Keefer Rader recalls an emergency call he received one winter night. The dreaded call from a customer without heat, who had just recently had a boiler install done by Rader.
But when Rader arrived an hour later, all systems were functional.
“We played this game three more times,” says Rader, owner of Outlaw Mechanical in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “I’d leave after checking on things. He’d call me back. I’d return to dig deeper while the boiler and all components were working fine. It was very frustrating.”
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM SOURCE
Finally, Rader decided to deploy a diagnostic tool he had purchased only a month earlier, the FloPro-MD by Dormont, a Watts brand. The FloPro-MD is a hand-held gas flowmeter, digital manometer and calculator that allows technicians to perform gas equipment startups, commissioning and maintenance with accuracy. The device quickly measures gas pressure and flow for gas-burning appliances while logging data via Bluetooth that can be viewed instantly via a free app through a smartphone or tablet.
“The first thing I did was check gas pressure at the manifold within the home, and everything looked perfect,” Rader says. “Then I installed the FloPro on the incoming gas line to the home and left it there. Sure enough, around 11 that evening when it got cold enough to freeze, the gas line buried underground, the line clamped shut. Gas doesn’t freeze, but water does.”
Thanks to the data logged by the FloPro-MD, Rader was able to get on the right track toward resolving the problem.
“The FloPro-MD told me everything I needed to know, down to the exact moment pressure was lost, and when it returned, as well as the pressure at every stage of the freeze-thaw cycle,” he says.
After disconnecting the gas line at the regulator outside the home and at the main trunk to it, Rader used compressed air to blow out the gas line, pushing out about 10 gallons of water.
“I was just glad that the challenge was over and done with, and that I’d had the right tool to diagnose the problem,” Rader says. “It’s a very beneficial tool. Having the right tools on hand always increases productivity and efficiency, especially when the job site is remote.”
JUST IN TIME
Another job in which the diagnostic capabilities of the FloPro-MD were beneficial involved a wedding ceremony outside Durango, Colorado. Rader had worked in the area prior to starting his business in Albuquerque, and received a call from a manager of a mountaintop wedding venue reporting that the large kitchen broiler wasn’t working well, mere days before a large group was leasing the facility for a ceremony.
“I tried to help him diagnose and troubleshoot the problem, but I quickly learned that they’d already attempted to solve the problem [to no avail],” says Rader.
With that tight timetable in mind, Rader did the overnight drive to Durango to assess the problem in person. When he arrived at the venue, he found that the broiler worked but not well enough. He couldn’t use a conventional manometer because the broiler didn’t have the test ports that he typically used for diagnosing hydronic broiler problems. So he deployed his FloPro-MD.
“It’s now one of my go-to tools for gas appliance work,” Rader says. “The FloPro showed that the pre-regulator gas flow and pressure were good, but on the regulator’s other [outgoing/supply] side, I began to see my problem.”
The FloPro made it clear that the broiler’s regulator had failed. Once connected, a new regulator from Rader’s truck provided greater gas pressure to the broiler, allowing it to work as intended with plenty of heat for the caterer who was set to arrive that afternoon.
Also, because the FloPro-MD can diagnose problems while an appliance is operating, Rader can do maintenance work during hours of operation and without cutting the gas service to any manifolds.
“The FloPro-MD does the work of a variety of other tools. It offers the function and intelligence of a manometer and a gas flowmeter, too,” Rader says. “My hat’s off to the [tool’s] designer. The FloPro-MD has a permanent place in my truck.”
