In article . com,
"ironer" writes:
B&Q have a Monument brand or make 'Dry test kit' (£34.98). There are

I bought one for much less than this. Can't recall where from,
possibly screwfix, but it was some years ago.

no visible instructions, but appears to be a 4bar pressure gauge, with
a push fit(?) connection to 15mm tube(?) in the base plus a schrader
valve in the side.
Has anyone used one? If so, a quick how-to-use run through would be

Yes -- I pressure tested each section of my heating system
before letting water anywhere near it.

appreciated + whether it does a good job + value for money.

Excellent.

Immediate queries on inspection were (1) what is the exact connection
type in the base?

There are different types. Mine is pushfit.

(2) how do you pump up the pressure - is a tyre pump
sufficient or do you need a 'proper' pump?

I used a plunger (detonator) type bicycle pump.
It takes a lot of effort to pump up a couple of large
radiators to 2 bar though. For pipework alone, it's no
problem. Beware that you are storing large amounts of
energy in the system, and if some part is going to fail,
it could to so explosively. (I was temped to release a
pushfit endcap from such a system -- it bounced off
every wall, ceiling, and floor in the room at least
twice before slowing down enough to be visible, and I
was temporarily deafened by the noise. You wouldn't
want this to happen to a brass pipe fitting which you
hadn't tightened up enough;-)

(3) If a leak did show up,
how easy is it to pin point the failed joint?

Buy a can of gas leak detector spray, such as LD90.
Spray this on the joints, and it will grow a large clump
of cuckoo spit at any leak. The air, being much less
viscous than water, will leak out much faster than
water would. So you can be sure that if it's air-tight,
it will certainly be water-tight.

--
Andrew Gabriel