Smart Testing Devices

Smart testing devices are digital instruments for heating, gas, refrigeration and electrical engineers. The range includes flue gas analysers, manometers, refrigeration manifolds and vacuum probes, thermal imaging cameras, contact and non-contact thermometers, multimeters, clamp multimeters, CO2 monitors and accessories. Many connect by Bluetooth to a phone app that displays and stores readings and reports.

Gas and combustion

Flue gas analysers measure the gases in an appliance's flue to check that boilers and other appliances are burning correctly and safely. BS 7967 covers their use in homes and BS EN 50379 their performance. Analysers must hold a current calibration certificate, and the industry standard is to recalibrate them every year. Manometers measure gas pressure for working pressure checks and tightness tests.

Work on gas pipework, appliances and their gas parts must only be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Refrigeration and air conditioning

Digital manifolds read system pressures and temperatures, and vacuum probes confirm a system is fully evacuated before it is charged. Check the hose connections and the refrigerants the manifold supports. Installing, servicing, leak checking or recovering refrigerant from air conditioning, refrigeration and heat pump equipment that contains F gas must be done by a certified engineer.

Electrical and general testing

Choose multimeters, including clamp types, with a measurement category (CAT II, III or IV) suited to the work. HSE guidance GS38 sets out what test leads and probes should provide, including a CAT rating, finger guards and a small exposed tip, and expects them to meet BS EN 61010. Thermal imaging cameras show temperature differences, useful for finding hot spots, pipe runs and heat loss.

For other tools, see hand tools; for detectors and simple testers, see alarms, detectors and testers.