Wrote off those fancy compressor testers as overpriced until I watched a guy diagnose a sealed system in 5 minutes flat at a supply house in Detroit last Tuesday.

Spent years doing the old sniff-and-guess routine and after that demo I ordered one that night, has anyone else found a tool they resisted that ended up saving them serious time on the job?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_park921mo ago

The part about it being a Detroit supply house on a Tuesday is what got me. I got a similar tester two years back after watching a guy in Phoenix pull his hair out for hours with nitrogen and soap bubbles. You can catch a bad cap tube or a pinhole on the low side way faster than the old methods. Just make sure you don't crank the pressure too high or you'll blow something else out. Saved me at least four callbacks in the first month alone.

paulw531mo ago

Man, @shane_park92 is spot on about the pressure thing. I did that my first time testing a mini split line set, bumped it up to 400 psi and blew the flare right off the service valve. Had to replace the whole outdoor unit. Real talk, 150 psi is plenty to find a leak without destroying everything. The electronic testers are a game changer, especially on those hot roofs where soap bubbles dry up before you can even look at them.

lily571mo ago

Hard disagree, I've found soap bubbles way more reliable than those electronic testers.