UV Leak Detector Accessories

Use a metered injector sized to your system's charge volume — most dye is formulated for a specific ounce-per-pound-of-refrigerant or per-quart-of-oil ratio, and overdosing leaves excess dye residue throughout the system that can make future leak inspections harder to interpret since old dye traces mix with new ones. Follow the dye manufacturer's dosage chart for your specific system size.

Yes — dye formulated for mineral oil systems may not mix properly or could affect lubrication in a POE or PAG oil system common to R134a and newer refrigerants, so always confirm the dye is rated compatible with your system's specific refrigerant and lubricant combination before injecting it.

UV enhancement glasses filter out reflected non-fluorescent light (including some UV light reflecting directly off surfaces) that would otherwise wash out or compete with the faint fluorescent glow of a small dye trace, making it significantly easier to spot slow or minor leaks. Without the glasses, a technician may miss faint leaks that the glasses would clearly reveal.

This depends on the system type and how actively fluid circulates — a running AC or hydraulic system circulates dye to a leak point relatively quickly (often within a short run cycle), while a system that's not actively running may need to operate for a period before dye reaches and accumulates visibly at a leak site. If no leak is found on the first inspection, running the system longer before re-checking is often recommended.

UV dye detection excels at pinpointing the exact physical location of a leak once you know or suspect one exists, but pressure or vacuum decay testing is generally still used first to confirm whether a system is actually leaking and at what rate. The two methods are complementary — decay testing identifies that a leak exists, UV dye helps you find exactly where.