infrared leak detectors

bill_71

hey professor..and anyone else who has used or may know,
i'm doing a bit of research on the infrared leak detectors and they sound pretty good but( now this may be the dumbest of dumb questions), how well do they work in a dark environment?? searching for a leak in an attic in the evap coil comes right to mind. from what i can gather they work off of the notion that refrigerant bends the light spectrum and sets off the sensor, or am i misinterpretting? could this be easily overcome by shining a flashlight on or near the probe during the search?

Barbarossa

IR

If you are asking about the IR refrigerant leak detector; they work similar to the principle of a spectroscope where a IR light is passed through the ambient air and different gas molecules will selectively absorb different parts of the spectrum. Sophisticated units can match the absorption spectrum to specific gases ambient light should have little effect as it is looking for specific frequencies. We have used them in permanent installs where large amounts of refrigerants and leaks are possible along with NG. A portable seems like an idea whose time has come. I would like to hear feed back from users if there are any out there.

Unknown

First thing I'd ask...

Is the compound I must introduce to the system to make this IR work approved by the system manufacturer? Very few additives are.

bill_71

yeah, from what i have read there is no additives needed.........since it works on the infrared spectrum does it need a "base" infrared before the signal gets changed by the refrigerant