December 4, 2025 • 7 mins
Justin Smith of Atlas Butler has some great tips to keep things running smoothly and keeping your house warm
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want to spend some time and talk about your HVAC.
And we've got this first very cold night tonight, down
to ten degrees and a lot of furnaces is going
to be working overtime, and so we'll say good morning
to Justin Smith on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line. Justin HVAC expert from Atlas Butler. Justin, we
kind of like clockwork. We usually check in with you
(00:21):
in the spring and are like our first eighty or
ninety degree day when we fire up the AC, and
then we check in with you in November December when
it's time to kind of kick the furnace on. So
going to be cold tonight, a lot of furnaces running overtime.
I guess we always start with the most basic thing,
the most thing that people are most aware of, and
that's the furnace filter.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. First of all, sure
appreciate you guys having me on. Yeah. I mean, now
a time when we're getting down the single digits or
even the teams at night, the furnace filter is obviously
the most important thing. That system is going to be
running for longer periods of time than it has been
over the past, you know, a month, month and a half,
and if your filter is borderline and you haven't changed
(01:06):
it yet, something as simple as doing that could prevent
a breakdown when it's this cold out side.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And is it I saw one expert say you really
only need to change your filter every three months. That
seems a little long to me.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean it's all situational, depending on if you
have one of the thin one inch filters, how many
pets and children you have in the home, or you know,
how much clutter things like that, or if the duckwork's
been cleaned. But if you have a one inch filter,
generally you tell people change it about every three months,
depending on you know, those parameters. But if you have
(01:40):
a thicker four inch filter, sometimes you tell people to
change us about every six months. But again, if it's
been three four months, I usually tell people just check
it and if it's looking, you know, even partially dirty,
just change it because you don't want to wake up
to a fifty degree house. Because just because of the filter.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Right now, do the more expensive filters, I mean the
ones is it the uh, there's a rating on those
that escapes me at the moment. I mean, you can
spend a lot of money on a furnace filter that
will filter out super micro particles, but it also restricts
airflow too. And you know, I've had folks out to
the house before that says, you know what if unless
(02:19):
you have allergies in the house or pets or whatever,
the cheap ones work just fine.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, my rule thumb is obviously don't buy like the
cheapest filter you can find at the store, but like
a middle grade like okay, it's a nerve rating, so
you know, anything like MERV eight, MERV ten. Once you
start getting up into MERV fifteen, MERV sixteen, mer seventeen,
that's that's when you start kind of choking down the airflow,
which over time, if you're not diligent about changing that
(02:49):
filter long you're gonna hurt the longevity of the equipment
because you're basically it can't breathe the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Justin Smith from Atlas Butler talking about your furnace running
a little harder in the next couple of days with
some cold weather coming in at thermostat what's the I know,
everybody's different on what they can tolerate as far as
a comfort level, you know, and we've talked before about this,
you know, setting your thermostat load during the day, cranking
it way down when nobody's home, only to come home
(03:16):
at you know, four or five o'clock in the afternoon
and then you hammer it up back up to seventy two.
That really kind of undoo undoes any kind of savings
you realize during the day.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah. I generally tell people if you're going to set
the thermostat back when you're not home or even sleeping
because you like it maybe coldor while you're sleeping, just
go maybe a couple of degrees two three degrees at most,
because if you go any further than that when you
do come home and crank that thermostat up, yeah, all
of that energy savings you had and the amount of
time it's going to take for that equipment to gain
(03:48):
heat in the house is just going to you know
take forever essentially.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Now at night, you know, heat rises, so if even
if it's on a two or three degrees lower than
it would be during the day, it still can get
kind of warm up in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. Like for me in my house,
I turn ours down a couple of degrees every night,
because I like being colder anyways, Yeah, sleep better. And yeah,
if your bedroom's on the second floor and you're getting
when that heat is on, those rooms might maintain temperature
a little bit better than the first floor anyways.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So you recommend ceiling fans year round because we got
to switch the direction in the winter, right.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, switch the direction in the winter is always a
key thing I tell people, like you know, in Ohio, unfortunately,
a lot of days and especially in the winter, it's
pretty gray and glue me outside. But if we get
sunny days where the sun's really shining in the house,
make sure you're opening the blinds grapes and stuff to
let that sunlight in. And then obviously at night you
kind of want to button that up and kind of
(04:44):
seal close the blinds, try to maintain that heat inside
the house.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's a great tip absolutely, you know, And in the
spring we talk about, you know, when we're running the
ac spring and summer to maybe consider running your fan.
Don't put it on, don't put it on auto, put
it on on like full time, and that helps kind
of eliminate warm spots and cold spots in the house.
Just because that fan is going twenty four to seven,
you recommend that in the winter as well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, my answer it's always a kind of a PC
answer because every like I said, every home in every
situation is different. But you do have some houses that
have hot and cold spots depending on the winter summer.
And if you feel like there's a bedroom or you know,
an office or somewhere in the house that's not getting
in the same amount of airflow or it's just a
couple of degrees colder, try to run that fan during
(05:31):
the off cycle and see if it helps make that,
you know, balance the temperature throughout the whole house a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You mentioned a minute ago the health of your duct work,
if it's clean or not. How do you know if
you should get your ducks cleaned?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Generally, I mean you should have a professional come out
and you know, obviously do regular maintenance on your system,
but inspect the duckwork to see what kind of shape
it's in. If you're someone that again has pets or allergies,
or just moved into a new construction home or a
house that's you know, fifty seventy five years old, and
you're not sure if their duckwork's ever been cleaned. I
(06:11):
would have somebody come out and look at it, because
whatever's in that duckwork, one you're breathing, and two if
your filter doesn't catch, can get into all of the
components like your motors and circuit boards and stuff, and
over time can damage that stuff and cause it to fail.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
All right, So it's a perfect segue into my next question,
and we'll let you fly when it comes to the
actual furnace itself. I mean, you mentioned the motor and
the circuit boards. What's the most common repair that you
guys at Atlas Butler come out and do when it
comes to the furnace itself.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I mean, the most common thing, if it's not a
filter problem, usually is just lack of maintenance. And what
I mean by that is there's like a sensor that
senses the flame inside of a gas furnace that gets
dirty that you clean during general maintenance. So a lot
of the getting this time of year are somebody who
haven't had their system checked for a few years or
(07:04):
it's been two three years, and a sense, just as
something as simple as a sensor or a drain line
backs up and causes the furnace to like shut off
because it's not draining properly. And so again, most breakdowns
that we're seeing now can be prevented by preventative maintenance.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Do you guys offer a maintenance plan where you've got
a tech that comes out twice a year and make
sure everything is looking all right.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, we offer. We have a couple different maintenance plans
on our website, and we offer like specials around this
time of year for lower rate cleaning checks if somebody
wants to do that. But again, if you're somebody who
hasn't done your system checked and you don't even know
how old the equipment is or when it was put in,
if you know, if you just moved into a house,
just have us or any professional come out and make
(07:50):
sure give it a once over to make sure you
can hopefully prevent breakdowns when it gets this cold outside
I want to spend some time and talk about your HVAC.
And we've got this first very cold night tonight, down
to ten degrees and a lot of furnaces is going
to be working overtime, and so we'll say good morning
to Justin Smith on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com
phone line. Justin HVAC expert from Atlas Butler. Justin, we
kind of like clockwork. We usually check in with you
(00:21):
in the spring and are like our first eighty or
ninety degree day when we fire up the AC, and
then we check in with you in November December when
it's time to kind of kick the furnace on. So
going to be cold tonight, a lot of furnaces running overtime.
I guess we always start with the most basic thing,
the most thing that people are most aware of, and
that's the furnace filter.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, thanks for having me on. First of all, sure
appreciate you guys having me on. Yeah. I mean, now
a time when we're getting down the single digits or
even the teams at night, the furnace filter is obviously
the most important thing. That system is going to be
running for longer periods of time than it has been
over the past, you know, a month, month and a half,
and if your filter is borderline and you haven't changed
(01:06):
it yet, something as simple as doing that could prevent
a breakdown when it's this cold out side.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And is it I saw one expert say you really
only need to change your filter every three months. That
seems a little long to me.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean it's all situational, depending on if you
have one of the thin one inch filters, how many
pets and children you have in the home, or you know,
how much clutter things like that, or if the duckwork's
been cleaned. But if you have a one inch filter,
generally you tell people change it about every three months,
depending on you know, those parameters. But if you have
(01:40):
a thicker four inch filter, sometimes you tell people to
change us about every six months. But again, if it's
been three four months, I usually tell people just check
it and if it's looking, you know, even partially dirty,
just change it because you don't want to wake up
to a fifty degree house. Because just because of the filter.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Right now, do the more expensive filters, I mean the
ones is it the uh, there's a rating on those
that escapes me at the moment. I mean, you can
spend a lot of money on a furnace filter that
will filter out super micro particles, but it also restricts
airflow too. And you know, I've had folks out to
the house before that says, you know what if unless
(02:19):
you have allergies in the house or pets or whatever,
the cheap ones work just fine.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, my rule thumb is obviously don't buy like the
cheapest filter you can find at the store, but like
a middle grade like okay, it's a nerve rating, so
you know, anything like MERV eight, MERV ten. Once you
start getting up into MERV fifteen, MERV sixteen, mer seventeen,
that's that's when you start kind of choking down the airflow,
which over time, if you're not diligent about changing that
(02:49):
filter long you're gonna hurt the longevity of the equipment
because you're basically it can't breathe the way it's supposed to.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Justin Smith from Atlas Butler talking about your furnace running
a little harder in the next couple of days with
some cold weather coming in at thermostat what's the I know,
everybody's different on what they can tolerate as far as
a comfort level, you know, and we've talked before about this,
you know, setting your thermostat load during the day, cranking
it way down when nobody's home, only to come home
(03:16):
at you know, four or five o'clock in the afternoon
and then you hammer it up back up to seventy two.
That really kind of undoo undoes any kind of savings
you realize during the day.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah. I generally tell people if you're going to set
the thermostat back when you're not home or even sleeping
because you like it maybe coldor while you're sleeping, just
go maybe a couple of degrees two three degrees at most,
because if you go any further than that when you
do come home and crank that thermostat up, yeah, all
of that energy savings you had and the amount of
time it's going to take for that equipment to gain
(03:48):
heat in the house is just going to you know
take forever essentially.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Now at night, you know, heat rises, so if even
if it's on a two or three degrees lower than
it would be during the day, it still can get
kind of warm up in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. Like for me in my house,
I turn ours down a couple of degrees every night,
because I like being colder anyways, Yeah, sleep better. And yeah,
if your bedroom's on the second floor and you're getting
when that heat is on, those rooms might maintain temperature
a little bit better than the first floor anyways.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So you recommend ceiling fans year round because we got
to switch the direction in the winter, right.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, switch the direction in the winter is always a
key thing I tell people, like you know, in Ohio, unfortunately,
a lot of days and especially in the winter, it's
pretty gray and glue me outside. But if we get
sunny days where the sun's really shining in the house,
make sure you're opening the blinds grapes and stuff to
let that sunlight in. And then obviously at night you
kind of want to button that up and kind of
(04:44):
seal close the blinds, try to maintain that heat inside
the house.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's a great tip absolutely, you know, And in the
spring we talk about, you know, when we're running the
ac spring and summer to maybe consider running your fan.
Don't put it on, don't put it on auto, put
it on on like full time, and that helps kind
of eliminate warm spots and cold spots in the house.
Just because that fan is going twenty four to seven,
you recommend that in the winter as well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, my answer it's always a kind of a PC
answer because every like I said, every home in every
situation is different. But you do have some houses that
have hot and cold spots depending on the winter summer.
And if you feel like there's a bedroom or you know,
an office or somewhere in the house that's not getting
in the same amount of airflow or it's just a
couple of degrees colder, try to run that fan during
(05:31):
the off cycle and see if it helps make that,
you know, balance the temperature throughout the whole house a
little bit more.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You mentioned a minute ago the health of your duct work,
if it's clean or not. How do you know if
you should get your ducks cleaned?
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Generally, I mean you should have a professional come out
and you know, obviously do regular maintenance on your system,
but inspect the duckwork to see what kind of shape
it's in. If you're someone that again has pets or allergies,
or just moved into a new construction home or a
house that's you know, fifty seventy five years old, and
you're not sure if their duckwork's ever been cleaned. I
(06:11):
would have somebody come out and look at it, because
whatever's in that duckwork, one you're breathing, and two if
your filter doesn't catch, can get into all of the
components like your motors and circuit boards and stuff, and
over time can damage that stuff and cause it to fail.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
All right, So it's a perfect segue into my next question,
and we'll let you fly when it comes to the
actual furnace itself. I mean, you mentioned the motor and
the circuit boards. What's the most common repair that you
guys at Atlas Butler come out and do when it
comes to the furnace itself.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I mean, the most common thing, if it's not a
filter problem, usually is just lack of maintenance. And what
I mean by that is there's like a sensor that
senses the flame inside of a gas furnace that gets
dirty that you clean during general maintenance. So a lot
of the getting this time of year are somebody who
haven't had their system checked for a few years or
(07:04):
it's been two three years, and a sense, just as
something as simple as a sensor or a drain line
backs up and causes the furnace to like shut off
because it's not draining properly. And so again, most breakdowns
that we're seeing now can be prevented by preventative maintenance.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Do you guys offer a maintenance plan where you've got
a tech that comes out twice a year and make
sure everything is looking all right.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, we offer. We have a couple different maintenance plans
on our website, and we offer like specials around this
time of year for lower rate cleaning checks if somebody
wants to do that. But again, if you're somebody who
hasn't done your system checked and you don't even know
how old the equipment is or when it was put in,
if you know, if you just moved into a house,
just have us or any professional come out and make
(07:50):
sure give it a once over to make sure you
can hopefully prevent breakdowns when it gets this cold outside
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