The Brand Story
Fieldpiece: The Meter That Started in a Garage
Every HVAC technician knows the feeling: a rooftop in July, a unit that won't cool, and a tool bag full of instruments that each do one job. Rey Harju thought there was a better way. Working out of his garage, he spent three years developing a stick-shaped meter that could swap accessory heads to measure different things. In 1990 it became the HS24, the first Fieldpiece product, and the start of a company built around one kind of customer.
Chapter 1 · 1990 to 1995
One meter, many heads
The HS24 stick multimeter accepted plug-in accessory heads, so one instrument could take on temperature and other readings as the job required. In 1991 Rey developed a more accurate way to measure pipe temperature, earning his first patent, and the ATH4 dual-temperature head followed. The company moved into its first building in Fullerton, California, in 1992, released the second-generation HS26 stick meter the same year, and added the SC64 clamp meter in 1995.
The guiding idea, as the company tells it, was simple: if a tool could not make life better for the technician in the field, it did not get built.
Chapter 2 · 2002 to 2015
Following the technician
Fieldpiece's product list reads like a technician's day. The ASH2 superheat head arrived in 2002, the ST4 dual-temperature meter in 2004, the SC77 True RMS clamp meter in 2005, and the SRL2K7 infrared leak detector in 2007. In 2008 came the SRS2, the company's first wireless refrigerant scale, and a move to a larger building in Anaheim. In 2010 the SMAN3 and SMAN4 digital manifolds laid the foundation for a line that would become central to the brand. Then, in 2015, Fieldpiece launched the Job Link app for live readings from several measurement points at once and moved to a fourth building in Orange, California.
Chapter 3 · 2018 to today
A wireless job site
Job Link probes arrived in 2018, connecting pressure and temperature readings to the app and to SMAN manifolds. In 2019 the third generation of SMAN manifolds added a wireless hub for probes and scales, the VP85 vacuum pump joined the lineup, Cameron Rouns was named CEO, and a European office opened in England. An EMEA headquarters followed in Doetinchem, the Netherlands, in 2021, along with the MG44 wireless vacuum gauge. The SR47 wireless refrigerant scale arrived in 2022, CAT85 combustion analyzers in 2023, and hoses, fittings and valve core tools in 2024.
The Lineup
What Fieldpiece builds today
Fieldpiece makes test instruments and refrigerant tools for HVACR work: meters, manifolds, wireless probes, scales, vacuum pumps and gauges, recovery machines, leak detectors and combustion analyzers. Here is what HVAC365 carries:
- Multimeters: the expandable True RMS stick multimeter, a direct descendant of the original HS24 idea, and a classic-style digital multimeter with temperature.
- Clamp meters: including the loaded True RMS clamp meter with a swivel head.
- Thermometers and thermocouples: a gun-style infrared thermometer, a pocketknife-style thermometer, a dual temperature meter, and pipe clamp thermocouples for 3/8 to 1-3/8 inch lines.
- Testing instruments: accessory heads such as the anemometer and temperature head that turn a stick meter into an airflow tool.
- Wireless Job Link probes: including the Job Link premium pipe clamp probe, which sends readings to a phone or manifold.
- Refrigerant manifolds: the four-port wireless refrigerant manifold.
- Refrigerant management accessories: the wireless vacuum gauge and wireless refrigerant scale, part of the wider refrigerant management range.
At a Glance
Fieldpiece by the numbers
- Founder
- Rey Harju
- First product
- HS24 stick multimeter, 1990
- Home base
- Orange, California, since 2015
- EMEA headquarters
- Doetinchem, Netherlands
- CEO
- Cameron Rouns, named 2019
- Wireless platform
- Job Link, launched 2015
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Fieldpiece
Who founded Fieldpiece?
Fieldpiece was founded by Rey Harju, who developed the idea of a stick meter with swappable accessory heads in his garage. That meter became the HS24 in 1990.
Where is Fieldpiece based?
Fieldpiece moved into its fourth building, in Orange, California, in 2015. It opened an EMEA headquarters in Doetinchem, the Netherlands, in 2021.
What was the first Fieldpiece product?
The HS24 stick multimeter, introduced in 1990, which accepted multiple accessory heads so one meter could take several kinds of measurements.
What is Fieldpiece Job Link?
Job Link is Fieldpiece's wireless system, launched as an app in 2015. Job Link probes, introduced in 2018, send real-time readings from several points on a system to a phone or SMAN manifold.
What are SMAN manifolds?
SMAN is Fieldpiece's line of digital refrigerant manifolds, which began with the SMAN3 and SMAN4 in 2010. The third generation, released in 2019, added a wireless hub for Job Link probes and scales.
