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Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
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6 Jan, 6 tweets, 3 min read
Gotta give my good buddy Michael Housh of Housh Home Energy a shout out for doing gorgeous duct design work.

This is best practice for new systems, these are ducted mini split heat pumps going into a cool old house that has a boiler.

#hvac2pt0 #thatshowtodoit

@jakedouglas
This is part of integrated project design - have a plan so you can hold everyone accountable. A duct design is not totally sacred, there will be challenges in the real world not reflected here, but it helps guide the project and deliver better results.
This isn't needed on every job, but it should always be available if needed.
I love having Housh do these for us because a) he's an HVAC contractor himself so he's realistic and b) they are freaking beautiful!

Gotta send him measurements from my house!
@betateach this may be of interest, it's a retrofit of an older brick home.
Note the fresh air line in green.

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More from @energysmartohio

Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
7 Jan
THREAD:

48% of US residential fossil gas use is from 9 cold (or cold-ish) states. This is a major #electrifyeverything challenge.

Source: eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_con…

HT @JuliePi31415926

@buildingdecarb heads up Image
I wanted to look at this two ways. First, raw usage by state, then usage per person.

Note that CA and TX are WAAAAYYYY less than the others.

You can tell that PA and MO are a bit mild too.

NJ should be mild (mainly climate zone 4), but isn't, poor buildings?
Note IL in particular. Third highest usage. Chicago is the third largest city in the US.

You literally can't buy a standard heat pump there. Aka unitary, they look like a furnace.

You can in WI just north, but not in IL. No idea why, but it's a fact.
Read 17 tweets
Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
6 Jan
This is a nice concise look at electrification.

And indeed, quotes are going to be all over the place, and a heat pump should be sized with a blower door and energy use informed energy model.
The heat pump water heater price difference was outrageous!

$4600 is high for the midwest, but I can see it. $7000 is highway robbery. And I seldom give contractors a hard time for pricing.

That's what having fear priced in looks like, or not wanting the job.
Most of California can basically swap a furnace for a heat pump, although the experience with single stage equipment may be mediocre (loud and lots of blowing air.)

Cold climates need to swap very carefully or experiences will suck, which will act like an anchor on demand.
Read 5 tweets
Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
12 Jun 20
@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA Good question. Pragmatists and conservatives. This is adapted from Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm". Everyone should read that book.

They require a "complete product" that is demonstrably better than current options. It needs to be easy to procure and readily available.
@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA In EVs Tesla crossed the chasm with their Supercharger network. @EfficiencyLast's aunt and uncle bought a 2015 Model S and drove it across the country multiple times.

That's remarkable. It truly replaced an ICE vehicle.
@RDCFineHomes @MontePaulsen @briansiana @UCSUSA @EfficiencyLast For houses a broad solution is needed that can apply to most homes and require little to no thought from the owner. That's why we use high end communicating equipment. It looks like a furnace and the thermostat is familiar. It does the thinking for people.
Read 13 tweets
Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
25 May 20
THREAD:

As HVAC is starting to be discussed more for COVID19, here's an email I sent to our clients that have what we affectionately call BAD ASS HVAC.

With a few simple changes they can help manage risk. @MontePaulsen @lloydalter @Guay_JG @ShellyMBoulder

1/N
Hello!

I hope this finds you well in the current craziness.

You all have advanced HVAC systems that can help at least somewhat to reduce the risk of COVID19 (and sickness in general) as most of us are spending more time in our homes than usual.

2/N
I did a bunch of research and 3 things are clear:

1. Humidity - Maintain relative humidity between 30-50%. This keeps small droplets in our breath from shrinking to be super small where they are difficult to filter, and those levels also seem to inactivate viruses.

3/N
Read 18 tweets
Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
13 Feb 20
Want a universal path to solving for climate change?

Stop talking climate and start talking pollution. Pollution is a clear and present danger, we know how to solve it, and we get a fast feedback loop because it's easy to measure. The solutions are almost identical.
My buddy Doug Hunt of Palmers Heating and Cooling posted this. Let's just say he wouldn't agree politically with most in CA.

But there's common ground on pollution.

Conservation is inherently conservative. Teddy Roosevelt started the national parks, Nixon started the EPA.
Oh, and Reagan sold electrification in the 50s. I have one of the pictured medallions.

There is SOOOOO much common ground here.
Read 6 tweets
Nate the House Whisperer Profile picture
8 Jan 20
@lenox_matt It sure gets us into a lot of arguments though!

We need more Teslas - companies that make a new tech accessible to the masses.

Fingers crossed we're about to pull that off for residential HVAC. What's your focus?
@lenox_matt One last concept to wrap it up. There's a sweet spot where additional money spent or work done doesn't deliver substantially better results.

That's the Sweet Spot. It's what we try to figure out for every client and every home.
@lenox_matt We've consistently found that when it comes to solving persistent comfort, health, or moisture problems in a home, half measures lead to quarter results at best.

You have to hit a problem hard, but not spend so much money that it's a poor use of resources. Tough balance.
Read 4 tweets

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