Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

Ditching the manifold?

Options
ChrisJ
ChrisJ Member Posts: 17,516
edited June 16 in A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration

I've noticed more and more guys using either digital gauges that screw directly on the service valves, or even analog gauges for the same thing.

Curious on how this works out for flowing nitrogen, pulling a vacuum, charging etc. I'm also having a problem visualizing large analog gauges screwed onto a typical 2-5ton AC unit, it seems kinda cramped.

I'm asking because my manifolds are getting old, and my hoses are as well and they're far from cheap. My good Yellowjacket ball valve hoses are 9 years old and one has a crack in it, and I guess I'm technically supposed to change these every 5 years.

Not to mention manifolds causing problems while pulling a vacuum and all of the other benefits of not having a 60" hose connected to the liquid line…….

Digital gauges probably do not make sense for me for how little I use them, but analog + thermometers I trust.

Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,433

    i think it is mostly people that don't know how to use the gauges. it is also convenient if you can read the gauge remotely on a phone for some things.

  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,819

    young people cant read/write cursive and dont know what the little hand on three and big hand on the four means. Not shocked that gages would be hard to read. Digital stuff probably costs more=higher profit

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,433

    little hand on the 3 and big hand on the 4 means the clock is broken

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 17,516

    I've also seen analog gauges setup this way, so I'm not sure why the rant against young people?

    @pecmsg

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,433

    the single analog gauge is probably being cheap about just measuring the high side to find the subcooling and hoping the low side is something reasonable.

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 17,516
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1898716#Comment_1898716

    They use both low and high side gauges.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,433

    i could barely find manifold sets on supplyhouse.com and the only ones i found were some company i never heard of called "hilmor": maybe they bought imperial or robinaire or wellow jacket.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 17,433

    oh, and they are about 3x the price of what the name brand ones cost when i bought the harbor freight ones i have

  • HydronicMike
    HydronicMike Member Posts: 371
    edited 12:13AM

    I stopped using a manifold maybe 4 years ago, my manifold is probably rotting in my shop. I like my fieldpiece probes, they have a great range. It’s just easier, and like using a combustion analyzer over a wet kit, you see things in real time as you make changes. As well as seeing all your numbers and gauges on a single screen, and can show the customer a comprehensive report of their system.
    There’s so much more diagnostics and systems analysis you can do with digital psychrometers than you can with any thermometers.
    My buddy has some of the JB ones, which look nicer because they have displays on the probes, so you don’t always have to hook up to a phone or ipad.
    I use core depressors, charging tees, and valve core removal tools, etc. I do have an analog ‘lollipop’ I use for recovery, to pull down to ‘0’.
    Also, with these smaller systems, gauging up and purging hoses makes an important difference to the charge. And the whole kit fits in a smaller Veto bag.
    There are a number of YouTube videos from AC Service Tech showing vacuum and recovery setups using all probes. I’ll see if I can find some links.

    https://youtu.be/oOMlOvOsFk8?is=MqZF7EnKJ0Z2jPx_
    https://youtu.be/TllrD0Mt2LU?is=8DyMT98SjHYA-9Tz
    https://youtu.be/8pDp-q2dr_g?is=Hpng-qAVNaZIK40k

    This should give you some ideas.

    ChrisJ

Categories