July 6, 2025 • 27 mins
Dean dives into the world of heat and air-conditioning—how it all works and how it all began. From the fascinating history of A/C to its surprising connection to the birth of Hollywood summer blockbusters, you’ll learn why cooling has always been about more than just comfort. Dean also breaks down how refrigerants work inside your system, explores the latest 2025 A/C units and their upgrades, and helps you understand SEER ratings (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) so you can make smarter choices for your home.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Your guide
to better understanding that place where you live. How is
your fourth of July weekend turning out? I hope it
has been a good one. Here we are Sunday Morning Live,
(00:23):
or if you're listening to the podcast whenever you are,
wherever you are, that's a great thing. Today on the show,
it's definitely time with the weather warming up, is it
not to start thinking about eating and air conditioning. Not
so much the heating right now, but the air conditioning.
But they come as a package, So we are talking
about all things HVAC, that's heating and air conditioning today
(00:47):
on the programs, so that you, of course can make
the right decisions about your house, whether you're remodeling or
building new, or you're simply staring at a situation where
it's always been difficult to cool your house efficiently. I
got you covered. We're going to go through the whole
thing as quickly as we can, as efficiently as we can,
(01:09):
so that you get a better understanding of what's going
on with your home and air conditioning, and of course
we're also going to be taking your calls. Let me
give you the number right now because the phone lines
are open, and second hour of the program, we'll be
diving into your calls as we always do. And even
though I'm talking about eating and air conditioning today, as
(01:32):
it is always the case when it comes to calls,
you get to set the agenda. Anything that's got you
scratching your head about your home, whether it's architecture, design, construction, DIY,
concerns inside, outside, hardscape, landscape, pretty much all the scapes
I got you. We'll put our heads together. We will
get it all figured out. I promise. Let me dive in,
(01:57):
shall we now? Normally sitting across the table from me
is my better half, my design partner, and my best
friend in all the world. Tina. She's around here somewhere.
Thank you for that. That's her spirit animal, the elephant.
It's her favorite animal. Tina's here somewhere. We will find
(02:17):
her and then we will put her lovely voice on
the air. Just say that you can be comforted that
somebody is watching over me and not letting me go
crazy and out of control. All right, okay, all right,
so let's dive in. You know, it's always good to
set things in context. It's very possible that the world
(02:45):
of HVAC, which HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, air conditioning,
it may be changing in regards to residential construction faster
than any other residential technology. I mean, it's got to
be right there at the very very top edge. From
heat pumps, which a lot of you have heard about
(03:06):
but don't really understand what they are. Heat pumps are
rapidly growing in popularity, even being mandated in some places,
or talk of mandating them. From that to requirements for
high efficiency furnaces, to yet another new generation of lower
environmental impact refrigerants. We'll talk about that, new air quality standards,
(03:30):
even fundamental shifts in the theory of how to go
about heating and cooling the home. There is so much
to unpack if a new HVAC system is in your future.
So here's a little background, just very quickly. AC has
been around now for well since nineteen oh two. Actually
(03:53):
all right, so Willis Carrier, Yeah, Carrier. You know that
brand of air conditioning. Wills Carrier invented the modern air
conditioner in nineteen oh two. The motivation, though you just said,
know was not first and foremost human comfort, all right.
Air conditioning was an industrial need. The Industrial Revolution had
(04:17):
brought mass production factories with massive machinery running in it.
Those machines ran hot, and they ran humid, and sometimes
they ran too hot and too humid for the well
being of the materials that they were producing. Like a
paper mill. Imagine a paper mill being inside this gigantic
factory with all of these machines running, making the air
(04:41):
humid not the greatest thing for the quality and the
condition of paper. So paper mills, publishing houses, yarn factories,
chocolate factories, industrial bakeries, they all needed to find a
way to control heat and to control human humidity, which
(05:01):
is something that an AC system does. Both reduces humidity
and controls the heat. Right, So that's what the modern
AC was built for. Not so popular in homes until
and I always think this is a fun fact the
(05:21):
summer blockbuster movie. Yeah, what's the connection. Well, thanks to
the Spanish flu and tuberculosis epidemics at the turn of
the century, there was this massive open air health movement happening.
It was believed that indoor air was toxic and unhealthy.
That's not necessarily a wrong belief. So the idea of
(05:42):
closing the windows and recirculating indoor air very very unpopular idea.
So what broad air conditioning out of the factories and
into the human comfort business? Were movie theaters in the
nineteen thirties, and by the nineteen forties, going to the
movies to escape the heat was so popular that movie
(06:03):
studios started saving and scheduling their biggest hits for summertime,
which gave birth to the summer blockbuster. Blockbusters were huge
bombs being dropped during World War Two that could level
a city block Hollywood coined the blockbuster to describe a
(06:23):
hit movie, and combined with the fact that you could
get out of your home and go for pennies and
sit in an air conditioned movie theater, the summer blockbuster
was born. And once the general public got a taste
of air conditioning at the movies, it wasn't long before
that all started showing up in homes and boom, there
(06:47):
you go. All right, more great stuff on the way.
There's the background. Now we start moving forward with what
HVAC means for you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Here to help you take your home to the next level. Hey,
here's a reminder follow us on social media. We're on
all the usual suspects, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook X what else
is out there? No, I'm not going to mention those
don't look at me like that Home with Dean, same
handle for all of them. Home with Dean. We only
(07:26):
do the good kind of social media. By the way,
it's inspiring, it's enlightening, non burden some, non troublesome, just
fun stuff. So while you're there, click follow wherever your
favorite social media pages are. We're there, and follow along
with us as we go. Guess who is sitting in
studio with me? Now, oh, she doesn't even have her
(07:48):
mic on or headphones. I'll give you a second. No,
go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. I said this last
segment that sitting across the table from me is supposed
to be my better half, my design partner, and my
best buddy in the world. But now there you are,
like the dawning of the sun. Here I am welcome home.
(08:11):
Tina is here. Everybody there you go. See you got
your elephant twice twice, so it's good to see you.
Good to be seen. All right, y'all, let us move
forward now with the next step in this process. We're
talking about heating and air conditioning today. You know it's
(08:31):
the weather is here, right, the warmth is here, and
so it's time to deal with the air conditioner. We've
laid out the history of AC for you, and now
I want to lay a little bit more groundwork. And
this is important because so many people have no clue
when it comes to how the unit even works. And
(08:52):
this I'm not going to get too technical, Okay, I promise,
but I do want you to understand how refrigeration works,
at least on a really really base level. Here's how
it goes. Very basic. Refrigerant Okay, that's you, hear that
talked about all the time. Refrigerant is the chemical compound
(09:15):
inside your system which circulates through the AC system and
undergoes what's called a phase transition. All that means is
that it alternates from being a liquid to a gas
and back to a liquid and a gas and liquid
and gas back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, Okay,
again and again and again and again. As it runs
(09:37):
through your system, it absorbs heat on one end of
that cycle and releases it on the other. When it's
in its gaseous form, its density is so low that
it's capable of absorbing a tremendous amount of heat, and
then it gets condensed and it releases that heat. On
both ends of the system, there are coils, okay, kind
(10:01):
of like you know what your radiator in a car
looks like. Right, that's what we call it coil for cooling. Okay.
The refrigerant passes through an expansion valve and expands into
a gas It goes into inside the house where the
where there is what we call the evaporator coil. Okay.
A fan blows indoor air from your house over that
(10:25):
coil inside, and that coil absorbs heat from the air. Okay. Now,
fun fact, or maybe an important fact. Air conditioning does
not add cold to a house. You can't add cold
to anything because cold isn't a thing at all. Cold
(10:46):
is the absence of something. Cold is why space is cold.
Cold is the absence of energy. It's the absence of
thermal engine, it's the absence of heat. Okay, So the
AC system doesn't add doesn't pump cold air into your house,
even though it feels that way, because cold air is
(11:07):
coming out the vents. What the AC system is doing
is it's sucking the warm air from your home into
its belly, runs it across this coil where it removes
warmth from your house. So an air conditioning system removes heat, okay,
And as a result, when the air comes back into
the room through the vents, it is colder than it
(11:30):
was before and the overall temperature drops okay. Outside, the
AC compressor is compressing the gas refrigerant, making an increase
in temperature and pressure, and then it runs it over
the condenser coil outside inside the evaporator coil, outside the
condenser coil, and that's where a big old fan helps
(11:53):
blow off and release that heat that was absorbed from
inside the house. That's why on a warm day, when
you are running your air condition if you go outside
to the big unit outside and put your hand over
the top, you are feeling hot air being blown out
of that fan. It's not just the heat of the
air outside. It's hotter than the air outside because that
(12:16):
is all the heat that's been sucked out of the
house and it's now blowing it off of that refrigerant
so that the refrigerant can go through the cycle and
do it all again. Does that makes sense. The refrigerant
passes through an expansion valve again, it drops in pressure again,
it allows it to evaporate into a gas again, goes
back inside the house, and there you go. We do
it over and over and over. So that is essentially
(12:39):
how that works, and that's important for you to understand.
So I can explain another little item that is now
big on the horizon, which is a heat pump. We'll
get to that in just a bit. If you are
calling the stuff inside your AC system free on, you're
about fifteen years behind. Although it's just easier to remember
(13:01):
that stuff as free on, it's not free on anymore.
We need to talk about the change in refrigerants because
it's what has driven the cost and the need to
change AC systems as we've rolled around. So we'll talk
about free on and your new unit and the new
units being sold in twenty twenty five when we return.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Here to help you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home. We do it every week. I'm so glad
you're with us. It is a privilege and a pleasure
to be with you here and now on our live
broadcast on Sunday mornings from nine to noon every week.
By the way, if your home needs some personal house
(13:55):
Whisper attention, meaning me and the tea standing with you
inside your home, staring at whatever the problem may be,
you can book an in home design consult with us.
Just go to house Whisperer dot design for more info.
House Whisperer dot Design. Also know that calls are coming
up in just a bit. The phone lines are open
(14:17):
right now. There's plenty of room for you. I'm talking
eating and air conditioning today. But when it comes to
our calls, as always, anything you want to talk about
you set. The agenda can be design questions, construction questions, diy, architecture, landscape,
from property line to property line, from the ground to
(14:38):
the sky. We got you covered, So anything that's got
you scratching your head about your home. The number to
reach me eight three three two ask Dean A three
to three. The numeral two ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dean. It's just that simple, and we will
be going to the calls and just a bit give
us a call. Our call screener will tell you everything
(15:00):
you need to know. Poppy into the cue. You can
listen to the show while you wait, and then we'll
get it solved. Oh yes, we will. Okay, back to
heating and air conditioning. Kind of an overview for you,
and I want you to understand these things. You don't
have to remember. There's no quiz at the end of
all this. Okay, this is for you to better understand
(15:22):
what's going on in your home in terms of the
air conditioning system. So we've talked about how refrigerant works. Refrigeration,
that's what this is all about. We've talked about how refrigerant,
that magical chemical compound works. It expands into a gas,
it absorbs heat, it goes outside, it gets condensed back
into a liquid. It gives its heat off, blows the
(15:45):
heat off, and then we send it back into the
house for another lap. And that happens again and again
and again as long as your AC is running the
refrigerant itself. Oh and by the way, everything that gets
cold and works off that this principle is doing exactly
Your refrigerator, just on a much smaller scale, is doing
exactly this. There's a condenser there's an evaporator. There's a
(16:07):
little motor, and it's running refrigerant through its coils. It
is not adding cold to the refrigerator box. It is
removing heat, and cold is what's left over. And yes,
if you were to have a if you had a
highly sensitive little thermometer and wandered around your kitchen, the
warmest part of your kitchen is actually right there in
(16:30):
back of or underneath the refrigerator because unlike outside with
an AC system, which we call a split system, meaning
there's one coil in the house and another one outside
where the fan blows off all that heat into the
outside air, your refrigerator is not blowing the heat into
the outside air. It's blowing it into the kitchen essentially.
(16:52):
So yeah, it's a little warmer around the fridge than
it is anywhere else because that's where the heat from
inside the fridge box is being distributed. Anyway, anyway, that's
how refrigeration works. And now we've got this magical chemical
called free on. Now I just use that intentionally because
everybody seems to identify with that word, even though it
(17:15):
has been more than fifteen years now since freeon was gone,
like gone, And if you have an old, old air
conditioning system still running on free on. I feel for
you because freeon is no longer manufactured. By the way,
it's R twenty two for you nerds out there, Freeon
is no longer manufactured. The only place you can get
(17:38):
free on is from old units being replaced, in which
the freeon is carefully bled off into tiny little canisters.
And if you need to recharge the refrigerant on your
old free on system, you will now pay a mint.
I mean, free on is like liquid gold because it
(17:58):
is so rare and no longer being manufactured. So yeah,
it's been about fifteen years. Free on is a thing
of the past, and yet I still every you know,
all the time I hear people say, what about the
free on in my system? Just so you know, Breon
was replaced back in twenty ten by a more environmentally
friendly refrigerant, which is R four ten A. No, you
(18:20):
don't have to remember that either. You just need to
know that now our four ten A, which replaced free
on R twenty two, is now being replaced. As of
January first, twenty twenty five, we've dumped our four ten A.
It's actually still being manufactured. I believe. So it's not
the exact same situation as free on. It's being phased
out slowly, but all new units as of twenty twenty
(18:45):
five are running off of a new set of what
they call A two L refrigerants, which have a lower
global warming potential. All of this is because we know
that the components in refrigerant do damage to the atmosphere,
and so as a result, the American Innovation and Manufacturing
(19:10):
Act that was passed in twenty twenty authorized the EPA
to reduce the production of hfc's and there's a lot
of just letters coming out of my mouth. That's chemicals
made of hydrogen fluorine carbon anyway, to reduce all of
that by eighty five percent within the next fifteen years. Okay.
So that, in combination with tariffs on equipment coming from overseas,
(19:36):
is why HVA prices have increased in twenty twenty five. Okay.
So that is the moral of the story, and that
is the state of affairs right now or air conditioning
in the United States and in the state of California.
There's one more bit of info to lay down for you,
and that is the question of Seer S E. E. R.
(20:02):
Those four letters. SIR is a rating given to an
air conditioning unit and it stands for seasonal Energy efficiency Ratio.
It basically means this, It's the energy efficiency rating of
a unit, how much it cools versus how much energy
(20:23):
it gobbles up. And there are different air conditioning units
out there with higher and lower seers. The question is
which one is right for you. We will talk about
that right after the break.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Getting involved in your project is critical and for you
to understand design, both the fundamentals again from the principles
of architecture all the way down into the design of
your HVAC system is what maximizes the money that you
have spent in your budget. Doesn't necessarily save you money,
(21:04):
but what it does the channels it in the most
potent way possible. Also know this before we step back
into AC talk. Coming up just right after this next break,
we are going to the phones. Whatever's got you scratching
your head about your home? Give me a call. The
number to reach me eight three three to two. Ask
(21:25):
Dean eight three to three, the numeral two. Ask Dean
anything going on with your home. We're doing that right
after the next break, and we've got room on the
board for you, so give me a call. All right,
here we go, lay in the groundwork here. How can
you understand your air conditioning system a little bit better.
(21:47):
We've talked about the history of AC. We've talked about refrigerant,
how that magical chemical compound circulates through the system and
makes your house cooler along the way. We've talked about
free on, which is no longer a thing ever again.
But the fact is that the refrigerant in your system
is constantly being updated, not not at breakneck speed, but
(22:11):
actually faster than most of us feel comfortable with generally speaking,
because we turn around and we're like, wait, wait, the
refrigerant that my unit uses isn't available anymore. So, yeah,
that's a thing that's happening in the desire to keep
up with environmental protections and so on. The last little
bit of technical info that I want you to understand
(22:34):
about your AC system is ser sir I mentioned it
before the break, is four letters s e R. It
stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. Basically means this SEER
is a rating given to an air conditioning system that
measures how effectively it cools in ratio with how much
(22:59):
energy it sucks up to do that cooling. Okay, And
so a lower seer rating means that it doesn't mean
that the eer AC system doesn't cool the house as
well as a higher seer system. It doesn't mean that
at all. Okay, A fourteen seer actually fifteen is the
minimum seer for California, by the way, right now, a
(23:21):
fifteen seer system will cool your house just as well
as a twenty or twenty plus seer system. Okay, same cooling.
The question is a fifteen seer system uses a lot
more energy, about forty percent more energy to make that
house that cool than a twenty or twenty plus seer system.
(23:44):
So there you go. It's the energy consumption along the way. Right.
So now the question is, well that why is there
even a choice, Dean? Why don't I just buy the
highest seer unit available for my home? And maybe that's
something that you want to do, and maybe it's something
that you feel comfortable doing, maybe it's something your budget
allows you to do. But just know that the higher
(24:07):
seer systems are considerably more expensive than lower seer systems. Okay,
and so what you need to do You need to
get online. Well, first you talk to your HVAC contractor
make sure you're getting the straight scoop from them about this,
because they're going to show you the pricing between the two.
And you also need to get online and look at
(24:27):
seer calculators for your area because there's a ton of
them out there and you'll see. Because the real question
is this, assuming that your HVAC system, this brand new system,
just like a car, is eventually going to wear out
and be replaced. So the question is over the life
of this system, let's give it fifteen years. Over the
(24:49):
fifteen years of this system, will the higher SEER rating
save me enough money to justify the higher cost of
the unit up front. If you're spending twice as much
on an air conditioning system today, then you need to
(25:09):
know whether or not that higher air conditioning system is
going to save you at least that much money over
the next fifteen years. This is why still the majority
of air conditioning systems that are sold in the state
of California, just across the nation in general, are lower
seer systems because they're more affordable today because most of
(25:32):
us are concerned about how much money is in our
wallet today. And yes, they are going to cost a
little bit more to run over the next ten to
fifteen years. But can we afford to pay a little
bit higher in our energy bill monthly over years instead
(25:52):
of dropping a ton of cash more today? So that's
why seer becomes an issue. Seer is an issue simply
because of its effect on your wallet. And it's a
question of whether you've got the money today or whether
we've got to wait till later. All right, that's AC.
That's a good foundation for understanding AC. Okay, Now when
(26:16):
we return to the conversation, we'll talk about on a
much much more ground level practical approach, the kinds of
decisions that you're being asked to make. Things like heat pumps.
What the heck are they? Why are they replacing gas furnaces?
Are they as good? Should I consider a heat pump
(26:38):
instead of a gas furnace? If I'm going with a
gas furnace, I know I need a new AC unit.
Why are they telling me I need a new furnace.
My furnace works just fine. It's my AC that's failing
on me. Right, And one of the most important things
that we can talk about. Maybe we'll start with this,
why is my choice of HVAC installer so so very important?
(27:02):
We're gonna do all of this when we return to
the conversation. But when we come back from break, it's
time to go to the phones. Your calls up. Next
your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
morning from six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday
(27:23):
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
House Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Your guide
to better understanding that place where you live. How is
your fourth of July weekend turning out? I hope it
has been a good one. Here we are Sunday Morning Live,
(00:23):
or if you're listening to the podcast whenever you are,
wherever you are, that's a great thing. Today on the show,
it's definitely time with the weather warming up, is it
not to start thinking about eating and air conditioning. Not
so much the heating right now, but the air conditioning.
But they come as a package, So we are talking
about all things HVAC, that's heating and air conditioning today
(00:47):
on the programs, so that you, of course can make
the right decisions about your house, whether you're remodeling or
building new, or you're simply staring at a situation where
it's always been difficult to cool your house efficiently. I
got you covered. We're going to go through the whole
thing as quickly as we can, as efficiently as we can,
(01:09):
so that you get a better understanding of what's going
on with your home and air conditioning, and of course
we're also going to be taking your calls. Let me
give you the number right now because the phone lines
are open, and second hour of the program, we'll be
diving into your calls as we always do. And even
though I'm talking about eating and air conditioning today, as
(01:32):
it is always the case when it comes to calls,
you get to set the agenda. Anything that's got you
scratching your head about your home, whether it's architecture, design, construction, DIY,
concerns inside, outside, hardscape, landscape, pretty much all the scapes
I got you. We'll put our heads together. We will
get it all figured out. I promise. Let me dive in,
(01:57):
shall we now? Normally sitting across the table from me
is my better half, my design partner, and my best
friend in all the world. Tina. She's around here somewhere.
Thank you for that. That's her spirit animal, the elephant.
It's her favorite animal. Tina's here somewhere. We will find
(02:17):
her and then we will put her lovely voice on
the air. Just say that you can be comforted that
somebody is watching over me and not letting me go
crazy and out of control. All right, okay, all right,
so let's dive in. You know, it's always good to
set things in context. It's very possible that the world
(02:45):
of HVAC, which HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, air conditioning,
it may be changing in regards to residential construction faster
than any other residential technology. I mean, it's got to
be right there at the very very top edge. From
heat pumps, which a lot of you have heard about
(03:06):
but don't really understand what they are. Heat pumps are
rapidly growing in popularity, even being mandated in some places,
or talk of mandating them. From that to requirements for
high efficiency furnaces, to yet another new generation of lower
environmental impact refrigerants. We'll talk about that, new air quality standards,
(03:30):
even fundamental shifts in the theory of how to go
about heating and cooling the home. There is so much
to unpack if a new HVAC system is in your future.
So here's a little background, just very quickly. AC has
been around now for well since nineteen oh two. Actually
(03:53):
all right, so Willis Carrier, Yeah, Carrier. You know that
brand of air conditioning. Wills Carrier invented the modern air
conditioner in nineteen oh two. The motivation, though you just said,
know was not first and foremost human comfort, all right.
Air conditioning was an industrial need. The Industrial Revolution had
(04:17):
brought mass production factories with massive machinery running in it.
Those machines ran hot, and they ran humid, and sometimes
they ran too hot and too humid for the well
being of the materials that they were producing. Like a
paper mill. Imagine a paper mill being inside this gigantic
factory with all of these machines running, making the air
(04:41):
humid not the greatest thing for the quality and the
condition of paper. So paper mills, publishing houses, yarn factories,
chocolate factories, industrial bakeries, they all needed to find a
way to control heat and to control human humidity, which
(05:01):
is something that an AC system does. Both reduces humidity
and controls the heat. Right, So that's what the modern
AC was built for. Not so popular in homes until
and I always think this is a fun fact the
(05:21):
summer blockbuster movie. Yeah, what's the connection. Well, thanks to
the Spanish flu and tuberculosis epidemics at the turn of
the century, there was this massive open air health movement happening.
It was believed that indoor air was toxic and unhealthy.
That's not necessarily a wrong belief. So the idea of
(05:42):
closing the windows and recirculating indoor air very very unpopular idea.
So what broad air conditioning out of the factories and
into the human comfort business? Were movie theaters in the
nineteen thirties, and by the nineteen forties, going to the
movies to escape the heat was so popular that movie
(06:03):
studios started saving and scheduling their biggest hits for summertime,
which gave birth to the summer blockbuster. Blockbusters were huge
bombs being dropped during World War Two that could level
a city block Hollywood coined the blockbuster to describe a
(06:23):
hit movie, and combined with the fact that you could
get out of your home and go for pennies and
sit in an air conditioned movie theater, the summer blockbuster
was born. And once the general public got a taste
of air conditioning at the movies, it wasn't long before
that all started showing up in homes and boom, there
(06:47):
you go. All right, more great stuff on the way.
There's the background. Now we start moving forward with what
HVAC means for you.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Here to help you take your home to the next level. Hey,
here's a reminder follow us on social media. We're on
all the usual suspects, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook X what else
is out there? No, I'm not going to mention those
don't look at me like that Home with Dean, same
handle for all of them. Home with Dean. We only
(07:26):
do the good kind of social media. By the way,
it's inspiring, it's enlightening, non burden some, non troublesome, just
fun stuff. So while you're there, click follow wherever your
favorite social media pages are. We're there, and follow along
with us as we go. Guess who is sitting in
studio with me? Now, oh, she doesn't even have her
(07:48):
mic on or headphones. I'll give you a second. No,
go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. I said this last
segment that sitting across the table from me is supposed
to be my better half, my design partner, and my
best buddy in the world. But now there you are,
like the dawning of the sun. Here I am welcome home.
(08:11):
Tina is here. Everybody there you go. See you got
your elephant twice twice, so it's good to see you.
Good to be seen. All right, y'all, let us move
forward now with the next step in this process. We're
talking about heating and air conditioning today. You know it's
(08:31):
the weather is here, right, the warmth is here, and
so it's time to deal with the air conditioner. We've
laid out the history of AC for you, and now
I want to lay a little bit more groundwork. And
this is important because so many people have no clue
when it comes to how the unit even works. And
(08:52):
this I'm not going to get too technical, Okay, I promise,
but I do want you to understand how refrigeration works,
at least on a really really base level. Here's how
it goes. Very basic. Refrigerant Okay, that's you, hear that
talked about all the time. Refrigerant is the chemical compound
(09:15):
inside your system which circulates through the AC system and
undergoes what's called a phase transition. All that means is
that it alternates from being a liquid to a gas
and back to a liquid and a gas and liquid
and gas back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, Okay,
again and again and again and again. As it runs
(09:37):
through your system, it absorbs heat on one end of
that cycle and releases it on the other. When it's
in its gaseous form, its density is so low that
it's capable of absorbing a tremendous amount of heat, and
then it gets condensed and it releases that heat. On
both ends of the system, there are coils, okay, kind
(10:01):
of like you know what your radiator in a car
looks like. Right, that's what we call it coil for cooling. Okay.
The refrigerant passes through an expansion valve and expands into
a gas It goes into inside the house where the
where there is what we call the evaporator coil. Okay.
A fan blows indoor air from your house over that
(10:25):
coil inside, and that coil absorbs heat from the air. Okay. Now,
fun fact, or maybe an important fact. Air conditioning does
not add cold to a house. You can't add cold
to anything because cold isn't a thing at all. Cold
(10:46):
is the absence of something. Cold is why space is cold.
Cold is the absence of energy. It's the absence of
thermal engine, it's the absence of heat. Okay, So the
AC system doesn't add doesn't pump cold air into your house,
even though it feels that way, because cold air is
(11:07):
coming out the vents. What the AC system is doing
is it's sucking the warm air from your home into
its belly, runs it across this coil where it removes
warmth from your house. So an air conditioning system removes heat, okay,
And as a result, when the air comes back into
the room through the vents, it is colder than it
(11:30):
was before and the overall temperature drops okay. Outside, the
AC compressor is compressing the gas refrigerant, making an increase
in temperature and pressure, and then it runs it over
the condenser coil outside inside the evaporator coil, outside the
condenser coil, and that's where a big old fan helps
(11:53):
blow off and release that heat that was absorbed from
inside the house. That's why on a warm day, when
you are running your air condition if you go outside
to the big unit outside and put your hand over
the top, you are feeling hot air being blown out
of that fan. It's not just the heat of the
air outside. It's hotter than the air outside because that
(12:16):
is all the heat that's been sucked out of the
house and it's now blowing it off of that refrigerant
so that the refrigerant can go through the cycle and
do it all again. Does that makes sense. The refrigerant
passes through an expansion valve again, it drops in pressure again,
it allows it to evaporate into a gas again, goes
back inside the house, and there you go. We do
it over and over and over. So that is essentially
(12:39):
how that works, and that's important for you to understand.
So I can explain another little item that is now
big on the horizon, which is a heat pump. We'll
get to that in just a bit. If you are
calling the stuff inside your AC system free on, you're
about fifteen years behind. Although it's just easier to remember
(13:01):
that stuff as free on, it's not free on anymore.
We need to talk about the change in refrigerants because
it's what has driven the cost and the need to
change AC systems as we've rolled around. So we'll talk
about free on and your new unit and the new
units being sold in twenty twenty five when we return.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Here to help you transform your ordinary house into an
extraordinary home. We do it every week. I'm so glad
you're with us. It is a privilege and a pleasure
to be with you here and now on our live
broadcast on Sunday mornings from nine to noon every week.
By the way, if your home needs some personal house
(13:55):
Whisper attention, meaning me and the tea standing with you
inside your home, staring at whatever the problem may be,
you can book an in home design consult with us.
Just go to house Whisperer dot design for more info.
House Whisperer dot Design. Also know that calls are coming
up in just a bit. The phone lines are open
(14:17):
right now. There's plenty of room for you. I'm talking
eating and air conditioning today. But when it comes to
our calls, as always, anything you want to talk about
you set. The agenda can be design questions, construction questions, diy, architecture, landscape,
from property line to property line, from the ground to
(14:38):
the sky. We got you covered, So anything that's got
you scratching your head about your home. The number to
reach me eight three three two ask Dean A three
to three. The numeral two ask Dean eight three three
to ask Dean. It's just that simple, and we will
be going to the calls and just a bit give
us a call. Our call screener will tell you everything
(15:00):
you need to know. Poppy into the cue. You can
listen to the show while you wait, and then we'll
get it solved. Oh yes, we will. Okay, back to
heating and air conditioning. Kind of an overview for you,
and I want you to understand these things. You don't
have to remember. There's no quiz at the end of
all this. Okay, this is for you to better understand
(15:22):
what's going on in your home in terms of the
air conditioning system. So we've talked about how refrigerant works. Refrigeration,
that's what this is all about. We've talked about how refrigerant,
that magical chemical compound works. It expands into a gas,
it absorbs heat, it goes outside, it gets condensed back
into a liquid. It gives its heat off, blows the
(15:45):
heat off, and then we send it back into the
house for another lap. And that happens again and again
and again as long as your AC is running the
refrigerant itself. Oh and by the way, everything that gets
cold and works off that this principle is doing exactly
Your refrigerator, just on a much smaller scale, is doing
exactly this. There's a condenser there's an evaporator. There's a
(16:07):
little motor, and it's running refrigerant through its coils. It
is not adding cold to the refrigerator box. It is
removing heat, and cold is what's left over. And yes,
if you were to have a if you had a
highly sensitive little thermometer and wandered around your kitchen, the
warmest part of your kitchen is actually right there in
(16:30):
back of or underneath the refrigerator because unlike outside with
an AC system, which we call a split system, meaning
there's one coil in the house and another one outside
where the fan blows off all that heat into the
outside air, your refrigerator is not blowing the heat into
the outside air. It's blowing it into the kitchen essentially.
(16:52):
So yeah, it's a little warmer around the fridge than
it is anywhere else because that's where the heat from
inside the fridge box is being distributed. Anyway, anyway, that's
how refrigeration works. And now we've got this magical chemical
called free on. Now I just use that intentionally because
everybody seems to identify with that word, even though it
(17:15):
has been more than fifteen years now since freeon was gone,
like gone, And if you have an old, old air
conditioning system still running on free on. I feel for
you because freeon is no longer manufactured. By the way,
it's R twenty two for you nerds out there, Freeon
is no longer manufactured. The only place you can get
(17:38):
free on is from old units being replaced, in which
the freeon is carefully bled off into tiny little canisters.
And if you need to recharge the refrigerant on your
old free on system, you will now pay a mint.
I mean, free on is like liquid gold because it
(17:58):
is so rare and no longer being manufactured. So yeah,
it's been about fifteen years. Free on is a thing
of the past, and yet I still every you know,
all the time I hear people say, what about the
free on in my system? Just so you know, Breon
was replaced back in twenty ten by a more environmentally
friendly refrigerant, which is R four ten A. No, you
(18:20):
don't have to remember that either. You just need to
know that now our four ten A, which replaced free
on R twenty two, is now being replaced. As of
January first, twenty twenty five, we've dumped our four ten A.
It's actually still being manufactured. I believe. So it's not
the exact same situation as free on. It's being phased
out slowly, but all new units as of twenty twenty
(18:45):
five are running off of a new set of what
they call A two L refrigerants, which have a lower
global warming potential. All of this is because we know
that the components in refrigerant do damage to the atmosphere,
and so as a result, the American Innovation and Manufacturing
(19:10):
Act that was passed in twenty twenty authorized the EPA
to reduce the production of hfc's and there's a lot
of just letters coming out of my mouth. That's chemicals
made of hydrogen fluorine carbon anyway, to reduce all of
that by eighty five percent within the next fifteen years. Okay.
So that, in combination with tariffs on equipment coming from overseas,
(19:36):
is why HVA prices have increased in twenty twenty five. Okay.
So that is the moral of the story, and that
is the state of affairs right now or air conditioning
in the United States and in the state of California.
There's one more bit of info to lay down for you,
and that is the question of Seer S E. E. R.
(20:02):
Those four letters. SIR is a rating given to an
air conditioning unit and it stands for seasonal Energy efficiency Ratio.
It basically means this, It's the energy efficiency rating of
a unit, how much it cools versus how much energy
(20:23):
it gobbles up. And there are different air conditioning units
out there with higher and lower seers. The question is
which one is right for you. We will talk about
that right after the break.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Getting involved in your project is critical and for you
to understand design, both the fundamentals again from the principles
of architecture all the way down into the design of
your HVAC system is what maximizes the money that you
have spent in your budget. Doesn't necessarily save you money,
(21:04):
but what it does the channels it in the most
potent way possible. Also know this before we step back
into AC talk. Coming up just right after this next break,
we are going to the phones. Whatever's got you scratching
your head about your home? Give me a call. The
number to reach me eight three three to two. Ask
(21:25):
Dean eight three to three, the numeral two. Ask Dean
anything going on with your home. We're doing that right
after the next break, and we've got room on the
board for you, so give me a call. All right,
here we go, lay in the groundwork here. How can
you understand your air conditioning system a little bit better.
(21:47):
We've talked about the history of AC. We've talked about refrigerant,
how that magical chemical compound circulates through the system and
makes your house cooler along the way. We've talked about
free on, which is no longer a thing ever again.
But the fact is that the refrigerant in your system
is constantly being updated, not not at breakneck speed, but
(22:11):
actually faster than most of us feel comfortable with generally speaking,
because we turn around and we're like, wait, wait, the
refrigerant that my unit uses isn't available anymore. So, yeah,
that's a thing that's happening in the desire to keep
up with environmental protections and so on. The last little
bit of technical info that I want you to understand
(22:34):
about your AC system is ser sir I mentioned it
before the break, is four letters s e R. It
stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. Basically means this SEER
is a rating given to an air conditioning system that
measures how effectively it cools in ratio with how much
(22:59):
energy it sucks up to do that cooling. Okay, And
so a lower seer rating means that it doesn't mean
that the eer AC system doesn't cool the house as
well as a higher seer system. It doesn't mean that
at all. Okay, A fourteen seer actually fifteen is the
minimum seer for California, by the way, right now, a
(23:21):
fifteen seer system will cool your house just as well
as a twenty or twenty plus seer system. Okay, same cooling.
The question is a fifteen seer system uses a lot
more energy, about forty percent more energy to make that
house that cool than a twenty or twenty plus seer system.
(23:44):
So there you go. It's the energy consumption along the way. Right.
So now the question is, well that why is there
even a choice, Dean? Why don't I just buy the
highest seer unit available for my home? And maybe that's
something that you want to do, and maybe it's something
that you feel comfortable doing, maybe it's something your budget
allows you to do. But just know that the higher
(24:07):
seer systems are considerably more expensive than lower seer systems. Okay,
and so what you need to do You need to
get online. Well, first you talk to your HVAC contractor
make sure you're getting the straight scoop from them about this,
because they're going to show you the pricing between the two.
And you also need to get online and look at
(24:27):
seer calculators for your area because there's a ton of
them out there and you'll see. Because the real question
is this, assuming that your HVAC system, this brand new system,
just like a car, is eventually going to wear out
and be replaced. So the question is over the life
of this system, let's give it fifteen years. Over the
(24:49):
fifteen years of this system, will the higher SEER rating
save me enough money to justify the higher cost of
the unit up front. If you're spending twice as much
on an air conditioning system today, then you need to
(25:09):
know whether or not that higher air conditioning system is
going to save you at least that much money over
the next fifteen years. This is why still the majority
of air conditioning systems that are sold in the state
of California, just across the nation in general, are lower
seer systems because they're more affordable today because most of
(25:32):
us are concerned about how much money is in our
wallet today. And yes, they are going to cost a
little bit more to run over the next ten to
fifteen years. But can we afford to pay a little
bit higher in our energy bill monthly over years instead
(25:52):
of dropping a ton of cash more today? So that's
why seer becomes an issue. Seer is an issue simply
because of its effect on your wallet. And it's a
question of whether you've got the money today or whether
we've got to wait till later. All right, that's AC.
That's a good foundation for understanding AC. Okay, Now when
(26:16):
we return to the conversation, we'll talk about on a
much much more ground level practical approach, the kinds of
decisions that you're being asked to make. Things like heat pumps.
What the heck are they? Why are they replacing gas furnaces?
Are they as good? Should I consider a heat pump
(26:38):
instead of a gas furnace? If I'm going with a
gas furnace, I know I need a new AC unit.
Why are they telling me I need a new furnace.
My furnace works just fine. It's my AC that's failing
on me. Right, And one of the most important things
that we can talk about. Maybe we'll start with this,
why is my choice of HVAC installer so so very important?
(27:02):
We're gonna do all of this when we return to
the conversation. But when we come back from break, it's
time to go to the phones. Your calls up. Next
your Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
morning from six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday
(27:23):
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Home with Dean Sharp News
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