I have to tell you how this detector helped me out. I purchased one after you posted this and last week we had a 6.4 earthquake and the detector helped me locate a new gas leak after the quake hit. It saved me from a potential disaster!
Late breaking update: Along with my research in the video description, TopTes Tools' representative confirmed to me that butane will disable the gas sensor. To quote them: "I handed this problem to the product department. The response from the product department was that the sensor fails after detecting butane is a characteristic of almost all sensors. We are working hard to find a solution to this problem." They stated I would be told of any further information from their product engineering team. I will point out that the sensors in the Inficon and Klein Tools detectors seemed no worse for the experience.
@@vwestlife Muscle memory has had me doing that every time I typed their company name. Maybe I should see what they say. (I am not sure they are paying attention to much of the feedback I have sent. I told them not to send the four extra detectors and seemingly they are doing so anyway.)
Thanks for your review, Bill. We always care about your product feedback, which could help us upgrade our product. We also care about our customers' feedback and the services we provide to our customers. If there is an issue with the product, we provide a 36-Month after-sale service and lifetime technical support. We wish that we can cooperate with you to review our upgraded gas detector in the future. You’re an extremely responsible and honest TH-camr. We send you 4 extra detectors because we want to make up for the product issue in this review, you could give them to your fans to experience our product as a giveaway. Thanks again and have a good day. :)
I'm quite disappointed to hear that TopTes asked you to edit out the parts of the video where the product did not work properly. That type of thing is what turns me off from ever considering this product if I am in the market for a gas leak detector. I am willing to follow new product launches and hold off on buying them until the manufacturer has worked out any glitches or problems, which is not uncommon. However, when I hear of a company asking someone to edit out part of an honest review, I'm done. Anyway, it's great to see another upload from you. I hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving!
It came as a surprise to me, as I told them from the beginning that the review would be completely honest and they said that would be OK. I don't know if something got lost in translation, or if their representative thought I'd compromise on that point. I'd hope for the former, though it's probably the latter. TopTes isn't the first to do this. I've been asked before with other review videos to edit out the "bad parts", and the answer has been the same every time. I have also made it known that if I ever was willing to do so, at that point it is no longer a review but an advertisement -- and it will be clearly labeled as such or the video won't be published.
@@uxwbill It feels like a lot of reviews are just advertisements these days. They'll tell you all about the features of a product, but they don't say much about how well the product actually works, or if there were any problems with it. The only bad thing I usually hear is that something is more expensive than its competitor, and that's usually the only reason they'll give you not to buy something. That's why I like watching videos such as yours here on TH-cam, where you put the product and its features through all their paces and demonstrate how well they work or don't work.
Something like this would have been super useful at my previous job (I had never built gas runs before doing HVAC/R installation professionally and while the UV-colored soap water worked fine, a purpose-built tool would probably have given me a much quicker second opinion on my first couple of gas runs while I was sort of learning on the fly and flying by braille--it wasn't until my 3rd run or so that I was told to "go ham" with the pipe dope). I feel I probably would have been more confident with the readings from an Inficon or Klein detector though (after watching this video) even though we worked almost exclusively around propane or methane (and occasionally acetylene when the welding torch head would explode spectacularly--there's a "war stories from my days as an installer" type story behind that).
When something is your livelihood and you're responsible for ensuring safe operation, I think it pays to buy the best tool you can afford. The Klein detector has been decent to me. (I'm not nearly so fond of their CO detector, which is a Uni-T rebrand.) I picked up the Inficon mainly because it seems to be one of the standards, and people seem happy with it. Of course, certain things like gas valves with vents can have you looking for a problem that might not be, at least to start out. (Yes, I've done that.) I never had a torch explode on me (that probably would have put me off of brazing and sweating pipe forever!), though I had to work with some truly craptacular options at one of the HVAC/R jobs I had. The first was some kind of a jeweler's torch. To my amazement, I was actually able to braze a 7/8ths inch suction line on a condensing unit and get it sealed the first time. I was deathly afraid I'd end up getting the valves on that condensing unit so hot that they'd fail and blow the entire refrigerant charge out right in my face. When I complained about this (and the lack of a striker -- it's been drummed into me that you Just Don't use a cigarette lighter, ever), they pointed me to a torch that was leaking oxygen from the handle. Even if it had worked, it wasn't much more powerful than what I had been using. So I finally just brought my own torch set in and that was that. Boy was I glad when I got out of there!
Yeah. Fortunately, I was pretty heavily supervised for at least a few installs and they had me on a bunch of jobs with another dude who had been doing HVAC/R for about 8 years at the time (he was about my age so that was effectively his whole professional life after high school). Still kind of wish I had invested in an explosive gas detector because, like, I did get really good at using the "radioactive bubbles" (those things under UV light looked.. interesting), that Inficon one looks like it would have been much quicker about a second opinion on at least my first gas run. Fortunately, all we ever did to mess with the outside gas valves was to use the service person shutoff whenever there was a run inside that wasn't up to more recent codes (or, maybe they were and the guy I was learning from was just really dead set on having redundant shutoffs). So, yeah, cigarette lighters to get the torch going.. I worked around a bunch of guys who smoked so that ended up being a "when you're really desperate" type of bad habit I picked up on (lighting the torch with a cigarette lighter I mean, I still don't smoke real cancer sticks personally). I can see how that could end badly just because all of us tended to dial our flames a bit lean (no sooty flame, but more of a jet engine sounding thing, that could blow up a lighter right quick). I recall learning about those jeweler's torches when the commercial contractor I was with in 2020 was putting me through school again (school I don't gotta pay for, I'll take 20). All I gotta say, I could see how that might work well enough, but still, 7/8 with that is pretty impressive. I ended up learning to just wrap the valves with wet rags during soldering and to keep wetting the rags down until the soldering job is done, but obviously that's not a perfect solution (more of a "good enough" solution in most cases). Now, the exploding torch head. This residential place I was working for was a bit better than most about how they treated their equipment, but some stuff slipped through the cracks. Particularly, this one torch set they had that had been last maintained basically never. So, we're in this stupidly massive house (a new construction job) somewhere north of Crescent Iowa. Everything downstairs had been welded, but we had this redundant evap upstairs that needed patched in. The one guy just kept cranking the valves open and bumping the pressure because "what the hell, I just grabbed this tank of gas this morning!". Before we could really speculate, there's a loud "BOOF" noise, the head chunks off in a bunch of directions, and the one guy is holding effectively just a pair of hoses with a fire on the end of them. I and another guy thought quick and turned the main valves on the tanks off. I'm pretty sure at least the guy holding the hoses needed a change of pants after that. Personally, I had one of those laughs like when you almost die, but then don't, kinda like "ha, holy crap, that just happened". Honestly, I probably would have stuck around there even after the exploding torch because this contractor was, at least inwardly, more honest than a lot of HVAC/R contractors in the area, but the winter 2021 season got oddly slow for all construction-related things in the area (plumbers, roofers, electrical, concrete, HVAC/R, etc.) so I got benched for a month before a factory in the area offered me a pretty hefty pay bump to effectively be the guy who taps on machines with a hammer until they work (for the most part--tap it with a hammer and if it still doesn't work, the problem's electrical). Once I reach master mechanic on my training though, I can move on and start messing with refrigeration so there's my motivation.
I enjoy your product reviews, as I am always sure, I will get an unbiased review! Thanks UXW! Being a long time fan of the channel, I love the "Unexpected Wild" uploads! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to share another great video with us fans!
honestly not a bad thing for the price point thanks for the review i have always really enjoyed and appreciated your videos especially your product reviews over the years its such a huge help at times and impossible to find a review, such as yours anywhere on the Internet you could make a killing, by doing such work😊 but honestly thanks for the cool videos over the years
Glad to see another great video. I was wondering if this detector would detect gasoline fumes. I know they are not odorless but there are people who have little to no sense of smell that might find that useful.
I don't know, but I can test it sometime and find out. Even so, considering that it's not rated for such, I would not buy it with that expectation in mind.
@@jamesdye4603 TopTes has another gas leak detector, the PT199, that is specified to pick up on gasoline. I didn't get that one for review. Other reviewers tested it and found out that it will detect gasoline vapors.
Very cool! I have been shopping around for one of these this week. It is a lightning deal today on Amazon too! Wishing you and your family all the best and a happy holiday season, uxwbill.
I don't think we sell these types. I know that we carry the type that looks like a smoke detector and it will only detect certain gasses and some of them will only detect gas while the other is only a smoke/CO detector. Not both as I was told exists. Still, not a bad tool to have around if only I was exposed to combustible gas more often than not often.
hey bill it's me again, i checked out the price point on the 3 dectors you were using. i would say the top tes tool was effective, for the price. if your on a budget i think it would fill a need untill you could afford a better unit. glad your busy working making the big bucks. see you next time
Indeed the TopTes detector is effective and decent value for the money. When you do something for your livelihood, though, I think it pays to buy the best tool you can afford.
@@uxwbill ok sorry i was watching and i made a comment and then it wase'nt there must have been my mistake i dident hit the return thanks for your reply sorry my mistake im getting old good to see your back on love watching your post i go back watch them over and over thanks Bill
This video "showcases" one of my pet peeves about multimeters... if I turn on the backlight, I NEED the backlight. I DO NOT want it to turn off 15 seconds later. This applies to the "affordable" meters mostly, Fluke backlights stay lit until the button is pressed again (in my experience).
Oh yes, I agree completely. I don't understand why meter manufacturers haven't figured this out! Every Fluke meter I have with a backlight (87 III, 87V, 902FC) either has the backlight stay on until shut off or for several minutes minimum.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh hurray Bill !!!!! I couldn't wait so I commented before I got to the end of the video 😟 do I win a uxwbill T-shirt that says that ? 😁 Great to see you again William, hope all are doing well.
@@uxwbill Nobody reads the instructions Bill ??? Will you tell the Boss that I miss Her happy cooking vids, With my regards from Dublin Ireland. & I hope the Key Keeper has found a lock that fits.
I bought one of these on lighting deal from Amazon (better get one real fast $25.40) just to follow along with uxwBill and his upcoming teaser episode. Welcome home uxwBill!
In addition to stepping down the much higher pressure from the gas supply line, it also serves to provide relatively stable gas supply pressure to any appliances that use natural gas. Propane/LP gas systems have similar regulators. A diaphragm and (sometimes adjustable) spring within the regulator work in concert to regulate the gas pressure.
![[Live] : ONE 168 วันนี้!! "โจนาธาน vs ซุปเปอร์เล็ก"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0jIN65KgJsI/mqdefault.jpg)
The man the myth the professional bad example working on a closed course returns!
I have to tell you how this detector helped me out. I purchased one after you posted this and last week we had a 6.4 earthquake and the detector helped me locate a new gas leak after the quake hit. It saved me from a potential disaster!
Late breaking update: Along with my research in the video description, TopTes Tools' representative confirmed to me that butane will disable the gas sensor.
To quote them: "I handed this problem to the product department.
The response from the product department was that the sensor fails after detecting butane is a characteristic of almost all sensors.
We are working hard to find a solution to this problem."
They stated I would be told of any further information from their product engineering team.
I will point out that the sensors in the Inficon and Klein Tools detectors seemed no worse for the experience.
Tell them to consider adding a T to their name. TopTest makes a lot more sense than TopTes.
@@vwestlife Muscle memory has had me doing that every time I typed their company name. Maybe I should see what they say. (I am not sure they are paying attention to much of the feedback I have sent. I told them not to send the four extra detectors and seemingly they are doing so anyway.)
Thanks for your review, Bill.
We always care about your product feedback, which could help us upgrade our product. We also care about our customers' feedback and the services we provide to our customers. If there is an issue with the product, we provide a 36-Month after-sale service and lifetime technical support.
We wish that we can cooperate with you to review our upgraded gas detector in the future. You’re an extremely responsible and honest TH-camr.
We send you 4 extra detectors because we want to make up for the product issue in this review, you could give them to your fans to experience our product as a giveaway.
Thanks again and have a good day. :)
do you have any review units left ? would be interested in sharing it on my channel :)
I'm quite disappointed to hear that TopTes asked you to edit out the parts of the video where the product did not work properly. That type of thing is what turns me off from ever considering this product if I am in the market for a gas leak detector. I am willing to follow new product launches and hold off on buying them until the manufacturer has worked out any glitches or problems, which is not uncommon. However, when I hear of a company asking someone to edit out part of an honest review, I'm done.
Anyway, it's great to see another upload from you. I hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving!
It came as a surprise to me, as I told them from the beginning that the review would be completely honest and they said that would be OK. I don't know if something got lost in translation, or if their representative thought I'd compromise on that point. I'd hope for the former, though it's probably the latter.
TopTes isn't the first to do this. I've been asked before with other review videos to edit out the "bad parts", and the answer has been the same every time. I have also made it known that if I ever was willing to do so, at that point it is no longer a review but an advertisement -- and it will be clearly labeled as such or the video won't be published.
@@uxwbill It feels like a lot of reviews are just advertisements these days. They'll tell you all about the features of a product, but they don't say much about how well the product actually works, or if there were any problems with it. The only bad thing I usually hear is that something is more expensive than its competitor, and that's usually the only reason they'll give you not to buy something. That's why I like watching videos such as yours here on TH-cam, where you put the product and its features through all their paces and demonstrate how well they work or don't work.
The little TopTes is more convenient than the other two. It's small.
While it may be a nice form factor it doesn't appear to be as reliable as the other products shown.
Something like this would have been super useful at my previous job (I had never built gas runs before doing HVAC/R installation professionally and while the UV-colored soap water worked fine, a purpose-built tool would probably have given me a much quicker second opinion on my first couple of gas runs while I was sort of learning on the fly and flying by braille--it wasn't until my 3rd run or so that I was told to "go ham" with the pipe dope).
I feel I probably would have been more confident with the readings from an Inficon or Klein detector though (after watching this video) even though we worked almost exclusively around propane or methane (and occasionally acetylene when the welding torch head would explode spectacularly--there's a "war stories from my days as an installer" type story behind that).
When something is your livelihood and you're responsible for ensuring safe operation, I think it pays to buy the best tool you can afford. The Klein detector has been decent to me. (I'm not nearly so fond of their CO detector, which is a Uni-T rebrand.) I picked up the Inficon mainly because it seems to be one of the standards, and people seem happy with it. Of course, certain things like gas valves with vents can have you looking for a problem that might not be, at least to start out. (Yes, I've done that.)
I never had a torch explode on me (that probably would have put me off of brazing and sweating pipe forever!), though I had to work with some truly craptacular options at one of the HVAC/R jobs I had. The first was some kind of a jeweler's torch. To my amazement, I was actually able to braze a 7/8ths inch suction line on a condensing unit and get it sealed the first time. I was deathly afraid I'd end up getting the valves on that condensing unit so hot that they'd fail and blow the entire refrigerant charge out right in my face. When I complained about this (and the lack of a striker -- it's been drummed into me that you Just Don't use a cigarette lighter, ever), they pointed me to a torch that was leaking oxygen from the handle. Even if it had worked, it wasn't much more powerful than what I had been using. So I finally just brought my own torch set in and that was that.
Boy was I glad when I got out of there!
Yeah. Fortunately, I was pretty heavily supervised for at least a few installs and they had me on a bunch of jobs with another dude who had been doing HVAC/R for about 8 years at the time (he was about my age so that was effectively his whole professional life after high school). Still kind of wish I had invested in an explosive gas detector because, like, I did get really good at using the "radioactive bubbles" (those things under UV light looked.. interesting), that Inficon one looks like it would have been much quicker about a second opinion on at least my first gas run. Fortunately, all we ever did to mess with the outside gas valves was to use the service person shutoff whenever there was a run inside that wasn't up to more recent codes (or, maybe they were and the guy I was learning from was just really dead set on having redundant shutoffs).
So, yeah, cigarette lighters to get the torch going.. I worked around a bunch of guys who smoked so that ended up being a "when you're really desperate" type of bad habit I picked up on (lighting the torch with a cigarette lighter I mean, I still don't smoke real cancer sticks personally). I can see how that could end badly just because all of us tended to dial our flames a bit lean (no sooty flame, but more of a jet engine sounding thing, that could blow up a lighter right quick).
I recall learning about those jeweler's torches when the commercial contractor I was with in 2020 was putting me through school again (school I don't gotta pay for, I'll take 20). All I gotta say, I could see how that might work well enough, but still, 7/8 with that is pretty impressive. I ended up learning to just wrap the valves with wet rags during soldering and to keep wetting the rags down until the soldering job is done, but obviously that's not a perfect solution (more of a "good enough" solution in most cases).
Now, the exploding torch head. This residential place I was working for was a bit better than most about how they treated their equipment, but some stuff slipped through the cracks. Particularly, this one torch set they had that had been last maintained basically never. So, we're in this stupidly massive house (a new construction job) somewhere north of Crescent Iowa. Everything downstairs had been welded, but we had this redundant evap upstairs that needed patched in. The one guy just kept cranking the valves open and bumping the pressure because "what the hell, I just grabbed this tank of gas this morning!". Before we could really speculate, there's a loud "BOOF" noise, the head chunks off in a bunch of directions, and the one guy is holding effectively just a pair of hoses with a fire on the end of them. I and another guy thought quick and turned the main valves on the tanks off. I'm pretty sure at least the guy holding the hoses needed a change of pants after that. Personally, I had one of those laughs like when you almost die, but then don't, kinda like "ha, holy crap, that just happened".
Honestly, I probably would have stuck around there even after the exploding torch because this contractor was, at least inwardly, more honest than a lot of HVAC/R contractors in the area, but the winter 2021 season got oddly slow for all construction-related things in the area (plumbers, roofers, electrical, concrete, HVAC/R, etc.) so I got benched for a month before a factory in the area offered me a pretty hefty pay bump to effectively be the guy who taps on machines with a hammer until they work (for the most part--tap it with a hammer and if it still doesn't work, the problem's electrical). Once I reach master mechanic on my training though, I can move on and start messing with refrigeration so there's my motivation.
You've just turned 40! Happy birthday!
Thanks, Bill. That was great, as usual. Please keep the vids coming!
I enjoy your product reviews, as I am always sure, I will get an unbiased review! Thanks UXW! Being a long time fan of the channel, I love the "Unexpected Wild" uploads! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to share another great video with us fans!
honestly not a bad thing for the price point thanks for the review i have always really enjoyed and appreciated your videos especially your product reviews over the years its such a huge help at times and impossible to find a review, such as yours anywhere on the Internet you could make a killing, by doing such work😊 but honestly thanks for the cool videos over the years
The detectors remind me of airport security metal detectors when you accidentally have left something metal in your pocket.
He’s uploaded again, and I’m happy!
Glad to see another great video. I was wondering if this detector would detect gasoline fumes. I know they are not odorless but there are people who have little to no sense of smell that might find that useful.
I don't know, but I can test it sometime and find out. Even so, considering that it's not rated for such, I would not buy it with that expectation in mind.
@@uxwbill Thank you for your reply, it is much appreciated.
@@jamesdye4603 TopTes has another gas leak detector, the PT199, that is specified to pick up on gasoline. I didn't get that one for review. Other reviewers tested it and found out that it will detect gasoline vapors.
@@uxwbill Thank you for the reply. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
For some thing this small 3 years of life is pretty good
Very cool! I have been shopping around for one of these this week. It is a lightning deal today on Amazon too! Wishing you and your family all the best and a happy holiday season, uxwbill.
Nice uxwbill 😃
I don't think we sell these types. I know that we carry the type that looks like a smoke detector and it will only detect certain gasses and some of them will only detect gas while the other is only a smoke/CO detector. Not both as I was told exists. Still, not a bad tool to have around if only I was exposed to combustible gas more often than not often.
All I can think of is how explosive my gas is after I eat Taco Bell.
I ordered one of these today to see if it detects my farts as combustible gas.
Nice toptes Tools glad you got one I enjoyed the video
hey bill it's me again, i checked out the price point on the 3 dectors you were using. i would say the top tes tool was effective, for the price. if your on a budget i think it would fill a need untill you could afford a better unit. glad your busy working making the big bucks. see you next time
Indeed the TopTes detector is effective and decent value for the money. When you do something for your livelihood, though, I think it pays to buy the best tool you can afford.
nice as always Bill i made a comment before now its not there glad to see your back
I haven't deleted any comments from this video (and as a rule, I don't do so unless asked or something has absolutely no redeeming value at all).
@@uxwbill ok sorry i was watching and i made a comment and then it wase'nt there must have been my mistake i dident hit the return thanks for your reply sorry my mistake im getting old good to see your back on love watching your post i go back watch them over and over thanks Bill
Hey Bill nice see new upload video from you
bill i ignored your advice, just to say good hear from you stay well and on with the rest of the video
What advice is that?
@@uxwbill to watch the video to the end before commenting
This video "showcases" one of my pet peeves about multimeters... if I turn on the backlight, I NEED the backlight. I DO NOT want it to turn off 15 seconds later. This applies to the "affordable" meters mostly, Fluke backlights stay lit until the button is pressed again (in my experience).
Oh yes, I agree completely. I don't understand why meter manufacturers haven't figured this out! Every Fluke meter I have with a backlight (87 III, 87V, 902FC) either has the backlight stay on until shut off or for several minutes minimum.
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh hurray Bill !!!!!
I couldn't wait so I commented before I got to the end of the video 😟 do I win a uxwbill T-shirt that says that ? 😁 Great to see you again William, hope all are doing well.
No, you get a Technicolor Punch In The Nose for Not Following Directions.
@@uxwbill Nobody reads the instructions Bill ???
Will you tell the Boss that I miss Her happy cooking vids, With my regards from Dublin Ireland. & I hope the Key Keeper has found a lock that fits.
I bought one of these on lighting deal from Amazon (better get one real fast $25.40) just to follow along with uxwBill and his upcoming teaser episode. Welcome home uxwBill!
What does the regulator do? And how does it work?
In addition to stepping down the much higher pressure from the gas supply line, it also serves to provide relatively stable gas supply pressure to any appliances that use natural gas. Propane/LP gas systems have similar regulators.
A diaphragm and (sometimes adjustable) spring within the regulator work in concert to regulate the gas pressure.
Uuaaa Nice see you again you disappeared on the map srsrsrsrs lol
Would they detect a fart?😀😀
I don't know, and as the video says with regard to methane, I took the high road. At least for now. :-P
I guess you could put a detector in the top of a plumbing vent stack to see if it picks up a trace amount.
A new uxwbill video! Nice.