Latest / Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY / Is That Upgrade Really Worth It? Let's Find Out!

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Is That Upgrade Really Worth It? Let's Find Out! · Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY

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  Foreign.
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  The House with Eric G.
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  YOUR go to source for everything home improvement Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or just looking to make your space shine, Eric G.
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  Is here to guide you through the.
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  Latest tips, tricks and trends.
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  So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap, and let's get to work right here on around the House with.
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  Eric G.
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  Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
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  I'm Eric G.
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  Thanks for joining today.
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  This is our midweek update.
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  This is that Wednesday show that pops out that lets us talk about the stuff that didn't make it into last weekend show and didn't make it into this weekend's show.
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  So we got a lot we'll talk about here after the subject we're talking about today.
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  If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthe house online.com so today I wanted to talk about a segment that I've always wanted to start kind of doing and we'll be doing these from time
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  to time, but really it's gonna be called is it worth the upgrade?
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  Where are we at with that?
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  Is this worth buying the cheap thing or is it worth buying the more expensive one?
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  And that's where we're gonna kind of go here today.
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  And this is gonna be a lot of fun because we got a lot of different stuff on our on the docket today.
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  So this is gonna be great, guys.
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  One of the things I wanted to talk about here, and this is where it gets a little bit interesting with this.
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  Some of these are actually is it worth the downgrade?
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  And what I mean by that is it's one of those things that are you gonna buy the real thing or are you gonna buy the Amazon knockoff?
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  So here's the thing.
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  I love Grabo tools.
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  This is that tool that you'll see it by Grabo.
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  You'll see their version of it in DeWalt.
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  They make one that's yellow.
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  That takes the DeWalt battery, which is great too.
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  And this is a suction lifting device.
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  It is great if you're moving plywood, drywall, concrete blocks.
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  This gives you that extra hand.
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  And like if you're carrying my one of my favorite things, if you're carrying up a ladder and I've had shoulder problems as I had shoulder surgery this last year.
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  And maybe reaching that whole four foot span while climbing and carrying a sheet up the ladder isn't in my best interest.
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  I can use this a little bit lower.
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  Grab ahold of it real quick.
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  I know it has it.
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  And so instead of my arm being so high up, I can bring it down where I've got more strength and it works really good.
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  It is one of my favorite tools.
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  You don't even know you had.
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  Here's the thing.
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  Grabo holds what, 60 plus patents out there and they have all the tech that they put on this.
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  Here's the problem.
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  There are so many knockoffs out there that is absolutely insane.
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  This is where I get frustrated as on this show because I tell you what, there are companies out there that don't care that there's patents.
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  They don't care if somebody else did the work on this and built this.
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  So this is all where we get into trouble with this kind of stuff.
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  And one of the biggest offenders out there, allegedly, and I gotta say that cuz I don't want them to sue me here, but Vivor V E V O R has created a product that looks exactly like it.
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  And yes, I did get a hold of Grabo and confirm they did not license it to Vevor.
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  So this exact copy are selling pennies on the dollar on there.
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  Now here's the problem that I see and I'm going to put this in with other products that we see.
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  I really get nervous when you jump onto Amazon, Vivor and these kind of guys and you buy the knockoff tool parts, whether it's the Knockoff Milwaukee, your DeWalt batteries that look just like them.
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  But you can tell that the battery packs are 3D printed.
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  You can see that it's not the same if you put them next to each other.
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  The quality of batteries that they're using is never the same because they're selling that thing for the cost, the retail cost of what the batteries are.
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  You know, they can't do that.
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  So what are they doing?
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  They're getting the low quality batteries, the ones that could potentially start a fire in your garage or shop or storage.
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  And I tell you what, I won't keep those batteries at my house or in my workshop.
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  I won't.
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  That's why we haven't done any testing on them really yet because do I want to burn the place down?
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  No.
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  So we're going to end up doing some this summer later on.
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  But I got to take care of it because I know I'm going to have to get these batteries then I'm going have to turn around and dispose of them correctly so they're not burning my place down.
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  You can't throw them in the garbage because then you're going to burn the garbage Truck down.
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  And that's not a good idea.
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  And you don't want to put that liability on yourself and them.
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  So that's one of the things to really pay attention to out there.
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  I don't like it when patents and trademarks are stolen.
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  Trust me, I've had to battle around the House's trademark.
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  Tell you what, there are people out there that are using it illegally.
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  There are people that are trying to use it, you know, breaking that trademark rule.
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  And it's always a battle.
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  I go online, I'm like, oh, my gosh, someone's trying to use my name again.
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  This is a constant battle, and it's something that we're gonna have to get dialed in for small business out there, because some of these lawsuits can cost a million bucks.
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  I know people out there that have a one and a half million dollars in because somebody took their idea and throw it up online.
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  And she's been on the show before.
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  You can go back and find that we're not going to get into there.
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  We'll have her back on.
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  She's in the middle of court right now going through stuff.
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  I hope she wins, and my hat tips off to her for this.
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  But I tell you what, you just got to really be careful, because if you throw, you start mixing stuff up, you can ruin your drill, you can ruin your saw.
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  So be careful out there.
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  But I tell you what, I would not buy the import budget alternative to grabo, in my personal opinion.
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  And that is one of the things that I won't do.
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  I have never ordered anything from Vevor just because I don't like the lawsuits that they have online from all of these small companies.
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  Made in America, people out there, designed in America, people out there, these small people that invented stuff, and they have it all over the website.
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  So that, to me, is a huge issue.
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  And I think we need to have the trademark people there at the USPTO and stuff.
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  I think how we fix this in the United States, and here's my answer, is we get the government to prosecute it through the Justice Department.
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  You go in and say, hey, here's my argument.
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  Here's my trademark.
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  This is what they're doing.
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  And then the Justice Department can do it that way.
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  It takes the dollars spent off the small business, and it gets to protect that intellectual property.
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  Right?
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  Especially when they can't be really brought into court when they're overseas like that.
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  I think this is something that needs to be happening by our government.
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  It's a good use of them.
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  And small business owners don't have to take on that million, million and a half dollar.
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  And I think that would really solve some of these issues.
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  So just be careful out there.
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  So now the next thing is there's another one on the market here that just has been driving me nuts.
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  It is this whole home essential oil H vac diffuser systems.
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  So this has reared its ugly head again.
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  There are companies out there that are selling these injection pumps.
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  You drill a hole into your H Vac system and it sprays off or diffuses all of these oils into your system.
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  This to me seems like a healthy home nightmare because one, you are putting potentially dangerous irritants, they're oils, so it could be flammable.
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  You're going to coat the inside of your ductwork and that is going to be a nasty, dirty mess.
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  Because what happens if you think about this, if you put a light oil on something, every piece of dust that went through your filter that didn't get it is now going to be grabbing onto that inside the duct
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  system.
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  Oil attracts all that dirt and grime.
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  So then if you start to think about it, if that's going to go through and get reintroduced into your evaporator, you're now oil coating your evaporator because that is now in the airstream and a lot of systems out
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  there will have a duct fairly close to the return air.
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  And if you're putting oil back into that, oh my gosh, think of the H Vac problems you could cause with that.
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  That's going to make it sticky.
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  That's going to increase dust.
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  You're going to have to figure out a way to degrees that which could mean taking the system apart.
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  I think this is a huge issue.
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  This is like vaping in your own home just as a mass casualty event.
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  So this is not smart.
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  Stay away from all of the whole home essential oil H Vac diffuser systems is my recommendation.
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  Don't ruin your system potentially.
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  Don't introduce that into the air.
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  Oh yeah, it smells like a hotel.
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  That's what some of the ads say.
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  Please don't damage your equipment, don't make your air unhealthy and just stay away from it.
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  That is just like an asthma attack box kit right there.
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  I would stick away from it.
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  Not a medical professional, but it doesn't take much to say this is a really bad idea.
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  So here's one thing else.
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  You jump online and trust me, Amazon is easy.
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  Okay, my smoke detector is out.
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  I'm going to jump online, I'm going to grab one and you look at it and go, wow, the one I really want is $54.
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  And the one that looks just like it.
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  But a knockoff one.
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  Oh, it's 12.99.
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  What a great deal.
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  Do not buy counterfeit smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
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  And just because you're going on to a place like Amazon or someplace like that doesn't mean you're not getting the real thing.
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  Personally, I have ordered things from Amazon that looked just like the real thing.
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  Guess what I learned the hard way.
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  I bought a set of Amazon earbuds from Amazon, took them in for warranty, and Apple went, nope, those aren't real.
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  So then I had to go back and try to figure out what happened.
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  So these are things you need to be very careful with.
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  So the Consumer Product Safety Commission has repeatedly warned the combination smoke CO detectors from brands like BQQ, HZ or ZHZ.
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  How are you gonna say that?
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  GLBs, Union, Kuzmac, Widstech, and Okea failed sensitivity testing and can fail to alert to a real fire, which isn't a violation of UL Listing 217 and UL 2034.
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  You might only have as little of three minutes to escape once the smoke alarm sounds on these units.
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  And with 2,440Americans dying annually in residential fires, the risk of dying is twice as high in homes without a working alarm.
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  So many offending sellers are based in China and have gone unresponsive to the CPA recall requests, Meaning those are in everyone's homes today, so be very careful.
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  Now, another one that I'm seeing out there and I'm talking to electricians all the time, counterfeit electrical breakers.
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  So this is crazy.
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  This is Connecticut Electric recalled 64,000 counterfeit breakers for falsely labeled square D, which could fail to trip when required, which is a direct fire hazard.
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  Separate case saw about 43,600 counterfeit square D brand breakers recalled after square D itself confirmed they were counterfeit and could fail to trip when overloaded.
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  So what home inspectors are finding is these breakers made in China.
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  They were never UL tested.
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  And that's where the issue is.
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  Eaton's own manufacturer guidance warns that counterfeit breakers are often poorly constructed with inferior parts, misrepresent voltage, current interrupting ratings, and frequently fail independent UL49 testing.
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  That's a big one.
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  The next one here, we're just gonna power through these guys.
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  DIY the spray foam insulation kits.
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  There's a legitimate, well documented occupational hazard here.
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  So EPA states the isocyanate, the spray foam's key chemical, can cause skin, eye and Lung irritation, asthma and sensitization and are irritants to the mucous membranes in their eyes and respiratory tract.
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  So there is no recognized safe exposure level for someone who is already sensitized to that.
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  So there are some issues.
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  The issues here, EPA flags that some of the SPF marketing claims don't clearly disclose the hazardous chemicals in those products.
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  So be really careful.
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  Any of these that are DIY kits sold direct to consumer, this can be dangerous.
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  So be really careful there.
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  And the last one here, is it worth the upgrade?
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  And this is timely for the summertime powered attic ventilators.
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  Now here's the marketing versus the science.
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  The issue with these, if you go to add one in, you can't just go, hey, I'm gonna get that house cooler, I'm gonna get the it really ventilated well in the attic.
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  And this is where the land of good intentions go sideways.
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  If you just go up and install that without doing anything else, it could cost you more money than less.
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  Here's why.
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  If you put that up in there and don't get the right amount of air intake and you haven't gone through and sealed up the barrier between the attic space and the living space, there is a high potential to
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  pull conditioned air from inside the house into the attic.
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  And you think, no, I don't have any holes through there.
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  There's a ton and here's where they are.
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  And this is key if you think about how a house is framed.
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  Anywhere that there is plumbing, anywhere that there's electrical, there is a drilled down hole through that framing where that passes through.
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  If you're going to be putting an attic ventilation system in like that, the serious recommendation is you pull the insulation out, clean it all up, spray foam all of those holes.
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  And I would use some of the fire rated spray foam.
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  Won't hurt.
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  Go through and get that.
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  And then you're gonna seal anywhere around the joist space with some caulking to make sure that all the air from inside the house can't get into the attic space.
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  That way you don't pull that through there.
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  And then you re insulate the attic.
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  So that is one of the things that you really need to be careful with.
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  And attic fans can backdraft a water heater, furnace or boiler, leading to incomplete combustion and carbon monoxide entering the living space.
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  So there are a lot of things here you want to really get with a building scientist to make sure that you are pulling the right amount of air out that you haven't oversized this and caused those kind of
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  things and one of the ones here I wanted to talk about real quick.
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  The last one that we're just going to hit is that knockoff lithium ion battery packs for cordless tools.
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  Do not buy those knockoffs.
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  We're seeing way too many garage fires out there.
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  All right guys, nothing huge on the recalls out there.
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  We got a great show coming up this weekend.
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  There will be a special after hours episode that will be airing on Monday after the two hour show airs on Saturday.
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  So for the podcast you'll see that it'll go out on the radio.
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  Little secret, I've got Andy Pace going on there and then he is also a whiskey sommelier, whiskey expert.
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  He's got more certificates than anybody I know and we're going to do an after hours whiskey special talking about scotch and all that kind of stuff.
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  So it'll be a fun one.
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  It was a great interview that I did with him yesterday for this weekend show and I hope you enjoy it.
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  We'll be talking healthy homes this weekend.
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  All right guys, I'm Eric G.
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  Thanks for tuning into around the House.
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  Have a great rest of the week.
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  Thanks for tuning in to the around the House Show.
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  Make sure you subscribe on your favorite way to catch podcasts.
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  Also be sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel and you can find it at around the House HQ and ring that bell for updates.
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  Thanks for tuning in to around the House.
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  And Seeds.
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  Getting beauty ribs.
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  Acting your age don't make a good story.
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  Knock one.
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  No buzz, no worry.
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  No one ever talks about the shots they didn't take.
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  Drinks.