April 14, 2025 • 41 mins
In this episode of the Harmon Solar Podcast, hosts Ralph Romano and Ben Wollschlager welcome their very first guest in the brand-new studio—Elena Chrimat, co-owner of Ideal Air Conditioning and Insulation! 🔧💨
Together, they dive deep into the real reasons behind rising utility bills, bust common HVAC myths, and unpack the truth about energy audits—when you need one, what it includes, and how it could save you serious money. Elena brings 16 years of industry expertise and drops knowledge bombs on ductwork, oversized ACs, attic insulation, and even those viral air filters that could be hurting more than helping.
If you’ve ever wondered why your energy bill keeps going up or how to prep your home before installing solar, this episode is for you. Expect straight talk, laughs, and loads of actionable takeaways from the Harmon Solar crew.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another edition of the Harman Solar
podcast.
I'm Rob Fremano, VP of Salesand Marketing at Harman Solar,
and with me, as always, is mypartner, my friend my guy.
Ben Walschlager.
You guys know him as MrEverything, ben, it's good to be
here, is it?
First of all, before we start,let's address the elephant in
the room.
I just want to say you'rewelcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
For being my friend.
No welcome for being my friend.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
No, for building the studio.
Oh right, you did nothing.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You did everything all by yourself.
That's right, so I'm thank me.
I provided no input whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You really didn't look at these plants yeah, okay,
you gave me a bad time aboutthese plants, that's right but
yes, this is our new studio.
Yeah, it's nice, it's exciting,good looking professional
studio this is they're going tocome out really well or really
bad, but we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
We're gonna figure that out the only downside of
having this new setup is withour old setup, as you know,
people have seen before it's youjust see?
You know waist up.
Normally I wear like gym, gymshorts and flip-flops you know,
and I just have like my harmony.
Now I have to, you know, nicepants and nice shoes, because,
you see, this is, this is who Iam now.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
This is all this is the first day I've worn pants in
a month.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I know jim shorts was so much better.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm all about shorts.
We're doing a professional nowwe're doing it right, we are so
today, which is a special day,we have a special guest because
we are going to tackle the topicof energy audits, which we'll
get into in a second.
So with us today we have elenacremat.
Right, see, I got that rightwith Ideal, air Ideal.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Air, that's right.
Ideal, what did you say?
Ideal, energy, energy, I don'tknow.
Yeah, that was all wrong, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So it's Elena Kremat with Ideal Air Yep Welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Elena Welcome.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You're our first guest in our new podcast setup.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Congratulations Awesome today, yeah, but do you
feel special.
I am special.
That's good, I like her.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I like her.
So we want to get into yourindustry, because that's
something we get a lot ofquestions about actually from
customers I know you doespecially, yeah, and we want to
talk about what an energy auditis, but before we get there, so
tell us about your business.
So how long have you been there?
What's your role there?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Okay, yeah, so my name is Elena Kremat and I am
co-owner of Ideal AirConditioning and Insulation.
See, I told you have been doingthis for 16 years now 16, wow
yeah.
Wow, and you know, we startedout with just testing homes, and
(02:23):
then we realized testing homeswasn't really saving any energy
off of people's bills and soonthereafter started fixing duct
work and insulation on theweekends and then realized that
a lot of air conditioningequipment was not installed
correctly or grossly oversizedand contributed a lot to the
(02:45):
energy bills, and so then webrought air conditioning
in-house in 2012.
And so now we're full turnkeyvertically integrated air
conditioning and insulation andhome performance.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you serve the entire Valley.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, okay, very important.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So, ben, tell us, why would we want to talk to
somebody that does energy?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
audit.
Yeah, so part of what I do atHarman.
Someone will call in ourcustomer or different customer
or whatever, and they'll say youknow, hey, I have solar, but my
bills are still kind of high.
Why is that?
So it goes to me to kind offigure out the why.
When I talk to these customersI say, well, there's two reasons
, and only two reasons, why yourbills would be high Either your
equipment's not working or yourusage is going up.
(03:29):
So let's look at the first oneyour equipment.
What's it supposed to produceand what's it actually producing
?
So if it's supposed to produce20,000 kilowatt hours a year and
it actually produces 20,000kilowatt hours a year, then I
tell the customer well, if it'snot number one, then it's got to
be the second option.
So let's look at your usage.
It has to have gone up.
So I take a look at what didyou use last year and what did
(03:51):
you use this year, and in thosecases their usage has gone up.
Now my problem is looking attheir utility bills and things
like that.
I can only see the numbers, thetotals.
I can't find out the why.
So when I look at their usage Igo, hey, it's gone up.
Why is that In 99% of the timehomeowners go nothing's changed
in my lifestyle.
(04:11):
I'm like, well, somethingobviously changed because your
usage has gone up.
Did you get an electric car ora hot tub?
Did you have a house guest thatmoved in?
Again, I don't know.
I'm just looking at the totalnumbers.
I don't know what's going on inyour home.
Did you adjust your thermostatdown, you know?
And again homeowners will saywell, no, I didn't do any of
that, nothing's changed.
(04:32):
So then that's when I say tellthem you probably need an energy
audit.
Then find out what's going onin the home, because somewhere
in your home you're using more,and again I can't, I can't tell
where.
So you need to have some sortof professional to come out and
find out where's the energygoing in your home.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So tell us so when your company goes out there.
So what exactly?
What's involved in an energyaudit?
What should a customer expectwhen you guys get there?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Okay, so traditionally an energy audit.
What someone would think aboutit as would be blower door
testing, which is basicallycoming up with building leakage,
and also duct leakage testingas well.
However, what we found is thatwe can do this in a more rapid
manner and save the initialenergy audit costs by just doing
(05:19):
what we call an energy auditexpress.
And so the whole theory behindit is if I tell you that you
know your home is leaking, uh 25oh, one CFM 50, that doesn't
really mean a lot to you, so itsounds professional, though
Exactly Right.
So the same goes for the ductsystem as well.
So what we do is we'll, uh,essentially do an express audit.
(05:41):
We'll get in the attic.
We're looking at duct work.
Uh, you know leaks.
So if there's visible holesthat we can see in the collars,
connections as well as thebuilding envelope from the attic
space, so if there's big dropsthat we can see, or insulation
is missing or it's just notinstalled correctly, and from
(06:02):
there we can determine hey, youhave actual room for improvement
or not.
The other thing that we can doas well, if it's just like a
sudden spike in bills, a lot oftimes, yeah, sure, it might be
like a ductwork disconnect orsomething like that just
randomly occurring, but a lot ofthe times it's the air
conditioning equipment.
(06:22):
So let's say it's an agingpiece of equipment, it's older
and it has a leak or somethinglike that that just has occurred
and that's going to cause thesystem to obviously use a ton
more energy and the bills tospike and obviously cause
comfort issues in the home aswell.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So yeah, I noticed that a lot too, because I don't
just look back, you know thelast year I look at previous
years and if I start to noticethat their summer usage has is
the culprit going up graduallyeach year, that to me goes
that's got to be AC unit.
So, like I take a look at howold is the home, I talk to the
homeowner and I go, how old isyour AC unit?
Oh, I don't know, it's like theoriginal one for my 20-year-old
home.
I go it's probably that.
(07:02):
So get an energy audit becauseit's something with your AC unit
that's causing your usage to goup.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But that's good that you brought up duct work too,
because that's something that alot of homeowners homeowners
don't obviously see all the time.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They'd have no idea if there's energy being leaked,
you know through their ductworkas well.
What kind of like tools orthings do you use during an
audit?
Is there any specific?
So we're really big on airflowand what we call static pressure
on an air conditioning system.
We're using a manometer andessentially coming up with what
the pressures are.
So how much resistance is goingthrough the coil?
Basically, if those numbers aretoo elevated, then that's going
(07:45):
to tell us that that system isway overworking itself.
That's part of the Energy AuditExpress.
So you know some homeowners,they're engineers, they're very
into the numbers and the and theum, you know nerdiness of that
we have those customers.
I like those guys, yes, and sowith those, like sure, we'll do
a full energy audit.
Uh, where we're using a blowerdoor and um, a, a duck leakage,
(08:08):
you know, like a block, a ductblaster, for example, um, and
that's going to give us ourexact numbers.
However, that is prettyexpensive, it's pretty labor
intensive, it takes multiplehours to complete something like
this, and when you could getthe same kind of results, which
the outcome is, hey, what do Ineed to do without getting those
geeky numbers?
More often than not, I'd say99% of the time, our homeowners
(08:30):
are going with what we call anenergy audit express.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So you have multiple options.
Yes so there's the Express andthat's basically your how long
does an Express take?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It should take about anywhere between an hour to two
hours or so to complete it Anhour to two hours to do your
Express version and the otherversion.
The other version will takethree to five hours.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That's extensive, yeah, so those like a full-on
energy audit.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
For us, like it's going to start at $500 and go up
from there, depending on howmany AC systems they have and
what the square footage is.
But, like I said, you knowwe're generally advising
customers to go the moreeconomical way, especially
upfront, because you don'treally need that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So Is it a set price for an express versus the other
one, or is it?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
based on the size of the home.
Is that those, those play fact?
I'm just curious.
For an Express it's just $99.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So it's basically an in-depth estimate.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
If you will.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That is pretty good.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So we're really evaluating everything, and if
aging equipment is involved,then what we'll do is we'll
stick it in what we call a loadcalculation software it's called
RightSoft and then we'll beable to see, hey, is this system
oversized or undersized for thehouse?
And then, you know, we'lldetermine hey, could that be a
(09:45):
culprit?
And a lot of our homeownershave issues with comfort, so
they might have certain roomsthat are hotter or colder than
others and they don't know whyyou know why such high
temperature differentials, andthey just can't stand or bear to
be in one of the rooms.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So I've lived in one of those houses where the
bedroom was ice cold andeverything else was hot.
Yeah, gosh, I hate that.
That's like my mom's house,yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It's my mom two story home and like one side of the
house gets really cold, theother side of the house gets
really hot.
I, the other side of the housegets really hot.
I'm like what's going on, Idon't know.
But you mentioned somethingthat's kind of piqued my
curiosity.
You said an ac system that'soversized for the home.
Forgive my, you know, ignorancein the in the industry is a
good word, I know.
Thank you in the industry.
Because I don't know.
But in my mind, probably becauseI I'm a bit of a saltwater
(10:33):
aquarium enthusiast, so, likewhen I build like my saltwater
aquariums, I kind of oversize alot of things like my pumps and
my filters and all that stuff,because I don't want to deal
with a whole lot of themaintenance.
So it's better for me to, likeyou know, go bigger on that.
So with an AC unit I would justthink like, oh, my home, I want
to go with a big AC unit and Ican cool my home faster instead
of a small one that's going tobe running constantly.
(10:55):
Is that not the case?
You shouldn't go too big on ahome for an AC.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, that's correct.
So you definitely don't want tobe just short, what we call
short cycling.
So system turns on, turns off,turns on, turns off, turns on,
turns off.
You want longer run times on apiece of equipment.
The thing that you'reexplaining, though, like since
you do have aquariums and otherthings that might, you know, put
(11:21):
heat into the house what you dowhen you do the proper load
calculation is you'll accountfor that, so you can include
that in your load calculation.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
So okay, okay, yeah.
So because I was just thinkingif I have a small home, I want a
big AC unit.
It'll cool it down real quick.
But you don't want it to dothat because it'll, like you
said, it'll keep cycling on andoff, on and off.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
That's what we don't want.
A lot of wear and tear on theAC, yeah, so think about it as
like a vehicle, right?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So when are you?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
using the most gas in a car for an air conditioner.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Right, it's like putting a Ferrari engine in a
Ford Focus?
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm still stuck on the fact that you're a saltwater
.
I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You've been to my house before.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I don't look at things around your house.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
A giant 200-gallon aquarium.
I didn't know it was saltwater.
It was the first thing that youwould walk in and see.
I just I'm not the servicesthat you offer, so you have the
express service.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It's $99.
Then you have the I will callit the nerd service, right?
The more detailed service forthe engineers.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I like that.
I like that the bend serviceright.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
So it's for the engineer, it's for the guy that
really likes data, the womanthat really likes data.
Is that different chargesdepending on the size of the
home or is that a set charge?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yes, that's different charges depending on the size
of the home.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But it's more than $99.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It sounds like there's a lot more work that's
going to be involved.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And do the utilities offer any kind of a rebate or
anything like that for what youdo?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
So no Right, at the moment they don't.
Actually, srp will offer $100for the more comprehensive
energy audit yeah.
But, that still doesn't, youknow, offset much of the cost.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So I'm not asking the cost, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So they used to.
They used to actually offersome pretty extensive rebates.
But those kind of you know,have dwindled.
However, they do offer like.
Srp, for example, offers $600for insulation as a rebate and
then $400 for duct systemsealing, and then anywhere from
(13:30):
$75 per ton to $225 per ton foran air conditioning system, and
then for APS it's a little bitlower.
So we're talking $250 for ductsystem sealing, $250 for
insulation and $200 for an ACreplacement.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I did not know that.
See, I'm learning.
Every episode we learnsomething new.
I didn't know there wasanything for any of that stuff.
We put on these episodes, thesepodcasts, so that our episode,
we learn something new.
I didn't know there wasanything for any of that stuff.
We put on these episodes, thesepodcasts, so that our listeners
can learn something new, butevery single time we do this we
end up learning something new.
So that's okay.
Did not know that.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, the cool thing now, though, too, is there's
something called the IRA, and sothere's some tax credits as
well.
So there's a $2,000 tax creditfor a heat pump that is 16 CO2
and above.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And then there's also a $1,200 tax credit for
insulation.
Man, it's good to know.
I need to get a new heat pump.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I know who to call and I know who to call.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Now, too, mine's 15 years old, but wow, these are
things that I didn't worry.
I mean, obviously our industryhas a ton of stuff that we play
with, sure, yeah, this is goodto know.
So you should go back to yourhomeowner that you know again.
You kind of talk about whywould you need to use this kind
of a service?
I guess you kind of touched onthat.
Yeah, so I mean, what when yougo out and do this, is there?
Is there a most common thingthat you typically find?
(14:55):
I?
I'm assuming you're probablyworking with homes 20 years or
older for the most part, maybenot the newer, like we see in
solar, most people that contactus 20 years plus have been in
the home.
They're looking for solar.
We do get some of the newerstuff, but it really just seems
like the bulk of people are 20years plus.
Do you see that same thing?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yes, yes, absolutely no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You say that is that on the newer stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, that's generally on the newer stuff.
On the older stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
What do you typically find?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Gosh, it ranges.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I'm just curious.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, it could be.
You know, like I explained forthe duct system, most of the
issues that we're finding are inthe attic, so duct system could
be holes in the system.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Not enough insulation .
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Not enough insulation attic.
You know big gaps in the atticthat you can see that penetrate
all the way down to the actualindoor space and then obviously
the HVAC as well.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So yeah, that's another thing that when I talk
with these customers you knowabout.
Their usage has gone up andthey say nothing's changed.
Like I keep my thermostat at 78.
And I've never changed that.
Like, okay, you've set it at 78.
But there are outside factorsthat are heating up your home.
Your AC is now just workingharder and harder and harder to
keep your home at 78.
You know if you have bad ductwork or you know poor insulation
(16:36):
and things like that, yes, yourhome is at 78, but instead of
your AC running for you knowfive, six hours, now it's
running for 12 hours just tokeep it at that temperature.
You know.
So that's the issue that youknow a lot of homeowners, just
they don't know what's going onin their walls and ceilings.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Right, yeah, and also filtration plays a big role
into that.
So a lot of the returns that wesee where the filter goes,
they're like very, veryundersized.
So that will restrict airflow.
And if homeowners sometimesthey forget to replace their
filters, we've seen them justsucked up all the way into the
return and that's really arestriction.
So that's going to cause aspike.
(17:12):
So that's going to cause aspike.
We've also seen systems thatare miswired and they will.
For example, the AC will turnon at the same time as the
heater.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
We found that.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
And obviously that's going to cause, you know,
thousand dollar bills, just youknow, because they had somebody
out there that kind of didn'tknow what they were doing, or a
homeowner decided to try toreplace the thermostat, miswired
it.
So you know, we see the wildestthings.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Speaking of air filters, I've seen the debates.
I think you probably know whereI'm going with this.
A lot of people don't know if.
What type of air filter shouldI get?
Should I get the really cheapones that you know that it's not
filtering a lot of stuff, orshould I get the really nice,
(17:59):
expensive one that filters outall the stuff 3-5.
Yeah, exactly, it's real thick.
You hear the pros and cons toeach.
Like the really thin ones, it'seasier on the AC unit, it
doesn't harm the AC unit, butthen the thicker ones, it does.
So in your opinion, what is thebest type of air filter that
people should get?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
So this is obviously a big topic, right?
So more people think exactlywhat you just described.
But for the super cheap onesthey're like 99 cents or a
dollar.
You can kind of see throughthem.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
They're flat.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
They're either blue, white or green.
They don't capture very manyparticles.
So while they're good forairflow, the particles can
penetrate and then just getclogged in the coil and then
you've got issues with your coilgetting clogged up and then you
have to clean your coil right.
So we don't necessarily like torecommend those.
But you can get either a oneinch pleated filter.
(18:51):
Those work just fine, but witha one inch pleat.
So you'll see the ones thatthey sell at Costco very, very
tightly pressed together as anaccordion.
You don't want those.
Those will cause too high of aresistance, also known as static
pressure.
So that's what we don't want.
Now, if you're somebody thathas asthma or you have allergies
(19:13):
in your home or just in generalallergies in your home or just
in general, what we recommend isto size the return box
accordingly so we can put whatwe call a four inch thick MERV
13 filter.
So these filters, instead ofbeing one inch they're just four
inches and when you spread themacross like the surface area
that you're getting is much.
(19:33):
It's like three times theamount of just a one inch
pleated filter.
So those have a good pressuredrop among them and that's what
we'll recommend for energyefficiency and filtration.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You said if there's returns not sized correctly, are
you seeing a lot of that wherethe returns are too small?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yes, I would say 95% of homes in Arizona have too
small of a return.
For people that don'tunderstand what that means or
what Arizona have too small of areturn.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
For people that don'tunderstand what that means or
what that is, what is a return?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
A return is where you put your filter in in your home
.
So it's just that grill thatdrops down and then you put your
filter in.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And you said how many percentage of people.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I would say 95.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, so, if you're listening, guess what Odds are.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
I.
So, if you're listening, guesswhat Odds are?
Yes, yes, absolutely.
I mean mine's huge, aren't mostof them?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
just huge.
Why is that?
Is it a builder issue?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, it's just well.
It's obviously a builder issue.
It's you know, when they werebuilding these homes they were a
contractor goes to bid right,and so whoever has the cheapest
price will generally win the bid.
So, a smaller return costs lessthan a bigger one.
So that would be one example,also the type of grill that you
(20:43):
have.
So there's a stamp-faced grillversus what we call a bar-type
grill.
A bar-type grill, the louversare spaced out a lot further
apart, so it's more aerodynamic.
It will reduce static pressureversus a stamp-based grill.
It's just stamped out of afactory.
(21:06):
Builders use them for cheapbids and a lot of homes in
Arizona have them.
Those will increase staticpressure, which will increase
resistance, which helps toincrease your bills, which is
what we don't want.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I'm thinking now with comparing my home to my
mother's home.
I have a one-story home, one ACunit, I have five returns, I
have five different air filtersthat I have to put in my home.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Really, oh nice.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yes, Five.
Five.
One in the master bedroom, twoin the hallway, another one kind
of off to the side in thehallway and one in the office.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
My mother two-story home, two AC units.
She has one air filter.
It's an older home, much olderhome, and it's bigger than my
home.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I would think one would be more common and maybe
somebody did something custom onthat.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
No, or do you see more?
These are mine's.
Home is a track home.
They're all the same.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But I always thought it was weird.
I have five different filtersthat I have to change.
Well, and I'm wondering ifthose are jumper ducks or if
they're actually returns.
So when you have your ACrunning and you put your hand up
to it or whatever, does thefilter actually get sucked?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
up.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So maybe your home was weatherized or maybe you've
got an energy star home orsomething like that where
they're taking good returnamounts into accounts.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I know it's very energy efficient.
I haven't had to turn my AC onthis year, awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Even though we've hit what.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I know Crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
What year was your home built?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
2021,.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I think it was Well, there you go.
That's probably the reason thatwas a good thing to share.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I said my home was newer.
That's a lot newer, that'sreally new.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But I always thought it was weird that my home was
smaller than my mother's home.
She has two story two AC units,One air filter.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
What do you think?
So here's something maybe alittle different.
So obviously I'm not fromArizona.
Everybody knows that I'm notfrom here.
He's proud of that.
I'm not proud of that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Where are you from?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I'm from California, I'm from Los Angeles.
Sorry, I don't know if peopledon't like that, but anyway, the
one thing that I've foundliving here the allergies are
horrible.
There's dust on my house andinside the house.
That's unbelievable becausewe're living in a desert.
It just it gets the layers ofdust if you don't clean it every
other day is just ridiculousand I don't know what to do
(23:17):
about it right?
So there's these people thatsell these ionic machines that
go in the ducts or that you canuse separately, that are
supposed to help with that.
Have you had any experiencewith that kind of stuff?
I know some companies likeyours sell those things.
Are they worth a darn?
Do you think they work?
Are they bad?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah.
So for us, our big thing is dono harm, right?
So a lot of the UV lights willemit what we call ozone, and
ozone is not very healthy foryou, right?
So the UV lights that we sell,they don't emit any ozone and
they do help with cleaning theair.
It makes it just a lot morecrisp.
(23:53):
I have one in my home.
It works great, but it's notfiltration right.
So when you're saying hey, myhome is really, really dusty,
I'm wondering how often are youshutting your interior doors?
Shutting your interior doors?
Do you have room pressure issues, that's causing a negative
pressure, which means that, youknow, the main cavity of the
(24:18):
house is becoming negative.
So air flows from a positive tonegative, which will bring dust
and debris from outside andthat's why your home is more
dusty.
Or you might have leaks in yourduct system that's coming into
the house and that's causing it.
We've gone back to homes wherewe've sealed and replaced duct
work and the homeowner will tellus you know, every morning I
(24:38):
used to come to the stove topand I would just wipe down my
stove.
You know black stove top, soyou can really see the dust and
she's like, after you guys weredone, I don't have to do that
anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So so you could do an energy audit, even if your
home's not experiencing a wholelot of.
You know, my bills are goinghigh.
I'm just noticing my home isdusty.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I need an energy audit.
Yeah, so I need an energy audit.
It sounds like you need anenergy audit.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Well, you probably have solar on your home.
I do, so your bills areprobably fine.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
My bills are good.
It's just the allergens, it'sjust the dust.
So, it's interesting you saidthat, so I didn't realize that
ozone, because a lot of thosemachines do emit ozone.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, and that's bad.
You don't want to breathe ozone, right?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I guess not.
Yeah, you breathe.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
O2, not O3.
Not my thing, man, I just plugit in and it does what it does,
right.
So that's interesting.
That's interesting.
I hear a lot of people that dohave the sealing issues.
I know there's that stuffcalled.
Is it AeroSeal?
I've heard it.
Yeah, Is that what you guys?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
So we don't do AeroSeal.
The main reason for that isit's only good for holes that
are one-eighth of an inch orless, so we find holes that are
much larger than that all thetime.
Really, when you do find holesthat big, then you need to
reinforce it with some othertype of fiber material, so like
a fiber mesh, and then you putthe mastic over it.
(25:53):
So for us, like we're actuallytouching every collar, every
connection with our hands andsealing it up and then
reinforcing it when it'sapplicable, I think AeroSeal
works great for, like a flatroof house.
Where it's not accessible, thensure, okay.
But you know it makes sense Ifyou've got access to the duct
(26:14):
work and the full attic.
The hand seal method definitelyis far superior.
So we've gone in.
Actually, we did a study.
We were part of a study back in2012 where we tested a bunch of
homes that actually did haveaeroseal and what we found is a
(26:34):
lot of ductwork was stillleaking.
And it just didn't make a lot ofsense to us, and that's why we
decided to just stick to thehand seal method.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Because it's not capturing the holes bigger than
an eighth of an inch.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Right and again, will it make it better than what it
was?
A hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, absolutely it will make it better, but for us
we feel that the best way to doit is to put our hands on it.
On, we check the solar andeverything's good.
Then you say maybe you need anenergy audit, maybe this or that
.
So we know why they're callingus and we push them to a company
like yours.
Are people calling you saying,hey, my energy bills are too
high, so I want you to do anenergy audit, or are they saying
other things?
I'm just curious the reasonsthey would call you directly.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, a multitude of reasons.
So it could be the energy billissue, or just people calling in
saying that they have hot roomsand they're just so sick of it.
Also, just people, just youknow, might want an energy audit
so they can know what to dobefore getting solar.
We've had that.
They want an energy audit sothey can know, you know, what to
(27:42):
do before they replace theirair conditioner.
Just a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Do you guys ever talk a percentage of efficiency or
savings that you can offer bydoing certain things?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
That's very difficult to estimate is what we found.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love that answer because, there's so many
companies out there that say, oh, it's about a 30% efficiency
increase and this and that whichis absolute BS.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
We know it's.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
BS.
So, I love that you said that,because it's so true you can't
estimate that you don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, we get those calls all the time.
How much is a solar system?
Like well, it depends.
A lot of salespeople will tryto do their different sales
tactics and I'm like, well, I'mgoing to be honest with you,
it's going to depend.
I need a lot of informationfrom you first.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'm not just going to give you a number.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yep, are you more?
Are you?
I'm sure you're.
Are you more seasonal?
Obviously you're doing AC stuff, so I'm sure they're seasonal.
Do you have a lot of peoplewhere you're getting ready,
you're getting ready to get intosummer.
They want, they want tips fromyou, they want to know what they
can do, they want the audit toget ready for summer.
People that want to.
I don't.
And also, as this time of yearagain, march, april, we start
(28:47):
seeing 90s and we start blowingup, right, and is that the same
thing with your business?
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Yeah, it is pretty similar Absolutely, especially
with HVAC, you know.
So we're full service.
So right now everybody's, youknow, people are just turning
their air conditioners on forthe first time, so maybe it's
not working good or it's notblowing as cold or whatever the
case is, and yeah, we just getan influx.
But plus, people just want, youknow, they think now's a good
time to add insulation to theirhome and everything.
(29:14):
But you know you're not theonly one thinking that.
So it's kind of hard to keep upwith all of that.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That's the same thing , yeah, as you guys know.
Same thing I tell solarcustomers too.
You know they wait till it's,you know, june and July, and
they're like, oh, I want to getsolar now.
You should have got it back inFebruary, when you knew the
temperatures were going toincrease and your bills are
going to increase.
Now it's too late.
Let's be a little proactive andget it done beforehand.
I'm sure you see that too inyour industry.
(29:40):
It's hey, it's middle of Julyand my bills are high.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Great, how often should somebody get an energy
audit?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I would just say one time honestly, really yeah,
unless you're making changes,drastic changes to the house.
So what we find is, anytime youhave the cable man in your
attic or you have an electricianin the attic and they're
messing around with your canlights or you're adding lights
or whatever type of remodelyou're doing, then sure, yeah,
(30:07):
have another energy audit doneso you can see, hey, is my attic
still okay or not?
Cause anytime you have somebodyin the attic, really the last
person to be in the attic shouldbe the insulator.
Anytime you have somebody inthere, they're trampling through
it and you don't know whatthey're going to do.
They might have to cut a duckthat and squish it to get to the
(30:28):
far corner of the attic to putthat light in.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
So it's a good point.
So I mean, I was going to talkabout red flags.
We kind of you hit on so manyof them.
Right, you talked about roomsthat are hot, uh, particles in
the air.
There's different things.
There's even appliances.
Do you guys don't look atappliances at all?
No so that would be more ofthat.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's a different thing, right yeah, I would say,
the pool, though, is a big one.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Okay, yeah, the pool, the pool pump and things like
that.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Right, yeah, so a variable speed pump obviously
helps dramatically.
I actually put one in my houseback in I don't know 2015 and
measured the reduction and overthe year I saved about $1,200
off of my energy bill, just fromyou know, upgrading to the
variable speed.
However, nowadays, now in thisday and age, a lot of homes
(31:13):
already have these pool pumps in.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I would agree that mine didn't have it and I bought
and it's nice because it hasthe app and I can play with it,
and yeah, I've saved a ton ofmoney doing that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That's, if you have a pool and you don't have a
variable speed, you need to bitethe bullet and go do that, yeah
, I always tell people when I'mlooking at their energy bills,
the bigger the device and thelonger it runs, that's going to
be the bigger impact on yourbill.
You think of your AC unit.
It's huge.
How long does it run in thesummer, 20 hours a day?
Okay, well, that's going to bethe majority of your bill,
(31:44):
because I do get those customerswho are like, okay, those are
small items, you're not going tosee a huge change on your bill.
So I'm sure you know doing anenergy audit, you know people
are like well, I switched toLEDs, is that going to be a huge
impact?
Like no, like it's great thatyou did that you might've saved
a couple cents, but you knowit's not.
It's not.
The bigger issue is your poolpump, your AC units?
(32:04):
What are these big ticket itemsthat are going to be causing?
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, the third one would be the water heater.
I would say for sure, again,another big item that runs for a
long time right.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Bigger the item, longer it runs, more impact on
your bill.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, but like a refrigerator, for example,
that'll save $90 a year forupgrading to an energy star you
know.
So, uh, I would say get one ifyou want, but don't do it for
energy savings Right.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Do you guys deal with the water heaters and stuff?
Do you do that too, or no?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Not yet, but that is coming here in the fall.
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
So are you going to do the?
What are those called, the onesthat the non-traditional ones?
The tankless, the tankless.
Are you guys going to mess withthat, or are you going?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
to just do.
And then obviously, heat pump.
Hot water heaters are a bigthing, so that's something that
is also tax credit eligible Heatpump hot water heaters.
Yeah, so basically it has alittle mini condenser next to it
and it's basically a heat pump,hot water heater in a tank and
it works really well.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
I've never heard of that either.
You're learning something newevery day.
No, I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
no, that's coming soon, you said.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
For our company, yes.
For your company, yes, andthere's a tax credit for it.
There is Nice.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Are you learning something Because?
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I'm learning a lot.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Wow, that's really cool.
That's pretty cool.
I do.
I want to look at the tanklessthing because I think that's
interesting.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
People keep mean, I think it's, as long as you're
upgrading your water heater tosomething more efficient,
whether it's tankless or tank orwhatever it is I think really
the most efficient that you cando is a heat pump hot water
heater.
But you know, I'm going to lookthat up, I'm going to Google it
.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, I've never heard of that because I am.
My water heater is likeprobably 12 years old and it's
hanging on by a thread.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
It's hanging on.
You know it's one of thosethings.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
So when it comes to your company, so the one thing
that we have to, the challengethat we have on a daily basis
here at Harman, is why Harmanright, it's always that question
why we have to sell our company, why are we best?
And I can give you a millionreasons.
You get bored.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
But they're all true.
I'd like to hear we got time.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
But I want to know why our customers, why should
they call you?
What is, what is differentabout your company?
What is the thing that makesyou, that separates you from
everybody that's out there inthe Phoenix area?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah Well, the best thing, I think, is that just
we're vertically integrated.
So a lot of companies that doenergy audits or home
performance, you know they mightsubcontract out their HVAC, for
example.
Hvac, for example, and for mepersonally I think the as an
(34:47):
owner the reason why we chose tobring it in-house is so you
just have full control.
You get your guys certified,you can know what you're
training um and and hold themaccountable honestly and just
know the people and their um,integrity and their values and
what they care about.
I think is a really big thing.
So that would be the first one.
(35:07):
And then the second one is youknow we just do things right by
properly sizing equipment, forexample, or the duct work.
We know how to design it.
I mean, we literally go throughstudies, we've gone through
geeky conferences where wefigure out the best way to do
something.
So we kind of take it to kindof the nerdiest level that you
(35:32):
can take it.
And so if you just kind of wantsomething to just get you by,
we're probably not the best fitfor you as a homeowner, you as a
homeowner.
But if you want somethingthat's very, very high quality
and you're going to get aproduct that will yield results
like comfort in the house and,just you know, good energy usage
(35:52):
and just good air quality, thenwe're the partner for you.
And it's not cheap, becausethese upgrades aren't cheap as
you know, solar isn't either.
It's just, you know what areyour goals right, and we have
solutions for all differenttypes of budgets and everything.
But you know, it really justdepends on what the goals are
for the home and the other thing.
The third thing is we're stilllocally owned and operated,
(36:13):
right.
So a lot of HVAC companies herein the Valley have been bought
out by private equity firms.
And you know, you still have me, you still have my business
partner and all of us under oneumbrella, so I think that that
matters too to keep your dollarslocal and not, you know, throw
them to.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
So I mean, what I heard is family owned right
Integrity, which, wow, that's.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Sounds very familiar to me.
I know a solar company, I know.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, sounds like it.
Locally owned and operated,right?
So you've got a local throat tochoke.
Yep, that's the way we say itlocal throat to choke.
You remind me a lot of us.
Yeah, I can just feel it.
I've never met you before, but,just talking to you, your
values are very similar to whatwe do.
Right, we're not the cheapest,but there's a reason for that.
So you get what you pay for,and I'm a big believer of that.
(37:05):
I'm never going to look at thecheapest, because the cheapest
is usually a reason.
It's the cheapest.
We usually have to come backbehind people and fix the
cheapest.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
And you're probably in the same boat, I would assume
100%, and that's part of thereason why we still have so much
work honestly.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
And integrity is another one that you mentioned
too.
That's us all the way.
I'll tell people all the timeno, don't get solar.
Like what?
Yeah, a solar company istelling me no.
Like I've got three otherquilts from other companies,
good, go with them.
I'm telling you no because I'mlooking out for you and your
best interest.
How much do I get paid bytelling you no, nothing I, and
say this was a bad decision.
(37:39):
Now I'm stuck with this.
So I'm telling you no out ofyour best interest, because our
integrity means everything We'llactually get bad reviews online
for telling people no.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Right, yeah, we've had a bad review.
Actually, we just got one liketwo weeks ago, and the guy was
mad that we couldn't come outfor two weeks for a mini split
estimate and it's like you knowwell, you would.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Was it Ralph?
Did Ralph write the review?
Speaker 3 (38:05):
It wasn't Ralph, it's like really you didn't even use
us.
You have no experience with us.
You're just mad because wecouldn't come out for two weeks.
That's so not fair.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That's not fair.
Yeah, that's not fair.
Yeah, hopefully you respond tothat.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
You know I got a little heated and I kind of left
that on the back burner for aminute.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Respond.
I will, I will.
I respond and I don't send it.
I'm sorry.
Who are you again, becauseyou're not one of our customers.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Well, you're never going to make everyone happy,
right?
That's just the reality.
I think people have learnedthat when they look at reviews
you got to take some of themwith a grain of salt.
There's just some of thosepeople out there that they live
for that stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Right it so armchair warriors.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I like that you do mini splits.
I installed a mini split in mygarage.
I don't know.
You have to have a mini splitin a garage.
Mine's solar, though it's kindof cool.
Oh, cool it works offelectrical and solar.
I'm sure they're very, veryneat.
I mean I was just thinking I'vegot to turn that back on.
It's getting hot.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
You should do that, yeah I.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
If someone wants to get a hold of you, so tell us
again.
You know how can they get aholdof you?
Where can they find you?
They want to book an energyaudit or anything at all.
They want to do with you.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, so our company is ideal air conditioning and
insulation.
Website is wwwideal air azcomand our phone number is
480-839-0082.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
And would you be upset if we sent our customers
to you?
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Absolutely not, Because we do get those
customers.
Like I mentioned before, I sayyou should get an energy audit,
and they go okay, Because theyhave a relationship, they trust
us, they go off ourrecommendations and they go okay
.
Who should I go with?
And I'm always like I don'tknow, Google it Right, but we've
never talked with anyone.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
We never have, and I'm going to tell you this has
been really good.
I've learned a lot.
I really appreciate youspending time with us and we are
good, I think, if we get peoplethat call.
I'm going to push them your way.
We'll push them your way.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Awesome it just makes sense for us.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I love how you guys do business.
I think you're very alignedwith what we believe and that's
so important, so we shoulddefinitely share customers.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Thank you.
Anything you want to add, Ben?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Thanks for coming out .
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, we really appreciate your time, we really
appreciate joining us Do youlike the setup.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Thanks for having us.
It's a beautiful office.
You're the first person to dothis.
See, I feel so honored that youchose me to be the first
contestant.
We're one for one.
We're one for one.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
All right, so we're going to be back again soon.
We've got a lot of excitingstuff coming.
It's just unbelievable, thestuff we've got coming lined up.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Lots of guests.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Yep, a ton of guests, a ton of different industries.
Yep, really good stuff.
And even a little bit of Vegasslipped in there.
So we'll talk about.
Welcome to another edition of the Harman Solar
podcast.
I'm Rob Fremano, VP of Salesand Marketing at Harman Solar,
and with me, as always, is mypartner, my friend my guy.
Ben Walschlager.
You guys know him as MrEverything, ben, it's good to be
here, is it?
First of all, before we start,let's address the elephant in
the room.
I just want to say you'rewelcome.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
For being my friend.
No welcome for being my friend.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
No, for building the studio.
Oh right, you did nothing.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
You did everything all by yourself.
That's right, so I'm thank me.
I provided no input whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
You really didn't look at these plants yeah, okay,
you gave me a bad time aboutthese plants, that's right but
yes, this is our new studio.
Yeah, it's nice, it's exciting,good looking professional
studio this is they're going tocome out really well or really
bad, but we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
We're gonna figure that out the only downside of
having this new setup is withour old setup, as you know,
people have seen before it's youjust see?
You know waist up.
Normally I wear like gym, gymshorts and flip-flops you know,
and I just have like my harmony.
Now I have to, you know, nicepants and nice shoes, because,
you see, this is, this is who Iam now.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
This is all this is the first day I've worn pants in
a month.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I know jim shorts was so much better.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm all about shorts.
We're doing a professional nowwe're doing it right, we are so
today, which is a special day,we have a special guest because
we are going to tackle the topicof energy audits, which we'll
get into in a second.
So with us today we have elenacremat.
Right, see, I got that rightwith Ideal, air Ideal.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Air, that's right.
Ideal, what did you say?
Ideal, energy, energy, I don'tknow.
Yeah, that was all wrong, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
So it's Elena Kremat with Ideal Air Yep Welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Elena Welcome.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You're our first guest in our new podcast setup.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Congratulations Awesome today, yeah, but do you
feel special.
I am special.
That's good, I like her.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I like her.
So we want to get into yourindustry, because that's
something we get a lot ofquestions about actually from
customers I know you doespecially, yeah, and we want to
talk about what an energy auditis, but before we get there, so
tell us about your business.
So how long have you been there?
What's your role there?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Okay, yeah, so my name is Elena Kremat and I am
co-owner of Ideal AirConditioning and Insulation.
See, I told you have been doingthis for 16 years now 16, wow
yeah.
Wow, and you know, we startedout with just testing homes, and
(02:23):
then we realized testing homeswasn't really saving any energy
off of people's bills and soonthereafter started fixing duct
work and insulation on theweekends and then realized that
a lot of air conditioningequipment was not installed
correctly or grossly oversizedand contributed a lot to the
(02:45):
energy bills, and so then webrought air conditioning
in-house in 2012.
And so now we're full turnkeyvertically integrated air
conditioning and insulation andhome performance.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And you serve the entire Valley.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, okay, very important.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So, ben, tell us, why would we want to talk to
somebody that does energy?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
audit.
Yeah, so part of what I do atHarman.
Someone will call in ourcustomer or different customer
or whatever, and they'll say youknow, hey, I have solar, but my
bills are still kind of high.
Why is that?
So it goes to me to kind offigure out the why.
When I talk to these customersI say, well, there's two reasons
, and only two reasons, why yourbills would be high Either your
equipment's not working or yourusage is going up.
(03:29):
So let's look at the first oneyour equipment.
What's it supposed to produceand what's it actually producing
?
So if it's supposed to produce20,000 kilowatt hours a year and
it actually produces 20,000kilowatt hours a year, then I
tell the customer well, if it'snot number one, then it's got to
be the second option.
So let's look at your usage.
It has to have gone up.
So I take a look at what didyou use last year and what did
(03:51):
you use this year, and in thosecases their usage has gone up.
Now my problem is looking attheir utility bills and things
like that.
I can only see the numbers, thetotals.
I can't find out the why.
So when I look at their usage Igo, hey, it's gone up.
Why is that In 99% of the timehomeowners go nothing's changed
in my lifestyle.
(04:11):
I'm like, well, somethingobviously changed because your
usage has gone up.
Did you get an electric car ora hot tub?
Did you have a house guest thatmoved in?
Again, I don't know.
I'm just looking at the totalnumbers.
I don't know what's going on inyour home.
Did you adjust your thermostatdown, you know?
And again homeowners will saywell, no, I didn't do any of
that, nothing's changed.
(04:32):
So then that's when I say tellthem you probably need an energy
audit.
Then find out what's going onin the home, because somewhere
in your home you're using more,and again I can't, I can't tell
where.
So you need to have some sortof professional to come out and
find out where's the energygoing in your home.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So tell us so when your company goes out there.
So what exactly?
What's involved in an energyaudit?
What should a customer expectwhen you guys get there?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Okay, so traditionally an energy audit.
What someone would think aboutit as would be blower door
testing, which is basicallycoming up with building leakage,
and also duct leakage testingas well.
However, what we found is thatwe can do this in a more rapid
manner and save the initialenergy audit costs by just doing
(05:19):
what we call an energy auditexpress.
And so the whole theory behindit is if I tell you that you
know your home is leaking, uh 25oh, one CFM 50, that doesn't
really mean a lot to you, so itsounds professional, though
Exactly Right.
So the same goes for the ductsystem as well.
So what we do is we'll, uh,essentially do an express audit.
(05:41):
We'll get in the attic.
We're looking at duct work.
Uh, you know leaks.
So if there's visible holesthat we can see in the collars,
connections as well as thebuilding envelope from the attic
space, so if there's big dropsthat we can see, or insulation
is missing or it's just notinstalled correctly, and from
(06:02):
there we can determine hey, youhave actual room for improvement
or not.
The other thing that we can doas well, if it's just like a
sudden spike in bills, a lot oftimes, yeah, sure, it might be
like a ductwork disconnect orsomething like that just
randomly occurring, but a lot ofthe times it's the air
conditioning equipment.
(06:22):
So let's say it's an agingpiece of equipment, it's older
and it has a leak or somethinglike that that just has occurred
and that's going to cause thesystem to obviously use a ton
more energy and the bills tospike and obviously cause
comfort issues in the home aswell.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
So yeah, I noticed that a lot too, because I don't
just look back, you know thelast year I look at previous
years and if I start to noticethat their summer usage has is
the culprit going up graduallyeach year, that to me goes
that's got to be AC unit.
So, like I take a look at howold is the home, I talk to the
homeowner and I go, how old isyour AC unit?
Oh, I don't know, it's like theoriginal one for my 20-year-old
home.
I go it's probably that.
(07:02):
So get an energy audit becauseit's something with your AC unit
that's causing your usage to goup.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
But that's good that you brought up duct work too,
because that's something that alot of homeowners homeowners
don't obviously see all the time.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They'd have no idea if there's energy being leaked,
you know through their ductworkas well.
What kind of like tools orthings do you use during an
audit?
Is there any specific?
So we're really big on airflowand what we call static pressure
on an air conditioning system.
We're using a manometer andessentially coming up with what
the pressures are.
So how much resistance is goingthrough the coil?
Basically, if those numbers aretoo elevated, then that's going
(07:45):
to tell us that that system isway overworking itself.
That's part of the Energy AuditExpress.
So you know some homeowners,they're engineers, they're very
into the numbers and the and theum, you know nerdiness of that
we have those customers.
I like those guys, yes, and sowith those, like sure, we'll do
a full energy audit.
Uh, where we're using a blowerdoor and um, a, a duck leakage,
(08:08):
you know, like a block, a ductblaster, for example, um, and
that's going to give us ourexact numbers.
However, that is prettyexpensive, it's pretty labor
intensive, it takes multiplehours to complete something like
this, and when you could getthe same kind of results, which
the outcome is, hey, what do Ineed to do without getting those
geeky numbers?
More often than not, I'd say99% of the time, our homeowners
(08:30):
are going with what we call anenergy audit express.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So you have multiple options.
Yes so there's the Express andthat's basically your how long
does an Express take?
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It should take about anywhere between an hour to two
hours or so to complete it Anhour to two hours to do your
Express version and the otherversion.
The other version will takethree to five hours.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
That's extensive, yeah, so those like a full-on
energy audit.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
For us, like it's going to start at $500 and go up
from there, depending on howmany AC systems they have and
what the square footage is.
But, like I said, you knowwe're generally advising
customers to go the moreeconomical way, especially
upfront, because you don'treally need that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So Is it a set price for an express versus the other
one, or is it?
Speaker 3 (09:16):
based on the size of the home.
Is that those, those play fact?
I'm just curious.
For an Express it's just $99.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So it's basically an in-depth estimate.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
If you will.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
That is pretty good.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So we're really evaluating everything, and if
aging equipment is involved,then what we'll do is we'll
stick it in what we call a loadcalculation software it's called
RightSoft and then we'll beable to see, hey, is this system
oversized or undersized for thehouse?
And then, you know, we'lldetermine hey, could that be a
(09:45):
culprit?
And a lot of our homeownershave issues with comfort, so
they might have certain roomsthat are hotter or colder than
others and they don't know whyyou know why such high
temperature differentials, andthey just can't stand or bear to
be in one of the rooms.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
So I've lived in one of those houses where the
bedroom was ice cold andeverything else was hot.
Yeah, gosh, I hate that.
That's like my mom's house,yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It's my mom two story home and like one side of the
house gets really cold, theother side of the house gets
really hot.
I, the other side of the housegets really hot.
I'm like what's going on, Idon't know.
But you mentioned somethingthat's kind of piqued my
curiosity.
You said an ac system that'soversized for the home.
Forgive my, you know, ignorancein the in the industry is a
good word, I know.
Thank you in the industry.
Because I don't know.
But in my mind, probably becauseI I'm a bit of a saltwater
(10:33):
aquarium enthusiast, so, likewhen I build like my saltwater
aquariums, I kind of oversize alot of things like my pumps and
my filters and all that stuff,because I don't want to deal
with a whole lot of themaintenance.
So it's better for me to, likeyou know, go bigger on that.
So with an AC unit I would justthink like, oh, my home, I want
to go with a big AC unit and Ican cool my home faster instead
of a small one that's going tobe running constantly.
(10:55):
Is that not the case?
You shouldn't go too big on ahome for an AC.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Yeah, that's correct.
So you definitely don't want tobe just short, what we call
short cycling.
So system turns on, turns off,turns on, turns off, turns on,
turns off.
You want longer run times on apiece of equipment.
The thing that you'reexplaining, though, like since
you do have aquariums and otherthings that might, you know, put
(11:21):
heat into the house what you dowhen you do the proper load
calculation is you'll accountfor that, so you can include
that in your load calculation.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
So okay, okay, yeah.
So because I was just thinkingif I have a small home, I want a
big AC unit.
It'll cool it down real quick.
But you don't want it to dothat because it'll, like you
said, it'll keep cycling on andoff, on and off.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
That's what we don't want.
A lot of wear and tear on theAC, yeah, so think about it as
like a vehicle, right?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So when are you?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
using the most gas in a car for an air conditioner.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Right, it's like putting a Ferrari engine in a
Ford Focus?
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm still stuck on the fact that you're a saltwater
.
I didn't know this.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You've been to my house before.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I don't look at things around your house.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
A giant 200-gallon aquarium.
I didn't know it was saltwater.
It was the first thing that youwould walk in and see.
I just I'm not the servicesthat you offer, so you have the
express service.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It's $99.
Then you have the I will callit the nerd service, right?
The more detailed service forthe engineers.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I like that.
I like that the bend serviceright.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
So it's for the engineer, it's for the guy that
really likes data, the womanthat really likes data.
Is that different chargesdepending on the size of the
home or is that a set charge?
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Yes, that's different charges depending on the size
of the home.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But it's more than $99.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It sounds like there's a lot more work that's
going to be involved.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
And do the utilities offer any kind of a rebate or
anything like that for what youdo?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
So no Right, at the moment they don't.
Actually, srp will offer $100for the more comprehensive
energy audit yeah.
But, that still doesn't, youknow, offset much of the cost.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So I'm not asking the cost, don't worry.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
So they used to.
They used to actually offersome pretty extensive rebates.
But those kind of you know,have dwindled.
However, they do offer like.
Srp, for example, offers $600for insulation as a rebate and
then $400 for duct systemsealing, and then anywhere from
(13:30):
$75 per ton to $225 per ton foran air conditioning system, and
then for APS it's a little bitlower.
So we're talking $250 for ductsystem sealing, $250 for
insulation and $200 for an ACreplacement.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I did not know that.
See, I'm learning.
Every episode we learnsomething new.
I didn't know there wasanything for any of that stuff.
We put on these episodes, thesepodcasts, so that our episode,
we learn something new.
I didn't know there wasanything for any of that stuff.
We put on these episodes, thesepodcasts, so that our listeners
can learn something new, butevery single time we do this we
end up learning something new.
So that's okay.
Did not know that.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Yeah, the cool thing now, though, too, is there's
something called the IRA, and sothere's some tax credits as
well.
So there's a $2,000 tax creditfor a heat pump that is 16 CO2
and above.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And then there's also a $1,200 tax credit for
insulation.
Man, it's good to know.
I need to get a new heat pump.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
I know who to call and I know who to call.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Now, too, mine's 15 years old, but wow, these are
things that I didn't worry.
I mean, obviously our industryhas a ton of stuff that we play
with, sure, yeah, this is goodto know.
So you should go back to yourhomeowner that you know again.
You kind of talk about whywould you need to use this kind
of a service?
I guess you kind of touched onthat.
Yeah, so I mean, what when yougo out and do this, is there?
Is there a most common thingthat you typically find?
(14:55):
I?
I'm assuming you're probablyworking with homes 20 years or
older for the most part, maybenot the newer, like we see in
solar, most people that contactus 20 years plus have been in
the home.
They're looking for solar.
We do get some of the newerstuff, but it really just seems
like the bulk of people are 20years plus.
Do you see that same thing?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yes, yes, absolutely no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You say that is that on the newer stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, that's generally on the newer stuff.
On the older stuff.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
What do you typically find?
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Gosh, it ranges.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
I'm just curious.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, it could be.
You know, like I explained forthe duct system, most of the
issues that we're finding are inthe attic, so duct system could
be holes in the system.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Not enough insulation .
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Not enough insulation attic.
You know big gaps in the atticthat you can see that penetrate
all the way down to the actualindoor space and then obviously
the HVAC as well.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
So yeah, that's another thing that when I talk
with these customers you knowabout.
Their usage has gone up andthey say nothing's changed.
Like I keep my thermostat at 78.
And I've never changed that.
Like, okay, you've set it at 78.
But there are outside factorsthat are heating up your home.
Your AC is now just workingharder and harder and harder to
keep your home at 78.
You know if you have bad ductwork or you know poor insulation
(16:36):
and things like that, yes, yourhome is at 78, but instead of
your AC running for you knowfive, six hours, now it's
running for 12 hours just tokeep it at that temperature.
You know.
So that's the issue that youknow a lot of homeowners, just
they don't know what's going onin their walls and ceilings.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Right, yeah, and also filtration plays a big role
into that.
So a lot of the returns that wesee where the filter goes,
they're like very, veryundersized.
So that will restrict airflow.
And if homeowners sometimesthey forget to replace their
filters, we've seen them justsucked up all the way into the
return and that's really arestriction.
So that's going to cause aspike.
(17:12):
So that's going to cause aspike.
We've also seen systems thatare miswired and they will.
For example, the AC will turnon at the same time as the
heater.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
We found that.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
And obviously that's going to cause, you know,
thousand dollar bills, just youknow, because they had somebody
out there that kind of didn'tknow what they were doing, or a
homeowner decided to try toreplace the thermostat, miswired
it.
So you know, we see the wildestthings.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Speaking of air filters, I've seen the debates.
I think you probably know whereI'm going with this.
A lot of people don't know if.
What type of air filter shouldI get?
Should I get the really cheapones that you know that it's not
filtering a lot of stuff, orshould I get the really nice,
(17:59):
expensive one that filters outall the stuff 3-5.
Yeah, exactly, it's real thick.
You hear the pros and cons toeach.
Like the really thin ones, it'seasier on the AC unit, it
doesn't harm the AC unit, butthen the thicker ones, it does.
So in your opinion, what is thebest type of air filter that
people should get?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
So this is obviously a big topic, right?
So more people think exactlywhat you just described.
But for the super cheap onesthey're like 99 cents or a
dollar.
You can kind of see throughthem.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
They're flat.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
They're either blue, white or green.
They don't capture very manyparticles.
So while they're good forairflow, the particles can
penetrate and then just getclogged in the coil and then
you've got issues with your coilgetting clogged up and then you
have to clean your coil right.
So we don't necessarily like torecommend those.
But you can get either a oneinch pleated filter.
(18:51):
Those work just fine, but witha one inch pleat.
So you'll see the ones thatthey sell at Costco very, very
tightly pressed together as anaccordion.
You don't want those.
Those will cause too high of aresistance, also known as static
pressure.
So that's what we don't want.
Now, if you're somebody thathas asthma or you have allergies
(19:13):
in your home or just in generalallergies in your home or just
in general, what we recommend isto size the return box
accordingly so we can put whatwe call a four inch thick MERV
13 filter.
So these filters, instead ofbeing one inch they're just four
inches and when you spread themacross like the surface area
that you're getting is much.
(19:33):
It's like three times theamount of just a one inch
pleated filter.
So those have a good pressuredrop among them and that's what
we'll recommend for energyefficiency and filtration.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You said if there's returns not sized correctly, are
you seeing a lot of that wherethe returns are too small?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yes, I would say 95% of homes in Arizona have too
small of a return.
For people that don'tunderstand what that means or
what Arizona have too small of areturn.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
For people that don'tunderstand what that means or
what that is, what is a return?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
A return is where you put your filter in in your home
.
So it's just that grill thatdrops down and then you put your
filter in.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And you said how many percentage of people.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
I would say 95.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, so, if you're listening, guess what Odds are.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
I.
So, if you're listening, guesswhat Odds are?
Yes, yes, absolutely.
I mean mine's huge, aren't mostof them?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
just huge.
Why is that?
Is it a builder issue?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, it's just well.
It's obviously a builder issue.
It's you know, when they werebuilding these homes they were a
contractor goes to bid right,and so whoever has the cheapest
price will generally win the bid.
So, a smaller return costs lessthan a bigger one.
So that would be one example,also the type of grill that you
(20:43):
have.
So there's a stamp-faced grillversus what we call a bar-type
grill.
A bar-type grill, the louversare spaced out a lot further
apart, so it's more aerodynamic.
It will reduce static pressureversus a stamp-based grill.
It's just stamped out of afactory.
(21:06):
Builders use them for cheapbids and a lot of homes in
Arizona have them.
Those will increase staticpressure, which will increase
resistance, which helps toincrease your bills, which is
what we don't want.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
I'm thinking now with comparing my home to my
mother's home.
I have a one-story home, one ACunit, I have five returns, I
have five different air filtersthat I have to put in my home.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Really, oh nice.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yes, Five.
Five.
One in the master bedroom, twoin the hallway, another one kind
of off to the side in thehallway and one in the office.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
My mother two-story home, two AC units.
She has one air filter.
It's an older home, much olderhome, and it's bigger than my
home.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I would think one would be more common and maybe
somebody did something custom onthat.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
No, or do you see more?
These are mine's.
Home is a track home.
They're all the same.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
But I always thought it was weird.
I have five different filtersthat I have to change.
Well, and I'm wondering ifthose are jumper ducks or if
they're actually returns.
So when you have your ACrunning and you put your hand up
to it or whatever, does thefilter actually get sucked?
Speaker 2 (22:09):
up.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
So maybe your home was weatherized or maybe you've
got an energy star home orsomething like that where
they're taking good returnamounts into accounts.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I know it's very energy efficient.
I haven't had to turn my AC onthis year, awesome.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Even though we've hit what.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
I know Crazy.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
What year was your home built?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
2021,.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I think it was Well, there you go.
That's probably the reason thatwas a good thing to share.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I said my home was newer.
That's a lot newer, that'sreally new.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
But I always thought it was weird that my home was
smaller than my mother's home.
She has two story two AC units,One air filter.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
What do you think?
So here's something maybe alittle different.
So obviously I'm not fromArizona.
Everybody knows that I'm notfrom here.
He's proud of that.
I'm not proud of that.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Where are you from?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I'm from California, I'm from Los Angeles.
Sorry, I don't know if peopledon't like that, but anyway, the
one thing that I've foundliving here the allergies are
horrible.
There's dust on my house andinside the house.
That's unbelievable becausewe're living in a desert.
It just it gets the layers ofdust if you don't clean it every
other day is just ridiculousand I don't know what to do
(23:17):
about it right?
So there's these people thatsell these ionic machines that
go in the ducts or that you canuse separately, that are
supposed to help with that.
Have you had any experiencewith that kind of stuff?
I know some companies likeyours sell those things.
Are they worth a darn?
Do you think they work?
Are they bad?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Yeah.
So for us, our big thing is dono harm, right?
So a lot of the UV lights willemit what we call ozone, and
ozone is not very healthy foryou, right?
So the UV lights that we sell,they don't emit any ozone and
they do help with cleaning theair.
It makes it just a lot morecrisp.
(23:53):
I have one in my home.
It works great, but it's notfiltration right.
So when you're saying hey, myhome is really, really dusty,
I'm wondering how often are youshutting your interior doors?
Shutting your interior doors?
Do you have room pressure issues, that's causing a negative
pressure, which means that, youknow, the main cavity of the
(24:18):
house is becoming negative.
So air flows from a positive tonegative, which will bring dust
and debris from outside andthat's why your home is more
dusty.
Or you might have leaks in yourduct system that's coming into
the house and that's causing it.
We've gone back to homes wherewe've sealed and replaced duct
work and the homeowner will tellus you know, every morning I
(24:38):
used to come to the stove topand I would just wipe down my
stove.
You know black stove top, soyou can really see the dust and
she's like, after you guys weredone, I don't have to do that
anymore.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
So so you could do an energy audit, even if your
home's not experiencing a wholelot of.
You know, my bills are goinghigh.
I'm just noticing my home isdusty.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
I need an energy audit.
Yeah, so I need an energy audit.
It sounds like you need anenergy audit.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Well, you probably have solar on your home.
I do, so your bills areprobably fine.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
My bills are good.
It's just the allergens, it'sjust the dust.
So, it's interesting you saidthat, so I didn't realize that
ozone, because a lot of thosemachines do emit ozone.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, and that's bad.
You don't want to breathe ozone, right?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
I guess not.
Yeah, you breathe.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
O2, not O3.
Not my thing, man, I just plugit in and it does what it does,
right.
So that's interesting.
That's interesting.
I hear a lot of people that dohave the sealing issues.
I know there's that stuffcalled.
Is it AeroSeal?
I've heard it.
Yeah, Is that what you guys?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
So we don't do AeroSeal.
The main reason for that isit's only good for holes that
are one-eighth of an inch orless, so we find holes that are
much larger than that all thetime.
Really, when you do find holesthat big, then you need to
reinforce it with some othertype of fiber material, so like
a fiber mesh, and then you putthe mastic over it.
(25:53):
So for us, like we're actuallytouching every collar, every
connection with our hands andsealing it up and then
reinforcing it when it'sapplicable, I think AeroSeal
works great for, like a flatroof house.
Where it's not accessible, thensure, okay.
But you know it makes sense Ifyou've got access to the duct
(26:14):
work and the full attic.
The hand seal method definitelyis far superior.
So we've gone in.
Actually, we did a study.
We were part of a study back in2012 where we tested a bunch of
homes that actually did haveaeroseal and what we found is a
(26:34):
lot of ductwork was stillleaking.
And it just didn't make a lot ofsense to us, and that's why we
decided to just stick to thehand seal method.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Because it's not capturing the holes bigger than
an eighth of an inch.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Right and again, will it make it better than what it
was?
A hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, absolutely it will make it better, but for us
we feel that the best way to doit is to put our hands on it.
On, we check the solar andeverything's good.
Then you say maybe you need anenergy audit, maybe this or that
.
So we know why they're callingus and we push them to a company
like yours.
Are people calling you saying,hey, my energy bills are too
high, so I want you to do anenergy audit, or are they saying
other things?
I'm just curious the reasonsthey would call you directly.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, a multitude of reasons.
So it could be the energy billissue, or just people calling in
saying that they have hot roomsand they're just so sick of it.
Also, just people, just youknow, might want an energy audit
so they can know what to dobefore getting solar.
We've had that.
They want an energy audit sothey can know, you know, what to
(27:42):
do before they replace theirair conditioner.
Just a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Do you guys ever talk a percentage of efficiency or
savings that you can offer bydoing certain things?
Speaker 3 (27:53):
That's very difficult to estimate is what we found.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I love that answer because, there's so many
companies out there that say, oh, it's about a 30% efficiency
increase and this and that whichis absolute BS.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
We know it's.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
BS.
So, I love that you said that,because it's so true you can't
estimate that you don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, we get those calls all the time.
How much is a solar system?
Like well, it depends.
A lot of salespeople will tryto do their different sales
tactics and I'm like, well, I'mgoing to be honest with you,
it's going to depend.
I need a lot of informationfrom you first.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I'm not just going to give you a number.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yep, are you more?
Are you?
I'm sure you're.
Are you more seasonal?
Obviously you're doing AC stuff, so I'm sure they're seasonal.
Do you have a lot of peoplewhere you're getting ready,
you're getting ready to get intosummer.
They want, they want tips fromyou, they want to know what they
can do, they want the audit toget ready for summer.
People that want to.
I don't.
And also, as this time of yearagain, march, april, we start
(28:47):
seeing 90s and we start blowingup, right, and is that the same
thing with your business?
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Yeah, it is pretty similar Absolutely, especially
with HVAC, you know.
So we're full service.
So right now everybody's, youknow, people are just turning
their air conditioners on forthe first time, so maybe it's
not working good or it's notblowing as cold or whatever the
case is, and yeah, we just getan influx.
But plus, people just want, youknow, they think now's a good
time to add insulation to theirhome and everything.
(29:14):
But you know you're not theonly one thinking that.
So it's kind of hard to keep upwith all of that.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That's the same thing , yeah, as you guys know.
Same thing I tell solarcustomers too.
You know they wait till it's,you know, june and July, and
they're like, oh, I want to getsolar now.
You should have got it back inFebruary, when you knew the
temperatures were going toincrease and your bills are
going to increase.
Now it's too late.
Let's be a little proactive andget it done beforehand.
I'm sure you see that too inyour industry.
(29:40):
It's hey, it's middle of Julyand my bills are high.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Great, how often should somebody get an energy
audit?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I would just say one time honestly, really yeah,
unless you're making changes,drastic changes to the house.
So what we find is, anytime youhave the cable man in your
attic or you have an electricianin the attic and they're
messing around with your canlights or you're adding lights
or whatever type of remodelyou're doing, then sure, yeah,
(30:07):
have another energy audit doneso you can see, hey, is my attic
still okay or not?
Cause anytime you have somebodyin the attic, really the last
person to be in the attic shouldbe the insulator.
Anytime you have somebody inthere, they're trampling through
it and you don't know whatthey're going to do.
They might have to cut a duckthat and squish it to get to the
(30:28):
far corner of the attic to putthat light in.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
So it's a good point.
So I mean, I was going to talkabout red flags.
We kind of you hit on so manyof them.
Right, you talked about roomsthat are hot, uh, particles in
the air.
There's different things.
There's even appliances.
Do you guys don't look atappliances at all?
No so that would be more ofthat.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
That's a different thing, right yeah, I would say,
the pool, though, is a big one.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Okay, yeah, the pool, the pool pump and things like
that.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Right, yeah, so a variable speed pump obviously
helps dramatically.
I actually put one in my houseback in I don't know 2015 and
measured the reduction and overthe year I saved about $1,200
off of my energy bill, just fromyou know, upgrading to the
variable speed.
However, nowadays, now in thisday and age, a lot of homes
(31:13):
already have these pool pumps in.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I would agree that mine didn't have it and I bought
and it's nice because it hasthe app and I can play with it,
and yeah, I've saved a ton ofmoney doing that.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
That's, if you have a pool and you don't have a
variable speed, you need to bitethe bullet and go do that, yeah
, I always tell people when I'mlooking at their energy bills,
the bigger the device and thelonger it runs, that's going to
be the bigger impact on yourbill.
You think of your AC unit.
It's huge.
How long does it run in thesummer, 20 hours a day?
Okay, well, that's going to bethe majority of your bill,
(31:44):
because I do get those customerswho are like, okay, those are
small items, you're not going tosee a huge change on your bill.
So I'm sure you know doing anenergy audit, you know people
are like well, I switched toLEDs, is that going to be a huge
impact?
Like no, like it's great thatyou did that you might've saved
a couple cents, but you knowit's not.
It's not.
The bigger issue is your poolpump, your AC units?
(32:04):
What are these big ticket itemsthat are going to be causing?
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, the third one would be the water heater.
I would say for sure, again,another big item that runs for a
long time right.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Bigger the item, longer it runs, more impact on
your bill.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, but like a refrigerator, for example,
that'll save $90 a year forupgrading to an energy star you
know.
So, uh, I would say get one ifyou want, but don't do it for
energy savings Right.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Do you guys deal with the water heaters and stuff?
Do you do that too, or no?
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Not yet, but that is coming here in the fall.
Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
So are you going to do the?
What are those called, the onesthat the non-traditional ones?
The tankless, the tankless.
Are you guys going to mess withthat, or are you going?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
to just do.
And then obviously, heat pump.
Hot water heaters are a bigthing, so that's something that
is also tax credit eligible Heatpump hot water heaters.
Yeah, so basically it has alittle mini condenser next to it
and it's basically a heat pump,hot water heater in a tank and
it works really well.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
I've never heard of that either.
You're learning something newevery day.
No, I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
no, that's coming soon, you said.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
For our company, yes.
For your company, yes, andthere's a tax credit for it.
There is Nice.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Are you learning something Because?
Speaker 3 (33:14):
I'm learning a lot.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Wow, that's really cool.
That's pretty cool.
I do.
I want to look at the tanklessthing because I think that's
interesting.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
People keep mean, I think it's, as long as you're
upgrading your water heater tosomething more efficient,
whether it's tankless or tank orwhatever it is I think really
the most efficient that you cando is a heat pump hot water
heater.
But you know, I'm going to lookthat up, I'm going to Google it
.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, I've never heard of that because I am.
My water heater is likeprobably 12 years old and it's
hanging on by a thread.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
It's hanging on.
You know it's one of thosethings.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
So when it comes to your company, so the one thing
that we have to, the challengethat we have on a daily basis
here at Harman, is why Harmanright, it's always that question
why we have to sell our company, why are we best?
And I can give you a millionreasons.
You get bored.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
But they're all true.
I'd like to hear we got time.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
But I want to know why our customers, why should
they call you?
What is, what is differentabout your company?
What is the thing that makesyou, that separates you from
everybody that's out there inthe Phoenix area?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah Well, the best thing, I think, is that just
we're vertically integrated.
So a lot of companies that doenergy audits or home
performance, you know they mightsubcontract out their HVAC, for
example.
Hvac, for example, and for mepersonally I think the as an
(34:47):
owner the reason why we chose tobring it in-house is so you
just have full control.
You get your guys certified,you can know what you're
training um and and hold themaccountable honestly and just
know the people and their um,integrity and their values and
what they care about.
I think is a really big thing.
So that would be the first one.
(35:07):
And then the second one is youknow we just do things right by
properly sizing equipment, forexample, or the duct work.
We know how to design it.
I mean, we literally go throughstudies, we've gone through
geeky conferences where wefigure out the best way to do
something.
So we kind of take it to kindof the nerdiest level that you
(35:32):
can take it.
And so if you just kind of wantsomething to just get you by,
we're probably not the best fitfor you as a homeowner, you as a
homeowner.
But if you want somethingthat's very, very high quality
and you're going to get aproduct that will yield results
like comfort in the house and,just you know, good energy usage
(35:52):
and just good air quality, thenwe're the partner for you.
And it's not cheap, becausethese upgrades aren't cheap as
you know, solar isn't either.
It's just, you know what areyour goals right, and we have
solutions for all differenttypes of budgets and everything.
But you know, it really justdepends on what the goals are
for the home and the other thing.
The third thing is we're stilllocally owned and operated,
(36:13):
right.
So a lot of HVAC companies herein the Valley have been bought
out by private equity firms.
And you know, you still have me, you still have my business
partner and all of us under oneumbrella, so I think that that
matters too to keep your dollarslocal and not, you know, throw
them to.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
So I mean, what I heard is family owned right
Integrity, which, wow, that's.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Sounds very familiar to me.
I know a solar company, I know.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yeah, sounds like it.
Locally owned and operated,right?
So you've got a local throat tochoke.
Yep, that's the way we say itlocal throat to choke.
You remind me a lot of us.
Yeah, I can just feel it.
I've never met you before, but,just talking to you, your
values are very similar to whatwe do.
Right, we're not the cheapest,but there's a reason for that.
So you get what you pay for,and I'm a big believer of that.
(37:05):
I'm never going to look at thecheapest, because the cheapest
is usually a reason.
It's the cheapest.
We usually have to come backbehind people and fix the
cheapest.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
And you're probably in the same boat, I would assume
100%, and that's part of thereason why we still have so much
work honestly.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
And integrity is another one that you mentioned
too.
That's us all the way.
I'll tell people all the timeno, don't get solar.
Like what?
Yeah, a solar company istelling me no.
Like I've got three otherquilts from other companies,
good, go with them.
I'm telling you no because I'mlooking out for you and your
best interest.
How much do I get paid bytelling you no, nothing I, and
say this was a bad decision.
(37:39):
Now I'm stuck with this.
So I'm telling you no out ofyour best interest, because our
integrity means everything We'llactually get bad reviews online
for telling people no.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Right, yeah, we've had a bad review.
Actually, we just got one liketwo weeks ago, and the guy was
mad that we couldn't come outfor two weeks for a mini split
estimate and it's like you knowwell, you would.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Was it Ralph?
Did Ralph write the review?
Speaker 3 (38:05):
It wasn't Ralph, it's like really you didn't even use
us.
You have no experience with us.
You're just mad because wecouldn't come out for two weeks.
That's so not fair.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That's not fair.
Yeah, that's not fair.
Yeah, hopefully you respond tothat.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
You know I got a little heated and I kind of left
that on the back burner for aminute.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Respond.
I will, I will.
I respond and I don't send it.
I'm sorry.
Who are you again, becauseyou're not one of our customers.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Well, you're never going to make everyone happy,
right?
That's just the reality.
I think people have learnedthat when they look at reviews
you got to take some of themwith a grain of salt.
There's just some of thosepeople out there that they live
for that stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Right it so armchair warriors.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I like that you do mini splits.
I installed a mini split in mygarage.
I don't know.
You have to have a mini splitin a garage.
Mine's solar, though it's kindof cool.
Oh, cool it works offelectrical and solar.
I'm sure they're very, veryneat.
I mean I was just thinking I'vegot to turn that back on.
It's getting hot.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
You should do that, yeah I.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
If someone wants to get a hold of you, so tell us
again.
You know how can they get aholdof you?
Where can they find you?
They want to book an energyaudit or anything at all.
They want to do with you.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, so our company is ideal air conditioning and
insulation.
Website is wwwideal air azcomand our phone number is
480-839-0082.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
And would you be upset if we sent our customers
to you?
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Absolutely not, Because we do get those
customers.
Like I mentioned before, I sayyou should get an energy audit,
and they go okay, Because theyhave a relationship, they trust
us, they go off ourrecommendations and they go okay
.
Who should I go with?
And I'm always like I don'tknow, Google it Right, but we've
never talked with anyone.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
We never have, and I'm going to tell you this has
been really good.
I've learned a lot.
I really appreciate youspending time with us and we are
good, I think, if we get peoplethat call.
I'm going to push them your way.
We'll push them your way.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Awesome it just makes sense for us.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I love how you guys do business.
I think you're very alignedwith what we believe and that's
so important, so we shoulddefinitely share customers.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Thank you.
Anything you want to add, Ben?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Thanks for coming out .
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, we really appreciate your time, we really
appreciate joining us Do youlike the setup.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Thanks for having us.
It's a beautiful office.
You're the first person to dothis.
See, I feel so honored that youchose me to be the first
contestant.
We're one for one.
We're one for one.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
All right, so we're going to be back again soon.
We've got a lot of excitingstuff coming.
It's just unbelievable, thestuff we've got coming lined up.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
Lots of guests.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Yep, a ton of guests, a ton of different industries.
Yep, really good stuff.
And even a little bit of Vegasslipped in there.
So we'll talk about.
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