Mid-West 845-5 Backflow Test Kit Review
(Video transcript)
Hello I'm Sean from Backflow
Supply out of Salt Lake City Utah. Today
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk
to you about the Midwest 845-5 test kit
many of you are familiar with this kit
if you've used it in backflow training
and certification classes others of you
have the kit already or it's been handed
down to you from somebody else and
you're wondering what it looked like
when it was brand new. So today I just
wanted to go through opening up one of
these kits and show you what it looks
like and maybe answer some questions you
might have about it. I'll use my Backflow Supply
logo knife to open it.
So it comes in this
rugged carrying case and has these two
compartments on the top for you to be
able to store your fittings and it does
come with a set of standard adapter
straight from the factory, some quarter
inch 1/2 inch and a three quarter inch
bushings set, three of each of those come
inside the case it comes with foam on
the top and the bottom to hold the gauge
securely in place.
Smell that new kit smell they don't
smell like this when they come in for
calibration I guarantee that, and then
you've got the gauge itself this one is
the five valve kit which means that it
has five valves. It's got the high bleed
the low bleed, the low valve the high
valve and the vent valve. They make this
test kit in a three valve and a two
valve configuration as well but this is
the most requested one so this is the
one I'm going to talk about.
Now these valves are color coded to match the
hoses as well as their needle valves and
they have replaceable seats in there and
it only requires to be finger
tight. If you find over time that you
need to start turning them harder and
harder to get it to shut off that's an
indication that you need to replace
those seats and you can do that yourself
in the field if you want to order the
seats from us or you can just have us
look at them when you send it in for
calibration. It also comes with a line
pressure gauge to help you just know
what's going on in the system
the gauge is a zero to fifteen and it's
broken down into easy-to-read increments.
It comes with a carrying strap that you
can hang it over a pipe around your neck
or over your shoulder to help keep it
secure as you're testing so you don't
accidentally drop it. It also comes with
about five feet of bleed tubing and I've
seen people add extra length to this, cut
it off and just put weights down here on
the end to keep it from flapping around
as they use it but it has to be coming
off the high bleed and the low bleed becuase
they are tied together in the front so
you just have to worry about this one
tube.
That's the gage itself
I'd mention that they've got color-coded
hoses and these are about five feet but
they have inline filters I want to point
that out to you because this is a huge
benefit to help preserve your gauge.
If you'll notice on the outside of the
housing it has the word gage stamped
into it with an arrow pointing to this
end this is the end that should be
hooked to your gage this is the end that
should be hooked to your backflow
assembly as your testing. Many of the
kits that come in for calibration have
these hoses still attached to their Gage
and they've got them hooked up backwards
and the problem with that is these are
cone-shaped filters and when they're
hooked up backwards that means all of
the debris that you're filtering is
getting caught in the cone shape of the
filter and it makes it very difficult to
get it out or even to clean it if you
put the hoses on correctly then all that
debris collects on the outside of the
cone shape and you can easily undo these
filter housings pull the filters out
clean them off with a brush and maybe
soak them in a cleaner of some sort. You
can also just replace the filters as
needed or have that looked at as well
when you're sending it in for
calibration.
I want to point out also that
this test kit comes calibrated from the
factory and they put their at literature
up here in the top of the case
underneath.
Straight from the factory it's
calibrated you get a certificate for
that, there's also some sales literature which
shows you some different things
they offer such as quick connect test
fittings, bleed off assembly, a vertical
tube kit or sight kit tube if that's how
you know. You can also replace
the carrying case if yours is getting
beat up too bad or it just smells too
funky to even open and then there's some
laminated testing procedures. I would
encourage you to look through these and
see how they compare to the procedures
you learned in your trust testing class
when you got certified and just make
sure that they're the same procedures.
But those are there maybe it's a backup
for you. Then the last thing that I
think is a huge benefit on these Midwest
test kits is that they offer a five-year
warranty
and warranties are from the date that
it's built not the date you walk out the
door with it but it's a it's definitely
a feature or a added benefit when you're
looking at purchasing a test kit I don't
know of any other kit that offers a
five-year warranty so that's something
to consider as well. That's pretty much
the 845 test kit if you have any
questions I'd encourage you to put those
down in the comments below or feel free
to call me or email me or contact me
through my webpage I'd also ask you to
click on the subscribe button these
YouTube videos are something new for us
and we'll talk about different things
that testers face out in the field and
help show you some tools that are out
there for you to use and maybe answer
some questions about why is it backflow
assembly doing this and what can we do
to fix that. I want to thank you for
taking your time a few short minutes to
watch this video and hope you have a
good day thank you.
We are also a certified test kit calibration center if your kit needs
calibration.
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