October 11, 2025 • 30 mins
It's an All Calls Saturday! Dean answers all your home questions, including HVAC, fire-rated doors, and what is the better option: a two-in-one washer dryer unit, or a separate washer and dryer?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning
and welcome home. I'm Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer, custom
home builder, custom home designer, and your guide to better
understanding that place where you live. You know what, Every
(00:24):
home has a path forward. Once you see it, everything changes.
And I am here to help you see that path forward,
like we do every week today on the show, as
we do every week every Saturday. Uh, it is your calls.
It's an all calls Saturday morning. Eight three three two.
Ask Dean. Is the number where you can reach me?
(00:46):
Eight three three two Ask Dean A three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean. Whatever's got you scratch in your
head about your home design issue, construction stuff? Why inside, outside, hardescape, landscape?
I got you. We'll put our heads together. I promise
(01:06):
you we will get it figured out. That's what we
are all about. So the phone lines are open, NICKI,
our screener is standing by. She is ready, and as
soon as we get some calls popping up on the
board here, we will go to the phones. In the meantime,
I'm going to say good morning to Sam. Good morning Sam,
(01:27):
Good morning Dean. How you doing. I'm good. How are
things with you? Not bad? I got my boy here
with me. He's associate producing today. Oh my goodness. Or
we don't have to pay him doing. No, no, no,
he gets a chunk of my paycheck. I bet he does,
(01:48):
no doubt. Heather Brooker, Hi, good morning, there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I brought jonuts today. I wasn't sure who would be
here because you know, you never know, so I brought
up a whole bunch of donuts to the office today.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right, well, let's eat those donuts. Let's do it.
I appreciate it. That's that. We're gonna pay Sam's kid
right like some donuts. That's it. We figured it out. See,
I've worked it out. I could be a union negotiator.
I show you. It's just seconds. It was just intuitive.
I'm like, all right, Heather's got donuts, he's doing his
(02:24):
work as an associate producer. We got this worked out,
perfect plan. I love it. House. Things in Newsland good good.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Just keeping track of everything that's happening overseas around the world,
and of course you're in LA and yeah, busy, busy
Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
You know, yeah, I have my phone available in case
they call me about Nobel Prize they do.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Are you standing by?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh yeah, I took it off. Mute, I'm standing by.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I love that that story was basically like, just answer
your phone. And I'm like, I'm not answering the phone.
I get too many telemarketing calls. I'm not.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That's right, man. If I don't recognize it, it's good.
They better. It had better say Nobel Institute exactly. And
you're going to voicemail, buddy, you just are.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That's the way it works around here. Yeah, okay, so everybody,
most important first item for the day today is a
community calendar item, and it's important because it's happening today.
And I wanted to share this with y'all. Let's see here,
let me get I gotta get my my my info
(03:33):
here today, anybody who lives anywhere near Thousand Oaks and
is looking to learn more about native plants and their
role in landscaping our homes and protecting our homes against wildfire,
in hardening our homes against drought, but also beautifying our homes.
(03:57):
And as far as I'm concerned, the most important thing
creating beauty and native habitat anybody of who've ever scratched
your head about that and say, well, how does that
really happen? How you know, what are my options? You
need to come out to Canao Creek North Park, which
is just above the Thousand Oaks Library today from ten
to two. Ten to two. It's happening today the Native
(04:20):
the fourth annual Native Plant Poloosa and ecofest. It's being
put on by the Canao Open Space Foundation. Heather Sam
you'll appreciate this. One of the spearheading board members of
the Canao Open Space Foundation is friend of KFI, Robin Bertolucci,
and so Robin has got me out there from ten
(04:46):
to two. That's what you need to know. I'm going
to be there from ten to two at the Native
Plant Paluza today, given out hugs, answering questions, talking to everybody,
and also I'm going to be interviewing throughout the day.
There several of the experts that they've got who are
going to be coming. We've got people from the California
(05:07):
Wildlife Center, from wild Birds Unlimited, from the Theodore Pain Foundation,
which is something that you've heard me talk about many
many times over the years here on the show. The
Theodore Pain Foundation is is California's greatest resource as far
as I'm concerned on native plants, and it's right over
(05:27):
in Sun Valley. It's right in the valley, tucked away
on the like the south side of Latuna Canyon and
by Tuxford, I think. And the Theodore Pain Foundation if
you are wondering, are native plants beautiful? Are they? Can
they be colorful? Can they be green and verdant? And
you know they are literally the experts for the state.
(05:50):
Theodore Pain fascinating guy, and the Theodore Pain Foundation is
sitting right next door to us and is there. So anyway,
we'll have experts from from them, and we've got a
b expert coming, a lot, a lot of really cool
stuff going on. We're gonna be talking about birds and
bees and native gardening and all of the things associated
(06:12):
with it. Plus there's tons of fun for the kiddos.
There's gonna be food trucks, so we're going to be
eats for us there or two so fun and games
and all that kind of stuff, and that is happening today.
And also my better half Tina of course, will be there.
So if you're not going to come out and see me,
come out and see Tina, which is usually the case
(06:33):
that people want to do anyway, because they're like, yeah,
we've heard enough of you, we'd like to talk to Tina.
Speaking of Tina, there she is here. I am my
best friend in all the world, sitting right across the
table from me. Good morning, good morning, welcome home, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Oh hey, that's my life.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I know. I was just wondering if I could get
you to pat it back to me. I did, so,
we're going to the native Oh an elephant, it was,
that's your spirit. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
One of our client slash friends is in Africa right now,
and she sent me over a video.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's what that was, of an elephant. Yeah, pretty cool.
That was cool. See you're getting well wishes from across
the planet.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I am.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It was pretty neat. Nobody sends me anything from Africa.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
What's the deal with that? She knows I love elephants,
that's true. I did tell her to kiss an elephant
for me.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Is she going to do that? I don't know. Does
she have access to that? Is that safe? I don't
think you're supposed to get out of the Safari bands.
She's like, hold on, wait a second, Hey you way
do got a little kiss for you anyway. So Native
(07:49):
Plant Pellucid today. Yes, I will be there, Yes, Caneo
Creek North Park in Thousand Oaks. It's right off of
Jan's right behind the Thousand Oaks Library. Beautiful park, beautiful setting.
It's going to be a beautiful day, lots of fun
and lots of great info. Plus, come out and talk
to me and Tina because we're going to be there
from ten to two today. There you go, all right,
(08:11):
I've done it. I've done it. I will also be
sharing that a little later in the program as well.
So here's our situation, my friends. You've met everybody. Everybody
said hello, We've got all of the sleepy dirt out
of our eyes. We've stretched, We're ready. You're up. I'm up.
It's time to talk about your home. We've got calls
(08:32):
on the board. So when we return, we're going to
the phones. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper. Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, here to help
you take your home to the next level. That's what
we do here for you. Every week. We are doing
an all call Saturday morning, like we do. The number
(08:52):
to reach me right now, eight three three two ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two Dean eight three
three to ask Dean. It's just that simple. We need
to ask Dean. That's what it's all about. All right,
let's get to the phones. And by the way, anything
anything at all that you want to talk about regarding
(09:14):
your home, give me a call. I want to talk
to Henderson. Henderson, welcome home. Hello.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Just a quick note that the last Sunday Show podcast
is September. They haven't gone up on your side or
on that heart radio.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
All right, we'll tell you. Thanks, we'll take a look
at that. I don't know what the you know what
we've had. We've had a couple of issues. I will
tell you this because k if I decided to cover
the Chargers this season, and so like for instance, tomorrow,
(09:59):
the show is preempted by the Charger game. But we're
still doing the show because we're live in San Diego,
and we'll still be doing the show. So you'll be
able to catch the show live on the stream if
you want to listen live, and also you'll hear the
podcast after the fact. But yeah, we'll make sure all
those podcasts are lined up the right way. Thanks for
the heads up, Henderson. What can I do for you? Okay?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Might about in fact system, particularly heat pumps. I have
a couple questions. One is it's a typical calculation for
just tonis like seven hundred per square foot? And then
I have a couple questions, and then is there any
pros and cons of a one stage two stage and
(10:46):
a variable stage heat pump? And then the other one
is going to be what's the difference between the fear
and the seer two rating?
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Okay, all right, I'm gonna try and get to them
all if I can. All Right, So, first of all,
heat pumps, just over any knows a heat pump is
basically a air conditioning system that also works as a heater
without a gas furnace being attached to it. So instead
of having your AC system here and then a separate
(11:17):
component of the gas furnace integrated into it, no gas furnace,
all electric and it's simply the air conditioner that essentially,
I think the easiest way that I've ever found to
explain it is that a heat pump is an air
conditioner that can also be put into reverse, can work
in reverse. So during a hot summer day, an air
conditioner is extracting heat from the house and putting it outside,
(11:43):
and during a cold winter day, an air conditioner is
pulling heat inside the house and putting it on the inside.
And so. And it used to be that heat pumps
were only effective to a certain exterior temperature, and at
some point when it got too cold, they didn't do
(12:05):
a great job. But heat pump technology has changed radically
over the last just handful of years. Now there are
sub zero heat pumps out there. I mean, heat pumps
are pretty amazing and they're popular because number one, we
are still despite what anybody says, the necessity is, we
(12:27):
are moving away from fossil fuels, and so the idea
of a heat pump heater in your home as opposed
to a gas furnace is an inevitability. Okay. Number two,
they're incredibly, incredibly energy efficient, and so it's just a
win win when it comes to a heat pump, especially
(12:49):
here in southern California where you don't have to have
a sub zero heat pump in your home, just a
standard heat pump and they work great. Okay, So there
you go now see your I'm sorry tonnage. I actually
touched on this last week in a listener had called
in and asked that question. Tonnage is still the way
(13:12):
that HVAC contractors talk about air conditioning systems. It's an awkward,
weird system. And so, first of all, just as a
point of trivia, tonnage goes all the way back to
the beginning of air conditioning and it is literally a measurement.
(13:34):
The idea is this, it's a measurement of the amount
of heat. I know it's going to be weird to
follow this. It's the amount of heat that it takes
to melt one ton of ice in a twenty four
hour period. So just imagine having a one ton block
of ice sitting in your home. How much heat will
(13:56):
it take to melt that in a twenty four hour period? Okay, well, Dean,
it's an air conditioner. We don't want the heat, okay,
but whatever that amount of heat is, a one ton
air conditioner can remove that much heat from your home.
I know, it's just very like roundabout. It's like, really,
we kind of got there backwards, but that's what tonnage means, Okay,
(14:19):
And the old idea of like shooting from the hip
and calculating tonnage for a house based on square footage,
and normally it's somewhere between five and seven hundred square
feet per ton. That's the old way of calculating. Are
you gonna be totally off if you kind of shoot
from the hip and do that. The problem is that
(14:41):
was all figured out back in the day when all
homes had flat eight foot ceilings, and so you could
kind of count on the fact. See, remember it's not
square footage that we're dealing with in your home. It's
the cubic it's the cubic footage of the air volu
in your home. So many homes today have vaulted ceilings
(15:03):
and higher than eight foot ceilings. In fact, the standard
newly built home has you know, nine foot ceilings now,
So those numbers are kind of all thrown off. If
you have to shoot from a hip and you're just
trying to give yourself a really really rough idea, sure,
go with you know, go with the lower number. Actually
go with the you know, closer to one ton for
(15:25):
every five hundred square feet. Because there are so many
other calculations overall cubic volume of the airspace in the house,
air ceiling of the house, room positioning in the house,
whether it's one or two stories, and so on and
so forth. So we calculate that stuff in a different
way these days, and we do it much better, actually
much better than before. So tonnage that's a thing. Calculating
(15:49):
it from the hip, that's the thing. Actually instead of
tonnage BTUs output that's British thermal units. That is actually
the more accurate way to deal with all of this.
So there you go. Now here's the thing, Henderson, I'm
up against a break. I'm gonna throw you on hold
when we come back, before I go to the next call,
we'll pick you up again and we'll talk about these
(16:11):
heat pumps and stage one two stage variable speed heat pumps.
What's that all about? And I'll answer your seer question.
So you hang tight, my friend. Great, great questions, good
for everybody to understand, and everybody hold on quick break
and then more of your calls. Your Home with Dean
Sharp the House Whisper. You're listening to Home with Dean
(16:33):
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty. Dean Sharp
the House Whisper here to help you transform your ordinary
house into an extraordinary home. Thanks for joining us on
the program this morning. It's an all calls Saturday morning
like we do. Hey, if your home needs some personal
house Whisper attention, you know what. You can book an
(16:56):
in home design consult with us. Just go to house
Whisper dot Design for more info house Whisper dot Design.
All right, back to the phones. I had Henderson on
the line. Henderson is still there, but I'm still here,
all right. So Henderson had some heat pump questions. We
handled a bunch of them in the previous segment, but
(17:18):
a couple of them I didn't get to specifically when
it comes to a heat pump, which is a you know,
a very modern air conditioning system that can work in
the reverse and actually provide heat as well as cooling.
Your two last questions were what's the difference what's the
deal with single stage, double stage or dual stage and
(17:42):
a variable speed heat pump. Let me tackle that one
first and then I'll ask answer the seer question. Variable
stage heat pumps or air conditioning systems are the bomb
dot com because because not? Because they can operate at
a higher capacity than a normal air conditioning system. Okay,
(18:08):
they're not more powerful than a normal air conditioning system,
just the opposite. In fact, the advantage of a variable
speed or what we call a one or a two
stage of air conditioning system is that it can actually
ramp itself down to operate at a lower capacity. Now
what's the advantage to that. Well, you combine the ability
(18:31):
of an air conditioning system that's capable of working the
whole house all at once to ramp itself down and
become basically kind of a room sized air conditioner. Combine
that with advanced sensing temperature sensing controls, not thermostats in
every room, but temperature sensors in every room or in
(18:53):
every zone of the house as we zone out, like
for instance, you know upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs always going
to be warmer than downstairs, so you've got temperature sensors
upstairs and temperature sensors downstairs. And then in addition to that,
we have electronic baffles that close and open the actual lines,
(19:15):
not the vents in the room, but the actual feed
lines into these spaces. So you put that together and
it becomes a smart system. So, for instance, we bring
your home to temperature in the morning on a summer day,
Like you know, it's eight o'clock in the morning and upstairs, downstairs,
everything's gloriously let's say, seventy two degrees, okay, But then
(19:35):
as the day goes on, obviously upstairs is gonna warm
up faster than downstairs. The temperature sensors detect. Ah, master bedroom,
it's upstairs, it's gone up a couple of degrees. We
need to cool off the master bedroom. Well, an old
dumb system meaning not a smart system, just turns on
the air conditioner and the whole house gets blasted again,
(19:56):
and it's getting too cold downstairs, and we still haven't
dealt with the upstairs yet. And that's what happens, and
we waste a lot of energy. A smart system with
variable speed will close off all the other ducts in
the house, ramp itself down to room size, and just
top off the master bedroom and it will continue to
do that all day long. Ah. Down the kitchen needs
(20:19):
a little something something boom, boom boom. The master bedroom
needs a little something boom, and it's just topping off.
And so what you're doing is you've got like you know,
the equivalent of two, three, four different small air conditioners
effectively controlling each individual zone in the house. And instead
of the AC just blasting on and off all day long,
(20:42):
we're using minimal energy and we're just keeping things handled.
And that's the joy and the beauty and the brilliance
of a multi zone. A variable speed air conditioner and
door heat pump works the same way with the heat pump. Okay,
and real quick. The SEER question. SEER is a energy rating.
(21:04):
It's what the industry uses. It stands for seasonal Energy
Efficiency Ratio. And the old rating was SEER. It just
used to be called SEER. Now it's SEER one, and
there's a new standard. The new standard is SEER two.
It upsets some people in the HVAC industry, but the
fact is SEER one, much like I was telling you before, Henderson,
(21:27):
was the old way of kind of calculating air conditioning
needs for a house. It was it was based on
perfect laboratory conditions. SEER one ratings, not real world conditions.
And so SEER two is an improved rating system and
it takes into account real world conditions and homes. It's
(21:48):
much much more accurate and therefore it puts a much
higher burden on the HVAC system. It's about four and
a half percent lower performance than Seer one equivalent. So
what I mean by that is a CER two machine
that is operating at Seer fifteen is actually the equivalent
(22:11):
of an old Seer one machine that was operating at
Seer sixteen. So they're better equipment, better suited to real
world conditions. That's all it is. Seer two is just
the new standard for understanding how that all works. All right, Whoo,
we got through it all right. When we come back,
more of your calls. The number to reach me eight
(22:32):
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral two.
Ask Dean your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper
Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to remind you every
home deserves great design. That's right, every home, including yours,
my friend. So let's work together and get it done.
(22:52):
That's why we are here, all right. It's an all
call Saturday morning. It's go turn it. It's going to
be such a gorgeous day today, So I hope you're
year and up for good things. Uh. The number to
reach me eight three to three two, Ask Dean eight
three to three, the numeral two ask Dean, let's go
to the phones. I want to talk to Nicole. Hey, Nicole, welcome.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Home, Dean.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I got a question. We have a town home and
you can imagine how small the laundry room is.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I was wondering what you think about the two and
one washer and dryers. Ah, the combo washer and dryers. Yeah, okay,
so at all?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
What was that I said, It's not a big space.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, combo washer and dryers. Whether people
realize this or not, I've been covering this for the
last couple of years now. Uh GE introduced a game
changing combo washer and dryer a couple of years ago.
And and I say this because just about every manufacturer
(23:59):
has a combo washer and dryer. But the technology between
the G, the new GE combo, and the others has
changed drastically. Now. Samsung tried to follow up and have
has their own, and so does l G. There are
there are, as to my knowledge, right now, on the market,
only three three combo washer and dryers worth talking about. Okay.
(24:24):
All the others we all know uh are are incredibly
inefficient and different and just difficult. They're hassles. Most people
are like, oh, combo, but I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, So the the combo units, they're
very impressive. They have to fit with your lifestyle, but
they're very very impressive. Ge figured out finally, I think
they listened to Gramma long enough. They figured out that
that it's not heat that is the key to drawing clothes.
It is airflow. And so instead of trying to rig
(25:01):
their combo unit with you know, with a big heat
supply like we do on a gas dryer, we basically
bake clothes. Instead of doing that, they've decided to hang
the clothes out on the clothesline on a breezy day.
Grandma will tell you that it could be ninety degrees
outside and if the wind isn't blowing, wet stuff is
just gonna stay wet, okay. Or it could be sixty eight.
(25:24):
It could be sixty eight degrees outside and you could
have a nice breeze blowing and boom, that stuff is dry.
Right away. GE figured that out, and so they've they've
put in these big fans in these units, and it
doesn't make it happen instantly, but it makes it really
really reasonable. Now we're talking about like a two hour
two and a half hour cycle from wash all the
(25:47):
way to dry. You put the clothes into wash, you
come back, they're all dried, done and ready to go.
So they are viable. That's all I can tell you
is that they're completely viable. The GE, the Samsung, the LG.
The LG got some good features, Sam Sung, I'm not
thrilled with so for me, especially in small spaces, because
the GE is also the shallowest of them, I'm still
(26:11):
I'm still if we were going to get one and serious,
Tina and I were seriously thinking about getting one to
replace the washer dryer unit that we've got in our
little guest house, and we may do, in fact, that
exact same thing. It's the GE that that we're interested in.
But again some people are like, no, I want to
have more control, I want you know, it's all. That's
(26:32):
all well and good, And yes, they take longer. They
will always take longer to do a load of laundry
than your washer and then switch them over to the dryer. Okay,
so if you wash clothes, immediately take them out of
the wash, put them into the dryer, it's going to
take half the time to do your laundry than one
of these combo units. You just figured it'll take twice
(26:55):
as long. But here's the thing, and they're right about this.
How how often does the average person, you know, how
often are you standing right there when the when the
washing machine finishes and you immediately pop it in to
the dryer. Yeah, exactly. On average people do the washing
and the drawing. It takes about six hours on average.
(27:17):
They interviewed people to get from you know, like, oh, yeah,
the wash is done. It's been sitting in there all night. Yeah,
I got to put it in the dryer. So the
idea that the combo unit takes twice as long on average,
it usually finishes the clothes before we do with you know,
if we're not standing by monitoring the washer and dryer.
So that's the argument for and against the sizing is
(27:40):
really great. And and and I can just tell you
these are incredibly quality units. They've been on the market
for two years now. The service rate on them is
way below average on service calls. So ge has made
a really good unit. And the other alternative would be
something like the LG Tower, which is, you know, a
(28:01):
washer and dryer unit but combined together in one if
you've got the height that's about as compact as a
as a full size washer and dryer can get. And
so yeah, I'm I'm a fan. I'm a fan. I
think it will eventually take more and more of market
share away from standard washer and dryers as soon as
people realize in the real world this thing actually washes
(28:25):
and dries your stuff faster because it will make the
transition from washer to dryer. And and plus there are
other features that you know, and I'm not trying to
be a ge salesperson here, Yeah, there are some other
features that are great too, like you can you can
get dog hair off of off of your stuff, or
(28:47):
pet hair off of your stuff. There's a pet Yeah,
so there's a pet hair mode where where basically you
throw the clothes in, you put it in pet hair
mode and it'll tumble like a dry your clothes first
to blow as much pet hair off before it gets
them wet and washes them. So it's like tumble and
(29:08):
then it washes and then it dries them, which is
brilliant because you know, pet hair as soon as you
get the clothes wet, they're adhering to the clothes. They
don't come off. So anyway, there are some really good
there's some really good stuff behind it, Nicole. And all
I can tell you is, you know, measure up your space,
go down to the appliance store, take a serious look
at them, because they are serious contenders. Okay, they're not
(29:32):
for everybody, but they are serious contenders. Finally, a combo
washer dryer unit is worth talking about. I'll just say
it that way. And so that's why I've been enthused
the last couple of years when Gee introduced it really
is a game changer, all right, Nicole, thank you for
your question. Everybody, you hang tight more of your calls
when we return your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer.
(29:54):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning
and welcome home. I'm Dean Sharp, the house Whisperer, custom
home builder, custom home designer, and your guide to better
understanding that place where you live. You know what, Every
(00:24):
home has a path forward. Once you see it, everything changes.
And I am here to help you see that path forward,
like we do every week today on the show, as
we do every week every Saturday. Uh, it is your calls.
It's an all calls Saturday morning. Eight three three two.
Ask Dean. Is the number where you can reach me?
(00:46):
Eight three three two Ask Dean A three three the
numeral two. Ask Dean. Whatever's got you scratch in your
head about your home design issue, construction stuff? Why inside, outside, hardescape, landscape?
I got you. We'll put our heads together. I promise
(01:06):
you we will get it figured out. That's what we
are all about. So the phone lines are open, NICKI,
our screener is standing by. She is ready, and as
soon as we get some calls popping up on the
board here, we will go to the phones. In the meantime,
I'm going to say good morning to Sam. Good morning Sam,
(01:27):
Good morning Dean. How you doing. I'm good. How are
things with you? Not bad? I got my boy here
with me. He's associate producing today. Oh my goodness. Or
we don't have to pay him doing. No, no, no,
he gets a chunk of my paycheck. I bet he does,
(01:48):
no doubt. Heather Brooker, Hi, good morning, there you are.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I brought jonuts today. I wasn't sure who would be
here because you know, you never know, so I brought
up a whole bunch of donuts to the office today.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right, well, let's eat those donuts. Let's do it.
I appreciate it. That's that. We're gonna pay Sam's kid
right like some donuts. That's it. We figured it out. See,
I've worked it out. I could be a union negotiator.
I show you. It's just seconds. It was just intuitive.
I'm like, all right, Heather's got donuts, he's doing his
(02:24):
work as an associate producer. We got this worked out,
perfect plan. I love it. House. Things in Newsland good good.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Just keeping track of everything that's happening overseas around the world,
and of course you're in LA and yeah, busy, busy
Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
You know, yeah, I have my phone available in case
they call me about Nobel Prize they do.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Are you standing by?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Oh yeah, I took it off. Mute, I'm standing by.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
I love that that story was basically like, just answer
your phone. And I'm like, I'm not answering the phone.
I get too many telemarketing calls. I'm not.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That's right, man. If I don't recognize it, it's good.
They better. It had better say Nobel Institute exactly. And
you're going to voicemail, buddy, you just are.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That's the way it works around here. Yeah, okay, so everybody,
most important first item for the day today is a
community calendar item, and it's important because it's happening today.
And I wanted to share this with y'all. Let's see here,
let me get I gotta get my my my info
(03:33):
here today, anybody who lives anywhere near Thousand Oaks and
is looking to learn more about native plants and their
role in landscaping our homes and protecting our homes against wildfire,
in hardening our homes against drought, but also beautifying our homes.
(03:57):
And as far as I'm concerned, the most important thing
creating beauty and native habitat anybody of who've ever scratched
your head about that and say, well, how does that
really happen? How you know, what are my options? You
need to come out to Canao Creek North Park, which
is just above the Thousand Oaks Library today from ten
to two. Ten to two. It's happening today the Native
(04:20):
the fourth annual Native Plant Poloosa and ecofest. It's being
put on by the Canao Open Space Foundation. Heather Sam
you'll appreciate this. One of the spearheading board members of
the Canao Open Space Foundation is friend of KFI, Robin Bertolucci,
and so Robin has got me out there from ten
(04:46):
to two. That's what you need to know. I'm going
to be there from ten to two at the Native
Plant Paluza today, given out hugs, answering questions, talking to everybody,
and also I'm going to be interviewing throughout the day.
There several of the experts that they've got who are
going to be coming. We've got people from the California
(05:07):
Wildlife Center, from wild Birds Unlimited, from the Theodore Pain Foundation,
which is something that you've heard me talk about many
many times over the years here on the show. The
Theodore Pain Foundation is is California's greatest resource as far
as I'm concerned on native plants, and it's right over
(05:27):
in Sun Valley. It's right in the valley, tucked away
on the like the south side of Latuna Canyon and
by Tuxford, I think. And the Theodore Pain Foundation if
you are wondering, are native plants beautiful? Are they? Can
they be colorful? Can they be green and verdant? And
you know they are literally the experts for the state.
(05:50):
Theodore Pain fascinating guy, and the Theodore Pain Foundation is
sitting right next door to us and is there. So anyway,
we'll have experts from from them, and we've got a
b expert coming, a lot, a lot of really cool
stuff going on. We're gonna be talking about birds and
bees and native gardening and all of the things associated
(06:12):
with it. Plus there's tons of fun for the kiddos.
There's gonna be food trucks, so we're going to be
eats for us there or two so fun and games
and all that kind of stuff, and that is happening today.
And also my better half Tina of course, will be there.
So if you're not going to come out and see me,
come out and see Tina, which is usually the case
(06:33):
that people want to do anyway, because they're like, yeah,
we've heard enough of you, we'd like to talk to Tina.
Speaking of Tina, there she is here. I am my
best friend in all the world, sitting right across the
table from me. Good morning, good morning, welcome home, welcome home.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Oh hey, that's my life.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I know. I was just wondering if I could get
you to pat it back to me. I did, so,
we're going to the native Oh an elephant, it was,
that's your spirit. You know.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
One of our client slash friends is in Africa right now,
and she sent me over a video.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That's what that was, of an elephant. Yeah, pretty cool.
That was cool. See you're getting well wishes from across
the planet.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I am.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It was pretty neat. Nobody sends me anything from Africa.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
What's the deal with that? She knows I love elephants,
that's true. I did tell her to kiss an elephant
for me.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Is she going to do that? I don't know. Does
she have access to that? Is that safe? I don't
think you're supposed to get out of the Safari bands.
She's like, hold on, wait a second, Hey you way
do got a little kiss for you anyway. So Native
(07:49):
Plant Pellucid today. Yes, I will be there, Yes, Caneo
Creek North Park in Thousand Oaks. It's right off of
Jan's right behind the Thousand Oaks Library. Beautiful park, beautiful setting.
It's going to be a beautiful day, lots of fun
and lots of great info. Plus, come out and talk
to me and Tina because we're going to be there
from ten to two today. There you go, all right,
(08:11):
I've done it. I've done it. I will also be
sharing that a little later in the program as well.
So here's our situation, my friends. You've met everybody. Everybody
said hello, We've got all of the sleepy dirt out
of our eyes. We've stretched, We're ready. You're up. I'm up.
It's time to talk about your home. We've got calls
(08:32):
on the board. So when we return, we're going to
the phones. You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp, the
house Whisper. Dean Sharp, the house Whisper, here to help
you take your home to the next level. That's what
we do here for you. Every week. We are doing
an all call Saturday morning, like we do. The number
(08:52):
to reach me right now, eight three three two ask
Dean eight three three the numeral two Dean eight three
three to ask Dean. It's just that simple. We need
to ask Dean. That's what it's all about. All right,
let's get to the phones. And by the way, anything
anything at all that you want to talk about regarding
(09:14):
your home, give me a call. I want to talk
to Henderson. Henderson, welcome home. Hello.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Just a quick note that the last Sunday Show podcast
is September. They haven't gone up on your side or
on that heart radio.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
All right, we'll tell you. Thanks, we'll take a look
at that. I don't know what the you know what
we've had. We've had a couple of issues. I will
tell you this because k if I decided to cover
the Chargers this season, and so like for instance, tomorrow,
(09:59):
the show is preempted by the Charger game. But we're
still doing the show because we're live in San Diego,
and we'll still be doing the show. So you'll be
able to catch the show live on the stream if
you want to listen live, and also you'll hear the
podcast after the fact. But yeah, we'll make sure all
those podcasts are lined up the right way. Thanks for
the heads up, Henderson. What can I do for you? Okay?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Might about in fact system, particularly heat pumps. I have
a couple questions. One is it's a typical calculation for
just tonis like seven hundred per square foot? And then
I have a couple questions, and then is there any
pros and cons of a one stage two stage and
(10:46):
a variable stage heat pump? And then the other one
is going to be what's the difference between the fear
and the seer two rating?
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Okay, all right, I'm gonna try and get to them
all if I can. All Right, So, first of all,
heat pumps, just over any knows a heat pump is
basically a air conditioning system that also works as a heater
without a gas furnace being attached to it. So instead
of having your AC system here and then a separate
(11:17):
component of the gas furnace integrated into it, no gas furnace,
all electric and it's simply the air conditioner that essentially,
I think the easiest way that I've ever found to
explain it is that a heat pump is an air
conditioner that can also be put into reverse, can work
in reverse. So during a hot summer day, an air
conditioner is extracting heat from the house and putting it outside,
(11:43):
and during a cold winter day, an air conditioner is
pulling heat inside the house and putting it on the inside.
And so. And it used to be that heat pumps
were only effective to a certain exterior temperature, and at
some point when it got too cold, they didn't do
(12:05):
a great job. But heat pump technology has changed radically
over the last just handful of years. Now there are
sub zero heat pumps out there. I mean, heat pumps
are pretty amazing and they're popular because number one, we
are still despite what anybody says, the necessity is, we
(12:27):
are moving away from fossil fuels, and so the idea
of a heat pump heater in your home as opposed
to a gas furnace is an inevitability. Okay. Number two,
they're incredibly, incredibly energy efficient, and so it's just a
win win when it comes to a heat pump, especially
(12:49):
here in southern California where you don't have to have
a sub zero heat pump in your home, just a
standard heat pump and they work great. Okay, So there
you go now see your I'm sorry tonnage. I actually
touched on this last week in a listener had called
in and asked that question. Tonnage is still the way
(13:12):
that HVAC contractors talk about air conditioning systems. It's an awkward,
weird system. And so, first of all, just as a
point of trivia, tonnage goes all the way back to
the beginning of air conditioning and it is literally a measurement.
(13:34):
The idea is this, it's a measurement of the amount
of heat. I know it's going to be weird to
follow this. It's the amount of heat that it takes
to melt one ton of ice in a twenty four
hour period. So just imagine having a one ton block
of ice sitting in your home. How much heat will
(13:56):
it take to melt that in a twenty four hour period? Okay, well, Dean,
it's an air conditioner. We don't want the heat, okay,
but whatever that amount of heat is, a one ton
air conditioner can remove that much heat from your home.
I know, it's just very like roundabout. It's like, really,
we kind of got there backwards, but that's what tonnage means, Okay,
(14:19):
And the old idea of like shooting from the hip
and calculating tonnage for a house based on square footage,
and normally it's somewhere between five and seven hundred square
feet per ton. That's the old way of calculating. Are
you gonna be totally off if you kind of shoot
from the hip and do that. The problem is that
(14:41):
was all figured out back in the day when all
homes had flat eight foot ceilings, and so you could
kind of count on the fact. See, remember it's not
square footage that we're dealing with in your home. It's
the cubic it's the cubic footage of the air volu
in your home. So many homes today have vaulted ceilings
(15:03):
and higher than eight foot ceilings. In fact, the standard
newly built home has you know, nine foot ceilings now,
So those numbers are kind of all thrown off. If
you have to shoot from a hip and you're just
trying to give yourself a really really rough idea, sure,
go with you know, go with the lower number. Actually
go with the you know, closer to one ton for
(15:25):
every five hundred square feet. Because there are so many
other calculations overall cubic volume of the airspace in the house,
air ceiling of the house, room positioning in the house,
whether it's one or two stories, and so on and
so forth. So we calculate that stuff in a different
way these days, and we do it much better, actually
much better than before. So tonnage that's a thing. Calculating
(15:49):
it from the hip, that's the thing. Actually instead of
tonnage BTUs output that's British thermal units. That is actually
the more accurate way to deal with all of this.
So there you go. Now here's the thing, Henderson, I'm
up against a break. I'm gonna throw you on hold
when we come back, before I go to the next call,
we'll pick you up again and we'll talk about these
(16:11):
heat pumps and stage one two stage variable speed heat pumps.
What's that all about? And I'll answer your seer question.
So you hang tight, my friend. Great, great questions, good
for everybody to understand, and everybody hold on quick break
and then more of your calls. Your Home with Dean
Sharp the House Whisper. You're listening to Home with Dean
(16:33):
Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty. Dean Sharp
the House Whisper here to help you transform your ordinary
house into an extraordinary home. Thanks for joining us on
the program this morning. It's an all calls Saturday morning
like we do. Hey, if your home needs some personal
house Whisper attention, you know what. You can book an
(16:56):
in home design consult with us. Just go to house
Whisper dot Design for more info house Whisper dot Design.
All right, back to the phones. I had Henderson on
the line. Henderson is still there, but I'm still here,
all right. So Henderson had some heat pump questions. We
handled a bunch of them in the previous segment, but
(17:18):
a couple of them I didn't get to specifically when
it comes to a heat pump, which is a you know,
a very modern air conditioning system that can work in
the reverse and actually provide heat as well as cooling.
Your two last questions were what's the difference what's the
deal with single stage, double stage or dual stage and
(17:42):
a variable speed heat pump. Let me tackle that one
first and then I'll ask answer the seer question. Variable
stage heat pumps or air conditioning systems are the bomb
dot com because because not? Because they can operate at
a higher capacity than a normal air conditioning system. Okay,
(18:08):
they're not more powerful than a normal air conditioning system,
just the opposite. In fact, the advantage of a variable
speed or what we call a one or a two
stage of air conditioning system is that it can actually
ramp itself down to operate at a lower capacity. Now
what's the advantage to that. Well, you combine the ability
(18:31):
of an air conditioning system that's capable of working the
whole house all at once to ramp itself down and
become basically kind of a room sized air conditioner. Combine
that with advanced sensing temperature sensing controls, not thermostats in
every room, but temperature sensors in every room or in
(18:53):
every zone of the house as we zone out, like
for instance, you know upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs always going
to be warmer than downstairs, so you've got temperature sensors
upstairs and temperature sensors downstairs. And then in addition to that,
we have electronic baffles that close and open the actual lines,
(19:15):
not the vents in the room, but the actual feed
lines into these spaces. So you put that together and
it becomes a smart system. So, for instance, we bring
your home to temperature in the morning on a summer day,
Like you know, it's eight o'clock in the morning and upstairs, downstairs,
everything's gloriously let's say, seventy two degrees, okay, But then
(19:35):
as the day goes on, obviously upstairs is gonna warm
up faster than downstairs. The temperature sensors detect. Ah, master bedroom,
it's upstairs, it's gone up a couple of degrees. We
need to cool off the master bedroom. Well, an old
dumb system meaning not a smart system, just turns on
the air conditioner and the whole house gets blasted again,
(19:56):
and it's getting too cold downstairs, and we still haven't
dealt with the upstairs yet. And that's what happens, and
we waste a lot of energy. A smart system with
variable speed will close off all the other ducts in
the house, ramp itself down to room size, and just
top off the master bedroom and it will continue to
do that all day long. Ah. Down the kitchen needs
(20:19):
a little something something boom, boom boom. The master bedroom
needs a little something boom, and it's just topping off.
And so what you're doing is you've got like you know,
the equivalent of two, three, four different small air conditioners
effectively controlling each individual zone in the house. And instead
of the AC just blasting on and off all day long,
(20:42):
we're using minimal energy and we're just keeping things handled.
And that's the joy and the beauty and the brilliance
of a multi zone. A variable speed air conditioner and
door heat pump works the same way with the heat pump. Okay,
and real quick. The SEER question. SEER is a energy rating.
(21:04):
It's what the industry uses. It stands for seasonal Energy
Efficiency Ratio. And the old rating was SEER. It just
used to be called SEER. Now it's SEER one, and
there's a new standard. The new standard is SEER two.
It upsets some people in the HVAC industry, but the
fact is SEER one, much like I was telling you before, Henderson,
(21:27):
was the old way of kind of calculating air conditioning
needs for a house. It was it was based on
perfect laboratory conditions. SEER one ratings, not real world conditions.
And so SEER two is an improved rating system and
it takes into account real world conditions and homes. It's
(21:48):
much much more accurate and therefore it puts a much
higher burden on the HVAC system. It's about four and
a half percent lower performance than Seer one equivalent. So
what I mean by that is a CER two machine
that is operating at Seer fifteen is actually the equivalent
(22:11):
of an old Seer one machine that was operating at
Seer sixteen. So they're better equipment, better suited to real
world conditions. That's all it is. Seer two is just
the new standard for understanding how that all works. All right, Whoo,
we got through it all right. When we come back,
more of your calls. The number to reach me eight
(22:32):
three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral two.
Ask Dean your home with Dean Sharp, the house whisper
Dean Sharp, the house whisper here to remind you every
home deserves great design. That's right, every home, including yours,
my friend. So let's work together and get it done.
(22:52):
That's why we are here, all right. It's an all
call Saturday morning. It's go turn it. It's going to
be such a gorgeous day today, So I hope you're
year and up for good things. Uh. The number to
reach me eight three to three two, Ask Dean eight
three to three, the numeral two ask Dean, let's go
to the phones. I want to talk to Nicole. Hey, Nicole, welcome.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Home, Dean.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
I got a question. We have a town home and
you can imagine how small the laundry room is.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I was wondering what you think about the two and
one washer and dryers. Ah, the combo washer and dryers. Yeah, okay,
so at all?
Speaker 3 (23:31):
What was that I said, It's not a big space.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, combo washer and dryers. Whether people
realize this or not, I've been covering this for the
last couple of years now. Uh GE introduced a game
changing combo washer and dryer a couple of years ago.
And and I say this because just about every manufacturer
(23:59):
has a combo washer and dryer. But the technology between
the G, the new GE combo, and the others has
changed drastically. Now. Samsung tried to follow up and have
has their own, and so does l G. There are
there are, as to my knowledge, right now, on the market,
only three three combo washer and dryers worth talking about. Okay.
(24:24):
All the others we all know uh are are incredibly
inefficient and different and just difficult. They're hassles. Most people
are like, oh, combo, but I'll tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, So the the combo units, they're
very impressive. They have to fit with your lifestyle, but
they're very very impressive. Ge figured out finally, I think
they listened to Gramma long enough. They figured out that
that it's not heat that is the key to drawing clothes.
It is airflow. And so instead of trying to rig
(25:01):
their combo unit with you know, with a big heat
supply like we do on a gas dryer, we basically
bake clothes. Instead of doing that, they've decided to hang
the clothes out on the clothesline on a breezy day.
Grandma will tell you that it could be ninety degrees
outside and if the wind isn't blowing, wet stuff is
just gonna stay wet, okay. Or it could be sixty eight.
(25:24):
It could be sixty eight degrees outside and you could
have a nice breeze blowing and boom, that stuff is dry.
Right away. GE figured that out, and so they've they've
put in these big fans in these units, and it
doesn't make it happen instantly, but it makes it really
really reasonable. Now we're talking about like a two hour
two and a half hour cycle from wash all the
(25:47):
way to dry. You put the clothes into wash, you
come back, they're all dried, done and ready to go.
So they are viable. That's all I can tell you
is that they're completely viable. The GE, the Samsung, the LG.
The LG got some good features, Sam Sung, I'm not
thrilled with so for me, especially in small spaces, because
the GE is also the shallowest of them, I'm still
(26:11):
I'm still if we were going to get one and serious,
Tina and I were seriously thinking about getting one to
replace the washer dryer unit that we've got in our
little guest house, and we may do, in fact, that
exact same thing. It's the GE that that we're interested in.
But again some people are like, no, I want to
have more control, I want you know, it's all. That's
(26:32):
all well and good, And yes, they take longer. They
will always take longer to do a load of laundry
than your washer and then switch them over to the dryer. Okay,
so if you wash clothes, immediately take them out of
the wash, put them into the dryer, it's going to
take half the time to do your laundry than one
of these combo units. You just figured it'll take twice
(26:55):
as long. But here's the thing, and they're right about this.
How how often does the average person, you know, how
often are you standing right there when the when the
washing machine finishes and you immediately pop it in to
the dryer. Yeah, exactly. On average people do the washing
and the drawing. It takes about six hours on average.
(27:17):
They interviewed people to get from you know, like, oh, yeah,
the wash is done. It's been sitting in there all night. Yeah,
I got to put it in the dryer. So the
idea that the combo unit takes twice as long on average,
it usually finishes the clothes before we do with you know,
if we're not standing by monitoring the washer and dryer.
So that's the argument for and against the sizing is
(27:40):
really great. And and and I can just tell you
these are incredibly quality units. They've been on the market
for two years now. The service rate on them is
way below average on service calls. So ge has made
a really good unit. And the other alternative would be
something like the LG Tower, which is, you know, a
(28:01):
washer and dryer unit but combined together in one if
you've got the height that's about as compact as a
as a full size washer and dryer can get. And
so yeah, I'm I'm a fan. I'm a fan. I
think it will eventually take more and more of market
share away from standard washer and dryers as soon as
people realize in the real world this thing actually washes
(28:25):
and dries your stuff faster because it will make the
transition from washer to dryer. And and plus there are
other features that you know, and I'm not trying to
be a ge salesperson here, Yeah, there are some other
features that are great too, like you can you can
get dog hair off of off of your stuff, or
(28:47):
pet hair off of your stuff. There's a pet Yeah,
so there's a pet hair mode where where basically you
throw the clothes in, you put it in pet hair
mode and it'll tumble like a dry your clothes first
to blow as much pet hair off before it gets
them wet and washes them. So it's like tumble and
(29:08):
then it washes and then it dries them, which is
brilliant because you know, pet hair as soon as you
get the clothes wet, they're adhering to the clothes. They
don't come off. So anyway, there are some really good
there's some really good stuff behind it, Nicole. And all
I can tell you is, you know, measure up your space,
go down to the appliance store, take a serious look
at them, because they are serious contenders. Okay, they're not
(29:32):
for everybody, but they are serious contenders. Finally, a combo
washer dryer unit is worth talking about. I'll just say
it that way. And so that's why I've been enthused
the last couple of years when Gee introduced it really
is a game changer, all right, Nicole, thank you for
your question. Everybody, you hang tight more of your calls
when we return your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer.
(29:54):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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