electronic combustion testers

md

hi, need some advise, the small company i work for uses the old style wet kit to test co2 and it works fine , but now with more mod con installs and hi end oil i am getting the taste for a modern combustion tester,,,do you have any suggestions,,, supply house suggested the testo 310 thanks

Ironman

The Testo is good, got one.
I like my E Instruments with the built in printer even better.

icesailor

Testo's are popular. I bought a Bacharach Insight because my supplier stocks them, and the 02 sensor is field replaceable and they also stock them.

Always buy the printer.

Your oil company should be springing for them for ALL service techs. An oil company I helped out bought them with spares because their insurance company said that if they didn't have positive proof that the unit was running properly when the tech left, that if there was a soot or no heat problem and they couldn't prove that it was OK, they were on their own and uninsured for damages. The computer printout stapled to the company card is proof positive that it was running properly when the tech left. The Service manager should look in to the insurance angle. It was a powerful incentive for that oil company to invest in them.

It was a powerful incentive for me to buy mine.

I liked my wet kit. I don't realize how limited it was until I bought my insight.

billtwocase

Although I agree with what you are saying Ice, no insurance company can hold your feet to the fire to that extent. Today my test shows zero smoke, -.05 breech draft. Next week a racoon or squirrel builds a nest in the chimney, and the house soots up, or they get a power surge, the burner locks out, the house freezes up, and so on. My insurance company has never taken that hard stand anyway. There are only 2 guarantees in life. Something that is electrical and mechanical not breaking down is not one of them.

billtwocase

oh and, Testo has done us good

icesailor

billtwocase said:

Although I agree with what you are saying Ice, no insurance company can hold your feet to the fire to that extent. Today my test shows zero smoke, -.05 breech draft. Next week a racoon or squirrel builds a nest in the chimney, and the house soots up, or they get a power surge, the burner locks out, the house freezes up, and so on. My insurance company has never taken that hard stand anyway. There are only 2 guarantees in life. Something that is electrical and mechanical not breaking down is not one of them.

Do you own a oil delivery company or do you just do oil service? Insurance companies can do whatever they like. They set their own rules. If you don't want to live by them, you can get insurance somewhere else.

The oil company I used to help out wouldn't have bought all the new Wholer Analyzers just to spend the money. They bought them because the insurance company said that if they could show that the appliance was running to acceptable standards at the time when the tech left, with a date stamp on the results, they would defend them if something happened and the customer had a problem a week later and claimed it happened when the tech had just left.

In our litigious society, it's called CYA. There is no way to tell what or when you did something with a wet kit. No results. The printed result from a Digital Analyzer can be considered a legal document, an "expert witness" proving the conditions at the moment the test was done. Try proving anything with a wet kit.

billtwocase

It is a full service oil company Ice. As I said, I agree with the digital analyzer with printer to cya, no argument there, but they must have had some claims against them for their insurance company to micromanage, as so it would seem. I avoid claims at all cost, and have gone many years without one, but you can't hold someone accountable for something that may be beyond their control. First thing we are asked for from an insurance company when there is a freeze up ,is for a printout of fuel deliveries. Service issue is for last services. They are not always the big bad enemy that people may think, or lead you to believe, at least not the ones that I have dealt with for 32 years

Marz

We use the Wohler A400Pro kits. I love it. The new 550 model is the kind of tester that dreams are made of.

Tinman

I have a Testo 320 and am very happy with it. It was a toss-up between that and the Bacharach Insight, can't lose either way IMHO.

icesailor

@billtwocase:

Bill, I've recounted a few serious freeze-up's I've seen or heard about. Some of these people that own multimillion dollar cottages are too cheap to hire a quality caretaker to watch their properties when they leave the heat on while they are in Florida for 6 months to keep their Homestead Exemption. Or they think they did, but didn't. Or, the rise of "Property Management Service" companies. Some of us noticed the new practice of "Drive By Caretakers". They drive by a house to see if it is still there. If you want to be a serious caretaker, you better have liability insurance for it. Because if it can be shown that you are negligent, you might get to help share the expense of the loss.

Insurance companies want expensive, high risk homes to have alarm systems installed. So there is a record of who went in at what date and what time. Some caretakers aren't the brightest bulb in the lighthouse. I had a customer that I just did the plumbing. The guy that did her heat was her caretaker. I had a long time policy. If I do your work, I have to have my own key and personal alarm code. So I didn't have to make arrangements for someone to show up and let me in. How many times didn't someone show up, or there was no key and the alarm was on. This customer, a German lady, owned a 2 1/2 story brick museum with copper radiant heat in the ceilings on all three floors. She asked me to be her caretaker and do her heat. I refused to be the caretaker, I did her heat. Under her breath, she mentioned that her caretaker was only supposed to come every Sunday to check the place, but he never stayed more than 3 minutes. I thought to myself, the dumb ship. Doesn't he realize that she gets a computer printout every day about who went in (by their alarm code PIN) and for how long the alarm is off? The alarm panel was in the middle of the house. It took over a minute to turn the alarm off, maybe walk down the stairs and "look" at the boiler, walk up the stairs, set the alarm and leave. She was a choice customer. The house was in the middle of town. With off street parking. Downtown parking was always at a premium. I would park in her driveway and do errands. While there, I would check the house anyway. For free. Her free parking made it worth it. Within minutes of my leaving, she would call me from her home in Boston and ask me what's up. I told her that I was just checking. She liked that.

If someone has a million dollar soot or water damage claim, you better have proof positive that you can show you were far away and no where near. Someone was responsible. They'll blame you/us in an instant. Drive over you with the bus, back up, drive on to the shoulder and get you with the left wheel, to be sure they got you. There's nothing that folks won't do for money.

SWEI

I'm the oddball here. Bought a UEI C155 a few years back and am quite happy with it. No O2 sensor to replace, comes with five years of full coverage (including calibration and sensor replacements.) BlueTooth printer option gets rid of thermal paper.