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Elitech · Elitech Refrigerant Leak Detector, CLD-100 Freon Leak Detector Car HVAC Halogen Refrigerant Leak Detector CFCs HCFCs HFCs
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A handheld refrigerant sniffer described as an upgraded version of an earlier model, using a traditional corona sensor with an updated analogue circuit, stated to trigger on R11, R22, R134A, R404a, R410A and all halogenated refrigerants including HFCs, CFCs, HCFCs and blends, with a 6 second preheat, six adjustable sensitivity levels, a stated sensitivity of 0.21 oz per year, a flexible probe of around 8.26 inches, audible and visual alarms, a dual colour battery indicator, 4 AAA cells not supplied, and technician support by email and phone. Naming the sensor type is the most useful thing on the page. The gas list is the reason to think twice.
Corona discharge is named plainly, and the word carries consequences
Very few listings in this category say which sensing technology they use. This one does, in the first bullet, and calls it traditional. Both of those are helpful.
A corona sensor holds a high voltage across a small gap so that the air in the gap is partly ionised and a small current flows. When a halogenated molecule enters that gap it changes how readily the discharge conducts, and that change in current is what drives the alarm. It is the oldest electronic method for refrigerant detection, it is inexpensive, and it responds almost immediately because there is no element to heat and no chemistry to complete.
What it is not is selective. The mechanism responds to the dielectric and ionisation behaviour of whatever is in the gap, so a corona sensor is well known for reacting to moisture, oil mist, solvent and cleaning spray vapour, and for being disturbed by a draught across the tip. It also cannot say what it found. A hit means something changed, and the operator supplies the interpretation.
That is precisely why naming the sensor is valuable rather than damaging. A detector whose character you know can be worked around. Zero it in clean air close to the job rather than across the room, keep the tip out of the airflow from a fan, sweep slowly, and treat a hit as a region to investigate rather than a verdict. Our comparison of infrared against heated diode detection sets out what the more selective methods buy you.
Six grams a year, with no standard attached
The second bullet states a sensitivity of 0.21 oz per year, and the arithmetic is worth doing because the figure sounds abstract.
An ounce is a little under twenty nine grams. So 0.21 oz per year is close to six grams over a year, which is roughly sixteen milligrams a day. On paper that is a genuinely small loss rate, far smaller than a leak that would show on gauges over a service interval.
Two things qualify it. First, mass loss sensitivity is entirely a function of the test conditions. The figure depends on the calibrated leak used to produce it, the gas flowing through it, how still the air around it was and how long the operator waited for the alarm. A figure quoted against a named test standard can be set alongside a competitor figure and compared; a bare number cannot, and this page names no standard.
Second, the listing offers six adjustable sensitivity levels and does not say which one the headline figure belongs to. The sensible assumption is the most sensitive, and that is also the setting most likely to alarm on moisture or a draught. In practice the technique is to start sensitive to find the area, then step down to narrow it, and the published figure describes the first half of that process rather than the second. Read it as a statement about the best case rather than about the setting you will be sweeping a condenser on.
Every gas named here is from the older generation
This is the finding that should decide the purchase. Look at the list: R11, R22, R134A, R404a, R410A, and the general phrase all halogenated refrigerants including HFCs, CFCs, HCFCs and blends.
Every one of those is a chlorinated or fluorinated compound from the generation that is being replaced. What is absent from the page is any mention of the current direction of travel: the mildly flammable fluorinated refrigerants, or the hydrocarbon refrigerants used in smaller sealed systems.
The distinction matters in two separate ways.
- Hydrocarbon refrigerants contain no halogen at all. A halogen sensing method has no mechanism to detect propane or isobutane, so this is not a question of degree. If your work includes hydrocarbon systems you need a different sensing principle for them.
- A mildly flammable fluorinated refrigerant is halogenated, so the general phrase would arguably cover it. But arguably is a weak basis for a sniffer, and there is a second question the page never touches. A corona sensor works by maintaining a high voltage discharge at the tip of the probe. Nothing on this page says the instrument is approved for use in an atmosphere that may contain a flammable refrigerant.
We are not asserting that it is unsafe, because the listing gives no information either way, and an instrument of this type may well be designed and certified for it. We are saying the question is unanswered on a page that should answer it, and that it should be answered in writing by the maker before the instrument goes near an A2L or hydrocarbon system. Our roundup of A2L refrigerant leak detectors covers the detectors that state their position on this.
Ready in six seconds, with a twenty one centimetre probe
Two practical figures, one strong and one modest.
Six seconds to ready is excellent and it is a direct consequence of the sensor type. There is no ceramic element to bring up to temperature and no pump to spin up, just a discharge to establish. Detectors that need a minute or more of warm up change how you work, because you either switch on and wait at every joint or you leave the instrument running and burn through cells. A detector you can draw, use and stow in under a minute is a detector that stays in the bag and gets used.
The probe is stated at around 8.26 inches, which is about twenty one centimetres of flexible gooseneck. That is short. It will reach around a condenser coil, behind an evaporator panel or into the awkward space behind a compressor, and it will not follow a line set into a wall void or reach the back of a packaged unit. If the access on your usual work is deep, measure it before buying.
The dual colour battery indicator is a small feature worth noting on a detector running from four AAA cells, which are not supplied. A fading cell changes how an instrument behaves before it stops working altogether, and on a detector that difference is invisible unless something tells you. No battery life figure is published.
What is on the page, and the sensor life that is not
| Specification | Published in the listing |
|---|---|
| Sensor technology | Traditional corona, updated analogue circuit |
| Gases named | R11, R22, R134A, R404a, R410A, halogenated HFCs, CFCs, HCFCs, blends |
| Stated sensitivity | 0.21 oz per year |
| Sensitivity levels | Six, adjustable |
| Preheat time | 6 seconds |
| Probe | Flexible, around 8.26 inches |
| Alarms | Audible and visual, with dual colour battery indicator |
| Power | 4 AAA cells, not included |
| Support | Technician support by email and phone |
| Test standard behind the sensitivity figure | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Setting the sensitivity figure applies to | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Sensor service life | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Replaceable or cleanable sensor tip | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| End of sensor life indication | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Response to A2L or hydrocarbon refrigerants | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Approval for flammable refrigerant atmospheres | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Battery life | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Probe diameter | Not stated in the listing bullets |
| Warranty length | Not stated in the listing bullets |
The sensor life rows are the serious ones. Every refrigerant sniffer has a consumable sensing element, and the failure mode is silence rather than an error: a detector whose sensitivity has quietly fallen away gives exactly the same reassuring quiet as a system with no leak in it. Detectors that publish a sensor lifetime, make the tip replaceable or warn when the element is spent are protecting you from that, and none of those three appears here.
Against that, the support line deserves a positive mention. Stating email and telephone technician support is a commitment you can test, and it is more than most listings in this category offer.
Where this belongs in a service bag
This earns a place as a fast first pass sniffer on legacy equipment. If your work is older HFC and HCFC systems, automotive air conditioning on R134a, or general commercial refrigeration that has not been converted, a six second preheat, six sensitivity steps and a flexible probe make a useful instrument to have in the bag alongside something more selective. A corona detector is at its best in exactly this role: finding the region quickly so a better instrument or a bubble test can confirm.
Do not make it your only detector if your work has moved on. The absent A2L and hydrocarbon positions, and the unanswered question about a high voltage discharge in a flammable atmosphere, make it the wrong instrument to buy as a one tool solution for current equipment. And do not buy it expecting to pinpoint a joint on its own, because selectivity is the thing a corona sensor does not have. Our roundup of refrigerant leak detectors covers the more selective options.
Recommended Tools
Products shown because their documented specifications fit this guide. Price and availability are on Amazon and can change.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a corona discharge sensor and how does it differ from a heated diode?
A corona sensor maintains a high voltage electrical discharge across a small gap in air. A halogenated molecule drifting into that gap alters the behaviour of the discharge, the current changes, and the alarm sounds. A heated diode instead heats a ceramic element that breaks halogenated molecules apart and senses the resulting ions, which gives it a response that is much more specific to halogens and much less likely to fire on moisture or solvent. Corona is older, cheaper and quicker to warm up. Heated diode is more selective and the sensing element is consumed over time.
Does it detect R32, R454B or propane?
The listing names R11, R22, R134A, R404a and R410A, and says all halogenated refrigerants including HFCs, CFCs, HCFCs and blends. It does not name R32, R454B, R1234yf or any hydrocarbon. A fluorinated A2L refrigerant is halogenated, so the wording would arguably cover it, but arguably is not the standard to apply to a sniffer you are relying on. Hydrocarbons such as propane and isobutane contain no halogen at all, so a halogen sensing method has no mechanism to see them. Treat the gas list as the limit of what is claimed.
Is 0.21 ounces per year a good sensitivity figure?
It is a small number. An ounce is a little under twenty nine grams, so 0.21 oz per year is close to six grams a year, which works out around sixteen milligrams a day. The difficulty is not the magnitude but the absence of context. Mass loss sensitivity figures depend on the calibrated leak used, the gas, the air movement around it and how long the operator waits, and a figure quoted against a named standard can be compared across brands while a bare figure cannot. The listing names no standard and does not say which of the six sensitivity settings the figure belongs to.
Why does a six second preheat matter?
Because a leak check is usually one stop in a longer job, not the whole visit. Detectors that need a long warm up end up switched on and left on, which wastes cells, or they get skipped. Six seconds to ready means you can pull it out of the bag, check a joint and put it away, which is how a second detector actually earns its place. It is also a consequence of the sensor type, since a discharge gap has nothing substantial to bring up to temperature.
Can I use it to pinpoint the exact leak before cutting a joint?
Use it to find the area, then confirm by another method before you cut. A corona sensor is sensitive but not selective, so a hit tells you something changed in the air at the tip and not which compound it was. Moisture, oil mist, cleaning solvent and a draught can all produce a response. The standard discipline applies: zero the instrument in clean air near the work, sweep slowly underneath the joint since most refrigerants are heavier than air, reduce the sensitivity to narrow down a broad hit, and confirm with bubble solution, an ultraviolet dye or a more selective detector before committing.
What does the listing not tell you about sensor life?
Anything at all. There is no stated sensor lifetime, no statement of whether the sensing tip is user replaceable or merely cleanable, and no indication the instrument warns you when the sensor has degraded. That is a real gap on any leak detector, because a detector that has quietly stopped being sensitive gives the same reassuring silence as a system without a leak. Ask about tip cleaning and replacement before the instrument is in service.
Affiliate disclosure: Akermin earns a commission from qualifying Amazon purchases made through links on this page. Our editorial picks are based on documented specifications and owner feedback, not commissions.
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