Torque wrench selection help

[makemenuconfig]

I am installing a mini-split, and I need a torque wrench for torquing the flare connections. It would be nice if I could find a torque wrench that would be useful for other general tasks. The yellow-jacket clicker seems popular among HVAC pros, but they are heavily backordered, and limited to use with open-end metric heads.

Yellow-jacket has an adjustable style digital torque wrench. It looks to be a white-labeled Eclatorq WPC-3 wrench. I've heard good things about Eclatorq, and am somewhat interested in the digital style torque wrench in general. The yellow jacket digital only has the adjustible style, which I don't love. The manual is also a bit dubious about whether the value needs adjusting and which value is displayed.

Then I discovered the 9x12mm interchangeable head type torque wrenches. Gearwrench sells flare nut heads, which would be perfect. But they don't have clicker wrenches in the torque range I need (15-40 NM) and I've heard bad things about the accuracy of their digital wrenches.

I found a Westward digital wrench at Zoro/Grainger (their house brand) which also appears to be a Eclatorq product. The WKC3-135 I think. It has a 7-135 NM range and takes 9x12mm heads. I can't find a user manual anywhere though. It seems like it would be a good wrench for me. Does anybody know if it is okay to mix brands of 9x12mm heads? For example to use a Gearwrench head on a Eclatorq wrench? They look similar.

Welcome other suggestions, thanks.

 

[dnschmidt]

The beauty of the Europeans and DIN. The interchangeable heads on torque wrenches are universal between brands whether it be 9 X 12mm or 14 X 18mm. Also, normally the fulcrum points are identical so no compensation is required. The only exception to this is ratchet heads where the normal lever switched ratchet head is a little bit longer than the round ratchet head normally shipped with this type of torque wrench.

 

[FSUwelder1212]

for torquing flare connections, another option could be to use a regular non interchangeable head with flare nut sockets like these:
https://palmac.net/search-result/?search_query=Flare nut socket although if you need SAE sizes I think snap on is your only option and they are stupid expensive. I use these along with some larger sizes from shley and lisle for torquing injectors and high pressure fuel lines on diesels.

 

[makemenuconfig]

FSUwelder1212, that looks like an interesting option. I'm not sure if the bend radius of the linesets will clear that fitting.

dnschmidt, you might know since this is a Eclatorq unit. I almost purchased the yellow jacket digital wrench (link), but I've been quite confused by its proper usage. The unit only ships with the adjustable head. You can buy a ratchet head. The second printing of the manual says to adjust your torque value by 0.782 when using the adjustable head. The older manual makes no mention of this. A third printing of the manual implies the opposite. I've seen many youtube videos of people using this and nobody seems aware of that.

When first reading through the manual, I assumed "when changing the type of head" wouldn't apply since it doesn't come with any other heads. How would someone with the original manual know to do that? But now I'm thinking it would be necessary. They don't offset the value at the factory I assume.

 

[makemenuconfig]

I ordered the westward, and a torque adapter to check it with.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

[makemenuconfig]

Got the Westward and had a chance to try it out. It will suit my needs. Feels pretty well built and accurate in my limited testing. It is the Eclatorq wkc3-135 rebranded for Grainger.

Since it is a 100 ft-lb wench, the minimum guaranteed range is 20-100%. One of the values I need will be 12 ft-lb. I have a torque adapter which has a smaller range (12 ft-lb is above 20% of the torque adapter's range) which I tested against. It was repeatable and within the range required by the mini split manufacturer, so I'm happy with that. It was within 2%.

It's the same one as the "Hilmor" brand HVAC wrench but with the swappable heads. Low values like this are common on mini splits, I'm surprised Hilmor didn't account for the 20% range when selecting their product.

The heads from Gearwrench fit great. I got the flare nut style in the sizes I need. Much better than the adjustable type.