Latest / Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered! / Air Purifiers Cannot Fix Your HVAC

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Air Purifiers Cannot Fix Your HVAC · Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever uh woken up in the absolute dead of night feeling just completely stuffed up?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, maybe you have a scratchy throat, your eyes are heavy.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: You just immediately reach for your phone in the dark.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: It is almost instinct at this point.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you're you're just lying there in the blue light, scrolling through targeted social media ads.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: And before you even fully wake up, you are putting a$300 um sleek glowing air purifier into your digital cart.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Which is a remarkably common three in the morning impulse buy, honestly.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: We wake up uncomfortable and well, we want a quick fix for a problem we can physically feel but cannot actually see.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And our phones are right there, just offering us a neatly packaged solution.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are heavily conditioned by modern consumerism to just buy a new product to solve a symptom.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell You tell yourself that this little glowing box is finally the magic bullet that will fix the air in your bedroom, you know, so you can actually get some sleep.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Right, but it rarely works out that way.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell And our mission for this deep dive today is to really unpack this modern obsession we all seem to have with indoor air quality gadgets.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is a huge issue.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: We are going to discover exactly why guessing at these solutions in the middle of the night is costing homeowners a massive amount of money.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Not to mention it completely fails to fix the air they are actually breathing.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Exactly.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we were pulling our insights today from a fantastic interview on the Cool Talk Deep Dive featuring Dave Hartzel.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: He is the owner of Hartzell's Heat and Air out in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, the man has 45 years of experience turning wrenches.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: 45 years in the field is just a massive advantage.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Oh yeah.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: He has been fixing systems and seeing exactly how people treat their homes for decades.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell He has seen the complete evolution of home construction, you know, and the parallel evolution of how we market home health.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Which has changed a lot.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: It really has.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: He brings a very grounded, incredibly practical perspective to a topic that is normally just drowning in flashy marketing and confusing jargon.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: He points out that taking the time to actually understand the underlying mechanics of our own homes is um is kind of a lost art.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let's unpack this right from the start.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because treating symptoms instead of diagnosing the actual root cause is the core problem we are looking at today.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is the trap everyone falls into.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: In the interview, there is this incredibly relatable story about a lady out on the east side of Kingfisher that perfectly illustrates this trap.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Uh, the story with the perpetually dusty TV stand?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that exact one.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: That one really sticks with you because it is so incredibly common.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: So she called the company up because her kids were waking up congested and stuffy every single morning.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Which is terrifying for a parent.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: She was at her wit's end.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And on top of that, she found herself wiping thick, visible layers of dust off her TV stand like twice a week.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That just sounds exhausting to deal with.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly like our late night scrolling scenario, she was on the absolute verge of spending$400 on some smartphone advertised air purifier gadget she saw online.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just looking for any kind of relief.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: But before they even got into discussing the merits of the fancy machine, Dave asked her a question that stopped her in her tracks.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: She was just asked when her home air filter was last changed.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, her response reveals everything you need to know about how we view home maintenance.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: She had absolutely no idea.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: None at all.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: She drew a complete blank.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is honestly exactly like swallowing a handful of expensive painkillers because you have a sharp pebble in your shoe, but you refuse to actually take the shoe off and look inside.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is a great way to put it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: You are heavily medicating the pain, but the rock causing the pain is still just sitting there, slicing up your foot.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell What's fascinating here is the psychology driving that exact behavior.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: As homeowners, we strongly prefer buying a tangible, visible product over performing invisible routine maintenance.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody wants to do chores.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: A glowing, futuristic-looking purifier sitting on your nightstand feels like decisive action.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like you actively purchased health for your family.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can look at it and feel good.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: But walking to a dark hallway closet to swap out a hidden piece of pleated cardboard wealth, it feels like a boring chore.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Our brains completely deprioritize it because there was no immediate dopamine hit.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell But the real cost of guessing wrong in these situations goes way beyond just the financial hit.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Sure.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Losing$400 on a gadget that does not work is annoying.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Very annoying.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell But the bigger tragedy is the total failure to actually improve your family's daily health.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Because the kids are still waking up stuffy the next morning.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Exactly.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because the root cause, which was likely a clogged filter restricting the airflow of the entire house, was completely ignored.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Which logically brings us to examining what is actually causing the bad air in the first place.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Right.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because a dirty filter is obviously a massive problem, but it is just one piece of a much larger mechanical puzzle.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: The source material outlines four distinct primary culprits that homeowners consistently misdiagnose.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell I like to call them the four horsemen of bad indoor air.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they are completely distinct mechanical issues that require, you know, completely different approaches.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Right.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: What is the first one?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell First on the list is dust.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: We are told that excessive dust is usually a straight-up filtration issue.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Meaning the system just isn't catching it.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Central system is simply not catching the fine particles floating around the rooms.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Second is humidity.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is a big one.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: If the moisture levels are wrong, the air just feels heavy and terrible.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Third is biological growth.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Okay, that sounds serious.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell We are talking about actual mold or mildew taking root somewhere inside the system.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the fourth horseman is just the pure unadulterated neglect of the filters themselves.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell The observation about the neglected filters in the interview was while simultaneously very funny and deeply alarming.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell You are talking about the presidential election comment.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: The joke was made that filters get pulled out of furnaces in Kingfisher and O'Carche that look like they have been sitting in the dark since the last presidential election.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just unbelievable.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: I genuinely cannot even begin to imagine the state of a filter after four solid years of trapping dog hair, dead skin cells, and outside dirt.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It has to look like a thick wool blanket at that point.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, gross.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: But um if we look at this fairly, we have to ask if we can truly blame homeowners for this level of neglect and confusion.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we entirely can.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Because the HVAC industry itself seems to have gone out of its way to overcomplicate the terminology.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell I completely agree with that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell You walk into a big box hardware store to buy a simple filter, and you are instantly bombarded with giant numbers and acronyms.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is overwhelming.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell You see CIR ratings, MERV ratings, static pressure warnings, and all this electrostatic jargon plastered all over the plastic wrapping.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It honestly feels like you need a mechanical engineering degree just to confidently buy a$20 piece of pleated cardboard.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell That is a highly valid critique of the industry.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Engineering data rarely translates well into actionable consumer advice.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: But we can demystify a lot of this right now.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Oh, please do.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Take MERV ratings, for example.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds incredibly technical, but it is basically just a golf score for how tiny a particle the filter can successfully trap.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell A golf score.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: A higher MERV rating simply means the filter can catch smaller things, like microscopic dust mites or pollen.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Whereas a lower rating might only catch larger things like dog hair and carpet fibers.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Wait, so um if a higher MERV catches smaller things, why would anyone ever buy a low MERV filter?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is exactly what most people think.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you always want the absolute highest score to make the air as clean as possible?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: That is the exact trap people fall into.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it comes down to static pressure.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Which is what?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Which is just a fancy term for resistance.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Think of your central air system as a giant set of lungs trying to breathe through a straw.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm picturing that.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: A low myrrh filter is like breathing through a wide open straw.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is easy.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: But a super high myrrh filter, because the material is woven so tightly to catch tiny particles, is like trying to run a marathon while breathing through a tiny coffee stir.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds terrible for the system.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It catches everything, but the blower motor has to work incredibly hard to push the air through it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: If your specific system is not designed for that high level of resistance, you can actually overheat the motor and destroy the equipment.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: That makes total sense.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the homeowner buys the most expensive restrictive filter thinking they are doing a good thing, and they accidentally strangle their own heating and air system.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: That perfectly highlights why guessing is so dangerous.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell And to simplify things even further, we can take those four horsemen of bad air and sort them into two main buckets.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: You basically have comfort issues and you have health issues.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: A standard dirty filter or a home that is just a little too dusty from the wheat fields outside.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is primarily a comfort issue and a basic maintenance failure.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Right.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is annoying, but not deadly.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It definitely strains the expense of equipment, but it is not inherently toxic to breathe.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: But actual biological growth in the dark, damp environment of your ductwork is a completely different story.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell That is a serious health hazard.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: It introduces active mold spores directly into the breathing air.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell And understanding which of those two buckets your problem falls into dictates everything.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Like whether you just need to set a calendar reminder to change your filter, or if you need a serious professional intervention.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell And a massive factor in figuring out what bucket you are dealing with comes down to geography and local climate.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oklahoma weather is legendary for being wildly extreme.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: The climate swings from being bone dry in the wintertime, where your skin physically cracks just walking outside to get the mail, to feeling absolutely swamp thick in July and August.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell And dealing with that intense humidity is a massive part of maintaining indoor air quality.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is arguably the most difficult part.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell This is where the physical mechanics of your air conditioning system intersect directly with your daily physical comfort.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell There is a specific problem discussed in the source called short cycling, which completely blew my mind when I finally understood it.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is a very common issue.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell When a house feels sticky, clammy, and gross in the middle of the summer, most people immediately assume their air conditioner is broken or just too weak.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Right.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: They think it needs more power.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: But the reality is often the exact opposite.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Often the air conditioner is actually way too big for the square footage of the house.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is oversized.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is a counterintuitive problem.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell People assume bigger is always better when it comes to cooling a house.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: But because the oversized unit is so powerful, it blasts the house with freezing cold air and hits the target temperature on the thermostat way too quickly.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Then it just shuts off.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It successfully cools the air in the house, but it does not run nearly long enough to actually pull the moisture out of the air.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell So you end up sitting on your couch shivering in a cold, sticky, clammy room.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: If we connect this to the bigger picture to really grasp why that happens, we have to look at the basic physics of dehumidification.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's hear it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: An air conditioner does not magically destroy heat.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It simply moves heat from inside your house to outside your house.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And as it performs this transfer, the indoor coil inside your ductwork gets incredibly cold.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Think of a tall glass of iced tea sitting on a patio table in July.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: The water suspended in the humid summer air hits that cold glass and condenses into liquid drops on the outside of the glass.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: It sweats.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Precisely.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your indoor AC coil does the exact same thing to the air circulating inside your house.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I see.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: The invisible moisture in your living room condenses into liquid water on that freezing cold metal coil, and then it drips down and drains away outside.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell But that physical process of wringing water out of the air takes time.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of time.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: If a massive oversized unit blasts the house and shuts off in 10 flat minutes, it never gives that iced tea glass effect enough time to actually wring the moisture out of the indoor air.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is like trying to dry a load of wet laundry by blasting it with a flamethrower for 10 seconds.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of just leaving the clothes in the dryer on medium heat for an hour.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: The quick blast just does not do the job.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Proper system design is clearly essential for battling these specific climate extremes.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Absolutely.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now I mean there are plenty of ways to tackle these extremes, like you know, geothermal heating and cooling is one option Dave offers out in Oklahoma.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is definitely an option.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell But regardless of the specific technology running the house, the golden rule remains the exact same.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: An improperly sized system will fail at humidity control every single time.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell And once you understand those environmental and mechanical complexities, it becomes glaringly obvious why simply slapping a fancy smart gadget onto a broken system is a total recipe for disaster.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is the absolute definition of a futile effort.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell There are countless stories of homeowners who spend three to four hundred dollars on these sleek internet marketed purifiers.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: They plug them into the wall in the primary bedroom, turn them on high, wait for the magic, healthy air to arrive, and absolutely nothing changes.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Their allergies are still terrible.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And when a professional finally comes out to physically inspect the home, they discover the real issue is something like a massive leak in the return duct.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell A leaky return duct is a devastating problem for air quality.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It really is.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people do not even realize how the return system works.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Your central air system is essentially breathing.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: The supply vents blow the conditioned air out.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: But the return vents are inhaling the air back in to be conditioned again.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell So if there is a leak in the attic.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: If that return ductwork running up through your attic has a large crack or a disconnected joint, the system is literally inhaling dirty, incredibly hot, fiberglass-filled attic air.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that is awful.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it is pumping it directly into your living room.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell And a tiny plug-in purifier sitting on a nightstand simply cannot compete with a massive industrial fan actively pumping raw attic dirt into your house.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Here's where it gets really interesting because the analogy used for this scenario is absolutely perfect.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Oh, the door analogy.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Installing top-of-the-line purification equipment on a system with cracked ductwork or a leaking plenum is exactly like putting a fancy, expensive, high-tech deadbolt lock on a door that does not have a frame.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is completely useless.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell You can lock that deadbolt all you want, but anyone could just walk right past it.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: The fix absolutely has to match the actual mechanical problem.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Which is why guessing is so detrimental and why a rigorous diagnostic process is required before any new equipment is ever discussed.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell What does that process look like?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you have to physically check the airflow to ensure the blower motor is moving the correct volume of air for the size of the house.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: You have to perform a visual inspection of the indoor coil to check for that biological growth we discussed earlier.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell The mold and mildew.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have to measure the humidity levels to see if the system is short cycling.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps most importantly, you have to actually interview the people living in the house.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is like playing doctor for the house itself.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: You have to ask the homeowner if anyone in the family has asthma or specific seasonal allergies.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Because that changes everything.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell You have to ask if there are musty smells in certain rooms, or if the congestion symptoms get worse in the heat of the summer versus the dead of winter.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell The interview is critical because the symptoms dictate the technology.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: How so?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if a homeowner complains of a wet, musty smell every time the air kicks on, and the visual inspection shows the coil is constantly wet, that points to a very specific solution.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Like what?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, the proper application of ultraviolet lights.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: UV lights are fantastic for shining on wet coils and killing mold spores and bacteria before they can circulate.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I see.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: But ultraviolet light does absolutely nothing to remove physical dust from the air.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Right, because it is just light.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Conversely, large whole home purifiers are excellent at capturing particulates and dust, but they will not do a thing to fix a humidity problem.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: The diagnostic interview aligns the technology with the actual pathology of the house.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because this diagnostic process is so rigorous, you know, checking blower speeds, measuring coils, hunting down attic leaks, it raises the most obvious question for the homeowner.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: The cost.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: What is this level of professional sleuthing actually going to cost?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: People hear the phrase indoor air quality upgrade and immediately brace themselves for a massive painful bill.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: They assume the worst.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: But bringing financial transparency to the table changes the entire dynamic.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it starts with the most basic routine maintenance of all the filters.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Having a clear timeline for filter changes is incredibly helpful because most people just wait until the filter looks visibly disgusting.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Which is far too late.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Way too late.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: The timeline is actually very specific.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you are buying those cheap, flimsy one-inch fiberglass filters where you can practically see right through them, you need to change them every 30 days.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every 30 days.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: There are no exceptions to that rule.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Especially in places where the wind kicks up massive amounts of dust across the agricultural fields.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like in Oklahoma.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you upgrade to a slightly better pleated filter, you can usually push that to 60 or 90 days.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Okay, that is a bit more manageable.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell But if you truly want to protect the system, you invest in a large media cabinet, which uses those massive four or five inch thick filters.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Those can legitimately last six to twelve months.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: The mechanics behind those large media cabinets are brilliant.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: They really are.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: They utilize deep accordion folds in the fabric.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: This provides a massive amount of surface area to trap dirt without restricting the airflow.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And causing that static pressure problem we talked about earlier.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: You get high filtration without strangling the motor.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell But even with the big filters, you still have to remember to actually go in the garage or the closet and change them.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to do the chore.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: And beyond the filters themselves, the pricing for having a professional actually look at your system was laid out very clearly.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Transparency is key.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell There is a$229 flat fee for an AC tune-up, which is designed to catch a lot of those small compounding problems before they turn into major air quality disasters.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And for a specific diagnostic service call, it is a$210 flat fee.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell And the breakdown of that diagnostic fee is very deliberate.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell It is fully transparent.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell It is broken down as a$99 dispatch fee, which essentially just covers the immense cost of getting a fully stocked commercial truck and a trained human being to your driveway.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus Right.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: That stuff isn't cheap.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Plus a$111 diagnostic fee for the time spent figuring out the actual puzzle of your house.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell And there is a very specific rule regarding this fee that I find fascinating.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: The customer is told completely upfront that the$111 diagnostic fee is not credited back toward any repair work they might choose to do.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Separating the diagnostic cost from the repair costs is a crucial business philosophy.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Exactly.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: It establishes a clear boundary of professional respect.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus Exactly.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: You are paying a skilled technician for their detective work, their years of experience, and their honest assessment of the problem.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: They do the work either way.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell When you clearly separate the cost of the truth from the cost of the repair, it ensures there is absolutely no hidden math on the final bill.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell The homeowner knows exactly what they are paying for.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the professional is compensated for their expertise, regardless of what the homeowner ultimately decides to do.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell It is the exact same logic as going to a medical specialist.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: You pay the doctor for the diagnosis and the prescription, even if you decide to buy the actual medicine from a different pharmacy.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell That is a perfect comparison.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Speaking of costs, so what does this all mean for someone trying to navigate the constantly shifting landscape of utility rebates?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell Oh, rebates.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Ross Powell Because anytime you talk about upgrading home efficiency or putting in new equipment, people immediately want to know about the financial kickbacks.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell This raises an important question about how consumers navigate financial incentives.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is a notoriously frustrating process because the ground is constantly shifting underneath them.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Which is why quoting specific rebate numbers online or on social media is a terrible idea.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell It is a recipe for broken promises.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: The landscape of utility rebates fluctuates on an almost daily basis.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Really that often.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: A massive rebate program that exists in January might be completely drained of funds by June.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: The financial incentives change based on the specific utility company you use, the particular energy efficiency program they are running that quarter, the time of year, and sometimes the rules even vary drastically by zip code within the exact same county.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds like an absolute bureaucratic nightmare to try and untangle on your own.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: It certainly can be.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Which is why the best approach requires a direct phone call.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have to actually talk to someone.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Looking up the exact current program for a specific home in real time, rather than just guessing or making empty promises on a website is the only way to do it accurately.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Never guess.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you are dealing with a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat in the morning, or you're trying to figure out a complicated utility rebate, guessing is always the most expensive and least effective route you can take.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: You absolutely cannot overlook the boring routine maintenance while chasing the fancy trending gadgets.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: The basics matter.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: A$300 glowing purifier will never fix a duck leak pulling in attic air, and a state-of-the-art UV light will never replace a clogged four-year-old filter.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: The boring maintenance is the entire foundation of the home's respiratory system.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Without that foundation being solid, well, the fancy gadgets are entirely useless.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you are out in the area and want to get your system checked properly, so you can finally stop guessing, Dave and his team have a stellar reputation.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: They really do.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: They have over 300 Google reviews sitting at a 4.8 star rating, which in the home service industry is incredibly difficult to maintain over the long haul unless you are genuinely honest with the people you serve.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very hard rating to keep.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can reach them at 405-375-4822 or check out Hartzelsheatandair.com.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: As we wrap up this deep dive into the underlying mechanics of our homes, I want you to consider a concept that builds on everything we discussed today.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, what is it?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Think about how modern, highly energy efficient homes are actually constructed.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Building codes require them to be sealed up incredibly tight.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like a vault.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: We wrap them in house wrap, we spray foam into every crack, and we essentially build them to be large plastic Tupperware containers.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: We do all of this in the name of saving money on energy bills and preventing uncomfortable drafts.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell We trap all the air inside the house on purpose.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell Exactly.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Old houses had drafty single-pane windows and open chimney flues.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: They naturally breathed fresh air in from the outside.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: They were drafty, but they breathed.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: But because our modern homes no longer breathe naturally through those gaps, the mechanical filter sitting inside your heating and air system is essentially the only true lung the house has left.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: That is a crazy way to think about it.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Every single breath you take inside that sealed Tupperware container has likely passed through that piece of pleated cardboard multiple times a day.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I invite you to ponder a fairly critical question about your own living space tonight.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Powell Let's hear it.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is your home's only lung currently breathing crisp, clean, fresh air, or is it silently choking on thick dust from the last presidential election?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think we are all going to be marching straight to our closets and checking our filters the second this is over.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: I know I am.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: No more staring at the blue light of the phone at three in the morning, hoping a gadget will save us.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start taking care of the actual lungs of our homes.