Bert here with HVAC School We're here with one of our sponsors has come out to help actually make this event happen. They've been with us each year. this is the fourth. Symposium Welcome guys! We're going to show off some of the stuff that they have here.

There's a lot of really cool products around. I Wish you could all be here. Wish you could actually walk these tables. Maybe next year.

But in the meantime let's just do a video talk about what you brought out. What do you got? Um, so hi guys, my name is Nick with inficon. I'm going to talk to you guys about the Stratus today. So all right, this is, uh, quickly become one of our most popular Leak Detectors and that's for good reason.

Basically, what this has done is made: Leak Detection Uh, really easy and it does that through PPM and the numeric display. And so what we're doing is, we're quantifying the background. So the closer you are to the leak, the higher the number. So parts per million in parts per million.

Wow, that's a lot of accuracy and so you know you're using that as a as a gauge a game of hot and cold. So again, the higher the number, the closer you are to the leak, the lower the number or as it starts to decrease, you know that you're starting to get away from the leak. So using that really cuts down leak detection time. And and when you're in a High background environment, you could really start to see you know where the area is that this is coming from or that guidance can become really useful.

So walking into a whole Space you just walk in the room and here we go right? So totally pinpoint which direction I need to go exactly. So when I walk into the room and I start to see one two three PPM I know I've got an issue in the space so as I keep walking I'm going to pay attention to that number and as I move closer to the leak again. Yeah I'm getting that guidance even if there is a background. So if you look at a traditional leak detector where maybe you just have some Led indication and some some noise, it's going to go off and that can get a little confusing or it takes a little a little more time to navigate really where that is and and really you're navigating from kind of a far distance away.

With this where these other Leak Detectors where you have the traditional LEDs you're kind of indicating you know when you're when you're close to that leak but actually trying to pinpoint. So Cloud hunting is really the the new feature. Wow that this helps with. Um, it's great when you have a room full of multiple compressors and different components.

that could be exactly and the whole room's filled with it. If I just take in any other leak detector, it's just going to go off. It's just going to be upset that I'm in the room Exactly. Yeah, that's awesome Yeah and a couple other features that we've done is serviceability of the product is a lot easier now with a removable probe.

We also have our filter that's hydrophobic filter so no water is going to get inside. All you have to do is see this, unscrew this top here and so now you've got that that filter that comes out okay, then you just check to see if it's if it's dirty. If it is, just replace it, go ahead and screw this cap back on as it is. The number one issue we've had is people damaging it with water.

Yeah, another issue that we have is, uh, you know, sometimes probes go bad right? So rather than having to send the leak detector back in, this is field replaceable, You just use a wrench here. that's great. I wouldn't use your your hands right? It's definitely remove it with the Uh with the wrench. Okay, another thing would be the the batteries right? So removable Lithium-ion battery? okay, um, that you.

We also provide a charging cradle as an accessory and then we have three different sensors that go into this and I'm going to keep this running for the demonstration. but this is what our new sensors look like. Okay, so a little more robust than our older sensor, but it uses an infrared technology so we kind of use the analogy. It's like a razor blade for the older ones where, um, you know the more you you use them they would degrade over time.

but with the infrared it's going to work the same. You know the day you start it to the day that sensor quits and um, you know we've done some testing. Now We're up to 2000 about about 2 000 hours of use, a lot of out of one sensor versus a standard 100 hour. Okay estimation of use.

So um, you have three sensors here. What's the three different? So there's different windows that sensors use for different gases. Okay, um, so the refrigerant sensor is a standard sensor that's going to come with the unit, but you also have the option to buy the CO2 sensor. And now we have a hydrocarbon sensor for a smart small charge equipment.

Sure, um, not not really for natural gas or anything like that, but but yeah, for r290 or 600 that stuff. Okay, um, that's that's really what. it's just plug and play into the same piece of equipment. Yeah, so at the end I'll show you I'll pull this out.

but while we have it running, we'll do a little demonstration here. So that's our Tech check. It's basically just a quick check for, um, just making sure your Leak Detectors are working. So that's again, 134a at about 5 grams per year.

Nice! And what we've done with this demo is we've kind of let the concentrations build up to kind of simulate as you go through a room. Yeah, what this leak detector would look like as I walk into the room, turn on the sound, see if you can see the park familiar. We're at 26 parts per million. Yep! so as I start moving closer to that leak, I'm going to see those parts per million increase right? Yeah, So I know I'm getting close to that leak and as I start to move away, that number will start to come down I know I'm going away.

So it really is that game of hot and cold and that responded really quick, right? Wow. And so really, what it's doing is it's it's taking a reference from inside of the cavity of the device and it's comparing it to the outside of the cavity. So you have that reference point and you know, um that's what's really giving you the PPM and and uh, if you have areas where you have really large concentration like a a fast leak and a closer space I mean uh, it holds up fine in there as far as like the sensor. Yeah, and and so being able to pinpoint that because that's sometimes the stronger the leak, sometimes it can be harder to pinpoint because everything is just saturated with that.

So again, what we're saying is when we're looking at a reference um or a reference sample I should say versus the actual sample in the device. I'm always going to have a differential so that's always going to give me a higher number versus a lower number. Um, you know when walking into a high concentration. So I'm really.

you know the PPM is nice, but what it's really achieving is uh, the guidance to the leak. So whether it tells me 10 and I go to 20 or 200 and I go to 400 PPM it still is the same guidance. so it performs well in high concentrations. Love to hear that.

The other thing with this is we've got a couple different modes with this. So once you've got yourself to the leak, when you really want to pinpoint you know a joint or something like that, we have Pinpoint Mode Pinpoint Mode: Okay, so this is on automatic Automatic. is it or zero? Okay, so as you're in a high concentration, you're going to Auto zero to assert that concentration and only alert to the next highest concentration. It's like a reset for that it is.

So that way you're not, you're not alarming. Um, you know, just randomly throughout the yeah, the the High background area. Exactly Okay, Um, the next one is the manual zero. So this is just giving you a little more control.

So as I'm in the area, if I want to control where that zero point is going to be, what I'll do is hit that manual zero and that's going to manually zero to that that specific spot. Then as I move forward. Okay, that's it'll always trigger off of that yeah, that zero or that reference point and so in that mode, it just shows you. It just basically is a bar here that we're reading.

Yeah, it's like a it's a just a bar grip that just goes up and down. Yep, Okay, so I love it. So yeah, so that's that's what we have. that's the stress.

Cool. Well we'll probably be back to look over at some of your other toys. but uh, thanks for showing that. And yeah, also thanks for what you guys have done.

It's supporting what we do here and absolutely bringing training to the industry. Really really appreciate it. We appreciate being here. Sweet thanks for watching our video if you enjoyed it and got something out of it.

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