HVAC Tools List for New Technicians

hey guys Jay here with word of advice TV and this video is mostly for new HVAC our technicians and apprentices or maybe they're still going to school and you're wondering what tools you need to get for the HVAC trade I've been asked multiple times to make a video like this and I'm finally doing it I compiled the list and also if you're watching this video and you're a technician that has many many years under your belt or maybe just a few years regardless it would be great if you could also provide your feedback in the comment section what you think of this list so as you're watching this video if you see tools that are your favorites that you think are definitely must-have it would be great if you could provide that feedback which tools you definitely want to have if you see some tools that are junk or if you see tools which you know you know a better brand for that tool or if there's tools that are vital that I completely missed and they're not on that list it'll be completely wonderful if you share with us your feedback in the comment section below that will help me out a lot as I can edit that list with time and it'll help out all of our new technicians thank you very much in advance and before we start talking about all the tools on the list there's five really important things that I want to mention so number one is that there's three types of employers the first type of employer you have to provide your own tools completely so all the hand tools and all the power tools you're providing on your own they're only giving you the jobs the second kind of employer they provide the power tools and the meters but you have to provide your own hand tools and your own tool bag so the pliers the wrenches the nut drivers the screwdrivers you provide that but they provide the vacuum pump the recovery machine combustion analyzers the pressure testing meters and all those other meters you only provide the hand tools and the third kind of employer they completely give you all the tools they don't want you to bring your own tools in so they give you the hand tools they give you the power tools and the meters everything so there is a chance when you start out you won't even have to provide any tools at all I just want to let you know that so you don't go and buy all these tools that you might not even need to have and of course if you're going to be what for yourself at some point or if you're going to be doing jobs on the side then of course you will need quite a few of these tools to have yourself but any good HVAC technician should have at least his own hand tools on hand and point number two is that there's a lot of tools on this list and I did not find the cheapest prices on Amazon I found the ones that are best rated the brands they're good they're good quality and I did look through quite a bit of them I tried to get the best deals but they're definitely not the cheapest ones out there there's way too many tools for me to do that and frankly Amazon is not the cheapest site out there either they do have good deals but places like Harbor Freight or eBay and other stores like those there can be better deals over there and point number three is as you're watching this video if you're taking notes you're writing down tools you're making a list of tools that you're going to get or maybe you're adding tools to your shopping cart if you come across tools and you're not sure if you're gonna need them or not my advice is don't get those tools they're probably gonna become dust collectors as you're already out in the field you started working you're gonna get a better idea of what tools you will need so as you go along then you can add those tools to your list otherwise just start out with the basics and go from there and point number four is that I will categorize all these tools into three categories first category is must-have every technician should have this tool number two is recommended this tool is really nice to have but you don't absolutely need to have it and number three is optional it's a convenient tool but you don't have to have it and number five is that this list has over 200 tools on it so I will not be spending too much time in any single tool otherwise this video will become a very very long video I'll try to be very brief on every single tool so anyway that is the five points I like to mention so without further delay let's just jump right in I will share my computer screen with you and let's just briefly go over every single tool that I have on this list and tell you if it's a must-have recommended or optional tool so to begin with you will click on the Amazon link of the list or the shop I'll have that in the description of this video they'll bring you to a page like this and scroll down the items that I added first on the bottom those are the real essentials the hand tools so scroll all the way down now that's a little too far down we're gonna start from the tool bags right here a common question asked by new Tech's is what's the best tool bag to get and the simple answer for that is there is no best tool bag it's just to your own preference or it depends on what job you're working on for example I have commercial HVAC buddies that climb on ladders and go on rooftops all the time they enjoy the backpack style tool bag that way they don't have to carry a tool bag as they're going up the ladder there's also the suitcase style tool bags there's the rolling tool bags almost like a luggage bag with rollers and a handle so if you walk a lot with your tool bag this is a nice one to have my personal favorites are these two styles right here the square and the rectangle I preferred this one a little bit more because it has more pockets and everything is open like that so you can organize it and you can see it all just all in the open it's very convenient and then there's the bucket tool bag I know there's quite a few maintenance guys that prefer the bucket tool bag just because you can fit so much stuff into it so there's a lot of different kinds of tool bags these are just a couple that I pulled up just to show you an example but really I mean you're just gonna have to look at every tool bag and see what will best suit your needs what your best or favorite tool bag will be I really can't advise you on that you're just gonna have to do trial and error until you pick out your favorite tool bag so that's the tool bags moving on to the hand tools by the way as you hover across or over every single item it gives you the name of it so this one for example says nut driver color code magnetic nut drivers set so all of these screwdrivers and nut drivers are going to be Cline and I think most HVAC technicians will agree with me that Cline makes some of the best hand tools out there as far as nut drivers and screwdrivers go so this tool right here is one of the must-have tools it's 11 in one screwdriver so if we open new tab here here is this guy right here it has all these bits in it so I has a flathead Phillips torque square and hex and over here you can see what it looks like inside so this screwdriver is really handy to have and I think just about every single HVAC technician I know has this client screwdriver in their tool bag so this tool is definitely good to have so must have right here this is basically the same thing but a stubby version to get into tight spaces it has two sizes of Phillips it can be used as a nut driver and it has two sizes of the Flathead so stubby version has also all must have stubby nut drivers 5/16 and quarter-inch those are the two most common sizes in the HVAC field these are a must have the long stem 5/16 and quarter-inch also must have this one right here is optional but basically what this guy is is two of these nut drivers combined into one and they're color-coded at the end I really enjoy color-coded things so basically if you're limited on space instead of having two nut drivers you can have the one and you can just flip them over so it's a two-in-one convenience tool and then we have a set of Kline nut drivers different sizes this one is recommended it's nice to have all of these but you don't absolutely need to have them you could get away with other stuff so that's a nice set bike line let's scroll up further we got the Phillips in the flathead also made by Cline these are really nice and they're slightly different than regular Phillips and flat heads because they have the metal cap at the end so you actually can hammer on them if you want to so that's nice they're very durable they're magnetic and you can hammer on them Cline like I said make some of the best hand tools out there so these I would say are a must-have this guy over here is optional it's a client screwdriver with all these different kinds of bits attachments that you can put in there's torque Phillip there's hex and many different sizes of them so it's a thirty two in one tool nice to have but you don't have to have it but this one right here is a must-have this is a precision four in one screwdriver so mainly for thermostats and just small little nuts and screws this works very well for that it basically has two small sizes of Phillips and two small sizes of flathead so this guy right here is a must-have and lately I've been a really big fan of color-coded things so every screwdriver right here has its own color so you can just pick them out by color instead of trying to look and see what tip it has so that's very nice and convenient this one right here is totally optional it comes with a little bag as well but this is a set of precision screwdrivers so that's it for the screwdrivers and nut drivers moving on to the pliers this right here is by far one of the favorite pliers out there this is the typical pliers there's a few different styles this one right here is personally my favorite let's open this in a new tab and take a look weird I just meant lever is manual like that I like this style because it's super easy to adjust it doesn't get stuck and the alligator jaws that are offset that's actually a really nice feature you can use this as a little pipe wrench when you're undoing gas pipes and stuff like that it's a very nice pliers this is the favorite pliers that I have in my tool bag so that's that right there or some people actually like this one with the button you press the button to adjust the jaw so there is that style as well but these tend to get stuck a little bit when you're adjusting them I've had a pair of these before and I didn't like it as much so the next time I lost them I got this one instead because this one is just better for me but it's up to you which one is your preference one of these nip explainers is a must-have next up we have just a lineman's pliers these are just heavy-duty pliers to crunch down on things to twist wires together or to snip wires off or to pull out a tooth whatever you need them for it's just heavy-duty pliers vise grip Ervin vice grip they make really nice pliers too and they're priced very nicely as well good quality and price nicely so this is a good our pliers you do have to have a pair of lineman's pliers they will save your bacon one day so this is they must have I have three different brands that you can choose from there's a ton of different brands out there but these are just good quality known brands this one here is by stanley cost three dollars more and of course the premium the best ones are by nip --ax they make the best fliers out there but of course the price is premium on them as well so if you have the money this is a really nice pair of pliers otherwise there really is no necessity to have the best one the premium one a pair of the vise grip pliers is just fine and it's great quality as well so lineman's pliers is a must have a needlenose pliers is a must have as well and I have two different kinds here one is a Cline for 24 bucks this is the one I have it's a really nice pair of needlenose pliers these are 7 inches long and then this one here is by some generic brand but they're also highly rated nice needlenose pliers and they have a little crimper to crimp electrical connections connectors with if you need to so another nice pair of pliers and both of them have little wire cutters on the inside of them as well so having a needlenose pliers is a must-have needlenose pliers that are angled at the end these are recommended you can get away without them but for hose clamps and awkward spaces these are really nice to have this one right here is an 11 inch a large heavy-duty pair of pliers I have one of these and it works really well for me so you don't absolutely have to have it but it is nice to have angled either nose pliers and of course we have the nip except the long needlenose pliers the straight and the angled but these guys right here it cost an arm and a leg compared to this this one's 9 bucks and I think this pair right here is 90 bucks so nip --ax is really expensive I just add them in here because they are the best brand for pliers moving on we have the side cutters just to cut off wires and big cables and other stuff like that once again the urban vise grip pliers are a really nice deal there quality and they're priced good as well this is a nice pair of side cutters here's another option for sixteen bucks so it's a little more expensive it's a generic brand but it's highly rated and it also comes with a crimper and a wire stripper so it acts as a side cutter and a wire stripper which is kind of nice so if we look at the picture right here you can strip wires you can crimp wires right over there and use it as a side cutter so a nice little tool and of course Snippets has the most expensive side cutters on this list but they are the best brand for pliers so I put them in here next up we have wire strippers every technician must have at least one pair of wire strippers you are gonna need this tool for sure this one here is by channel lock it's highly rated or if you get for example this side cutter right here this one comes with the wire stripper and the crimper on it right away so it's like a two-in-one but you do have to have a pair of side cutters and a pair of wire strippers for sure or you can get a combination thing like this and moving on we have a set back line and it's even called an apprentice toolset and this is a nice set totally optional but it gives you all these pieces in one you're gonna get a flathead and a Phillips screwdriver a needle nose a lineman's pliers a side cutters and a wire stripper all in one set so this is a pretty quality set and as you can see it has a five-star rating out of 130 ratings so it is really nice and you can get all those pieces right away moving on we have the vise grip locking pliers these are highly recommended you don't have to absolutely have them but I suggest you do it's almost like having a third hand if you really do need them you clamp these things on you lock them and it's almost like you have a third hand holding something and you have your other hands free so a pair of locking pliers is very good to have highly recommended but you probably can get away without having them next up we have pipe wrenches this one here is by vise grip and here is one by rigid rigid is supposedly the best brand for pipe wrenches but this vise grip one is really good quality as well and it cost a lot less this one is 14 bucks this one's 41 bucks but every HVAC technician must have I would say a pair of pipe wrenches so two pipe wrenches by the way those nip expires it helps to have a pair of those as well because whenever you're taking apart pipes you have to have two pliers when you're taking them apart want to hold it and want to twist and moving on we have the 8 inch adjustable crescent wrench with the flat jaws this is also a must-have tool every technician should at least have one adjustable wrench or better yet have a set of them of different sizes so for example this guy right here this is a set but not of wrenches this is a set of wrenches you get for different sized wrenches adjustable this for example would be a nice set to have for 32 bucks usually my tool bag I have the large one and I have the small one and these I just keep on the truck or you can have all four of them they're nice to have so this is recommended but having at least one of them is a must-have having a set will help at one point this set right here is by a generic brand but they're highly rated as well for 23 bucks so it's a little bit cheaper than this one right here and this set is a nice set by vise grip and it comes with all the pliers you're gonna need it has the side cutters adjustable small pliers lineman's pliers adjustable wrench and then the adjustable alligator pliers right here so this is a nice little set by vice-grip five-star rating and these it's a nice tool kit comes with this little pouch that you can carry them in as well and moving on we have the refrigeration wrench the ratcheting wrench with the little adapter this is mostly for air conditioner for king valves and service valves you can also use this little adapter for the gas valve port on a furnace but every HVAC technician must have this refrigeration wrench this is totally a must-have it's a great tool to have next down the list we have a fuse puller this thing is completely plastic so for disconnects on the air conditioner outside if you're pulling those cartridge fuses out this puller right here it works very well for that I have one of these in my tool bag and I use it quite often it works very nicely to pull those fuses out so this guy right here is recommended but you don't absolutely have to have it next up we have tin snips these are must-haves every HVAC technician at one point or another is gonna have to cut some sheet metal these are left-handed and right-handed snips this is a nice set by Midwest and they're the best brand for our snips as far as I know they're really nice these are highly rated it's a good set to have so this is a must-have and these guys right here are just 90 degrees snips and they come in handy sometimes it's recommended to have this but you don't have to have it 90 degrees snips I actually have a pair of these I do use them once in a while and then there's also 10 scissors so you can cut through sheet metal with scissors so if you have long cuts to make these are nice to have alright let's move along next up we have PVC cutters if you need to cut some PVC pipes this is a good cutter to have this is totally optional you can use a hacksaw or maybe a sawzall to cut it instead this is just more convenient so optional having a tubing cutter or a pipe cutter like this this one's for close quarters is I would say must have every technician should at least have this guy right here to cut small pipes this one is highly recommended to cut larger diameter pipes and this one over here is just for very large diameter pipes so you can cut them open with this tubing cutter so this is a must-have recommended and this one I suppose would be optional so tubing cutters rigid makes one of the best tubing cutters out there so I only have rigid rigid rigid for all three of them and after you cut the pipe you have to get rid of the burr or basically the sharp edges of the pipe that are left inside of there this is highly recommended I guess you can get away without it you could try using a knife or maybe a flathead screwdriver but this deburring tool gets rid of those little shards real easily so having a tool like this is very handy I would highly recommend it but you don't absolutely have to have it and moving along we have a mini magnetic ratchet this thing is really great to have and actually it's caller which makes me love it even more all these different little bits have a different color to them which is nice and it's magnetic and it's ratcheting so for close quarters so you don't have to do like 1/8 of a turn with a wrench take out the wrench put it back in and do that over and over and over again for close quarters a ratcheting little wrench like this really saves the day you don't absolutely have to have it but it is highly recommended good tool to have allen wrenches this is metric and SAE or inches you do have to have a set of wrenches this is a good set to have by Tecton that's 16 bucks and I think every technician must have a set of Allen wrenches because you will need them and once again because I really enjoy color-coded stuff here's a color-coded set of Allen wrenches so if you're anything like me I always tend to pick out the wrong wrench the wrong size but if it's color-coded you'll always know that it's the red wrench for the gas valve the orange one for this and the blue one for the blower wheel or whatever so nice to have them color-coded but totally optional these guys over here are optional as well these are just long t-handle allen wrenches the few times that I've used them I think most of the time I end up using them on a package unit where the AC and the furnace are one that blower wheel you can't reach that set screw with a regular allen wrench it just doesn't reach it so you either have to use a drill or one of these t-handle wrenches to reach it you rarely use these things but when you do they really save the day I will say these are optional though because you can get away with just a drill and put a hex bit into the drill bit with like a 12-inch extension and you can probably get away with that instead these are optional but good to have oops excellently reloaded the page and everything got realigned but anyway moving on we have wrenches I think this one is a must-have every technician should have a set of wrenches you can either get classic wrenches like this just normal wrenches a set of them or there's also ratcheting wrenches these are a little cheaper because they're metric and most efficient prefer two inches or two sae instead that's why this one is a hundred and two dollars for example even though they're essentially the same thing this is a nice set of wrenches right here or if you want to get the really premium quality set of ratcheting wrenches that are also color-coded which i think is really great this is the set right here this is the best quality ratcheting set that I could find so the ratcheting wrenches are optional but you do have to have a set of wrenches either ratcheting or just normal wrenches like this and on the left here we have just a regular socket set with a ratchet this I think every technician should have as well sometimes you need a deep socket and this really saves the day so having a ratchet set like this with the deep sockets is good to have I would say that it's either highly recommended or a must-have right over here and moving along we have a Milwaukee drill a lot of technicians like this drill including myself I have one of these too it's a great little drill it does not have a fast spin speed which for HVAC is actually a good thing it comes with two batteries and a charger and it's nice and small so this drill right here is really good it's highly rated but if not this drill then some other drill but every technician should have a drill in their tool kit this over here is recommended but you don't have to have it and this is a Milwaukee it's called a hacksaw so it's like a mini sawzall and it uses the same battery as this drill right here so it's nice to have both of these as a set and you can interchange the batteries between the two of them but a mini sawzall like this is really handy to have to cut off shafts off of motors for example or just to cut through any pipes PVC pipes or whatever else you have to cut through so this guy right here a drill if not this one done some other brand is they must have a little mini sawzall like this is highly recommended but you can get away without it you can just get a normal hacksaw and that will work just as fine it does not come with any blades though so you do have to get some blades separate and these blades right here that I picked out they're for wood and metal demolition they just basically work as a multi-purpose for anything blade and moving on we have a drill bit set this is a must-have for every technician as well at one point or another you will have to have a drill bit like this to drill some hole this is a must-have set even if you don't use it very often you should have one of these on your truck over here it's a drill bit set with different kind of bits you got Phillips torque square hex all these different kind of bits for your drill it's set like this is highly recommended but you don't absolutely have to have it it is very convenient to have moving on we have a step drill bit set and this is basically a little drill bit that it can put on your drill and it acts as a multi drill bit so you have all these different sizes crammed into one bit so it's very convenient and you don't have to have this whole case with you all the time sometimes you do need to drill a deep hole though and you have to have this set you're not gonna get away with one of these but for most purposes these can handle anything that you have to drill through any hole that you need to make but this guy right here I would say is optional you don't have to have it but it is nice to have and it comes with a little pouch and next we have a magnetic hex nut driver master kit this is recommended you don't have to have it for your drill but it's definitely nice to have it has all the different size of nuts and bolts that you're probably gonna come across or the nut drivers I should say so anything for your drill for blower motors for inducer motors anything with bigger bolts maybe on the air-conditioner this is good to have for your drill so you don't have to do it manually so a set like this is recommended but you don't have to have it this guy right here is optional but it's super convenient I would recommend getting it this is the malko flip it so you put this into your drill and you can flip just this little piece at the end which makes it a really quick change between quarter inch and 5/16 so it's very convenient and this one right here is the same as that it just has a four inch extension on it so both of them very convenient to have but they are optional as is this one right here by default this is a six inch extension but the outside sleeve does not spin so you can hold it while you're using your drill so I have all three of these the nice to have but they aren't optional moving along we have a 12 inch extension I would say this is actually a must-have and this one by Milwaukee is slim so it fits into tight spaces as well but having a 12 inch extension will save your day at one point I would say that every technician must have this guy right here I would also say this is somewhere between highly recommended to a must-have this is the flexible drill bit extension so as you can see you can bend it like that every technician should have that one as well this one is highly recommended it's a hundred five degree angled bit holder so for tight spaces you can use this with your drill this one right here is generic but it works just fine if you do want something a better quality D Walt also makes one of these and it's a ninety degree Bend adapter for your drill and it works really good you don't have to have one of these but I would highly recommend it it's a really good tool to have moving on we have electrical meters for checking voltages amps resistance and all that multimeters are essential every technician has to have a multimeter in their tool bag I personally like the UI multimeters there's two of them right here if you don't really like uei I have a few different brands listed here as well other favorites of other technicians here's one by amp probe there's two meters by fluke this one you can connect to your phone which is kind of a cool feature I have this fluke meter as well and I can vouch for that one it is a nice meter and then there's one by field piece as well also a good meter multimeters are kind of like tool bags you just have to try a couple different kinds and see which one you like the most moving on we have the voltage pen or voltage detector I think every technician must have one of these as well in their pocket you don't always have the meter on you but you do have a voltage pen so for example if you wanted to check if an outlet has power you can easily do so with the voltage pen you don't have to take your meter out so it's nice to have I would say this is a must-have next up is the psychrometer this measures the humidity and the wet bulb in the air a digital psychrometer if you will be working on Eric and you do have to have a psychrometer so this guy right here is a must-have next we have the nominee this is to measure CFM or airflow these guys are highly recommended you could probably get away without having one but in some jobs you do have to have it so this is just a measure to airflow to see if you have proper airflow or CFM cubic feet per minute this little Annamma tears only 27 bucks and it works very well the ratings are really high this one is a little better quality but it's 74 dollars so these guys recommended but you don't have to have them and moving on we have the dual port manometer this one is by uei I have this one and it works very very well for checking pressure switches or checking gas pressures and adjusting and stuff this one comes as a kit it comes with the little pitot tubes you can check static pressure it comes with the little T fittings so you can t in into pressure switches to see what they're pulling comes with batteries and all the different tubing this kit right here is very good to have I would say that this is a must-have for new technicians this manometer right here is definitely a good thing to have and next up we have a pressure switch tester Byfield piece it's very convenient to check pressure switches with but you don't have to have it this guy right here is optional next we have the inspection camera I think every technician should have an inspection camera either one like this or maybe something that attaches to your phone but you do have to have one of these to inspect heat exchangers and these guys right here are carbon monoxide detectors to see if there's any CO in the air most likely you won't need these these are optional because you're gonna have a combustion analyzer either way that one can measure seal in the air if you need to so these are nice to have just standalone CO detectors but they're not mandatory these two are optional next is a combustion analyzer and this will probably be the most expensive thing that you will buy out of your tools if you're going to buy yourself a combustion analyzer one of the best ones are made by testo here's one two and three and as you can see the prices quite a bit with the different models this one 618 this one is a thousand 399 and this one's over two thousand you almost have to take out a loan to buy one of these so if we click on them I mean the most expensive one it is really nice the purpose of the combustion analyzer is to check the flue pipe basically the gas is going out the vent of a furnace or a water heater and see if the levels are normal so it measures oxygen carbon monoxide the efficiency carbon dioxide the stack temperature and the ambient temperature so this is a really nice meter the digital display the big one like that is really nice to have so the prices on these things are pretty steep so I would suggest doing some research before you buy one of these make sure that you're getting a good one like I said the ones by testo are good this one will cost you an arm and a leg this was just one arm well and this one might be a couple of fingers or something so these testo analyzers are nice and even though the prices are steep compared to the other brands out there they're actually not that expensive there's some brands that go up to four or five thousand dollars per piece and moving on we have scales so whenever you're using refrigerant if you're charging a condenser unit an air conditioner you do have to weigh how much you put in so I've been using a digital scale like this for a while but since last year I started using a fish scale like this and I will never go back a fish scale works a lot better it's more accurate and easier to use than a digital scale like this and it's a lot cheaper to to weigh refrigerant bottles so there's one like this or one like this I have this style right here and it's been working very well I hang it on the top of my van there's like a little notch you know where both doors open or clamp onto I can hang that there way my refrigerant tank and all is good but if you don't like these fish scales there are digital scales like this and this one right here is super expensive but supposedly the best one out there made by field piece having a scale either at a fish scale or a digital scale like this is a must-have you do have to have something that you can weigh refrigerant Bob with next up we have manifold gauges with hoses or a gauge set and personally I work the most with for 10a and r22 so I just won't like to make sure that my gauges have both of those on them preferably you want to have a separate gauge for each refrigerant so you want to have a manifold gauge for r22 asset for r22 and one for a for 10a you have to have them both separate because 410 a has POS r22 does not you don't really want to be mixing the two of them I know some technicians that do that anyway they use one gauge set for everything and it seems like they're not having any problems or so they say but really you should be having separate gauges so here's a couple by yellowjacket they're really nice yellow jacket makes some of the best gauges out there so I put a few different kinds of yellow jacket gauges on here so having a gauge set at least one of them is mandatory you must have at least one this is some thread sealant when you're putting these little gauges in if you're going to be replacing them or sometimes they leak putting in some of this thread sealant will stop the leaks almost every time this sealant is highly rated it's the best stuff out there and if you're a big spender they also have digital gauges out there that you can use there's one buy test array here and one buy field piece they have a digital display helps you calculate the superheat and subcooling measures the pressures and everything like that they cost an arm and a leg but they are really nice I have a friend that has this field piece right here and he can't say enough good things about it so these things are optional a digital gauge is optional but if you're a big spender and you want to have something nice these things are great and they work very good and there's a couple of different hoses that you can get for your gauges there's fittings that have ball valves at the end of the hoses I really liked the ball valve fittings so you can turn them off and there's no refrigerant coming out there's also low loss fittings the ones by JB Industries are the best they don't allow a lot of refrigerant to spurt out when you're taking them off my typical setup on my gauges is my high side which has the highest pressure is a low loss fitting and then I ball valve and a ball valve for the blue or the low side and then for the yellow also a ball valve these hoses that have the ball valve fittings and the low loss fittings are optional / recommended they're really good to have but you can get away with just regular fittings and then there's also the separate fittings or at a coupling that you can put on you can just screw it right into the hose so you don't have to buy the whole entire hose you could just buy the separate fitting I have one of these just in case there's an air conditioner that has a tight space and I have a really hard time trying to put my hose on there I just put that coupler on there so it makes a sharp turn and then I put my gauges on to that little fitting that I put on and I also know some technicians that don't even bring their gauges with them to an air conditioner if they're just checking pressures all they bring is two of these gauges a high site and a low side and they have this Richie quick coupler connection so this goes right on to the port on the air conditioner and they screw one of these gauges into here so instead of having a gauge set with the manifold they just literally have two of these things and that's how they check their pressures if everything is good they take them off this is almost acts like a low loss fitting so barely any refrigerant escapes they check the pressures it falls good they take them off and they're good to go they never even have to carry their gauges with them this setup is totally optional but it is pretty convenient this guy over here it just helps charge the liquid low side like on for 10a for example you have to charge it through the low side as a liquid and you can't fully open up your Dage otherwise you're gonna flood the system this thing right here after you put this on you can fully open up your gauge and it converts that liquid into a vapor just read the description or look it up online to know more info about that but this thing is really good to have it's recommended but you can get away without it you can just throttle the charge in next up we have the super cool slide rule this helps you charge an air conditioner either using super heat or sub cooling it has all the calculators needed for that this chart right here is really good to have all the technicians I know have this chart right here you do want to get one of those I would say that's a must-have they also have a phone app by the way which works very well this is a core removal tool so to remove those little Schrader valves from air conditioners gotta have one of these I would say that's a must have a thermometer a probe thermometer biue I I have two of these I lose them a lot so I end up buying more this is a must-have I would recommend even getting two of them to check the supply temperatures and the return temperatures in the furnace you can stick both of them in at the same time uei also has a foldable option like this so it's basically the same probe thermometer but you can fold it up that's optional and this one's optional as well if your meter if your multimeter has a K type input jack you can also plug this in and use it as a probe thermometer with your meter instead of having one of these I actually do have one of these as well and I use that as a backup if I lose my regular probe thermometers and then there's temperature guns these are really nice to have as well so whatever you shoot this little laser at it tells you the temperature of it very convenient but this is an optional tool over here we have pipe clamps to measure the temperature of the pipes this is to measure superheat and subcooling you must have a pipe clamp at least one or I suppose if you have a temp gun like this guy right here you could just measure the temperature with your gun but it's a lot easier to do it with your gauges so most technicians do prefer using a pipe clamp for that and like I said you must have at least one pipe clamp low voltage alligator test leads this I would say is somewhere between highly recommended to a must-have you could just use a regular piece of wire to jumper things out and test them but these low voltage alligator clips work very well for testing or if you don't like all these multicolored stuff you can get a set that's a little more expensive and supposedly a little better quality that is just black and red for 17 bucks there's also magnetic jumpers solve for thermostats these work very well instead of alligators they have little magnets at the end they are more expensive these I would say are optional and moving up the list we got the magnetic tray I recommended never lose a screw again I use one of these all the time I just throw it in my tool bag and whenever I'm taking out screws I can put them in here and a knife every technician should have at least one knife on them it definitely will come in useful this one right here is a duct type one end is serrated so for flexible duct this is great to cut those with and then the other side is just a regular knife you can use for anything I know a lot of HVAC technicians love this knife right here this knife over here is also a favorite it's a foldable knife and this is just a regular folding utility knife but if you want something a little bit more fancy here's a multi-tool that acts as a wrench a knife and it has bits and all kinds of different cool stuff so if you want something a little fancier for a pocketknife you could get one of these moving on we have electrical connectors I don't think you'll regret getting these these are just highly recommended you could just go to a hardware store and buy little packs of these instead but I would suggest getting a whole pack of them at one point of time you probably will have a use for all these different connectors this is a big piece comes with the Box 480 pieces of different electrical connectors here's a different set here's one with butt connectors a variety of different butt connectors but in the field I usually use the quarter inch Spade connectors the most along with these prong type crimp connectors so these two are the most common all of this right here is recommended but as you're working in the field you're gonna figure out what you need so you don't absolutely need to get any of this stuff until later on moving on why are nuts I think wire nuts would be a must-have I would recommend getting a box of an assortment of wire nuts you will definitely use them so that's a must-have and getting different sheet metal screws a set of different sheet metal screws I would say that's a must as well you should have sheet metal screws you're definitely going to use them electric tape must have different colored electric tape optional sheet metal tape must have zip ties must have multicolored zip ties I love it totally optional and I also remember two fuses these cartridge fuses are used for disconnects outside by the air-conditioner if they burn out it's really nice to have extras the common sizes are 20 amp 25 amp and 30 amp fuses this is a set of two of each I would recommend having at least a couple of each one of these sizes on your truck so you can quickly replace them if you need to so you don't have to go to a hardware store 3 amp fuses and 5 amp fuses for furnace control boards you should have a set of these as well this is somewhere between must-haves to recommended you should have a set of 3 amp and 5 amp fuses on your truck or in your bag a flashlight this is my favorite kind of flashlight right here made by clip light camouflage it almost works like a lamp or a lantern it has a hook and powerful magnets and it's nice and bright but it works more like an area light so I would recommend having a regular flashlight as well to go with that one if you need to shine somewhere far and some technicians prefer headlamps so I have one of those in here as well so you must have at least one flashlight in your tool bag which one you pick that's up to you next up we have an all I would say an all is an optional tool to scratch sheet metal or to mark sheet metal with you could probably use something else instead of it so this is optional but a lot of HVAC technicians will have that here's another tool which might be a little bit better than two all actually it has a scribe and it acts as a telescoping magnet grabber as well so if you lost a screw or something you can go and get it and the other side unscrews and you have a little scribe which you could use a little bit like an awl or a scratcher and here's an example of that so magnet grabber slash scribe next up we have an inspection mirror you must have an inspection mirror of some sort in your bag here's just a regular inspection mirror and then there's one with lights around it so when you stick the mirror into a dark place you can turn the lights on and you can still see what's going on inside of there you must have an inspection mirror and this guy is optional but it's a mini or a slim inspection mirror telescoping that you can put in your pocket I have one of these and it works great I would recommend everybody have one of these as well because these bulky ones don't always fit into tight spaces this one does moving on you have a level a level is recommended but you don't absolutely have to have it especially since now you can get a bubble level app on your phone and you can use your smartphone as a level but having a level is a good thing a hammer once again recommended but you don't have to have a hammer I guess you could use a crescent wrench or a pipe wrench as a hammer if you really need it too and here's a mini or a stubby hammer this one works really great for tight spaces that's basically exactly what it sounds like just a mini or a stubby hammer and there's a variety of gloves that you can choose from every technician should have at least one pair of some type of safety gloves I have these two pairs right here a couple of these they usually come in a pack of three these are nice gloves they're light you still retain the dexterity and your fingers and these I typically use the padded gloves if there's really sharp objects or if it's cold outside kind of helps with that as well and if you're going to be clearing out my snus from air conditioners having these disposable gloves is really helpful you don't have to get your hands into all that nastiness these are optional but I would have a box of disposable gloves on your truck as well next up we have a tape measure tape measure is they must have you should have at least one tape measure in your tool bag here's just two different options that I put in here and if you're a big spender there's also a laser tape measure which is a pretty nifty little tool instead of using a classical tape measure it just uses a laser pointer to tell the distance a putty knife just for the spaces where a flathead screwdriver will not go in sometimes you have to pry something apart a putty knife is really helpful I wouldn't say this thing is a must-have but it is highly recommended a brush like this just to brush different stuff off I would say this is a must-have with the firm thistles on it must have brass brush must have I'll brush like that for a drill this is optional but it is nice to have as well as oom spouts oiler to oil motors blower motors and inducer motors this little spout comes out and they can reach to you know hard-to-reach spaces if you need to and oil the motor this is a must have a hub puller if you can't pull a blower wheel off of a motor this is extremely nice to have a wonderful tool it will definitely save your day I think every technician must have a hub puller like this if you don't have a lighter laying around in your home and there's none in your gas station or maybe they're ridiculously priced you can get a pair like this on Amazon a long shaft lighter this one's flexible this one is just straight everybody should have at least one lighter in their tool bag to relight pilots or light something else so having a lighter is a must-have and then we have Craig's book the guy that runs AC service tech channel it's a really great book it has all the different service procedures for how to evacuate a system how to pull a vacuum how to recharge a unit how to recover it how to properly charge it etc etc step-by-step this book is optional but for new guys I think this would be a great resource and because a condenser unit will not wash itself and the customer doesn't always have a hose available for you every technician must have a garden hose in their truck to wash down condenser units or wash down something else so this is just a little set I found on Amazon it's a retractable hose 50 foot long doesn't take a lot of room comes with the nozzle and a bag that you can carry it in very convenient this is optional but you must have a hose on your truck moving on we have the 3 amp mini popper for tracking down low voltage shorts this is highly recommended / must-have I think every technician should have one of these if not this then at least this little guy right here it's $5 instead of 15 but it does not come with the wires so instead of blowing 3m fuses this little brake our trips as you're trying to track down that short like I said with this one you'll have to put the wires on yourself the little popper over here comes with the wires already on it and if you don't want metal knees in your 50s then you must have a kneeling pad of some sort I recommend this leather craft one by CLC right here this kneeling pad is really great and it does not absorb moisture this one is pretty much the same thing cost a little less but the size of it is also a little smaller just another option even though I would recommend this one and some guys like to actually wear knee pads either over the pants or under the pants the whole time while they're at work so those are the knee pad options safety glasses because you only have one pair of eyes and you don't have any spares every technician must have a pair of safety glasses a baseball cap even though this is not must-have but I would highly recommend wearing a baseball cap while you're on the job I can't tell you how many times I smashed my head into a trip leg on a gas line and it would have totally gashed my head open if I didn't have a baseball cap and the one that I have listed here even though it looks like a regular hat you must wonder why is it thirty bucks and that's because this one is like a hard hat if you look inside of it as you can see it has that hard hat material inside of it so you're definitely not going to make any holes in your head wearing this cap so good to have you don't have to have it but highly recommended plus another upside is that you don't have to worry about your hairdo while you have one of these bad boys on moving on the list our first aid kit must have at one point or another you're gonna cut yourself you're going to bleed if you have blood in you this is definitely something you have to have a first aid kit because you will inevitably end up hurting yourself at one point or another have to have a first aid kit and this right here is a locking caps multi-tool there's been a rise of refrigerant hoppers people that Huff refrigerant and get high off of it or there's people that just steal refrigerant so more and more companies are starting to put locking caps on condenser unit ports where the refrigerant hoses hook up you do have to have the specialty to take those caps off so I would say this is a must-have every technician should have a key like this a multi key to be able to take off those locking caps if you come across them and once again I refresh the page and things got shifted a little bit but moving on stepladder I think this is a must-have every technician must have a stepladder under truck because at one point or another you will have to have a little stepladder to get to somewhere so this one right here is 39 bucks you can buy this on amazon but any bigger ladders I would definitely not recommend buying an Amazon even though you might need those because the shipping costs on those will make that ladder just ridiculously expensive you're better off just going to a local store and buying a ladder if you need it step ladders are still okay to buy an Amazon but even those you're probably better off just going to Walmart and buying one of these there and the next one was a suggestion from a commercial HVAC tech that's been stranded on a rooftop a couple times and that is a lander lock if it's a windy day your ladder may get blown over and fall over these ladder locks will definitely prevent that so lock the ladder in place so it doesn't get blown away by the wind or knocked over by something there's a few different styles of these ladder lakhs for gutters and for other applications but if you're going to be going on roof tops often with ladders then getting a ladder lock is a must and the next set is recommended but you don't have to have it and that is a whole sock kit and that's exactly what it sounds like in sheet metal or other metals this thing will basically drill out a nice clean-looking hole or circle in whatever surface that you're drilling through and this right here is a two-piece bolt cutter set this is an optional tool but it's very useful if you have to ever bite off some big bolts they will cut it clean off convenient to all but totally optional and this is a rivet tool kit it is recommended to have this although this is more for install work than service it is only ten bucks so it's a good tool kit to have and it's pretty much the same story with this guy right here a flaring tool this is recommended to have but if you're an install technician you have to have this this is a must-have if you're gonna be doing any install work you do have to have a flaring tool this black eccentric flaring tool is really nice it comes with the cutter and a deburring tool as well and it has really great reviews yellowjacket also has one which is nice highly rated it's just another option and the next five tools are primarily for install work one two three four or five so this is a 3-inch bender you got a six inch bender and then 12 inch folding tool 18 inch and 24 inch the next two tools are also primarily for install work this guy right here is a snap lock punch basically joins sheetmetal together and this is a v-notch err it bites out v-not shaped and sheet metal so for example let's just take a look that's what it would look like so bites a piece like that out so if you're gonna be working with sheet metal this little tool is definitely handy to have this guy right here is a cable tensioner so if you're gonna be working with flexible ducts and you have those big zip ties this thing tenses up those zip ties and get some on there nice and tight you can't do that with your hands you do need to have one of these to tighten it down really good next up we have the torch a turbo torch kit this is a must-have for installers for sure and highly recommended for service guys you have to get an acetylene tank from one of your local gas distributors and then once you run out you go back to them and they can refill that tank so this kit comes with a regulator comes with two different tips it's a very nice kit Biturbo torch I know a lot of guys like this one and here's a sparker to start that torch or to light it you've got a nitrogen regulator you do need to pressure test new installs so if you're gonna be doing new installs you're gonna have some nitrogen tanks and this is the regulator that goes on it that's a must-have for that if you're gonna be doing any kind of soldering or brazing you're gonna need the following three this right here is a silver solder with flux you got sulfus for brazing and then there's aluminum braze if you're gonna be soldering aluminum - aluminum or copper so all three of these are needed for that we also have pipe benders this is a really good pipe bender it's a three-in-one triple tube bender very nice to have or you can go with a complete set by yellowjacket and actually let's take a quick look of what's inside of there because they only show us the suitcase so yeah you got the ratchet and you got the different tube Bender's right there very good kick by Yellow Jacket and as you can see four and a half ratings out of a hundred ratings I know a lot of guys like the Yellow Jacket benders and here of course just because I love color-coded stuff pretty much the same kit but all the different vendors are different colors so you can easily identify which one you need next up is a swedge punch kit with the five separate switch punches this is a must-have for any install work to make those sweat joints and this one right here by yellowjacket is basically a combination of all of these punches in one so it's a convenient little tool and because both of these don't have any of the bigger sizes there is two separate punches that go up to 3/4 inch and this is 7/8 inch so if you're gonna be doing install work this one right here must have must have you got to have one of these you have to have a flaring tool kit you have to have a bender or even better a bender kit you've got to have all the solder 's the benders the regulator's you have to have a torch there's quite a bit of tools that are pretty much install specific tools you don't really use them for service so let's go back up where we left off right over here this right here is pretty cool it's a swedging tool so like this like the punch this one right here you would have to hammer it into the pipe whereas these guys you have all these different sizes and what I really like is that they're color-coded you know me I like the color-coded stuff you just put this into your drill and it spins and makes that swedge joint for you instead of you having to hammer it in you can just drill it into that and it works really slick a lot of people love these things or you could just get this expensive kit right here the copper tube expander tool basically does the same thing as all of this the swedging tools but you have this gun looking thing or does plier looking thing you stick it into a pipe you press down and it expands it for you very slick tool I know a lot of technicians love this thing as well but it is a little spendy compared to those little punches and over here we have a comb kit to comb condenser units outside I don't really like combing units because they look really mangled after you're done with them but if the fins are all bent in and smashed in you do have to comb them and this is a good kit for that moving on we have caps for refrigerant ports sometimes you come to an air conditioner and they're just plain missing you can put some of those on because if there is no caps during the winter it probably will leak a little bit so all air conditioners should have these valve caps on them and this over here is a core removal tool on the tip right here and it also is a container tool so it has a few of those extra cores in it so if you come across one that's leaking you can replace it over here is a bunch of Schrader valve course with teflon seals on them a pack of 25 and this guy right here is the valve core removal tool it works very nice you can remove the core with it and put a new one in without having to release any charge or a vacuum a lot of technicians love this thing I would recommend getting one and next up we have vacuum pumps this one is by cps products this one is by jb industries of course this one is better but it also costs quite a bit more coming in at 350 for whereas this one is $184 both pumps work well but of course this one is slower this one is three CFM whereas this one is six CFM so it will pull a vacuum on a system a lot quicker than the other one so vacuum pump is a must unless your employer will provide one and if you're not going to be changing the oil in your vacuum pumps then they're not going to last you very long so here's a jug of oil that you can get for your vacuum pump if you want to speed up the process because vacuuming down a system can take a very long time you can get one of these hoses vacuum certified refrigerant hoses that really speed up that vacuum process it'll go down to a vacuum a lot faster with one of these black hoses instead of using the yellow hose on your manifold gauge so this will speed up the vacuuming process but it's optional but having a micron gauge is a must-have you got to have a micron gauge to make sure that the unit is pulled down to at least 500 microns and it holds it there analog ones are very inaccurate so you do have to have a digital one here's one by CPS there's one by testo or one by uei but if you get a micron gauge like this that only has one port unlike these two this one comes with the fitting already where it has to this one has a port on either side it will be helpful to get a t coupler like this to go with it and moving on we have recovery machines if your employer does not provide a recovery machine a recovery machine is a must-have tool for every HVAC technician because at one point you are gonna have to recover some refrigerant and you're gonna have to use a machine like this the one by field piece is more expensive but it is really nice and has a digital display as well but this one for 658 works just as well and will get the job done and over here we have a bubble leak locator so if you have a refrigerant leak somewhere you can spray this stuff on it and if it starts to bubble then you know that the leak is there for only seven bucks this is a must-have bottle on every HVAC technicians truck you probably will end up using it at one point or another they also have electronic leak detectors I found three of them right here that work well this one over here is for twenty six bucks which is really cheap according to the comments and the reviews this thing actually works good for four ten eight and r22 so for twenty six dollars that's a steal if you can get a refrigerant leak detector and one of these is a must-have tool there's one for two hundred dollars which is supposedly better and then there's one that's ultrasonic it's an ultrasonic leak detector if you're a heavy spender this thing is six hundred and twenty-five bucks but it's supposedly the bus-stop there to find a leak with and here's another handy little tool it's a natural gas detector sometimes soap and bubbles will not work it's not gonna bubble up because the leak is very small yet you can still smell the natural gas a detector like that will help you pinpoint the location of the gas leak in the gas pipe or some fitting or wherever it's at I wouldn't say that this detector is a must-have but it is recommended it's a good thing to have and last but not least we have an ECM service tool this is to check ECM motors to see if they are failed or not and the reason for that is because it's very hard to tell what is bad it's that the motor itself or is it the ECM computer module that's on top of the motor both of them are very expensive parts so it's nice to know which one of them is actually bad so this tester right here tests exactly for that and it tells you if the motor is bad or if the ECM module is bad so every HVAC technician should have one of these as well who finally done going through that whole list of tools I hope you found this list useful and if you have any feedback about any other stuff that you saw please let me know in the comments below thank you so much for watching this video don't forget to mash that like button on the way out and we'll see you next time and if you're still here and not in the comment section below I had a good time travel joke for you but you didn't like it [Music] you

Channel: Word of Advice TV

Views: 58,496

Rating: 4.9394321 out of 5

Keywords: hvac tools, hvacr tools, hvac tool bag, hvac tool pouch, best hvac tools, best hvac tools to have, must have hvac tools, must have tools for hvac technicians, what tools needed for hvac, heating and air conditioning tools, tools needed for ac repair, tools needed for furnace repair, tools needed for hvac tech, tools needed for hvac technician, tools needed for hvac apprentice, tools needed for hvac school, tools needed for hvac work, hvac, word of advice tv

Id: pqE4C7c9_eI

Length: 64min 5sec (3845 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 09 2020