The List of HVAC Installers Who Respect Science and Math

Welcome to The List. It's free to view, free to be listed on, I have no interest in stealing anyone's information or making a few bucks on a kickback:

https://homediagnosis.tv/hvac-installers

I've had people from Alaska to Manhattan asking where to find an HVAC installer who even understands how to read a Manual J calculation, and just assuring them that 'they're out there' is getting boring. Here is a FREE directory of those people, SELF-SELECTED. I am NOT vetting them. They vet themselves.

Good luck to us all.

Different Room Temperatures & Outdoor Design Setpoints: Alex Meaney and Dustin Cole GO OFF

Why do people ask for specific HVAC stuff, and do they really need what they're asking for? Let's dive deep into the design and installation of non-mainstream HVAC requests, like different target room temperatures in a home, or outdoor design temperatures that are higher than the 99% hottest we normally use.

See Dustin Cole's interview at: https://youtu.be/1Iiho2cm2LY

Find Dustin at his family business Cole Air: https://www.airconditioninglakecharles.com/

Alex Meaney has made several videos with me so far:
Manual J Deep Dive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEKEMI05dJE
Manual S Deep Dive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhE4XwbDDE
Duct Design and Existing Home System Replacements https://youtu.be/h5629tWpR9c

Find Alex at: https://MeanHVAC.com

See how HVAC pressures can affect rooms when the doors are closed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orp-sXTjTPw

Duct Design Tips & Replacing Furnaces with Heat Pumps with Alex Meaney

We're back again with my HVAC design calculations trainer Alex Meaney (https://MeanHVAC.com), to talk about ductwork and connections and filters and how to get all this right when replacing an old system in existing homes.

Watch my first two videos with Alex: Manual J Load Calculation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEKEMI05dJE

Manual S Equipment Selection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGhE4XwbDDE

Mystery Problems in New Home SOLVED by Builder Using Diagnostics: Scott True, Dimora Homes

Scott True has been building spec and custom homes outside Austin TX, and he impressed me from the first time we worked together. To see some of the experiments he's running to make performance homes more affordable, watch Matt Risinger's 40 minute follow along at one of his builds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjwjeoLi6X0

IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. Say it back, everybody, and spread the word. Find Dimora Homes at: https://dimorahomes.com/

Level 15 nerds get their diagnostic tools at: https://TrutechTools.com

HVAC Training Advice from an HVAC Pro Technician

Dustin Cole is a 23-year HVAC veteran (and a proud Patreon member of ours- join him at https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV ), and he has successfully transformed his heating and cooling company from a regular old family business into a leader in delivering performance-based HVAC systems, using diagnostics and computer analysis. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. Say it back, everybody, and spread the word.

Find Cole Air at: https://www.airconditioninglakecharles.com/

Manual J Default Air Leakage Inputs vs. Blower Door Test ACH50

I'm pretty sure the awesome folks who created Manual J (like Hank Rutkowski- hear my interview with him here), and the softwares we use to run the calculations (Elite RHVAC, used here, and Wrightsoft) do not have a lot of personal experience with the test dynamics of home enclosures, and may never have actually used a blower door before. Here's a demonstration of why it's so important to respect the blower door if you're doing HVAC design for residential construction or home improvement.

Learn to perform and analyze Blower Door and Duct Tightness Tests in my 1 Day Training at: https://buildingperformanceworkshop.com/det-verifier

There are two blower door brands, both available at: https://www.trutechtools.com/system-blower-doors-and-duct-testers.html

See a tour of a full Manual J report below:

Mold House Tour and Scientific Causes: Disaster Production Home Build in Houston Texas

Meet our friends Anil and Nilima Mittal- they're suing the biggest production home builder in the USA. With help from Jason Earle, 20-year mold inspection veteran, we tell the story of how this mold disaster of a brand new home began, and how their health has suffered because of it.

Get your own simple mold test: https://GotMold.com

Become supporters of our work, just like Anil, and join our Patreon group for as little as $5/month! https://Patreon.com/homediagnosistv

HERE’S A SEPARATE VIDEO WITH ANIL’S TIPS AND TRICKS ON THE LAWSUIT ALONE:

Manual S Deep Dive: Selecting HVAC Equipment Based on Manual J Load Calcs- Part 2 of 2

Picking up where we left off in Part 1 (https://youtu.be/LEKEMI05dJE), Alex Meaney shows a design where a 3.5 ton, a 4 ton, and a 5 ton air conditioner all match a Manual J load, and explores the fine points of practical applications of the 3 rules of Manual S: 1. Select equipment that can handle 100% of the humidity load (latent heat) at minimum 2. Select equipment that does not exceed cooling load by too much (15% for single stage equip, 20% for 2-stage, 30% for variable capacity) 3. Select equipment that does not exceed total capacity by too much (but this rule must be broken in some cases)

Check out Alex Meaney's trainings: https://MeanHVAC.com

Watch Matt Risinger's video on the Build Show about my Manual J report tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-_VjlYnD0

Manual J Deep Dive (and Selecting HVAC Equipment with Manual S)- Part 1 of 2

Alex Meaney is my trainer when I level up on HVAC design calculations, and he came to visit us and share some of his expertise. Alex reveals what the J stands for and why you should never round up the tonnage from your Manual J software, and gives two rules for Manual S: 1. Never use AHRI data 2. Meet the latent load while not going too far over the sensible load (more in part 2) Check out Alex Meaney's trainings: https://MeanHVAC.com Watch Matt Risinger's video on the Build Show about my Manual J report tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-_VjlYnD0 Learn more about the Science of Homes: https://BuildingPerformanceWorkshop.com Watch the first-ever TV series about the Science of Homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

Our DIY Forever Home Build: Testing Blower Door, Infrared, HVAC, Pressure Imbalances

From ‘Home Diagnosis’ Season 2 ep13: See what comprehensive home performance testing looks like, as we prove the forever home we built does what we designed it to do. Test instruments used, all available thru https://TruTechTools.com:

• Retrotec 5000 blower door and DM-32 pressure gauge

• Retrotec Flow Box

• Hikmicro M30 infrared thermal camera

• TEC DG-8 pressure gauge

• TEC TruFlow Grid

• HOBO MX1101 temp/humidity datalogger

• Testo 400 large vane anemometer

Watch the whole episode: https://homediagnosis.tv/episode-213-proof-testing-the-house

The Restaurant Analogy: How to Level Up Home Improvement & Construction

From 'HOME DIAGNOSIS' Season 2 Ep13: Aside from simple lack of education (which we and a crowd of our colleagues are trying to fix on YouTube, PBS, and elsewhere), the problems with the building industry are these, as we see it: 1. Low expectations from customers 2. Limited consequences for pros doing it wrong We'll talk about #2 another time, but this video describes very simply how we fix the expectation piece of the problem: by copying restaurant culture. See the whole episode this came from: https://homediagnosis.tv/episode-213-proof-testing-the-house

Explore the Science of Homes with us- join our team! https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV

Spray Foam Inspection & Testing in Crawlspace and Side Attic

From 'Home Diagnosis' Season 2 Ep6: Spray foam insulation is often advertised as a cure-all, but there are LOTS of ways to mess it up. Here's a tour and testing of a home in Atlanta where the spray foam insulation isn't doing what it was intended to do. Watch the whole episode: https://homediagnosis.tv/episode-206-windbreakers-air-sealing-and-insulation

Join our Patreon team and be part of our exploration of the Science of Homes: https://Patreon.com/HomeDiagnosisTV