Foreign testing Hey guys I think we're live having a hard time figuring this out so far? Um yeah, it looks like we're live. Okay, what's up? We're just waiting for a few folks to jump on here. Um, had a crazy week. um and put out a couple videos.

Been getting some haters, some uh, some crazy comments this week. so just a normal week I guess um but yeah, if you're on here, feel free to put a question or two in the chat. we'll try to answer those. Uh, most weeks we get a couple other Pros in here with us and they can help answer questions as well even if it's something I don't know I don't know everything I just you know, try to spread what I do know? Um so yeah, if you have any heating and air questions, feel free to drop those in the chat.

I've got a few things we're going to talk about tonight. Also, if you're joining us, please make sure you share where you are located. Uh, that always seems to help and we like seeing where everyone's you know, located and you know shouting out from. And we also did a little thing last week when we were wrapping up where folks shared who they uh use if they have a good Heating and Air company local to them.

um it seems like I've had I I know there's got to be some good companies down there, but I just you know, it's just ironic here lately. I've had multiple people oh you know I help folks on our our guide and I've had multiple people on there in the Dallas Fort Worth area asking for uh, a good Heating and Air Tech and or company rather. and so if you are in that area and you know of a good company, feel free to shout them out. um because it's just weird.

I've had a ton of folks lately asking for good companies in that area. so I for um the guy I'm helping right now on our on our guide is he's doing new construction so he's you know he does not have a GC he's doing it all himself and he just needs a good Heating and Air company. He has mechanical drawings which is you know pretty unheard of you know in in our industry a lot of residential stuff. uh you know they'll give you prints.

they'll give the contractor prints and expect them to kind of draw up what they're going to do in the house. So Tech Junkies welcome back welcome out Tech Junkie! Um what's a typical acceptable room to room temperature difference? Uh, zero is ideal right? Um, hey, Ryan um yeah I mean I guess that depends I mean I I wouldn't be okay with with any temperature difference but I I Have to admit I do have a, um an area of my home that um, we have to either leave the door open because there's not enough return air in that part of the house. um otherwise it will get it. It's always ahead if there's not enough return air if we don't leave the door opener rather.

so. um I Guess that would kind of depend if it's a new construction then I'm shooting for zero if I can. Um, but I did not I did not do the heating and air in the house that I live in. Otherwise, I would like to think that we would not have this issue that we currently have.

Um, so I mean zero is what you're shooting for, right? So yeah, uh, looks like we've jumped up to over 20 people in here. If you don't mind share where you're located in the country. We always like seeing that Jackie says regarding sizing would it be smart to use a five ton inverter variable AC system when proper sizing is four ton because of the variable speed feature I Don't know why you're going to pay more for the five ton over the four ton. so I'm not sure why you would want to oversize that.

even though inverter systems do have the capability of ramping down, I would still size it accordingly. A lot of folks don't realize a knock. I Can't say this for all, but a lot of inverter systems have the ability to also ramp up higher than what the actual rated capacity is. So a lot of inverter systems you know it might say you know it's a four ton on the model number, but it can Actually, if you read through the specs, it has the capability of ramping up.

you know, higher than 48 000 BTUs Now I Think that's more common with mini splits than with these conventional systems. but I Don't think it's unheard of. So uh, if you can give me a little context Jackie We can maybe go through why you might want to oversize it otherwise I Don't think it would be smart I would put the size that it's meant to be there. so you know that system can.

it's You know there are going to be times when it does run wide open and and uh, you know, cool the house quicker because it's you know, extreme temperatures outside. but other than that, you're not gonna. You're gonna spend more money to get the the higher capacity. and other than that I don't know any other reason why you would want to.

Ryan says for a typical furnace, what temperature should be coming out of the vents with duct work that is normally insulated I normally only see 105 to 115 degrees. Not sure if that's good or bad. I'm in North Carolina For typical furnace, what temperature should be coming out of the vents? So Ryan I I would assume you're me. You mean heating, right? You know, because you're put giving us some really high temperatures there.

and I think it depends on what kind of system you have I I Think that, um, with a typical, uh, non-condensing furnace, you know, so like an 80 furnace you're gonna, you might see a little bit higher of a heat rise. you might you might be pushing 30 40 degrees up towards 40. um, more with a condensing furnace, you're going to be closer to 30. I would say So if it's going in the duct work at 70 and you're in a heat mode, you know 30 30 to 40 degree heat rise? I would say it's typical.

Um, you know some of you guys up north that work on furnaces a whole lot more than I do feel free to chime in on that I Know we do get some some pros in here sometimes. So last week we were flooded with some pros. We had a bunch of Heating and Air Guys in here and they started talking heat and air stuff which is pretty uncommon for my channel since it's directed more towards homeowners. but you know it was good.

We were able to riff a little bit and share some knowledge in. Northern Virginia Shout out to Virginia I'm in Virginia Uh, just had my upstairs system replaced as part of that. The company also recommended a radiant heat barrier be something I consider as a large, efficient efficiency play. Would appreciate your thoughts.

Uh, sorry if I don't say your name correctly. Naresh Naresh. Hopefully I'm saying that Okay, um Radiant Barrier I wonder what they're talking about there? Radiant Barrier can you give me a little context on that? Um, you know, are you talking about? are they Are they talking about in the Attic You know Radiant Barrier up there or is this something else? some other product? Some sort of barrier Radiant Barrier Um, if you're talking about the attic, you know I'd have to defer to your pro. I Don't know your house.

Every house is different I Know a lot of the houses in our area are doing all kinds of different things to the addicts to try to alleviate some of the the issues. especially when their systems are located in the Attic So Maybe that's what you're talking about when when you do have a heating and air system located in the attic and it's unconditioned, You know that system at times. especially where I live and and further south it's sitting literally in an oven. I Mean that system can only do but so much and it's located in a very You know some of these addicts.

150 160 degrees is not unheard of and you know, sometimes even higher. So you've got your your system is supposed to provide you. AC Doing all it can located. You know it's it's It's just like putting an ice cube in an oven.

It's eventually going to melt right. It can only do, but so much Johnny says if a proper load calculation was done always size. Recommended to that if a proper load calculation was done. always size recommended to that so he must be uh answering someone else's question there.

probably the five-ton four-ton question. Uh, Ryan says two stages 90 percenter. So yeah I mean I I would be happy with a 30 degree heat rise I mean if you're having trouble with it, keeping up with the house Uh, you know that might be a different story, but with a condensing, high efficiency furnace, you're not going to see some of the heat rise temperatures that you see on a you know 80 furnace or especially an oil furnace. You know those Jokers can have a 60 degree heat rise at times.

50 60 degrees is not that you know, unheard of. So foreign. Hopefully I'm saying that right as asking as a Daikin dealer are you authorized to sell a man of products I think if I needed to get my hands on it I mean a a product I might be able to through a different dealer, but my Daikins distributor does not even sell a Mana so I wouldn't be able to buy it from them I don't know if that answers your question or not, but I I've had to get. We had to get an air handler one time.

but you know you guys that know anything about Dyke and Amanda Goodman A lot of their products are, you know, cross-referenced so at times it's the same stuff, different sticker. It just depends on what you're doing and so on But my to answer your question, my Daikin dealer does not sell a Mana so I couldn't get it if I wanted it. that's good pronunciation. thank you.

essentially a rubberized foil yes in the Attic above the insulation. Yeah! I Mean to be honest with you, I'm not an insulin I Don't claim to be a an energy expert. These guys that are these building scientists and these new trades that are coming out I I don't claim to know what they know. Um I know how to fix your air conditioner.

Um, but I would defer to them I Do know that again. You know a lot of these addicts are quite hot and anything you can do to kind of, you know, insulate better. you know? Maybe that's why they're saying that I will say get multiple opinions. My best friend here locally he uh had two different companies come in and give him recommendations to fix an issue with a part of his upstairs.

He had a part of his upstairs that was just didn't matter how much AC we dumped in there. uh you know it just was hot in there all the time and so he was getting um you know opinions on you know the insulation and things like that from different companies. and it wasn't until a company came in with a an actual thermal camera that they got to the root issue and and were able to give him a you know, a permanent fix to the problem he was having. and the con.

concerning part of that is the companies that were coming in and just kind of throwing Band-Aids on it or throwing you know, mud on the wall hoping that it would fix it. Um, they're PR their solutions to the problem would not have fixed the rude issue, you know it and he would not have known that. So I would recommend getting more than one opinion on that matter. Um Johnny says I usually oversize a half a ton for any attic system.

Yeah, just every house is different, you know? So uh, we'll see. looks like I just switched to the wrong setup. Here we go. So yeah, feel free.

uh looks like again we've got over 20 people in here. Please share where you're from, you know where you're located. love seeing that. um share that in the chat and then also if you have any heating and air questions.

um I was looking for I think his name who's the guy that told me how to fix my microphone last week I think his name was Gary maybe I was hoping he would be in here so I could tell him that I tested his theory and he was correct that the microphone I was using it incorrectly last week. So Johnny's in Minnesota representing I Think the Timberwolves just lost in the Uh semi-finals which is tough. they they just gotta. they've got to get some better guards.

They've got some tall guys, but that one guy that young guy can only do but so much. um so got it one from Arizona Carl How hot is it down there? I bet it's getting quite warm. You're probably seeing already temperatures over 100 degrees. Emory says is it possible for the smallest sized system to be oversized and what do you do If that is the case? Is it possible? So Emery if you can give me a little more context, I'm I'm trying to I think what you're I'm just guessing that you're saying that you have more than one system in the home and the smallest one is oversized.

so maybe you've You know you're having to account for that when sizing to others. maybe and that would be quite a pickle if that is the case. Um, not bad yet. I'm 5 000 elevation nice Sheldon I am having a hard stop From a Train condenser.

it makes a noise like a knock when it. Cycles off any experience with that issue Sheldon look at see if uh, soft start might fix your issue. If you've got a single stage system, um, you might, you might be able to look at that. You also might want to have the run capacitor tested to see if um, you know if it's getting low on um, microfarad rating.

You know they do go bad after a while. But the other thing I would look at is maybe a product like AC renew made by new Calgon or Diversatex Boost juice. They're both lubricants that will sometimes quiet those compressors down if that's the if that's the problem you know, have a pro. look at it.

you're saying it's making a knock when it Cycles off and I can only assume that's the compressor but you know without actually looking at the system Johnny says we are used to being one and done in the playoffs of any sport. That's funny. I'm in Virginia So yeah, we're we. we.

uh, we have our a lot of lows. more more than more than when they say ups and downs we have more Downs right? Um, Emery says I'm talking about the lowest capacity system. Okay, so let me go back to your original question. Is it possible that the smallest size system to be oversized and what you do if that's the case? Yeah, Oh so I see what you're saying? Yes, that is possible.

Um, that's part of the reason that you see folks converting to other means. So you know there have been homes where we've seen in the past you know, rooms upstairs and they would put a one and a half ton system AC or heat heat pump system up there and that was actually oversized but it was the smallest thing you could buy. Um, so we usually try to look towards other Solutions such as you know those mini split air handlers that only have the you know four drops, things like that, something inverter ductless. you know, something like that.

so that way it's not as big of a of an issue. I Can tell you that we looked at a a room the other day and I explained to the homeowner. look the smallest mini split I can sell you is a 9000 BTU one to one and I know they're smaller ones out there of other brands but that's the smallest one we can sell and you know I explained to them you've got to leave your remote in Auto because if you turn it to you know even the lowest fan speed you're going to hurt the the dehumidification. uh on that Naresh says may also have to replace system in rental property I have compressor is three and a half ton.

evaporator label says four ton is that okay or should the inside and outside always match? So one thing they used to do more common uh years ago but we still see it to this day is we will see at times folks oversize the indoor coil to get a higher sear rating. It's a larger coil so the airflow across that coil is meant to be a little more efficient and so it gives the system. You know a system that might be a 14 Seer makes it a 15? Seer You know So no, that's not uncommon. I would just make sure whatever you replace it with regardless of what that indoor coil size says that it is I Would worry more about the Ahri match.

Make sure that it is an HR match. Ask for the certificate if you have to. Ryan says can you install a soft start on an inverter system I Don't think so that that would defeat the purpose. Uh, essentially an inverter system already has the soft.

the the capabilities that a Soft Start offers. Jax says I'm in Oregon weird weather. Yeah, you guys in the Pacific Northwest Yellow Y'all get some of that clammy temperatures that no one sees where it's super humid and super cold right? Most most folks you know when they see cold temperatures, it's more drier air. So you guys up in the Northwest, y'all get that you know that that Pacific, you know, moist air coming off of the ocean.

There past week switching between heating and cooling for the house shut down oil heat for the garage shop and went back to Electric for the season. sounds good Ryan says do you recommend a sound blanket to put on the compressor to help with the noise? Do those sound blankets Jack and jackets calls the compressor to overheat or any other damage I've never heard of them causing dampen damage. In fact, a lot of Brands install those uh blankets on the compressor from the factory. So uh, do I recommend them? Well, they do quiet them down I I Don't know that I have ever recommended them to a customer.

uh, that did not have one I've never said to a customer hey, we can quiet this down by getting you a you know compressor blanket. Um, part of that is you know you sell it to them, right? you know? So you order it, you put it on, and you charge them a certain amount of money to do that. and and then they may still have false expectations on how much quieter the system's going to be. Um, you know.

and then they feel like they may have wasted money so it's kind of tough. You know when it you recommend things like that when it's not an actual fix, right? You know if it's a loud system Emery says question is it code in your area to put in a CO detector with every install I've never heard of that being code here, but I can tell you that it's a big deal I I have customers that we will tell them to go get one. Don't go to sleep tonight without it if you have a gas Appliance in your home especially we we have customers that have their gas furnace or even I've seen tankless water heaters located down in the crawl space beneath the living area and that's a huge safety issue I Tell them don't go to sleep tonight without one and it's not even something I sell so it's not a sales tactic I'm not trying to sell you something. Go to your local hardware store right now and get you a carbon monoxide detector.

All right? Um, well until a couple more questions come through. Um, let me ask you guys a question and this is open for, uh, open for participation. Please answer and you might be able to help somebody else out Question tonight. First question is, what kind of filters do you currently have? Do you just have the normal disposable ones? Do you have the old school fiberglass? Do you have the pleated ones? Do you have? Maybe an upgraded, some sort of whole house home filter Or a an electronic filter? Please share that in the comments section.

What kind of filter do you have and you know, have you thought about upgrading? Do you not want to upgrade for one reason or another? Love to hear your answers on that Jackie says I'm in Southwest Florida Any Dyke and Company installers do you recommend? Unfortunately I don't know anybody down there wish I did Uh, my wife and I joke all the time saying we want to move to Florida but um, you know we'll see if that ever happens. As life goes on, you start to drop anchors right? One of those being we had a you know we had our daughter and you know she's starting school soon and you know you just start to drop anchors Tech Junkie says actually everyone should have a low level CO detector Emery says by the way I I live in Texas Nice. What part of uh Texas do you live Emery I use a whole house filter we have on so I have washable filters in our filter grills and then in addition to that to my main downstairs unit, we have an April layer whole house filter with just the the regular media. It's not an electronic or electrostatic filter, it's just a regular media filter I Feel like you've told me that before Emory College station Texas Texas Let's see how close that is I used to work for a company that Okay, so you're kind of between.

You're kind of like right there in the middle of Houston Austin and just south of Waco So yeah, um I used to work for a company that we took care of a lot of. um, student housing like apartment complexes and uh, I want to say they had a property in College Station So I'm assuming there's a college there. it's called College Station and we had a building there. So I'm assuming there is a college there Ryan says I Just bought some carbon filters for my return vents to help with odors Merv Eight let us know how that goes.

Ryan Do you have a lot of odors? Do you have a smoker in the house? Or you know why? Why did you do that That's interesting. Carl says I have a one inch pleated filter I change it out four times a year, so every quarter interesting we're home to Texas A M University One of the biggest universities There you go? Well, that answers that. I Remember that property? Uh, because the guy that they had sent there to take care of it to be the facilities manager had called me a few times for some help on things. They they had a steam boiler system which um, he had just never seen one before so he was, you know, out of his element a little bit.

So my wife and I just went to Waco a couple months ago and I guess that's home to Baylor University So there's a lot of colleges down there. Let's see, Jessica says I have a five ton unit 2 000 square foot house but my bedroom stays hot. Had the unit checked out and they say it's running fine. Bill is really high in the summer.

uh Jessica First of all, where are you located? Second of all, uh, usually if let me ask you this, the room that stays hot. is it hot in the summer only or is it hot all year long? So even in the winter time when the house is Heating is that room hotter than the rest? Foreign says: Waco is one and a half hours away from us. We went to a place we had we had flew into the Dallas area and then we had rented a car and we were on our way down to Waco and we stopped at this place and they had the best barbecue. I'm not even a barbecue guy and I mean that stuff was just amazing Texas barbecue is just it is some good stuff.

Ryan says cooking odors and it seems like the exhaust fan for the stove isn't the best at removing the cooking smells. That's a good yeah. interesting I might get I might look into that myself because we don't have a very good exhaust system in our our kitchen so maybe that might be something good for me to look at. Actually Johnny says that sounds like a duck problem all year it's warmer so maybe it's not a duck problem if it were a duck issue.

So so if imagine so, here's the deal. So if imagine if that room has the ductwork is too small. so the rest of the house is this and that room is this right? it's it's real small and you're not getting enough airflow to that room so it's it's getting hot right? And that would be a ducked issue, right? You would either. You'd need someone to look at.

Is the duct too small? Going to that room? Do I Need to add a duct? Do I need to add more? Return to that space. I've got a ductwork issue right? And if it became winter time and that same scenario, if that's that's what makes us too small. When you know the rest of the house is heating up really fast, but that room stays cold, then you do have a ductwork issue. You're not getting enough airflow or enough return air or something is wrong with that.

But if you're saying that it stays warmer the entire, uh, the entire year. So in heating cooling all times, that room just seems to be warmer than the rest of the house. You could have a zoning issue and so imagine a two-story house where heat always Rises that that is a lot of times a zoning issue. It's not a duck work issue because imagine if you were to oversize the Ducks going to the upstairs so you're dumping all this cool air in the upstairs and he's Rising But you know you've got it nice and comfortable and everything is sized right.

But then it switched to winter time, heat still rises in the winter time and you now are dumping all this hot air. Your heating system is now turned on and so I know some of you are saying she's from Florida She probably doesn't. She's probably not in heating mode as much, but you know that if if you're telling me it's hot all year long, even when you're in heating mode, if you're you know, turned on the heat and it's warmer in that room. That leads me to believe you might have more of a zoning issue, not necessarily a duct work issue.

so whoever told you everything's fine, it's not going to be an issue with the system more times than not. It's something is wrong with either the zoning or the duct work or something like that and you need to get some someone that's going to look at that stuff and get to the bottom of the issue bare minimum. If you just cannot get to the bottom of it and you know you just keep fighting this fight and you just you know you can't can't get it remedied, then you can maybe look at doing something extreme when it comes to zoning such as adding say a mini split to that space so you could get maximum comfort. Jack says always had an electric unit no always had Electric until current house.

First thing I did was buy a CO detector since have gas heat since added them to garage and Shop after installing oil the electric costs too much when cold good enough Jessica says it's the room farthest from the unit opposite side of the house even though putting even even thought about putting a video unit in the room. Not sure what that means but yeah you just need to have someone that you know that knows what they're doing. that will you know look at the you know the duct work if there is zoning. If you need to add zoning.

and just you know get to the root of the problem. It's not going to be a problem with the system and the operation of the system, especially if the rest of the house is you know, cooling just fine Sheldon says can you comment on UV lights and is it effective? Yes UV lights I am a big believer. um I used to work for a guy that when they first came out he would always say you know I'm just not sure they might be snake oil and when I started my business I wasn't sure either but I had a customer and he had an evaporator coil. it was one of those old M coils and and so it was like the letter M you know if you can imagine you know like that and so because of that there were there were lower parts of the coil than no matter how hard we cleaned.

uh even even you know we could have just taken that whole entire coil outside and sprayed it down I Don't think we would have gotten every bit of the gunk this black Gunk that had Caked Up in that coil so we cleaned it the best we could and then I sold the first UV light I had ever sold at that time and I became a Believer because we went back six months later to do his maintenance to clean the you know the coils and treat the drains and check refrigerant levels. All the stuff you do on a you know a good tune-up and the coil was shiny as a nickel. I Became a believer that day and so you know a good UVC light. Now that I know more, you know about all the things that it does.

Um, but you know back then they were just kind of new. Nobody knew and that I became a believer that day. watch television says die can fit 11 000 Quote: 1250 square feet versus thirteen thousand five hundred train inverter HVAC Is train worth the extra? Well, it depends on what you're looking at. So the train if it's one of those new 19 Seer or their top of the line 20 Seer You know you kind of get, uh, you are going to get a higher Seer rating.

You're going to get a more efficient system, but it's going to be much larger and obviously you're spending more money than than you would on the fit. Um, you know. So I I Think it just kind of boils down to you know, are you going to live in the house for a while? Um, the company that quoted the fit? Maybe See, you know if maybe you like their warranty. The Fit does come with a better warranty than train typically, so if that is something that interests you, maybe see if the Daikin company can compete with the Train Price or the train quote and see if they can quote you the higher Sear you know units you're comparing Apples to Apples there Johnny says she's from Florida Emery says is there a limit to how many return vents you can install? Uh I think in general, no, there's no limit I I Know out in the midwest there are guys that add returns to each and every single room.

That's not something we do here in Virginia typically. but um I think you know. Ultimately, no, there's there's not a limit Naresh says: I like the carbon filter idea too. need to drop.

Need to try that. Putting aside benefits of bacteria and virus killing, do UV lights being placed over the coils help improve the life of the system. So I think in general, the answer to your question would be yes. So the cleaning of the air and cleaning of the evaporator coil will make that system.

You know. last, it won't have to work as hard as is the general idea. When things are not clean and it's having to work harder, you know you're putting. Maybe it could be argued you're putting more wear and tear on that system.

Some of you guys are probably like man, is this guy doing a commercial for UV Lights tonight? Does he have a sponsor for a UV light? Is it somebody sponsoring them? No. But if you want to sponsor me, if you're a UV Light company, give me a call. Ryan says what side are the windows on your house I had the same issue had to use blackout curtains to help block UV rays from heating up the house Jessica says window unit LOL B Lights produce ozone. um I I Don't know if this can be said of all of them, but I do know that some of them don't produce ozone Jessica said Also, my unit is one that has electric, air and gas heat all in one.

Heat works great and cheap to run. but when I had my unit checked, the AC guy tried to talk me into getting away from the gas heat. Interesting I wonder why he tried to get you away from it I mean especially if it's cheaper? Uh, I can tell you that where I live, there's only the you know the you have to go down in the Metropol the metropolitan areas down in Williamsburg and areas like that to get Natural Gas Um, but up where I live it's kind of Rural and most of the folks use propane heat. so propane is significantly higher in price typically than natural gas.

and because of the fluctuation and pricing a lot of folks will look at maybe going electric because you know how volatile the price is on propane. LP Gas you know has its ups and downs just like gasoline. Jack says family room in our house should have more supply for heat and cool, leaving fan on low. all the time compensates.

however. I Learned in extreme temperatures to switch the fan to Auto or risk the coil to freeze. so leaving the fan on is causing the coil to freeze. interesting Emory Says question: Can an improperly installed system void its warranty? Um, that's enough.

That is a tough question I think the answer is yes, it's certainly possible. Kind of depends on who installed it and what they did to improperly install that system. but I've seen a lot of crazy installed systems that you would think would not be covered under warranty and and the companies do cover them so just kind of depends. Johnny says once you go electric heat you will soon realize it was a mistake.

Johnny Must live up north. That sounds like something one of you folks up north would say. um, we have customers that'll move down here to Virginia from up North and they'll You know they love their gas heat they don't want Electric So we've got over 30 people in here. Good little crowd.

If you got a heating and air question, feel free to put it in there. put it in the chat. um otherwise I'm going to throw another question at you guys. Um, have you ever had your ductwork cleaned, duct cleaning? What are your thoughts on that? and um, you know is, did it improve anything? Did you think it was necessary and um, and maybe even share how much you paid and and whether or not you feel like it was worth it? So let's chat about duct cleaning.

Johnny says once you go electric heat, you will soon. Oh, you already I reread that Ryan says have you installed geothermal heat pump systems before? If so, do you recommend open or closed loop? So I have not I have not done a lot of geothermal. Um I cut my teeth on systems in commercial atmospheres first. So I had I learned boilers before I ever learned how a heat pump worked I learned cooling towers things like that and then I have a few customers that have geothermal systems, but we've just never installed one or had to.

so I don't have a recommendation on that. Maybe if there's some other Pros in here and they want to share what their thoughts are on open or closed loop? um on that geothermal. Emery says no but I plan to have them cleaned Johnny says I opened my power bill and water bill at the same time and got shocks Jack says not enough airflow when inverter ramps to four ton if fan on low. Oh interesting.

So you have you have a system that you're telling it to only run low. Interesting most systems. even if you tell the fan yeah, even on an inverter system, the system's going to be able to ramp down. You know to equate for that.

So that's interesting. Carl says no I haven't and Jessica says in Florida are okay, so she's asking a question. Yeah, just to point out the duck cleaning thing, we started offering duck cleaning for one reason alone. and that was because uh, I before I started our company I worked for a company that did not provide it.

It was almost considered. um I don't want to say snake oil, but it was just not something that we did a lot of and a lot of the companies around us that did provide that service. they were actually carpet cleaning businesses that. Oh, by the way, they also cleaned ductwork and so a lot of heating and air companies.

Because you know there's a lot of folks that'll say, well, clinical tests when they've tested air when before the Ducks were clean versus after there's never been. You know any proven science to show that the air was significantly cleaner after having the Ducks clean, but a lot of folks simply just want if nothing else, the Peace of Mind knowing that the air coming through their duct work is not being blown across, a bunch of dirt and and a lot of the other stuff that can get in duct work at times, right? Um, you know one one I could think of is dead mice. You know that's something that could possibly get in there. And so we started offering it because I had customers that were had these what I would consider an unqualified person opening up their heating and air systems to provide a tune-up.

You know, in addition to cleaning the ductwork, they would clean the heating and air system. So we started providing duct cleaning after that. and so we've been doing it for a number of years now and you know, so that's interesting. Ryan says I've never had the ductwork clean not sure if they were cleaned by the previous homeowners Jessica says in Florida our attic fans worth it if you have adequate vents in the roof I think it just depends I mean if your attic is getting super hot, they make solar attic fans.

Now that you know, because they run off the sun, they only run during the day and you know folks do. I've had customers install them and say that they've seen a a difference in their utility bills because of it. So I don't live in Florida but I Can only imagine y'all probably get hotter addicts than we do. you know, especially if houses are built relatively the same with these addicts that are unconditioned above the living space.

Some of those acts can get quite hot, you know Andrew says do you see any problems with adding a compressor sound blanket to a unit to quiet it down some Our unit is right outside our bedroom I Don't want it to cause excessive heat buildup. thanks Andrew I Personally, to be honest with you, I don't know if you're the same person that asked this earlier or if you just ironically happen to be another person asking about the sound blankets. I have never sold one I've never now if if the system came with one from the factory and it was intended to have one. I have ordered blankets to replace the one that was there, but I've never added one to A system that did not currently have one I Think the question would become if your contractor, if you talk to your local contractor, have them check with the manufacturer and see if it's okay to add a sound blanket or if there would be a heat issue.

you know compressors do you know have heat that builds up in there and they'll get warm and so sound blankets would obviously you know become a blanket on that compressor. So I would I would have them check with the manufacturer make sure it's okay before you do it. Um, I'm pretty sure they make aftermarket ones that you can add on there and you know that's uh. I'm sorry to hear that it's that loud you know? Make sure if and when the day comes that you have to replace it, you go inverter and you'll never have to worry about that again.

Watch television says do you find older 10 plus years ductwork leak or have holes or are they intact? Yeah I think the older the ductwork we see. If you were to do a duct blast test I mean there's brand new duct work that has issues and you know folks will do a duck blast test and find that they're leaking. So yeah, I would say in general the older the ductwork the probably the more they leak. Jack says I won't allow my return ducts to be cleaned I fear the flex in the Attic being damaged all Supply is rigid.

That's a really good point. Jack So we have. We have gone into homes and the customer want duct cleaning and we tell them no um that your duct work is brittle and us getting our system in there we could uh you know, call some an issue and I would we can replace them but um, cleaning them is actually going to cause more issues than you currently have. Carl says compressor heat is dictated by the suction line gas temperature.

uh Andrew says thank you you're welcome Carl says for the most part shh yeah I mean I think there's a a lot of things there I mean I think as time goes on and you know compressors are doing their thing I feel like they you know they don't work as well and those valves are starting to get older and you know things are just heat up a little more than they used to I could be wrong on that but I'm just saying might be just all in my head. Um yeah so let's see I've got another question for you guys. Let's see, have you had any recent heating and air repairs done on your current system and how much did it cost and if you care to share where you're located in the country? Um I Thought it might be good if some of you guys have you know, had some repairs done. you can kind of see what other parts of the country what they're charging to have certain Services done certain repairs done.

Um, you might feel like your prices are high until you see what others are paying right? Ryan says what do you think of products like Aeroseal for sealing ductwork to stop leaks? Um I've heard some really good feedback on Aeroseal. Um, Aeroseal has sent me emails before and we've looked at maybe becoming a dealer and I've just never gone down that road. But I've heard some really good things about them, especially when folks are failing duct blast tests being able to get in there with a product like that and you know the success that they've had. Emery says how do you measure the temperature of the suction line? They make little clamps.

you know you just clamp it on there and it gives you the temperature. Emery says I'm having preventative maintenance done on May 25th. Nice Yeah, we've We're almost done with our tune-ups. We we got started right around.

uh I would say the end of March we started doing a few. especially those customers that really needed it. Um, it was actually a little cold so we couldn't uh some of the systems we had to come back after it warmed up to do a you know all of our measurements on the refrigerant. um but we went ahead and cleaned the coils and stuff.

but we're almost done with all of our our customers that are on contracts with us. Um Ryan says I had a micro Air Soft starter installed for 125 dollars that I bought myself nice Carl says about three years ago a hail storm took out my roof and R22 AC system to the tune of twenty seven thousand dollars. Wow! Wow I Hope the hope the insurance company helped out a little bit on that. that's uh, that would be quite quite a penny there.

Carl I'm trying to remember where you said I think you're the one that said you were in Minnesota um that those prices are are that would be pretty high to be honest in our area. um even to get a you know a new roof put on plus the the heat and air unit but maybe there was more to it than you know than I think the AC was 10K Okay, interesting. the rest says just installed a carrier three ton single stage unit plus two stage eighty percent furnace in Northern Virginia for eight and a half thousand that's uh I think that's pretty good for Northern Virginia Pal um I don't know what the Seer rating is on that, but even even at minimum, if it's a you know what is the minimum now 14.2 C C or two I think is the minimum Now even if even if you got the minimum, that's a really good price. Jack says I Spent sixteen thousand dollars having replaced the system.

Our air cleaning system was great for the summer fire air in 2020. Justin Time B Yeah, 16k wow Carl Oh Carl's in Arizona I'm sorry Carl Well that explains why the system was on the roof. You guys out in the west, y'all have all these units located on the on the roof. Um, that's that's not.

Uh, you know that's not a thing on our side of the country where y'all have all those units located on the roof like that. Here in Virginia Nobody has anything on the roof like that. not not for homes. so that's um, makes sense now.

Jessica says Florida Coils replace 2500 bucks outside unit replace three grand. Yeah, Florida is going to be one of the lower markets you're You guys get probably better pricing than anybody, partly because the um, you know there's no shortage of heat and air guys you know down there. So you've got chucking a truck willing to do it for a lot less and so everybody has to stay competitive. I think it's just a guess I've never worked in Florida Just you know from the outside looking in, Florida has some of the lowest rates in the country when it comes to Heating and Air Ryan says I Also had an elbow on my furnace get repaired for 120 bucks.

it was leaking and had to be cut out and glued to stop the leak. Nice Yeah it seems like all the prices you're getting are pretty reasonable. Ryan um Jessica says eye opener I'm not complaining anymore. Yeah I help folks on our guide and um well let's see.

So I was helping somebody in North Carolina today and somebody in Texas today and um their prices I I told the the guy in uh Texas that you know I was like if you lived here your the bill you just got you probably would have spent about you know four thousand dollars less and he's like well I got multiple quotes I made sure it was a you know a competitive price and I just told him some. Some areas are you know, higher cost to live in or you know, whatever. For whatever reason you know supply and demand might play a a role in that. you know if you can't find anybody else to do the work and somebody's giving you a an outrageous bid and you know.

But yeah, it seems like the further south I go the the more reasonable prices get and then the further north I go the you know when I'm helping folks with our guide? the further north I go the higher the prices get. So I've helped a few folks on our guide in Long Island and you know they have some some decent High rates. Uh oh I helped one guy in Boston Really high rates there. um for heat and air work.

What is the labor rate for your area? Standard rates for non-emergency or after hours I Have no idea. uh, we don't I've never checked to see what other people charge on that. We double our rates and then we still have our discounts for our VIP customers. but um, that's that's just because you know I used to just do time and a half and you know my guys.

you know they were working really hard and I I would get these customers that they would have like three systems in their house and it wasn't really an emergency but they were like wow it's just a little bit more. you know you're just charging time and a half. Yeah yo y'all go ahead and come on out. Tonight tonight at 11 o'clock at night on a Saturday night and so I doubled our rates just to take care of my guys better.

Um, it's not a greed thing I just wanted to take care of our guys. Uh Johnny says what is the labor rate for your air? Oh yeah, same question. uh Jack says a friend of mine is enjoying his new dike and heat pump with gas trained for backup. He wanted to stay trained but costly here.

so he has a mismatch system. Um I Don't think Daikin's gonna beat you up on it, but some Brands would void the warranty if you mismatched them. I Was listening to a podcast today where a guy that I'm not going to mention his name, but he's you know he's kind of a, you know, he's influential in our industry. let's put it that way.

and he was saying that he thinks it's possible that there could become a day where you know these folks that like to just buy the outdoor unit and then they mismatch things or whatever and all the issues that they can create, especially when people don't know what they're doing. He thinks there may come a time where you won't be able to buy just the outdoor unit. You know you'll have to buy a complete system that's matched, so that way you know everything is if nothing else. Matt You know it's it's meant to be matched with one another.

I don't know I think it'll be hard to enforce that, especially like with warranty issues and things like that. but that's what what he uh was saying on this podcast I was listening to Ryan says North Carolina has some of the highest rates for AC Replacements I've gotten quotes from fifteen thousand to thirty thousand for a split system on top models for multiple Brands I'm in Charlotte Crazy expensive I agree. Uh, the couple folks that have helped in North Carolina I was actually a little surprised as well. Uh, you know you.

as I said, usually the further south I go the less the more rates go down typically and I think North Carolina might be the exception to that rule. Um, at least in the few folks that I've helped with our guide. um I would say I've I have been surprised at how reasonable some of the rates are in Maryland Um, because I just had this thought that you know that their rates would be a lot higher than Virginia North Carolina and I think North Carolina is probably beating them. but I will say I have a technician that works for us that worked in North Carolina for a number of years.

North Carolina has some very strict rules and codes when it comes to heating and air that you have to jump through certain hoops and you know, maybe that's why maybe that plays a role in all this. You know they've got a do a few more steps when they do certain things than the average company you know, so they've got a account. Emory says do the systems have to be matched well? They should be I don't think they have to be Um for the longest time. back when we had R22 systems, it was actually not that uncommon You know, for folks to mismatch things you know I I'm trying to get a few more years Out of the Furnace so let's just let's just slap a you know a different outdoor unit out there and you could make it work.

But now these days with all all the different things going on, the metering devices and and you know the refrigerants and things that are different these days, they really should all match. You know, especially for warranties but also for performance efficiency and such Jessica says yep I found out when I bought my home had a five ton inside and four ton outside and the warranty would not cover it and it caused issues where the outside unit was running too hard. Don't do it. Interesting We uh I'm very surprised to hear that you know I'm Jessica Do you know what brand that was because I've never I I See in fact, new systems today.

if you were to install a 20 Seer uh you know a high sear model unit of multiple Brands five ton High sear unit. More times than not, the indoor um, the air handler is going to be rated higher. um then the outdoor unit four ton. You know if you do a four ton outdoor unit a lot of times they'll match it with a five ton indoor with a five-ton air handler.

Um, so yeah, that's interesting. I'd love to hear which which uh brand that was Jack says the installer on mismatch had to eat extra controls to make train and Dyke and work together. don't know the details yet interesting Emery says how tough are the codes in Virginia I would say we're somewhere in the middle um because I've heard stories of how others especially the more I help folks with our guide I'll hear how things are done in other states and um I'd say we're somewhere in the middle um I've heard of some states they'll put you in jail if you are doing stuff you're not licensed to do I've never heard of that happening in Virginia you you open yourself to little to you, open yourself to civil litigation. um but I've never heard of someone being put in jail over it, so that's you know.

but there are states that are that strict. Jack says if I need to change out I prefer to change all it's good Jessica says Linux yeah that's interesting. good old Linux in their warranties again. I've been hard on Linux because they made it to where if you want to check your warranty you can't if you're the homeowner I could be wrong if you go to their website.

maybe they've fixed it I would be surprised if they fixed it because a little old me but I have I've done a few videos calling them out because they made it to where only professionals you have to have some sort of login to check the warranties on a system. The problem with that is and the reason I have a problem with it is a lot of heating and air companies lie. they'll tell the homeowner that they're no longer under warranty to so they they can charge more money for repair when in reality, when in reality they are claiming the warranty and so they're kind of double dipping there. And so I'm not saying that's happening a whole lot.

Rich says test he's in our Facebook watching us on Facebook we we see you rich. You're not going to show up on the live chat because that's just from the YouTube but I'll see your messages. Um, so yeah, that's that you know I'll call them out sometimes. Uh, Ryan says can a communicating furnace work with a non-communicating AC or thermostat? Or once you go communicating, everything has to communicate to work.

Yes, the second one. If you go with a communicating system then usually everything has to be communicating. Now there are systems out there that can be either or meaning that you know they have furnaces, they have air handlers, and I think even some of our outdoor units you can set it up to work with a regular thermostat or with a communicating thermostat. So I've never been a fan of Linux Johnny says no comment Johnny that's what I'll say Jessica says curious.

Don't know about other states, but in Florida we have to cage our outside units due to thefts. People cut the copper and ruin the unit. Do other states have that issue? Jessica What? You were just sharing all kinds of crazy stuff. so we have that in one city local to me.

I have seen that? Um, but uh, it's not I don't think it's code though. so I'm but in Florida we have to, we have to cage our units. So yeah, I don't think you're saying it's code, but you're saying you have to do it otherwise someone will steal it. Um, yeah, we have one city near us where it's become a thing.

Uh, you know we're seeing more and more people do that. uh I have not seen that so much in Williamsburg and really not so much in Richmond although I've heard of people offering it in Richmond Um, but yeah. so I I but I have heard of it being a thing down in Newport News which is near us, kind of near us but just over an hour from us. Oh my wife is texting me she says are you still on your live yes I am it's not a code requirement.

Yeah, that's crazy. Well we are going to wrap up in just a moment. Guys, if you do have any questions that are heating or air heating and air related, please share those in a chat. We also will be back next week at 8 30 p.m Eastern Standard Time Here again so please join me every week I'm trying to grow this up a little bit and you know, get some stuff out there I didn't have as many Pros on this week last week I it seemed like I had like 10 guys on here that were all heating and air Pros which is kind of cool.

So um, all right Johnny says Bryant carrier does not need the communicating control with the modulating furnace to work but do need the control to use the modulating features to the furnace. That makes sense Kendall Brown is on our Facebook says do you think inverter units save money yes I do Jack says after the second theft my dentist had to cage and alarm it to keep Insurance interesting I could see the insurance company saying that you know saying hey, you know we're not buying another one of these unless you do something to to stop this. uh hey thank you guys some of you are seeing some kind things I appreciate your kind words. Um, we are going to wrap up in just a moment.

So again, if you have any more questions, please share those. um I um I was gonna share. uh one last story but we're gonna save that for next week. Um, before you guys head out I See some of you have already started to sign out.

do me a favor wherever you're located. If you have a heating and air company that you know and love that they've been good for one reason or another, please feel free to give them a shout out. And um Emery I will answer that question in just a second. But for the rest of you folks, um, please share.

If you have a local company and also share where they are located or where you're located, you know. So so if somebody happens to be in your area that watches this, they'll know that there is a good company out there. So feel free to share. You're a good company that you know.

Emery How does an inverter system work well without getting too technical? Essentially, instead of a a single stage system would have an on and off. So just like a light switch, there's either going to be on and it's running at full capacity or it's off. And then there are systems that are staged. So instead of having you know on or off, there are systems that are staged.

So you might have an off on and and it might only run at 70 capacity and then you might have you know where your second stage runs at 100 capacity. and some of those stage systems have multiple stages. Inverter systems have a lot of in between. You know they can ramp up.

they can ramp down uh, depending on how hot or cold it is that day and so on. Jacob says how do you feel about our 410A flares I Have a few properties installed by different companies I think they all last about five years? Is that true? I think it's installed properly. They should last uh, longer than that pal. Um I've seen gas fitting I've seen gas connections of course gas isn't quite as high of a pressure, but I've seen them that are were decades old.

Um, so we have flare fittings on some of our mini splits that are older than five years. So um, you know I don't know how long they last, but I would think longer than five years for sure. Okay, so we're just gonna wrap up with you guys shouting out these great companies Jacob says I love my company HVAC ready LLC based in T-Neck New Jersey Nice. Uh Ryan says do expose two by fours and plywood below the air handler.

Return Invite problems. Um I mean it just depends I You know I'm I would need a little more context than that pal. Um, do expose two by fours. You know when you say exposed below the air handler.

Return: Yeah, I'm not sure what what exactly you're saying there I would need a little more context, but save that for next week. We're going to wrap up here. Ryan says unlimited residential air Charlotte North Carolina metro area so shout out to limited Johnny says Elite Cool and heat in Pine River Minnesota Shout out to those guys Del Air in Central Florida in Orlando so shout out to Del Air Ryan Says also drywall being used as part of the return air duct? Yeah I See that as long as the the I see that sometimes as long as the air going through the system is filtered before it goes through the system I Do see returns that are built in cavities, sometimes that are there's not an actual return duct. Kendall Brown says do you think an inverter system will have trouble with three zones? Um, no, We just installed an inverter system uh, last week that had three zones.

So as long as they're installed right, inverter systems should actually work better with zoning than a single stage system. Um, that's starving for air right? Rich Bernstein says ever hear of hyper heat heat pump that works down to negative 22 degrees. Just got a sales pitch on one to replace my leaking Central AC and baseboard heat. Um yeah so hyper heat is.

You know it just depends on what what exactly the system you're talking about. But Hyperhead I believe is a trademark term used by Mitsubishi and their systems. That's for their systems that can work at low ambient temperatures. Jacob says my R22 units are going strong after 15 years or so.

It's just weird. Nice. Um Sheldon I am in Orlando Florida I Had a client in Virginia picking up a five ton 16 Seer heat pump system and she demanded a 20 kW heat strip. From your experience in that area is that is the heat pump heat capable? Uh yeah.

I've seen systems with 20kw heat kits before. Um, you have to pull 260 amp circuits typically for that, but um, man, she demanded it. Man, you better be careful working for her, she's already making demands anyway. Uh, thank you guys for watching.

We are going to wrap up now. Feel free to again drop any more companies that you know that are good in your area, down in the chat and where they're located. Shout out to those good companies out there and we will be back next week at 8 30 P.m uh Eastern time. So you know if you can figure that out if you're in a different time zone and we'll be back next.

Tuesday So y'all have a great week and we'll see you, then take care.