The Hidden Problem in Most HVAC Systems
Is ductwork and poor filtration reducing your HVAC system’s value? Most HVAC systems are still being matched to ductwork that was never designed to deliver the comfort, airflow, or air quality homeowners actually need. That creates a hidden problem: even high-efficiency equipment can underperform when the system behind it is not working the way it should.
In this episode of Cracking the Code, Drew Cameron joins David Holt to explain why healthy air should be part of every HVAC conversation. From airflow and duct performance to filtration and purification, they break down how improving the full home environment can increase comfort and performance to deliver greater value.
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00:00:00:05 – 00:00:12:08
Equipment tied to duct systems that aren’t performing and recirculating unhealthy air.
00:00:12:10 – 00:00:37:03
Welcome back. Drew Cameron here to talk to us about selling by design, not by default. Let’s talk about air quality and air flow. Yeah. Well thanks for having me David. Appreciate that. And yeah, we’re going to be in part two here talking about selling by design not by default. And by design we mean yes, your processes. But we’re also talking about your design, your unique and specific and special design that only you in your market place offer.
00:00:37:03 – 00:00:54:20
Right. Nobody else does what you do. Everybody else is focused on. As we talked about in segment one, every else is focused on selling the things they’re focused on selling boxes, brand model efficiency and capacity. Most of them pay no attention to airflow and very little attention to air quality. And I think in our industry, David, I think we got it all backwards.
00:00:55:01 – 00:01:16:02
You know, I grew up in the industry and we put together proposals back in the day. And on our proposal, you know, after our, our logo and the customer’s information, the first thing is, is we’re pleased to present our proposal. And the first thing that it was was a, a dissertation, a brand model, efficiency and capacity. And then ten pages of how we were going to do the installation.
00:01:16:04 – 00:01:50:20
And then after the fact options were any duct modifications, any air quality, you know, enhancements, things like that. And it took it took me a long time to realize, after the fact that after we sold the business that we’re selling equipment tied to duct systems that aren’t performing and we’re circulating unhealthy air. Really, what we should do is, number one, make sure that we can circulate the air that we need to, you know, circulate, so that the system can function and breathe.
00:01:50:20 – 00:02:07:22
Right. Because you can only exhale what you inhale as a human. Same with your system, right. So let’s get the airflow right. And then let’s make sure that the quality of the air that we’re circulating is healthy and safe and and whatnot. And then we can worry about the comfort and performance and efficiency and, and things of that.
00:02:07:22 – 00:02:29:14
And so for the last few years, I’ve really focused in on dialing in the airflow first, making sure that the duct system can perform and if it can’t, what needs to happen to make it, you know, make it perform for the potential of the advanced technology and high efficiency, equipment that we’re going to put in that didn’t exist when this duct system was originally designed and installed in the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s.
00:02:29:14 – 00:02:52:03
Right. And get the air flow right. And then let’s clean it up. Let’s clean up the duct system. We’re going to reuse it or replace it and put filtration and purification devices in there to keep it clean and keep the equipment clean and protected, but also keep the humans protected and healthy and safe, too, because obviously, we all went through a five year span of the last five years, I should say.
00:02:52:03 – 00:03:13:07
We also went through a span of the, you know, worldwide, situation that we experienced. And so let’s keep the the occupants safe and then we can put them in a good place as far as being comfortable. Right. And so now I focus on airflow and ductwork first, cleaning and cleaning things up and and stopping things from entering the system.
00:03:13:09 – 00:03:33:10
And then I worry about the equipment can be plug in play into that system, and it will work the way that it’s supposed to work and give the people the experience that they want. And so we go air flow, air quality, air conditioning, meaning temperature. I’m a true believer in practicing what you preach and everything you just talked about.
00:03:33:10 – 00:03:55:19
I 100% agree with one of the things that I did recently, actually, earlier this year I contracted with a local Hvac contractor. Since we sold our business back in 99, I’ve been, dependent on what I consider the best contractor in the local market to take care of my house for forever. I have a maintenance agreement with them.
00:03:55:19 – 00:04:21:09
Continue to have a maintenance agreement with them today. But earlier this year, decided it was time to go ahead and upgrade our systems. Equipment was working, but I knew from day one when I bought this house and it was 11 years old when I bought it, and we’ve been living in it for about 12 years now. So it’s 23 years, 24 years old now, and it had way too much equipment.
00:04:21:12 – 00:04:42:01
We actually used a really cool online load calculation tool. I think it’s something called Ed’s. I forget where that came from. Energy design. What is that again? Yeah. Anyway, I know you’ve heard of those guys before. Yeah, I think drew might have something to do with that. But my my contractor, I didn’t actually ask them to do your system, but that’s what they’re using, by the way.
00:04:42:01 – 00:04:58:12
So that’s a good thing. So, I get this load calculation from this guy, and he’s like, do you want to put back what you got, or do you want to put what’s right? I said, you know me better than that, man. What what do you what do you think? And and he told me, and I was like, okay.
00:04:58:14 – 00:05:14:19
I said, what do you think if I said instead of doing that? Because he was thinking still, it was owned by equipment. There were two pieces of equipment on here, two turn on a three turn. So at five tons of cooling on this house and I’m going to Southern Market. So we always talk about cooling. We don’t talk about heating.
00:05:14:21 – 00:05:34:12
We’re not to worry about that much anyway. So it was five tons of cooling. And his load calculation came up like right at around four tons. And I said, okay. I said, what if I told you I wanted to put in a three zone duct system? I want to yank everything out and start over. I’m going to redesign this entire thing, and I want to do a three zone system.
00:05:34:14 – 00:05:54:21
I want to definitely have variable speed air handler. I definitely want to have a high efficiency air cleaner. I definitely want fresh air coming into my system. I want all those things and I want to answer a question. My wife has been puzzled with for the past 11 years, and that is why are we living in the dusty is home in Columbus, Georgia when we know how to fix this?
00:05:54:21 – 00:06:19:05
I was like, yeah, so you know, physician, heal thyself. I went ahead and bit the bullet and I said, we gotta we gotta pull it all out and start over because not that the guys that put it in were terrible. They’re probably the best residential new construction guys in our market. But with all due respect, they still said in terms of ceiling system, they didn’t.
00:06:19:06 – 00:06:48:09
What the duct system wasn’t sealed properly definitely wasn’t balanced at all. We made a significant investment in our home. My power bill has dropped dramatically since doing that, and it’s quieter in my house and the dust problem has disappeared. And because of the fresh air, it smells better. We have a dog. Guess what? Dogs have odors. We need to dilute that odor.
00:06:48:10 – 00:07:08:04
We need to get that odor out of here. Right. So we made the investment that needed to be made, and I designed the system the way I would have designed it had I been hold service company. And they were gracious enough to allow me the pleasure of doing that, because they’re also people that I’ve trained because a lot of their folks are former employees.
00:07:08:06 – 00:07:29:11
So it’s like I would have suspected nothing less. And I paid a premium price for it, too. I really did, I did I got an inverter based system. It’s a side discharge type system. It’s, you know, it’s quiet, it’s efficient, it’s absolutely fantastic. And the proof is in the pudding. The utility bills came down. I got no dust in the house anymore.
00:07:29:11 – 00:07:48:21
I’ve got odors. Are gone. I’m more comfortable. It’s quieter. I’ve got better control because now I got three zones instead of two. And, it was worth the investment. Drew. Oh, I bet you know, it’s it’s like when you think about it, you know, our vehicles have a better comfort system in them than our houses do, right?
00:07:48:23 – 00:08:05:16
You know, especially if you get an SUV, right? You’ve got you got, you can heat and cool the seats, right? You’ve got, temperature settings for the, driver in the passenger. You might even have, you know, settings for the back portions of the cabin, if you will, as well. Right. The back seats can heat and cool themselves.
00:08:05:18 – 00:08:22:05
Right. Then there’s a zoning for the back, you know, the second bench. And if you have a third bench, might be, you know, some zoning for that area too. Right. And it’s got a better filtration device. And like you said, you can bring fresh air in. And we spend less than 1% of our lives inside of a vehicle, right.
00:08:22:06 – 00:08:43:19
Yet, and, and that system, by the way, would, might, might take care of our powder room. Right. We go to our house, right? We spend 90% of our time indoors. 60% of that’s at home. And we have one big comfort system for one big house with one switch. Right. So when we come home, we throw it on for the entire house, much like we throw in every light when we go home.
00:08:43:19 – 00:09:08:03
No, we don’t like we throw in every faucet when we go, no we don’t. Right. So the thing that basically is that health and safety and lungs and comfort, you know, for our house and our and our people that live there is designed so poorly. And yet as contractors and as homeowners, we haven’t come together to assess that and say, listen, we can and should be better.
00:09:08:05 – 00:09:25:09
And to your point, right, this is an error. This is this is the the sustenance of life. This is the only thing that all of us can’t live without for even five minutes. We can live without water. We can live without food and we’re really concerned about the quality and cleanliness of the food and the water that we eat, right?
00:09:25:09 – 00:09:45:15
And maybe even organic food too. But we don’t worry about the organic, nutritious nature of the air that we all consume and breathe that we can’t live without for even five minutes. Yet we go ahead and we tie in mechanical systems. We hook them up to the existing duct system that was designed in the 60s or 73 or 90s for technology that didn’t exist here.
00:09:45:15 – 00:10:04:13
And, you know, in this year. Right. And we have high efficiency, advanced technology hooked up to a low efficiency, low technology duct system and building envelope, which basically is a recipe for wasting energy more efficiently. As my friend Phil Jeffers used to say from energy Design Systems before he, he passed away a few years ago and we took over.
00:10:04:13 – 00:10:32:08
So I appreciate the plug. So yes, we have to be better as contractors, right. And we have to help homeowners enjoy a better experience because they’ve long been suffering unsafe, unhealthy, comfort compromising and energy wasting experiences provided by the existing system. And when you come in, like, you know, your contractor did, your job is to assess what has been right and say what can be and make the customer aware.
00:10:32:08 – 00:10:52:06
In this case, you aware of what’s possible to get a new level of safety, health, comfort, energy savings, security, peace of mind, happiness, longevity, the equipment. And it’s the equipment alone that won’t do it is everything else that you talked about. It’s the duct system. It’s the building envelope. It’s the filtration, it’s the purification. It’s the fresh air intake.
00:10:52:08 – 00:11:15:11
Most of that stuff didn’t exist with the thing that your contractor inherited. And I think in this day and age, as contractors, if we embrace air right, the quality and flow of the air first before we think about equipment, right. If we embrace the quality, the flow of it, okay, you’re going to have people that are going to be number one or more that are going to become your customers more.
00:11:15:11 – 00:11:35:14
We’re going to spend more money. They’re going to become loyal repeat customers. They’re going to refer more people to you because you’re going to become the provider in the neighborhood who basically, you know, we know most of these houses were built probably by the same builder, experienced the same problems and issues. Right. You’re going to be the bill, the contractor who can solve these problems where no one else could.
00:11:35:16 – 00:12:04:03
Everybody’s come in. They may be tested, the running of the machines, but they didn’t look at the original design and what is delivering. And I know in your previous life, you your previous life, you talked about delivered BTUs. Right. And what delivers the BTUs and removes the beat is airflow. Right. And and so and then of course, we want to make sure that it always is healthy and safe and, nutritious for the occupants because it is the sustenance of life.
00:12:04:05 – 00:12:34:09
You know, I mean, I’m not I’m not afraid to recommend a company that I know has the ability to help you know, how to do that stuff. So National Comfort Institute is is a company that does this type of training all over the place. Drew and I are both big fans of that organization. In fact, the guy we mentioned a minute ago, Dominic Guarino, who wrote the article back in the 90s about the whole house is a system is the founder or one of the co-founders, and he’s the president and chairman of, National Comfort Institute right now.
00:12:34:14 – 00:12:57:01
We typically call it NCI. If you haven’t done some of their NCI type training, you need to look into it. It’s not inexpensive, but guess what? Quality rarely is. And the reality is that when you understand this stuff, you can differentiate yourself in ways that you haven’t even imagined. It also scare you to death. Sometimes he’s like, oh my God, I think about all these people I put in wrong.
00:12:57:03 – 00:13:21:10
That was the first reaction we had with our dad’s business. It was, oh. I had a had a guy have been with us for 25 years. And we went and we started testing. When we first started testing, you said, let’s go test this one. We just did because I know it’s going to be awesome. Well, when we tested for leakage, we found out that the the duct system that we just put in that he was so proud of, this guy was hired by my grandfather.
00:13:21:10 – 00:13:42:11
He was a craftsman in his time. It we tested it and you could drive a truck through the whole basically the equivalent leakage area of this thing. And it was and he just started kicking the dirt and he’s like, oh my God, I said what he says. All these years I’ve been thinking, I’ve been doing this right. I said, but the numbers don’t lie.
00:13:42:13 – 00:14:05:00
And he said, yeah, it’s what I’m afraid of. He said, I’m thinking about all those people, you know? I’m like, well, let me just gives us something to do, man. Don’t worry about it, Charlie. We’re going to get it taken care of. We’re going to try to help our existing customers. And, you know, it’s an interesting thing because a lot of people say, well, man, if you start measuring your own stuff and you realize it sucks, it’s not going to put you out of business, aren’t those people going to want to want it done for free?
00:14:05:00 – 00:14:28:10
It’s like, well, if you didn’t know, then what you know now, right? Then you couldn’t do then what you know now. So if you didn’t know, you didn’t know. Yeah. It’s just an area of mastery. It’s something we haven’t mastered and we learn and evolve. I mean, I couldn’t do calculus when I was in grade school, but by the time I got, you know, to, you know, to college, I was doing calculus, okay?
00:14:28:12 – 00:14:50:13
You didn’t throw me away as a human being because I didn’t know calculus in second grade. Right. And so I’m not going to basically, you know, yes, customers will ask, you say, well, you know, new technology, new tools, new education is coming out there. You know, I mean, if you think about load calculations, right, they talk about versions of the, of the, of the standard right there on version eight.
00:14:50:15 – 00:15:07:06
Does that mean the first seven were wrong? No. Right. We’re on we’re on Windows 11 operating system. Does that mean the first 10 or 11 you know, versions. Because I think there was one in there that they called XPS and something else. Right. But there’s I mean, 16, 20 versions of of the software out there. Who knows. Right.
00:15:07:06 – 00:15:32:02
But does that mean the first several were bad or wrong? No. They just are no longer useful and no longer serve us. And we have new tools, new technology, new approaches. And I think as contractors, we have to embrace it because if we don’t, there’s a day of reckoning coming, David, and it’s already happening. You’re seeing lawsuits happening out there because people are putting high efficiency, advanced technology equipment on low efficiency, low technology duck systems and building envelopes.
00:15:32:04 – 00:15:58:10
And the systems are not performing. The customers are not comfortable, they’re not humidifying. The utility bills are higher, the systems are noisier, and the lawsuits are happening. And so the day of reckoning is coming. And, I don’t think I, I think it’s contractors and you mentioned NCI, NCI Comfort Institute, Aerosol Building, Building Performance Institute. If we don’t become advocates of that now as they track contractors, I think we’re in for a world of hurt number one.
00:15:58:10 – 00:16:11:05
Number two is we should do it now and be the leaders and get on the front edge of this wave and ride it all the way to the beach. Drew, appreciate this discussion, man. Another powerful discussion in this series. So we’ll see you next time on cracking the code.
