Checking Your Trublu Hose Rig For Leaks; Test The Pump; Attach The Trublu Vacuum Rig; Degas And Dehydrate - AccuTools TruBlu User Instructions

Evacuation tools, steps to a proper evacuation

Table of Contents

Checking Your TruBlu Hose Rig

for Leaks

Let's start with the statement, "everything leaks!" What concerns us is

the leak rate. The pump and vacuum rig have to overcome the leaks

in the hoses or connections, so a low leak rate is critical for good

evacuations. TruBlu hoses have a very low leak rate and low water

adhesion properties. This means that TruBlu hoses effectively move all

the work that your vacuum pump is doing at the pump inlet to the end

of your hose where it should be.

To check your rig for significant leaks it is first prudent to check the vacuum pump. Vacuum pumps used for

HVAC work should be capable of pulling at least 50 microns, ideally below 20 microns of mercury. To test the

ultimate pull of your pump, start with fresh clean high-quality vacuum pump oil, cap the hose ports and

attach a micron gauge directly to the 1/4" port on the pump with a brass coupling.

Start the pump, close the gas ballast, and allow the pump to run for at least 10 minutes. The vacuum may

slightly decrease over time as the pump oil warms and the vapor pressure of the oil decreases – this is

normal. Record the vacuum level after 10 minutes. We recommend that you jot the level down on a piece of

tape and attach it to the pump for future reference. If your pump will not pull below 50 microns, you may

need to service the pump or replace it.

Now test the vacuum rig. Attach your vacuum rig or a vacuum and core tools to a (user supplied) brass tee

fitting and in turn to your micron gauge at the end of the rig forming a continuous loop.

Start the pump and allow it to run for at least 10 minutes to degas and dehydrate the hoses. Brand new hoses

may require more time to degas, perhaps as much as 10 minutes the first time use.

After 10 minutes, isolate the pump by closing the blocking valve or shutting off the vacuum pump. Break

the vacuum by loosening a connection on the rig. The hoses should be dry. Retighten the connection and

immediately restart the vacuum pump and evacuation. Let the pump run an additional 5 minutes and

confirm that you can pull below 100 microns at the far end of the rig. This is a dynamic test meaning the we

are testing the pump, vacuum rig, to assure that we can achieve the desired vacuum at the system inlet.

Note: After 5 minutes your vacuum rig should be able to achieve 100 microns or less. TruBlu will typically

achieve near the following results.

Pump ultimate pulldown = 50 microns ------- TruBlu Rig 100 microns or lower

Pump ultimate pulldown = 25 microns ------- TruBlu Rig 50 microns or lower

Pump ultimate pulldown = 10 microns ------- TruBlu Rig 30 microns or lower

Table of Contents