Most demolition, utility or general contractors understand that while one hydraulic breaker can handle a given project, another may be needed for a different job. Usually what contractors are most interested to know is how hard a breaker hits - or more scientifically, how much impact energy it can produce.

Easier Said Than Done
A typical breaker spec sheet includes impact rate, working tool diameter, operating specifications and a weight range of appropriate carriers. But things can get complicated with power output claims that are often just based on estimates.

In 1991, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) developed a testing system that provided an objective standard for comparing hydraulic breaker power output. But today only a handful of companies still publish standardized impact energy ratings. This has left buyers with power specs from different manufacturers that appear to be based on the same measurement scale - foot-pounds - but that are actually just a pile of apples and oranges.

Shifting Numbers
In 1966, Krupp Berco Bautechnik produced the first hydraulic breaker series, and other players soon followed. Back then, breaker power output was categorized with a foot-pound number that roughly equated to a model's service weight. Of course, weight is not a perfect measure, as it makes no distinction between other factors that influence performance. So as more companies produced breakers, they tried to separate themselves from the competition.

Manufacturers introduced breakers claiming to deliver more foot-pounds of impact energy than the unit's weight in pounds. But measurement methods were unknown and at times it even seemed numbers were arbitrarily derived. Without knowledge of test procedures, neutral parties couldn't replicate a breaker's published power rating. Consumers were left to make decisions based on seemingly comparable measurements obtained from differing methods.