Can I use a pressure gauge to detect refrigerant leaks in a heat pump?
Holy cow if you are willing to spend this much get a quality leak detector not a cheeeeep one they are crap. Adding a gauge to connect to your system creates a loss in freon every time It is connected! I have quality detectors that cost around this much that can find a leak were bubble solution will not. I think my oldest one is an Inficon TEK-Mate. I have better models that cost way more, and have tried some internet crap at 1/2 the price that could not find a leak that a bubble test solution was blowing huge bubbles.