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How Can I Increase The Efficiency Of My Heating And AC System? · Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast

• 0:01
  With the rising costs of energy, we want to make sure we're getting the most out of everything,
• 0:07
  not just our vehicles that bring us to work and to other places,
• 0:12
  but our heating and air conditioning systems as well. There are ways to become more efficient.
• 0:18
  I've asked Nathan Shafer to join me from Shafer Heating and Cooling to talk
• 0:22
  about this. Hey, Nathan, how are you?
• 0:24
  Hey, phenomenal, Jim. How are you? you. I am living the dream.
• 0:27
  Thank you so much for asking.
• 0:28
  So a question's come in to the radio program. It's as simple as this.
• 0:33
  How can Shafer help increase the efficiency of my heating and AC system? Oh, good question.
• 0:41
  Yeah. So a couple of different things, top of mind, they're like,
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  come to mind first, be top of mind, would be overall just cleanliness of the system.
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  And so a lot of everything in the home, not a lot of things,
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  everything in the home sucks back through that forced air system.
• 0:58
  Right. So all that air coming out of your vents, I know it seems maybe basically
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  a lot of times people don't realize that that all comes back through the system
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  first to come back out of those vents.
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  And so dust and dirt and dandruff and pollen, all these different things in
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  the home is sucking through that system.
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  Well, that collects on things like inside your ductwork. It collects on things
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  like the evaporator coil and the blower wheel, all the different places that
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  it keeps circulating through, depending on your filtration, what's passing through
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  that gets caught on all those different areas.
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  And that can really kill the efficiency of your system.
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  Just a couple of third party facts, right?
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  Just to kind of hit that point at home. According to Texas A&M,
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  they did a study once and they said an eighth inch of dirt or dust buildup on
• 1:43
  the blower wheel can reduce the overall airflow by up to 30% of your system.
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  And another one done by the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency,
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  they said a buildup of one twentieth of an inch of dirt on the heating or cooling
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  coil can result in a decrease in efficiency by 21%.
• 2:01
  And so it's amazing. It does not take much to really hurt the performance of that system.
• 2:07
  So that's going to be number one and probably one of the most common things
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  in things like being on a maintenance plan or what we call our club memberships.
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  It's kind of our VIPs, right?
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  To be on those plans where we come out twice a year and service and clean those systems.
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  That saves our club members typically on average at least 25 percent or more
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  on their utility savings.
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  And heating, cooling, and hot water typically consumes about 60 to 80% of your utility bill.
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  So let's reduce a big portion of that.
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  I love club memberships. It's the way to go.
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  Now, I know this isn't truth, but when you're part of a program like Shafer's
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  Club, what's nice about it is you feel like it's their responsibility to make
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  sure the system is running all the time.
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  Now, I know it's not your fault, Nathan, if it just stops, but you can pick
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  up the phone or get online and say, hey, I'm a member,
• 3:01
  got a problem, problem and there's a priority there right
• 3:04
  absolutely yeah those like I said that's that's
• 3:07
  like the VIP club right to be a part of that club membership uh
• 3:10
  yes you are it could be the busiest time of year right maybe
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  it's that holiday weekend and it's zero degrees or
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  fourth of July weekend you know and it's you know 95 degrees most HVAC companies
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  ourselves included we're going to be busy right might be booked out a couple
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  days a week you know too much there's peak times where it's extremely busy when
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  a club member calls in boom they get moved to the top of the list one One of
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  our guarantees to our club members is guaranteed no matter the day or time of the year,
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  a technician will be their house in less than 48 hours to fix the problem.
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  So, yes, absolutely. Your top priority.
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  Nathan has all his information on his website. Get a hold of him.
• 3:48
  Join the club. Get the membership. It's the way to go. I suggest it for almost
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  anything that needs regular maintenance.
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  And something that's very important is your heating and cooling.
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  A lot of people don't think much about it until it breaks.
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  You don't want to do that. You want to have it maintained on a regular basis
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  so there's never any downtime.
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  Now, I will have a disclaimer. There could be some downtime like we had just mentioned.
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  However, Nathan and his team are going to come out as quickly as they can because you'll be a priority.
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  And there's nothing like the peace of mind when you lay your head down on the pillow at night.
• 4:26
  You're like, okay, if anything happens, I've got Shafer. They've got my back.
• 4:33
  Absolutely. You know, a couple other things that just, that are other common
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  things that can help, you know, increase the overall efficiency of that system
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  would be proper or better air filtration.
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  And so getting into more air cleaners instead of just filters.
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  Oftentimes we want to put in that, that nice, you know, higher dollar one inch
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  filter for, you know, we can buy on the shelf easily at any store,
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  you know, in town, but really those, those filters can also be known as system killers.
• 4:58
  You know, we call it that, that's how the system breathes. And so, yes,
• 5:02
  we want to filter the air, but we want to do it in a properly sized and put
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  together a filter for that system so they can still get the air that it needs
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  to be able to deliver throughout the rest of the home. So there's filtration options.
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  And then the third one being also tied to airflow is proper ductwork sizing.
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  And so a lot of houses have improper ductwork sizing.
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  And once again, that system cannot deliver the proper amount of air through
• 5:27
  that home, therefore increasing utility bills. So those would be some of the
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  most common things of how Schaefer can help with increasing your efficiency
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  of your existing system.
• 5:39
  Nathan, awesome. Fantastic advice. Thank you so much for your expertise here
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  on the program today. All right. You're welcome. Thank you, Jim.