Guide to selecting a Portable Appliance Tester

(19/04/2010)

Being able to choose the right PAT machine can be tricky if you have only just learned to PAT test or have been testing portable appliances for a while and need to update your old Portable Appliance tester.

The key elements to think about when deciding which Portable Appliance tester you should invest in are as follows.
- Your finances
- Number of appliance tests that you are going to carry out
- How you aim to document the results from testing
- Whether you are going to test large amounts of 110v Industrial appliances

If you are only going to be testing a few instruments every now and again, and total under 200 items, then you won’t want to fork out a lot on PAT test equipment. On the other hand if you are thinking of starting a Portable Appliance Testing business then you could make a massive mistake in buying a tester and PAT testing software package that isn’t good enough.

This basic guide from Pat Testers aims to help you determine what your requirements are and therefore which kind of tester will be right one for you:

Portable Appliance Testing Results
Do you want to record test results automatically? Yes? Then you need a PAT tester that downloads. No? Then you could opt for a manual portable appliance tester and a log book. Recording several results for every appliance can be tedious when repeated over and over in a day. Imagine testing over a hundred appliances and recording every result manually. It can take longer to record the test results than it does to achieve the testing!

Pass / Fail Testers
Pass or fail testers are entry-level portable appliance testing systems. Whereas most PAT Testers display a reading for each test carried out a Pass / Fail tester will only display, Pass or Fail. If you only have to test very few items of the same type then this type of tester may be suitable. These Portable Appliance testers have pass marks that are pre-set and cannot be changed, in certain conditions they can show a fail when the device shouldn’t fail, such as when testing any type of long cable or extension lead. If testing these items you should keep away from these kinds of testers.

Which PAT Tester then?
Choosing a portable appliance testing system can be confusing. There are around 27 various models currently on the market that all carry out similar tests. The key tests which are a requirement of the IEE code of practice for In Service inspection and testing are detailed below.

Earth Bond Testing
The earth bond test is carried out on all earthed devices. The main point to note here is that there are a selection of test currents used for the earth bond tests. If you are going to be testing computer equipment and electronic equipment somewhere along the line then choose portable appliance testing equipment with either a 100mA (milliamp) or 200mA test current. Many PAT machines available will do this low current test. A lot of Portable Appliance testers also carry out a 4amp, 6amp 10amp and 25 or 26amp test.

Insulation Testing
All portable appliance testing equipment will do a 500v insulation test as this is a requirement. A not so common fact is that if you perform a 500v insulation test on a surge protected extension lead then it will fail to pass.

Battery Powered Portable Appliance Testers
There is a range of battery powered portable appliance testing equipment on the market to pick from. Battery powered testers are faster as you wait less for them to start up. You also don’t have to find a socket to plug them into. They will do about one thousand tests on a set of batteries and they will take standard batteries. However if you want to complete leakage tests then you will need to plug them into the mains.

Other Points to Consider when Choosing your Portable Appliance Tester
There will be other tests you may need to think about when choosing a portable appliance testing system. A few of these are a leakage test, an extension leads and machines with long cables test, flash test and 110 volt test. If you are doing specific testing or thinking of starting a PAT Testing business then you will need a tester that can do the aforementioned types of tests.

So which tester should I buy?
If you are thinking of setting up a Portable Appliance testing business or know you will have a large amount of tests to complete then consider buying a tester kit which comes complete with a tester, software, labels, cable wraps and cables that you will require to PAT test.

Hopefully using the guide will help you decide on which tester is most suitable for your needs and requirements. You can then buy a suitable tester kit online.

Related categories:  Industrial   Test and measurement   Tools and installation equipment