HF vacuum pump

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Have you googled that item? If memory serves, I've read they're junk. But I could be misremembering.

HF has some good stuff, but they've got some total junk, too. You may have discovered some of the trash.
 
A couple of feet of clear tubing and a 4 oz hot sauce work just fine. So does a gravity bleed. You have to start with a tight system before you can bleed it.
 
I have been using that very pump for a few years now for brake bleeds, hydraulic clutch bleeds, and for sucking out power steering fluid reservoirs. Mine pulls good vacuum, altough it may leak a bit of fluid at the piston pump. Quality seems to be hit or miss; like with many HF contraptions.
 
Did you hook it up right? My genuine mity-vac has two nipples, one for pressure, the other vacuum.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Did you hook it up right? My genuine mity-vac has two nipples, one for pressure, the other vacuum.


Exactly what I was thinking. Operator error.
 
Its pretty simple. No option for pressure that I can see. Its a vacuum pump with a hose.

I am trying to bleed new trailer brakes. Everything is new, master, hoses, calipers. Have been gravity bleeding.
 
OK, mine looks similar to the ones now sold by HF but is an older item number. The hoses are red and very cheap.

Problem solved, one of the fittings was cracked in its 90 degree section, hard to see but I could hear something and thought it was air under pressure not vacuum.

Reviews mentioned even on current pumps that the fittings were rubber and were not lasting long when they come into contact with brake fluid.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald

Reviews mentioned even on current pumps that the fittings were rubber and were not lasting long when they come into contact with brake fluid.

R-134a systems typically contain PAG oil, and it is similar to brake fluid. It would have the same effect.

How could someone make a vacuum pump like that, and not think about refrigerant oil?
 
One might think people in this family owned HF business might do some QA of the stuff they contracted for as they will be taking the returns. Take the hoses and fittings and put them in a container full of brake fluid for a few days and see what happens. Its just a matter of using the right material. The containers of new brake fluid in the store are made of plastic and they do not fall apart.

I am not really bashing HF, just that they could do better if they examined some of the stuff they sell.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: Donald

Reviews mentioned even on current pumps that the fittings were rubber and were not lasting long when they come into contact with brake fluid.

R-134a systems typically contain PAG oil, and it is similar to brake fluid. It would have the same effect.

How could someone make a vacuum pump like that, and not think about refrigerant oil?


This is a handheld vacuum pump. Not sure one would use it for an A/C system.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: Donald

Reviews mentioned even on current pumps that the fittings were rubber and were not lasting long when they come into contact with brake fluid.

R-134a systems typically contain PAG oil, and it is similar to brake fluid. It would have the same effect.

How could someone make a vacuum pump like that, and not think about refrigerant oil?


This is a handheld vacuum pump. Not sure one would use it for an A/C system.

Oh... Sorry.

I often read at different forums where people buy the HVAC Vacuum pump from Harbor Freight so they can DIY their AC repairs cheaply.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: Donald

Reviews mentioned even on current pumps that the fittings were rubber and were not lasting long when they come into contact with brake fluid.

R-134a systems typically contain PAG oil, and it is similar to brake fluid. It would have the same effect.

How could someone make a vacuum pump like that, and not think about refrigerant oil?


This is a handheld vacuum pump. Not sure one would use it for an A/C system.

Oh... Sorry.

I often read at different forums where people buy the HVAC Vacuum pump from Harbor Freight so they can DIY their AC repairs cheaply.


They have an air powered vacuum pump and 2 electric powered vacuum pumps. I have the air powered one and use it to purge the manifold gauge set prior to use.

Hopefully people are getting the freon recovered from a system before they use a HF pump on it.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
This is a handheld vacuum pump. Not sure one would use it for an A/C system.


I agree. I would not use this on an A/C system, and I doubt it would work very good there. I suppose that it could work on an A/C system but by the time you are done, your arm would look like this:

tumblr_ks5043hb331qzbp8xo1_500.jpg



Harbor Freight does have a Youtube video on how to use this. Supposedly the rubber parts that are the adapters to the brake bleeder screws go bad. I have plastic ones for my vintage early 80's MityVac that I never use, since it's easy enough to just connect the vacuum hose directly to the brake bleeder screw.
 
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