Calibrated Leak of the Week: Variable Sniffer Leak Teflon (VSLT) Calibrated Leak

High-quality HVAC systems are crucial for keeping our offices, homes, and hospitals at safe, comfortable temperatures. Making sure those systems are fit for the field requires an entire ecosystem of leak detectors that can keep flawed products from reaching customers.

To provide the HVAC industry—and other manufacturers who use sniffer leak detectors—with a versatile tool for calibrating their leak detection equipment, engineers at Vacuum Technology Incorporated (VTI) created their Variable Sniffer Leak Teflon (VSLT) calibrated leak. This helium flow standard, which relies on a Teflon permeation element that never clogs, is ideal for industrial applications. Operators can adjust the VSLT to a wide variety of leak rates without removing it from the field, making it easy to use a single leak standard to calibrate a number of different leak detectors. Furthermore, the VSLT features a refillable reservoir that operators can charge using their own supplies of helium. VTI’s calibration technicians can calibrate the VSLT to detect leaks as large as 10^-3 atm-cc/sec and as small as 10^-7 atm-cc/sec.

“The VSLT is sort of like the Swiss Army knife of calibrated leaks. Companies can use the same leak for a number of different applications, and it’s very easy to service,” said Joshua Carmichael, VTI’s Calibration Laboratory Supervisor.

VTI’s calibration laboratory is A2LA-accredited (Cert. #1707.01), and each VSLT is calibrated against NIST-traceable standards. In addition to manufacturing its own product line of leak standards, VTI’s technicians will also refurbish and repair any of their competitor’s calibrated leaks.

“We’re proud of the leaks we build, but we want customers to have reliable flow standards regardless. There’s no leak we can’t recalibrate,” said Carmichael

VTI is the world’s single largest supplier of calibrated leaks, providing flow standards to hundreds of companies, universities, and governments across the globe. The VSLT is only one of the many models of leak standards VTI manufactures at its facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

“Right now, HVAC manufacturers around the world are using this leak standard to make sure their products are dependable,” said Carmichael.