Everything To Know About The A/C Gauge Set From Harbor Freight Before You Buy

Here's something you may not have thought about before: how do you test the efficacy of an air conditioner? Air conditioners are surprisingly complex pieces of technology, as they need to carefully blow out a combination of air and pressurized refrigerant to actually make things cool in a safe and efficient manner. Perhaps nowhere is this delicate balance of cool air more important than with the air conditioner in your car; the last thing you want is a Freon leak blowing right in your face while you're behind the wheel.

If you need to run some tests on the air conditioning unit in your car, you're going to need a specialized piece of equipment to safely gauge the pressure levels. As it happens, Harbor Freight sells such a piece of equipment through its in-house vacuum and pump brand, Pittsburgh: the A/C Manifold Gauge Set. This gadget can be used to run tests on your vehicle's A/C system, as well as flush and fill its refrigerant. Here's what you need to know about this gauge set, including its intended purpose, specifics, and pricing.

The Pittsburgh A/C Manifold Gauge Set available at Harbor Freight is intended exclusively for the testing, flushing, and filling of an R134a air conditioning system. R134a is a type of refrigerant used primarily in automotive air conditioning systems, and it requires a particular kind of setup to check and manage.

The Gauge Set is made up of a variety of color-coded valves and hoses to ensure proper installation into the air conditioning system alongside vacuum pumps and refrigerant cans when necessary. When hooked up, the Gauge Set measures the high side and low side pressure readings via a pair of gauges. Depending on the ambient temperature outside a vehicle, the ideal high and low pressure levels will vary, information that these gauges can provide you with.

The red high side gauge can measure PSI levels from 0 to 500, while the blue low side gauge measures from 0 to 120 PSI. These gauges come with high-pressure safety valves to ensure no refrigerant leaks occur, as well as a sight glass for checking the condition of the refrigerant yourself.

The Gauge Set costs $64.99 at Harbor Freight, and comes bundled in a pocketed carrying case. It also includes a metal hook to hang the gauges from the hood of your car while working.