equipment, but what is it with the 10 Amps stuff ?

I would think that the maximum pressure would be the limitation of the gauge set.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery
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And for which refrigerant (altho R12 is now so out of date it's extremely rare to find other excepting on my '79 JD 4440 and the like, of course... :) Fortunately there was a stash here that's lasted so far).

I've never seen such altho I did see somewhere I seem to recall something about standard recharge procedures don't apply to a hybrid vehicle for some reason -- wonder if it could possibly have something to do with that altho it's purely conjectural.

Got a link to an example handy?

Reply to
dpb

I read your post twice, and I have totally no clue.

Got my EPA card in 1995, and been killing equipment since then, with varying degree of success.

Please post a URL to the gauge set in question.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I got the EPA card around that time also. Around the time they started issuing them. Where I worked as an electrician we did the electrical part on some 20 ton water cooled units, but the mechanics did most of the work on them. I don't know what the amps would have to do with the gauges. My 2.5 or so ton has a compressor that is rated for about 16 amps for what ever that is worth, probably nothing..

Here is the ebay number for one of them. Go down the page to a big blue box labled Features that describes the gauges and you will see a line about the

10 amps.

311410524180

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

They are for a lot of the common gases. The recharge procedure may be for some of the blended gases. I think 401A may be one of them. As it is a blend and the different gases comes off at different pressures you have to use the suction side as normal,but charge it with liquid , most of the time by inverting the bottle. It has to be done very slow so the liquid will turn to a gas as it works its way to the unit that it being recharged.

It does not mater what the gauges are really for as long as I can read the pressure, there are lots of pressure/temperature charts around. If the gauges are labled for the gas in use, it just saves a step of looking them up from the chart.

The ones I have been looking at on ebay are mostly calibrated in deg C instead of F. Probably have to have a chart to convert that anyway. No big deal to me as long as I don't forget to do it.

Here is one of the ebay numbers that lists that 10 amp thing. It is one of the blue boxes listed as Features.

311410524180
Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I found the item

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Totally no clue what the ten amps is about.

Your 2.5 tonner at 16 is probably FLA, or full load amps.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

My guess would be "Ingrish" was not the Chinese copywriters first language.

If you google "10 Amps High Rate Charging" (with the quotes), that gauge set appears on Amazon (private seller) and a few other sites.

Don't mean to sound like a dick but I use Yellow Jacket gauges to service my systems. What's the point of checking pressure with cheap/inaccurate gauges?

And you risk permanent compressor damage if you overcharge some systems.

Reply to
rhinotillexomania

+1
Reply to
trader_4

I understand what you mean about inaccurate gauges. I looked at the set I have and they are Yellow Jacket. I got them used from someone that was retiring about 15 or more years ago. Not too sure how old they are and while the gauges and manifold seem to be ok , I was thinking the hoses may be bad after all the years. I used them twice about 10 or more years ago and they were ok then.

If the hoses would hook up, the price of the hoses is about worth the cost of the whole thing.

For home use they may be good enough. It should be realtive easy to verify them . Just put the refrigerant to them without hooking to the unit. Then read the pressure and get the air temperature and look at the press/temp curve. That would give a one spot check about half way between the pressuers of interist.

I worked calibrating a lot of instruments of all kind where I worked. Things from very low vacuum to around 3000 psi and lots of different electrical instrumeents. We had caliberation equipment traceable to the NIST ( or whatever).

If I did service work, I would spring for one of the quality digital gauge sets like I am seeing on the Youtube vids. I really hate to do work with equipment I do not trust, so I don't think you sound like a Dick with your warning.

Not sure if you followed a thread I started a couple of weeks ago about getting ripped off by the One Hour service charging $ 89 to come out and then about $ 350 more for a capacitor that should have been charged about $ 50 for.. He did a good of checking things, but could have done all that in

30 minuits. I did get a good education out of the man for that. Most home owners would not have gotten or been interisted in getting the education I got out of that. The man did no tdo the ripping off as the company has 5 levels of charging depending on what they do.

I am just determined not to get ripped off again for the same thing that I can do myself. Bought a capacitor and relay for the unit to put in storage for about $ 35 total for both. I do have a jug with about 25 pounds of r-22 in it here.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Is the Yellow Jacket the 'go to' name for refregeration gauges and tools ?

Just as Fluke and the old Simpson meters are the 'standard' to compair other meters to.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

You betcha!

If you call a professional and they show up with a bunch of tools from McLowesDepotBigBoxSuperHarborFreightStore, kick 'em to the curb.

If a guy ain't using Hiltis, he's a hack.

Reply to
HVAC Savant

Im not AC guy but i'd bet the word got pasted in there by accident, or it originatlly said 10 A. meaning atmospheres and someone thought it meant amps.

Reply to
micky

Yes, I know Hilti is one of the standards. Used the stud gun and other hand tools by them. Just not familiar with the tool brands specific to refergeration. I think Imperial may be another brand that is toward the top.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I think it's a real shame, that people don't trust HVAC guys as a whole. A few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I rather like the gages I got from Ebay, and before that, a set from Harbor Freight.

My screw driving impact gun is HF, as also most of my combination and socket wrenches.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

From what I have learned over the years, it is not the tools, but the knowlege of the man that makes the difference. However, if the man can afford it, he will have the better tools.

My backgound is in electronics and so is part of my hobbies. Good electronic test equipment is very expensive. Over the years I have learned how to make do with the less expensive stuff, however it often takes much longer. For a hobby time does not usually make much difference. When doing a job, time is money and one needs the best tools he can afford. That is why I agree with the fellow above.

Most likely the tools from HF will be ok for the home owner or for someone to do very light work. Maybe if you had gotten some quality gauges the first time you would not be going back to HF for more.

I just bought an off brand hammer drill for a low price. It will probably be fine around the house to sink a few holes in the brick to put in some of the blue plastic anchors to hold things on the brick. If I was planning on using it very much instead of $ 20 I would have gotten a brand name like Hilti or Dewalt for probably 10 times that or more.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I bought one from HF because the price was so low, even though I didn't have a use for it yet. My first use was lending it to a friend who lent it to a friend who used it to drill holes in the foundation of a rental property to eliminate or forestall termites. Apparently the drill didn't do too well, but OTOH, he provided the bit and the cement foundation might have been pretty hard. He ended up paying a pro to do this and the cardboard box the drill came in came back a bit beat up. Next time I only lend the tool and not the box.

However when I couldn't find my two drills with big chucks I used this to drill the 5/8" hole for the drain tube from my portable AC. I was surprised to find that the drill had only one speed, which was Fast!!.

I didn't know they still made drills that had only one speed.

In the soft material under the 2nd floor overhang, it ripped a hole bigger than the bit, which I think would not have happened with a variable speed drill. But since I was already up on the ladder to drill the hole, it was not a burden to caulk. I had an old tube of matching caulk and with moderate to great squeezing, I got 3 inches of caulk out of the opening, just enough to caulk around the tube.

(It's actually quite nice that the required color for my townhouse exactly matches brown latex caulk. When I first bought the house, I dirlled a 1/2" or bigger hole in the siding from the inside, patched it with brown latex caulk over 30 years ago, and have never noticed the hole since. And the caulk really doesn't shrilnk.)

I save almost everything I have. I'm 68 and still have tools from my Handy Andy tool set that I got when I was about 8. Although the block plane is too simple, hard to adjust and probaby can't be sharpened enough.

WRT the two adult quality tools, I broke the chisel handle off when I was 9 (adult quality but I'm not saying it was high-quality) and I had the full size screwdriver until I was 30 but I don't know where it is now. Probably in the trunk of my car when those tools were stolen.

I also dont't have anymore: never figured out how to sharpen the not-round pencil

But despite the fact that if I buy quality, I'll have it for the rest of my life, there are many things I'll only do once, and it's still not worth buying quality. If I ever burn out or break a HF tool, that probalby means I'll buy a better one the next time.

Reply to
micky

One deciding factor is theft. If a person or business loses tools to theft, then the cheaper ones will have to make do.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

This was 46 years ago but there are still a couple things I wish I had, though a thought about one occurs very very rarely.

With a pen knife?. I guess they aren't round so they won't roll off. I don't think I've seen a pencil like came with my Handy Andy tool set for decades.

Reply to
micky

I have some of the 'flat' pencils. Forget where they came from, May have bought them at Lowes. I use a utility knife to sharpen them.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

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