Shows / Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Looking for honest, expert HVAC answers—without the sales pitch? You’re exactly where you need to be.
Cool Talk with Hartzell’s Heat & Air isn't your typical HVAC podcast. With over 45 years of serving homeowners and businesses in Central Oklahoma, our team dives deep into heating, cooling, and geothermal systems, delivering practical advice, real-world stories, and behind-the-scenes HVAC insights you won’t find anywhere else.
Hosted by Oklahoma’s trusted comfort specialists, our episodes cover…
Episodes
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your house is breathing dirty attic air
Give Use A ShoutDAVE: Here's something I run into all the time out here in central Oklahoma. A homeowner calls me and says their house smells musty, or…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why New HVAC Beats a Backup Generator
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Customer in Guthrie. Two estimates on the kitchen counter. One is mine, a new heat pump system, 11200 installed. The other is from an…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The $1200 HVAC lightbulb illusion
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Customer in Edmond calls. Different company quoted her a system replacement, 14000 dollars. The line item that bothered her was a 1200…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why your winter heat pump bill skyrocketed
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Customer in Cashion. Heat pump installed last spring. October bill, 110 dollars. November bill, 145. December bill, 380. He calls…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why your house is cold but sticky
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Customer in Edmond. Brand new 4500 square foot two-story. AC system sized correctly. The house never gets above 73 degrees. It also…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Bigger AC Units Won't Fix Your Upstairs
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Customer in Yukon. Two-story new build, 2018. Thermostat is downstairs, set to 72. Downstairs reads 72, comfortable. The teenager…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Premium Air Filters Kill Your AC
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Big box hardware store. The HVAC filter aisle. Eight different brands. Five different MERV ratings. Stickers that say allergens, pet…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why seventy-two degrees feels like eighty
Give Use A Shout HOST A: A customer calls. House is at 72. The system is running. He says it feels like it is 80. He thinks the AC is broken. HOST B: I get…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
EPA rules end cheap AC refills
Give Use A Shout DAVE: Somebody called me last week, said his AC was not cooling, and asked how much to come top off the Freon. I told him those days are…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why 2025 AC units cost more
Give Use A Shout DAVE: If your air conditioner was built before about a year ago, it has a refrigerant in it that the federal government says we cannot…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why variable speed AC rarely pays off
Give Use A Shout HOST A: A customer in Edmond gets three bids for a new AC. Bid one is for a single-stage unit at 8500. Bid two is for a two-stage at 10500…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
How to fix a frozen AC unit
Give Use A Shout HOST A: It is 102 degrees in Kingfisher. The AC has been running all day. The homeowner walks out the back door and the line going into the…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
How leaky ducts ruin your air
Give Use A Shout I need to set aside the 280-char output format rule here, because the task explicitly overrides it with a full ~2000-word podcast script. The…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Audit proof your AC for storm season
Give Use A Shout HOST A: A customer in Edmond. May 2024. Hail event, golf ball to baseball size, fifteen minute pounding. He walks out the next morning. The…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
How oversized AC units waste your money
Give Use A Shout HOST A: A customer in Yukon. 1700 square foot single-story, decent insulation, normal ductwork. Three replacement bids. Bid one quoted a 3.5…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your house is breathing attic dirt
Give Use A ShoutI need to set aside the 280-char output format rule here because the task explicitly requires a full ~2000-word podcast script in a specific…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your ductwork is sucking in attic dust
Give Use A Shout I'll note the output format says "under 280 chars unless told otherwise" but the task explicitly requires a full ~2000-word podcast script…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your AC is inhaling your attic
Give Use A Shout I need to flag a conflict: the task asks for a full ~2000-word markdown script, but the output format says "plain text only, under 280 chars…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Five Ten-Minute Home Air Quality Checks
Give Use A Shout I need to set aside the 280-char output format rule here. This task explicitly requests a full ~2000-word podcast script in a specific…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Your HVAC Traps Toxic Air
Give Use A Shout DAVE: You know what I've noticed in 45 years of doing this work? Most people only call me when their AC quits or their furnace dies. But…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Toxic mercury in old thermostats
Give Use A Shout DAVE: If you've got an old round Honeywell thermostat on your wall, the kind with the little mercury switch inside, you're sitting on a small…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Your New AC Is Mildly Flammable
Give Use A Shout DAVE: If you walked into a grocery store in Kingfisher last week and noticed the coolers look a little different, or you're a business owner…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why $49 AC Tune-ups Are Bait
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Trane published a piece on their consumer blog that quietly puts numbers on something the trade has been arguing about for years…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your CO Alarm Ignores Slow Leaks
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is something that should bother every gas-furnace owner in Oklahoma. The carbon monoxide detector in your hallway, the one you…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The Five Rung HVAC Career Ladder
Give Use A Shout DAVE: I started in this trade at 18, pulling sheet metal in 105 degree attics for $4.50 an hour. Forty-five years later I sign my own paycheck…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why your air conditioner makes you sticky
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is a complaint we hear every July in Oklahoma. The thermostat says 72 degrees. The AC has been running. The house still feels…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Budget mini splits versus Mitsubishi Hyperheat
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, you got a call last February. Homeowner in Yukon installed an ACiQ mini-split in his detached garage workshop the previous…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Bigger Air Conditioners Make You Miserable
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, a homeowner in Piedmont added a 400 square foot sunroom and called you for a mini-split quote. He had two other quotes already…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Ductless Mini Splits For Year Round Garages
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is the question I get more than almost any other one in the spring. I want to use my garage. I want to actually spend time out…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Fixing Stubborn Hot Rooms With Mini-Splits
Give Use A Shout HOST A: I want to start this one with a scene almost everybody listening will recognize. You walk through your house in August at three in the…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Your New HVAC Still Fails
Give Use A Shout I am starting a part of The Standard series most contractors skip: ACCA Standard 12, the whole-home performance and comfort evaluation. New…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
How invisible surges kill your modern AC
Give Use A Shout Oklahoma storm season does not just knock out your power, it can fry the most expensive parts in your HVAC system. I explain how surges…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Geothermal Open versus Closed Loop Realities
Give Use A Shout People hear closed loop and open loop geothermal and have no idea which one fits their property. I break down the honest difference: what each…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Restaurant Walk-In Coolers Fail
Give Use A Shout When a house AC fails you sweat. When a restaurant walk-in fails, thousands of dollars of product start a countdown clock in the middle of…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why your AC struggles at 105 degrees
Give Use A Shout It is 105 degrees, your AC has run nonstop since noon, and the house is stuck at 78. Broken? Usually not. Central Oklahoma systems are sized…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
June Is the Real Air Conditioner Killer
Give Use A Shout I pulled ten years of our own service records, 3,171 jobs, and counted which month actually kills air conditioners in Oklahoma. Everybody…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Spot Fake HVAC Technicians Using NATE
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is a free tool that nobody uses. NATE, the certification body for HVAC technicians, runs a public verification page. You type in…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why your smart thermostat wastes money
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, a homeowner in Hennessey installed a Nest two summers ago and was disappointed when his electric bill went up that July. He…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Geothermal Rules of Thumb Fail
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, you got called out to a 7 year old geothermal install in Hennessey last summer. The homeowner said the system "worked fine" in…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Choosing the Right Geothermal Loop System
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, a homeowner just south of Kingfisher called for a geothermal quote. He has 5 acres, a working irrigation well that produces…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Bad ductwork ruins your new AC
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, you wrote a quote last week where the ductwork was $6,800 and the AC and furnace combined were $7,200. The homeowner asked why…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Modern Heat Pumps Thrive In Freezing Cold
Give Use A Shout Dave Hartzell answers the question Oklahoma homeowners keep getting wrong: is a heat pump enough in a Kingfisher January? The old line that…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The eighteen hundred dollar AC price hike
Give Use A Shout If you got a quote for a new air conditioner in 2026 and it came in 20 to 30 percent higher than you expected, I want to walk you through…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Refrigerant top-offs are an expensive myth
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Dave, a homeowner called you yesterday because their AC ran fine in May and now the house won't get below 78 in the afternoon. What…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why adjusting your thermostat costs money
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is the thing nobody tells you about your thermostat. The number on that little screen is probably wrong. Not broken wrong…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Pick the right water heater for home
Give Use A Shout HOST A: I want to walk into this one with the conversation that happens on probably forty percent of service calls. Homeowner's water heater…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why Experts Refuse Summer AC Tune-Ups
Give Use A Shout HOST A: It is June 18 in Kingfisher. 96 degrees outside. A homeowner calls Hartzell's wanting to book the $229 tune-up they saw advertised in…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Geothermal vs Conventional AC in an Oklahoma July: Why the Ground Wins
Give Use A Shout When it is 105 degrees in Kingfisher, a conventional air conditioner is pushing heat into air that is already hotter than your house. A…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Should you repair or replace your AC?
Give Use A Shout HOST A: It is the first week of June in Kingfisher. A homeowner calls Hartzell's. Their 12-year-old AC is running but warm air is coming out…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Your outdated thermostat habits spike your bill
Give Use A Shout The number on your thermostat screen is probably wrong. Not broken wrong. Strategy wrong. The Department of Energy quietly rewrote its…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Which water heater actually fits your home
Give Use A Shout About forty percent of my service calls end with a water heater question. The unit is leaking or it is twelve years old, and the homeowner…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why summer tune-ups destroy your AC
Give Use A Shout Every June I get calls from homeowners wanting to book the 229 dollar tune-up the same week the first 95 degree day hits in Kingfisher. I turn…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why geothermal cooling costs half as much
Give Use A Shout Every June somebody asks me if geothermal is actually worth it. The brochure numbers from manufacturers are fine. The numbers that matter are…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The AC 5000 Rule is a trap
Give Use A Shout Every May and June I have the same conversation across kitchen tables in Kingfisher and Canadian County. The AC is 12 years old, the…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The 20 to 30 percent energy leak hiding in your attic
Give Use A Shout Department of Energy says the average house loses 20 to 30 percent of the air moving through its ducts to leaks, mostly in the attic. That is…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why mold shows up 24 hours after a storm
Give Use A Shout Severe storm rolls through Oklahoma. Some water gets in the basement or under the back door. Most homeowners spend the next two days calling…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Geothermal Ground Loops Are Permanent Infrastructure
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is a frame I want to put on the table at the top, because it changes how a homeowner should think about geothermal. When you…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
The Real Cost of Geothermal in 2026
Give Use A Shout HOST A: Here is the conversation nobody wants to have out loud at the kitchen table. You hear the word geothermal and your gut does two things…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Finding 2026 HVAC rebates after tax credits
Give Use A ShoutDAVE: I had a customer last week who told me her sister-in-law was waiting until 2026 to install a new heat pump because she wanted that big…
- Cool Talk with Hartzell's | Your HVAC Questions, Answered!
Why HVAC rebuilds beat full replacements
Give Use A Shout HOST A: For about twenty years, the standard advice in the HVAC business has been, if your system is over ten years old and you need a major…