The flue gas analyzer has become standard equipment for all those who service or install boiler equipment. As with all electronic equipment, the prices have dropped remarkably in the last years. Nowadays, the larger analyzers are available for the same cost as the handheld instruments were commanding 10 years ago.
It can genuinely be said that we have entered the time of cheaper service due to the cheap flue gas analyzers now on the market. Naturally, there are still more expensive models on the market, but these are mostly limited to heavy industrial use and measurement of complicated processes.
This is all a far cry from the old days of chemical tests and visits to the laboratory with sacks of gas sample from the stack. The methods were expensive and time consuming, not to mention inaccurate in the extreme. There was simply on alternative available, so people just did their best with what they had.
We can hope for increased accuracy bringing reduced pollution to our skies and better air for our children.