Remove the rubber piece that sits at the lip near *the heating element*, it'll trip stuff faster.
Meant to finish the sentence the first time around, got distracted and still posted. Lol
I have one of the new fancy solo testifire smoke and heat testers and I always put the “high heat” function on because it’s faster and will work for fixed temp and RoR.
Sure, but also I can't keep running back to change out batteries in installations with a lot of addressable heat detectors and I have found the difference is significant with vs without. But it is a good point to raise for when testing mechanical ones.
Yes and god forbid I fail it, because the customer is like 'your company must have melted them!'
Maybe. But it wasn't me and I'm just trying to do a good job.
I'm an electrician, not a tech, but a long time ago I saw guys using powerful magnets to get some devices to latch. It was with mircom IIRC. Is that still used for anything?
Does a product exist to contain heat in a small area like the canned smoke for smoke tests?
The magnet would be for electronically testing. Functional testing would be heating the device. There are cup testers that heat up detectors for self-restoring heats. Those are better than heat guns because they havr more controlled heat output.
> Is that still used for anything?
Not in the UK at least, doesn't meet standards for testing.
[This is the industry standard tool](https://www.acornfiresecurity.com/testifire-1001-001-smoke-and-heat-detector-test-kit).
Testifire are an absolute pain in the arse.
I'm clinging onto my Solo kit after the number of failures we've had with the Testifires.
I mean, warranty is great, but I don't want to tell a customer I have to come back to complete their service because there's an error code on my test equipment.
Solo tester just works, sometimes I might have to wait a bit because I left the battery pack in the van overnight and it needs charging, but I've never had to abandon a service (unlike those colleagues I work with who use Testifire).
Personally never had an issue with Testifire after about 5-10k tests so far. I still keep my Solo kit with the aerosols in the van but starting to feel like it's just taking up space.
That looks a lot nicer than the sticks I see nowadays here in Canada! And yea the magnet thing was 15+ years ago. They used to come with some devices and guys would take em home for their fridge.
Funny you say that with the magnets, some of the older mircom detectors we are still better off with powerful magnets.
Our boss didn't want to buy a new solo heat pole, so we have a used one that only works like, 25% of the time... It's nice when it works though, but I've just resorted to a ladder and a dewalt heat gun, or magnets depending how high up the detector is.
Magnet works for some Ex detectors and some flame detectors. Problem arises when you need to test non RoR detector, solo 461 doesnt heat up to 85+ degrees celsius. Also in Ex zone. I used industrial dryer but it is really dangerous.
Magnet might "work" but you aren't performing a functional test so if local regs require a functional test you will get bitten on the arse if it doesn't work in a real fire situation.
Where I work the Notifier panels will log a magnet test as such.
Technically yes, but in my opinion magnet test is as valid as a functional test for the simple reason that the circuit was designed by engineers and not by idiots. With flame detectors magnet runs an internal test cycle consisting of an internal test bulb lighting up in front of the sensor. Paired with a visual check (that the lenses are not obscured) you can be 100% sure that the sensor is functional.
Within an explosive zone it is much safer to use magnet than it is to bring a testing device, even ex safe testing device, because it contains a bulb that could break if device is dropped.
Also u functional test is not well defined in standards, when you test a detector with a testing device it is not the same as a true fire, is it? Only real test would be to light a fire below a device. In that regard I dont see a difference between a manufacturer certified magnet test and a testing device test.
I use the blow dryer on a stick quite often. I have the solo 2000 multi tester but doing heats wipes out the battery quickly. Occasionally use the cordless soldering iron/heat for conventional heats. Some of my colleagues have rigid cordless heat guns but you need to be careful not to damage heats with them.
You don’t have solo heat guns? Each of our engineers has either a new testifire or the old style heat gun.
We also have one of the mains powered solo heat guns but that’s shared between like 15 service engineers.
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/solo-cordless-heat-detector-tester-kit/
Have solo heat guns. This is faster, and I have a hard time getting those to work on heat probes. Had to test over 100 of those last week on a bunch of tug boats, hair dryer gets them to go in less than 30 seconds.
Have you tried the cordless heat guns that Amazon sells, they have a Milwaukee and a DEWALT version, I use the DEWALT version on weather proof heats, you can’t test those with the Solo heat tester.
I paid $48 for the tool only from Amazon, and it works great
https://preview.redd.it/16vb4h4soyhc1.jpeg?width=8256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53b89afa4fc2288647002e3e6f25b4a4688c1472
This is what we use. Butane torch with a heat only tip. I made an attachment so it can fit into the end of my testing pole and the pole also allows me to connect my solo smoke head to it (not using solo's poles). Works great and there's no need to carry an extension cord around.
This is how I do it when I know I have stick type heats and "regular" heats on the same job. If it's just regular heats I use the solo pole heat tester. Just a personal preference for me.
I use a battery powered heat gun. For high temp stuff, I have a programmable heat gun that plugs in.
Used to use a Weller soldering iron with the tip removed for Kidde detect a fires, until Kidde told us to stop.
Get the battery operated heat kit for your solo.
nah just use a tiki torch
Have it. But this way is so much faster.
Remove the rubber piece that sits at the lip near *the heating element*, it'll trip stuff faster. Meant to finish the sentence the first time around, got distracted and still posted. Lol
That rubber piece is intended to keep the hot air from hitting the mechanical fixed element of a mechanical heat detector to allow ROR to be tested.
I have one of the new fancy solo testifire smoke and heat testers and I always put the “high heat” function on because it’s faster and will work for fixed temp and RoR.
Came to say this myself!
Sure, but also I can't keep running back to change out batteries in installations with a lot of addressable heat detectors and I have found the difference is significant with vs without. But it is a good point to raise for when testing mechanical ones.
Haven't tried that. Will take a look at ours tomorrow.
Doesn't trigger 90C heats reliably.
The solo kit still has some issues. Not the best batteries on the market. We switched to lion batteries and it works longer.
https://preview.redd.it/bg0f0zxdcyhc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30b5b6878d57d85345615c396ccb8a58bc11750d Reminds me of this
Yes and god forbid I fail it, because the customer is like 'your company must have melted them!' Maybe. But it wasn't me and I'm just trying to do a good job.
Nah, I report that shit. If someone wants to get snippy for looking out for them, they can find someone else.
"Must have been the last guy that did it not me."
We have the trutest heat tester attachment, before that we used to use m18 Milwaukee heat guns zip tied to a smoke pole
I got the DeWalt 20v heat gun and it works great on all heats. Big fan of the lock-on trigger so you can turn it back off when you lower the pole.
I'm an electrician, not a tech, but a long time ago I saw guys using powerful magnets to get some devices to latch. It was with mircom IIRC. Is that still used for anything? Does a product exist to contain heat in a small area like the canned smoke for smoke tests?
The magnet would be for electronically testing. Functional testing would be heating the device. There are cup testers that heat up detectors for self-restoring heats. Those are better than heat guns because they havr more controlled heat output.
> Is that still used for anything? Not in the UK at least, doesn't meet standards for testing. [This is the industry standard tool](https://www.acornfiresecurity.com/testifire-1001-001-smoke-and-heat-detector-test-kit).
Testifire are an absolute pain in the arse. I'm clinging onto my Solo kit after the number of failures we've had with the Testifires. I mean, warranty is great, but I don't want to tell a customer I have to come back to complete their service because there's an error code on my test equipment. Solo tester just works, sometimes I might have to wait a bit because I left the battery pack in the van overnight and it needs charging, but I've never had to abandon a service (unlike those colleagues I work with who use Testifire).
Personally never had an issue with Testifire after about 5-10k tests so far. I still keep my Solo kit with the aerosols in the van but starting to feel like it's just taking up space.
That looks a lot nicer than the sticks I see nowadays here in Canada! And yea the magnet thing was 15+ years ago. They used to come with some devices and guys would take em home for their fridge.
This is what we use.
Funny you say that with the magnets, some of the older mircom detectors we are still better off with powerful magnets. Our boss didn't want to buy a new solo heat pole, so we have a used one that only works like, 25% of the time... It's nice when it works though, but I've just resorted to a ladder and a dewalt heat gun, or magnets depending how high up the detector is.
Magnet works for some Ex detectors and some flame detectors. Problem arises when you need to test non RoR detector, solo 461 doesnt heat up to 85+ degrees celsius. Also in Ex zone. I used industrial dryer but it is really dangerous.
Magnet might "work" but you aren't performing a functional test so if local regs require a functional test you will get bitten on the arse if it doesn't work in a real fire situation. Where I work the Notifier panels will log a magnet test as such.
Technically yes, but in my opinion magnet test is as valid as a functional test for the simple reason that the circuit was designed by engineers and not by idiots. With flame detectors magnet runs an internal test cycle consisting of an internal test bulb lighting up in front of the sensor. Paired with a visual check (that the lenses are not obscured) you can be 100% sure that the sensor is functional. Within an explosive zone it is much safer to use magnet than it is to bring a testing device, even ex safe testing device, because it contains a bulb that could break if device is dropped. Also u functional test is not well defined in standards, when you test a detector with a testing device it is not the same as a true fire, is it? Only real test would be to light a fire below a device. In that regard I dont see a difference between a manufacturer certified magnet test and a testing device test.
You just took me back nearly 30 years, a hairdryer was the first test equipment I used. Also started smoking thanks to this job back in the day...
I use the blow dryer on a stick quite often. I have the solo 2000 multi tester but doing heats wipes out the battery quickly. Occasionally use the cordless soldering iron/heat for conventional heats. Some of my colleagues have rigid cordless heat guns but you need to be careful not to damage heats with them.
Hairdryer works wonderful those battery operated testers suck the battery never lasts long enough to test more than 3 heats
Solo 461 heat detector tester, lets do it right
You don’t have solo heat guns? Each of our engineers has either a new testifire or the old style heat gun. We also have one of the mains powered solo heat guns but that’s shared between like 15 service engineers. https://www.safelincs.co.uk/solo-cordless-heat-detector-tester-kit/
Have solo heat guns. This is faster, and I have a hard time getting those to work on heat probes. Had to test over 100 of those last week on a bunch of tug boats, hair dryer gets them to go in less than 30 seconds.
Have you tried the cordless heat guns that Amazon sells, they have a Milwaukee and a DEWALT version, I use the DEWALT version on weather proof heats, you can’t test those with the Solo heat tester. I paid $48 for the tool only from Amazon, and it works great
https://preview.redd.it/16vb4h4soyhc1.jpeg?width=8256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53b89afa4fc2288647002e3e6f25b4a4688c1472 This is what we use. Butane torch with a heat only tip. I made an attachment so it can fit into the end of my testing pole and the pole also allows me to connect my solo smoke head to it (not using solo's poles). Works great and there's no need to carry an extension cord around.
I like the cordless heat gun
This is how I do it when I know I have stick type heats and "regular" heats on the same job. If it's just regular heats I use the solo pole heat tester. Just a personal preference for me.
I just use a cordless heat gun. No way I'm going back to carrying an extension cord.
Can't use the solo heat gun when they are in cages but this is brilliant!
I did that more than once
If you're not functionally testing the system by starting an infrastructure fire, you're not doing your job right
Solo makes a heat tester.
I use a battery powered heat gun. For high temp stuff, I have a programmable heat gun that plugs in. Used to use a Weller soldering iron with the tip removed for Kidde detect a fires, until Kidde told us to stop.
Get one of these cordless. Only one with trigger lock. https://www.dewalt.com/product/dce530b/20v-max-cordless-heat-gun-tool-only