VANPO 3/8 Inch Drive Adjustable Torque Wrench, 5-45 Ft.lb/7-61 Nm, 38MM Open End Torque Wrench with Interchangeable Jaw & Ratchet Head for HVAC, Car, Moto, Narrow Pipeline

Torque on Mini-split flare fittings is important to avoid leaks so you need a wrench that you can get on the fittings and is fairly accurate. I tested this against my two other torque wrenches and it was very close - no way to tell which one was off, but I'm confident that this was in the 5% range that is about as good as you'll find in wrenches costing less than a thousand bucks One of the great features is the inclusion of the ratchet head - If this is your only torque wrench, you're going to be happy about that. All in all I was happy with the purchase and would buy again.

Works great. Needed it for a split system. HVAC

EDIT March 12, 2024: The seller refunded the purchase price of the wrench. I bought it based on the strong reviews and I'm hoping I just got a lemon. I will buy another one. ORIGINAL REVIEW: The wrench is impressive in appearance and weight. It looks and feels like a quality tool. But the torque settings are WAY off and destroyed a copper flare on my mini split. The VANPO wrench seemed to work fine with the 1/2" line using Senville torque specs of 35-37 Nm. But when I tried to torque the 1/4" line at 18-20 Nm the wrench kept turning and turning. I was really cranking it down waiting for the "break" and it didn't come when I felt it should have. Then I finally got the click indicating I was at about 19 Nm. I did a nitrogen pressure test and the fitting failed miserably. When I took off the nut I discovered the copper tubing had totally been crushed. I cut it off and re-flared the tubing and this time I just tightened it by feel. Not a good way to install a mini split! Turns out I'm about 10 days beyond the return window. Sigh.

Do not buy this wrench -- I had the same issues as some of the other reviewers re: destroying HVAC minisplit flares due to wildly inaccurate torque settings between 10 lbs-ft and 30 lbs-ft. Buying this wrench and using it on your flare fittings will just triple the difficulty of your job due to persistent damages/reflarings and possibly having to recharge your system.

This wrench looks great, however the torque setting seemed to be more than twice the listed ft/lb. This is also noted in other similar reviews. As a result, setting the wrench to about 14lbs/ft actually allowed over 30 pounds of force to be applied to my 14/inch lineset coupling and absolutely destroyed my minisplit lineset. Now I have to completely re-flare 4 lineset couplings, something which adds an entirely new level of complexity to my project.

I’ve installed two different mini splits. First one my thoughts were “meh I can just guess how tight”, boy was I wrong. On the second install I used this to torque the fittings as noted in the instructions and man did I underestimate the torque needed! I’m just glad the first mini split hasn’t leaked yet! This is a must have for any DIYer that is doing mini splits.

I have purchased other cheap Chinese torque wrenches that broke the first time, but this one worked like a champ and seems reasonably accurate. I used the open-end on a split unit heat-pump and the closed end on an aircraft oil filter. So far, very happy

I installed 3 split units. The first 2 gave me headache adjusting the torques (I broke 2 of them) then I decided to use the right tool for torque. This wrench made it easy for me and I was able to use the right torque. I recommend this tool for torquing split units linesets.