what flue gas analyser ?

[Billy Bob Bob]

One question we usually get asked is “What analyser should I get?”

It’s purely down to the individual. What are you planning to use it on? Oil? Gas? Cookers? Do you want to print off your results immediately or store them to print later? Would you be looking to use it to do tightness testing? Do you want to test flue draughts? And so on.

Most importantly, how much are you willing to spend? Up front and, further down the line, on calibration costs?

Below are a list of analysers with members comments, good and bad.

Kane.
“Kane for me, i bought a 455 last year, great bit of kit, just had it recalibrated cost £100.00 and back in 3 days , well chuffed, cost me £549.99 i had on a special offer off the nett, search everywhere chum before you buy, lots of sites on the nett that'll give you good prices”
“I've got a Kane 455. Used an Anton Sprint as well, but I prefer the Kane. Cost me £500 + VAT for the full CPA kit - analyser, printer, the full set of probes, etc.”
“Got a Kane 455 the whole shee bang (printer + all diff probes) from gas installers workmate website for a good price. Fixed price servicing and 5 year gurantee on CO probe was a good selling point for me, first ever FGA, been warned off tpi as a couple of lads got them and nothing but problems”
“I have the kane 455 and its very good. I also would like to say the testo ones are quite good but very expensive.”

Testo.
“I like the Testo better than Anton. But they all do the same job, so just get the one you think is the best value.”
“I'm looking to replace my fga this year. Past 3yrs I've put it in for service and it's cost me upwards £200 for cells each year!!! I'm sure that's a rip-off!!! Got a pal with an unserviced model exactly the same and we compared the readings on his & mine one day ... Virtually the same and he hadn't had it looked at for 3yrs! It's a Testo 325, by-the-way ..!”
“I've used a Testo & my current one issued to me is a v2. I preferred the Testo. Easy to use, felt better quality, was quicker with the readings & never gave me a problem. The only downside was the size & the massive box it comes in! The Anton looks & feels cheap, navigation is not as easy & it takes ages to settle. I got water in it & had to dry it out in the a/c for 2 weeks whilst I was.on holiday. The pump is noisy too, even before I got condense in it.”

Anton.
“I've had the anton v2 and a tpi. The Anton is much better and would recommend it to anyone. It is expensive, but if you are going to use it alot then it is worth the money.”
“Anton sprint v1 for me,does what it says on the Google search easy to use had it calibrated at jml for 70 quid when it was a year old”
“ye the anton is my prefered fga but heard kane is good.I did have a tpi but it needed new sensor after 6 month and was told it needed it again when it was sent for re-callibration”
“I have a Kane 250 and Anton v2. I prefer using the v2.”
“just had my v2 calibrated & cells, £285!. mate had his testo done £300. kane requires them after a few years, £200 odd. parts center say tpi, bg use them and any service and any required sensors all in @£56+vat.”

So there you have it. Financial constraints seem to be the biggest decider.

This should be left open for additional comments.

Read more: http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/private.php?do=showpm&pmid=157223#ixzz25sV3h2Ay

thanks to croppie for creating the info and thread

 

[AWheating]

when your trying to decide what FGA you want you also need to take in consideration the cost of its calibration and maintenence. I would suggest you base your research over a 5 year period.

Every analyser will require yearly calibration but some will require the replacement of cells, filters etc..... so check what needs to be done to keep it working over the 5 years. For example the kane 455 has a five year cell life but if its yearly calibration cost or purchase cost is more expensive than say an anton then what saving you may make on the longer cell life may be lost in another area.

just something to consider when comparing prices.

 

[DirksPlumbing]

The cell life span is something that you can not simply put down as a fixed life span. It depends on so many variables. There is storage temperature, CO concentrations, how careful the sensors get flushed or water just to name a few.
It just takes an old oil boiler where the house owners dad sets the combustion up by ear to cut your sensors life span in half.
Apart from the sensors you should not forget that nowadays Lithium batteries do tend to have a pretty short life span as well.
It is a bit of gambling. At the end it is down to personal experience and likings.
I have been working for years now with the Anton Sprint V2. And I like them. Before that I had a Woehler hand held. Which I possibly would have continued to use if I could have got it serviced with reasonable efforts.

 

[AWheating]

you cant plan your cell life in advance of course but one that has an expected life of 5years over 1 or two years is something that should factor in your sums. If you base it on what may happen....... well dont buy one cus you may get run over tomorrow and not get to use it.

 

[DirksPlumbing]

you cant plan your cell life in advance of course but one that has an expected life of 5years over 1 or two years is something that should factor in your sums. If you base it on what may happen....... well dont buy one cus you may get run over tomorrow and not get to use it.

My point was not so much that you should not take that in consideration at all. But you have to weigh. And some of the influences are purely how you treat the device. And you should not bank on the estimated life span at all as this is simply an estimate.
If you are gonna do services day in day out I would be very surprised if you would get even the best sensor way past 6 months.

 

[the baker]

For what its worth here's my two pence worth,

I felt the need for an FGA back in 2003/4 when I started installing Condensing boilers. I was convinced that I needed an instrument which was caperble of doing every task imaginable, fortunatly I saw an advert for Gas & Enviromental Services of Welyn Garden City.
I rand and spoke to a bloke called Keving who talked me out of re-morgaguaging my house and after asking me what sort of work I was involve with, explaineed the caperbilities of the Anto 2000Xt with gas leak and CO room test included in the package.

He laid out the costs over a five year period and was honist about new regulationd would probably need new FGA's as the years went by.

So I became the proud owner of an FGA which is regularly serviced calibrated by the company I bought it from and am very satisfied with it.

As time went by I had times when I doubted the readings I was getting so spoke to G&ES who checked it out and reasured me all was ok with the 2000Xt, but you know what its klie when a customer is looking over you sholder and you are trying to convince them their boiler is not running correctly, so, I now have twp FGA's as I bought the Sprint V" which gives me the reassurance of being able to stick a second probe into the sampling point and stick it to the customer(in the nicest possible way of course)

Some of us RGI's have a liking for particular makes, thats the way we are, but if you want good unbiased advice, competative prices, and a small company service give them a call.

I dont know if the Moderators allow this, and apologise if it breaks forum rules but their web site is;

Gas & Environmental Services Ltd

Tim

 

[Dotty]

You can only speak from personal experience Tim. Mine's a Kane 455. Only thing it doesn't do that I wish it did is measure draught.

 

[bspareltd]

I have a regin (kane) and bought that cheaply , had this for 3 years , calibrate it every year and if it needed a new cell or major money spent on the it , i will just bin it and get another cheap fga .
You only need co,co2 and ratio ,if you have a gas sniffer and other features you have a bigger bill every year when you go for calibration !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Stuthewarrior]

HI Guys/admin
Could we put a section on hear so we no how much people are spending getting there FGA serviced. This way we can work out what FGA are worth buying ? There are often alot of question about FGA,s so this might help people in there selection.

An online reveiw from people on here that are using them and getting them serviced

Thanks Stu

 

[Barry98]

I send mine here

COMBUSTION FLUE GAS ANALYSER INSTRUMENTATION CALIBRATION BY JMW

 

[Stuthewarrior]

I was thinking along the lines do some fga cost more to run. Do some always need sensors and other such items replacing making servicing expensive.
This might help people with there selection when buying ?

Regards Stu

An online reveiw from people on here that are using them and getting them serviced

 

[wards]

kane 455 is my preference,5yr without additional costs,sent it to kane for calibration yesterday and will be back on monday,£84+vat.

 

[wards]

well chuffed,got analyser back with a set of new batteries/filters and a roll of paper for printer thrown in f.o.c.

 

[rawr]

which analyser can take a big dose of CO and not need to be sent back for re calibration? our anton sprints are absolutely knackered once thats happened it's a bit annoying =s once its said high CO's once it's done in, time to ring someone to fetch another one over

 

[EPH]

You can replace some of the sensors yourself in certain Testo models.

 

[Mike Jackson]

Have a look at Gas Analyser > Flue Gas Analyser > CO2 Monitor > CO Detector | QMI

 

[buckley plumb]

tpi rep was in pts last wk said they give 5 years warranty on the tpi and will calibrate and change sensors for £70 if it needs them. they just look cheap what are they like

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

tpi rep was in pts last wk said they give 5 years warranty on the tpi and will calibrate and change sensors for £70 if it needs them. they just look cheap what are they like

crap TBH

 

[aaronsmith]

hopefully will have to buy one of these soon,will have around £500 mostly used for servicing,quite like the anton flue gas annalisers. eany recomendations?

 

[buckley plumb]

crap TBH

thanks . will need a new one next year looking at the kane and anton

 

[rawr]

at our place we have anton's, I dont like them, when I got shown how to set up gas valves we gotta use an analyser, n if the new gas valve is set up wrong and burns far too rich it gives of an insane CO reading, and then the analyser if knackered, like really knackered, I don't know if other brands are better in that way

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

finding my 2 year old anton v1 is able to take a lot of abuse,find it great TBH easy to use and quite durable

 

[Stuthewarrior]

Well people I went for the kane 455 cpa1 kit in the end and I must say very impressed.

Stu

 

[fast phil]

you wont go far wrong with that one easy to use and robust

 

[Jolly green]

Just ordered myself a TPI 712, will let you know the outcome.