All right, so one of the most common questions about micro engages is in general. Obviously I'm a big fan of blue vac. I've talked a lot about that and there's a lot of reasons to like blue vac, but every micron gauge out there has a common enemy, and that is dirt. Contaminants of any kind can it can get on the sensor and can cause problems.

In fact, my first experience with micron gauges was back in the early 2000s. I was the training manager for a large company and we had all kinds of problems with moisture contaminated systems. So I thought to myself: well, I'm gon na be a hero and I'm going to deploy a bunch of these out into the field, and we had all sorts of problems within weeks of these micro engages just not working, and so what we learned pretty quickly is That they have to be cleaned periodically now. The first tip here is is that, when attaching a micron gauge to a core remover tool, you want the core remover tool to be in an orientation that the micron gauge can sit upright.

So that way, oils and different contaminants are gon na be less likely to get into the micro engage. You obviously want to keep the gauge cap on nice and snug when it's not in use and then, whenever possible, you want to try to keep from exposing the micron gauge to refrigerant. Some tanks are so extreme that they'll actually use three core remover tools and they will attach them, and essentially this configuration where they remove the core here and then they they pull the core remover tool and then they're attaching here with their fitting to their micron gauge. So that way, they can actually control the flow and prevent from hitting the micron gauge with any refrigerant.

You know different strategies that can be used to try to keep the micron gauge clean in the first place, which is useful, but I'm gon na show you how to clean a micron gauge. Should you suspect that it's become contaminated and that be can be because it's just been a while since you've cleaned it or that can be because you have a situation where the micro age just doesn't seem to be functioning properly. So that can be because the micron gauge is just cruddy looking and you think it's time to clean it or it could also be because you have a circumstance where it just doesn't seem to be working properly. So here's all you do you take the cap off of the micron gauge, so you have the port open I've taken and filled a actual.

I drop container full of 91 % alcohol. So I use this high of alcohol percentage as possible because that's what's actually gon na, do the cleaning - and I just put it into one of these eyedropper containers so that way, you've got it if you want to get one of the little eye droppers with the Rubber stopper, on top that's fine, those are actually a little harder to find nowadays than they used to be. But now this is full of alcohol. I wrote on there not for the eyes for obvious reasons, because you don't want to help her to walk in and squirt it in their eyes, or maybe you do in which case you're a bad person.

So what we're gon na do is just open up the port. Take a little bit of alcohol, put it into the port, and we've got just a couple drops in there. It's gon na tend to bubble up a little bit, so you kind of break the bubble. You can even use Jim Bergman, it said you know.

High quality contact cleaner can also be used. These sensors on the blue VAX are pretty Hardy and then I just cap it and I just kind of gently shake it tip it up and down. I'm not banging it around, just kind of shaking it around letting it do its work and then I'm just dumping. It out and that's gon na evaporate, and do it a couple times if you think it's really bad and then when you're all dead and done just give the outside of the microphone gage will wipe down with with a rag and you're good to go.

So I would suggest doing that if you've been working in contaminated environments, do it just every so often you know every couple weeks or so whether it needs it or not, just to make sure you're not contaminating the sensor, and that's all there is to that. Now the biggest thing is going to be having this stuff on your truck in the first place, and that's why putting a little bit in this little eyedropper container is nice to have, and you can keep it even in your kit, we've got the big true blue Kit here and you can just drop it in there and now you've got it when you need it, and I would suggest keeping a little bit of alcohol on your truck anyway. Not the kind you drink people but see isopropyl. Is that how you say that isopropyl alcohol to keep it on your truck, because it's really good for cleaning off surfaces before you're gon na tape to them there's a lot of other applications for alcohol? So it's good to have this on the truck anyway.

But that's all there is to it thanks for watching.