The $1,000 Fine, the Oversized Furnace, and No Load Calcs

Oh my gosh, I can feel the wisdom already. Must be time for the Wise Home Energy Show with none other than Jeff Flaherty. Pure energy. Hey, Bob. Hey. Thank you for that wise intro. Well, I try to be a wise guy whenever I can. Oh,

I like it. You're part of our team for sure. Aw, shucks. You say that to all the guys that run your board. Absolutely, but there's only one Master Bob. running the Wise Home Energy

Show. Well, I guess it's gotta be that way. It. does, it' does. Keep trying to find somebody to replace me, but I can't find anybody who will work this cheap, so. Please don't.

Please don't. No, you're, you're, safe. You're safe. Thank you. Thank you. So, uh, we're kinda in the heat season already, huh? Boy, I'll tell ya. Yeah. In the, in the wet season. The wet season. It's been an interesting time. We're getting, uh, yeah, the, all the fluctuations and, uh, people are, uh, calling with those, uh, furnaces or rather the ACs are conking out and, uh, it's a challenging, it's a challenging year for that. There's some equipment challenges out there. But one of the things we' do at Wise Home Energy is we, we focus on efficiency, energy efficiency, but we really... Sometimes I look at the Wise organization and, say, "Well, that. process isn't very efficient. Why, why did we go back and forth to the store three times to buy something we could have bought once?"

And- Whoops ... and that's what efficiency, is, right? It's getting the same or more with, uh, uh, the same or less output. So, uh, I, uh, I, I've run into a few, uh, interesting government issues that are, uh, inefficient in my mind, and sometimes government is inefficient. So I gotta- No way. You're saying-

Yeah ... effi- inefficient and government in the same sentence? Yeah. I have some, an interesting quick stories. You know, the one is that there's this enhanced license out there and, uh, I went to get one, and you can only set an appointment to go get the enhanced license, and my license will be expiring soon.

Uh, except when you go to set the appointment, there's no opportunity to set the appointment online. So, um, I just keep checking back and there's no appointment. So sooner or later my license will expire or, um, maybe the website'll open up and I'll be able to get the appointment. So maybe that's the fault of all the procrastinators like myself who didn't do it, but, uh, it's a little frustrating and it'll probably take me a few different visits to go get a license and then go back and get a, uh, enhanced license. So that, that's one tricky government inefficiency, uh, story I wanted to tell you. The second one was Wise Home Energy uses the, uh, postage paid business class, uh, mail. So we mail out a lot of applications. Some people don't wanna use email or don't use email, so we mail them out a hard copy application, and we, uh, some years ago decided that the postage paid envelope was a nice feature to offer to our clients.

Yeah. It says business reply mail, first-class mail, and, um, suddenly I noticed that it takes, uh, the, the, the envelope will be stamped and, but it'll show up two weeks later, uh, once even three weeks later. Wow.

So, uh, the client thinks that they mailed it back to us, and they didn't. So I now put a sticker on there that says, "Metered mail can take three weeks. For faster service, use stamps."

So uh- Oh my gosh ... you know, it, it's kind of a sad state of affairs. A big fan of the post office. Maybe that's, uh, uh, mismanaged at the federal level, but I, I would hope that they could get that corrected, uh, because it's, it's sad that... And I did a test recently where I stuck two envelopes in the mailbox. The stamp showed up two days later and the metered one showed up 14 days later.

Wow. So- That's a huge difference. Yeah, and it really. harms us, uh, and our clients. They think, they call every day asking us- They think you're not responding. Yeah. So it's very difficult. Now, this last one, Bob, this one

I'm gonna pull my hair out, so the next time you see me, uh, I will not have any hair. Okay. All right. So I got a letter in the mail. Uh, it was a summons and, uh, it says there was a violation in the New York

City area. Uh, the, uh, uh, Department of Environmental Protection, uh, it says that, uh, a, a van, uh, from Wise Home

Energy, license number 42710ND, was idling for longer than three minutes, so that, uh, violated some environmental law. It also notes that a citizen observed the van, so this is not even an authorized government employee who has said this. Now, I have to go to New York

City on December 3rd to attend a hearing for this particular issue. Good Lord. Um, so one of the challenges I have is our vehicle has never moved past Utica or Elmira. Uh-huh. So it's never been within 240 miles of New York City. And the other interesting thing is all our license plates are personalized. They say, Wise HVAC

Air Sealing 1. We don't own this particular license plate. So, you know, and I, I put these stories out there 'cause sometimes challenges happen, and Wise Home Energy can have challenges.

And if you call our phone number, you can get through to me, and we will start correcting that challenge. And in all these three issues, I have no phone number to get ahold of somebody to say,

"Common sense, could it prevail here? And could you start working on correcting this thing?" Yeah. So I will have to spend lots of time and lots of money. Straightening this out. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. It is. But that one, that last one, that concerns me that the citizen can observe a van idling and now I face a $1,000 fine. I mean, I have observed some crazy driving in the past couple months. I, I would like to report people and-

See them face these fines because, you know, they're putting my life at risk, so. Those little Marxists down there in Manhattan- Yeah. It's silly ... I'm telling you. They got their little narcs running around ratting on people. Can you believe it? Give me a break. That... I was--

I thought it was a joke. People have asked me, uh, but they s- they summoned, um, the Department of the Corporations where you find out... They must have wanted to find out my address, so they, uh, the Division of Corporations, they, they subpoenaed them. So that's where this thing is going.

So government- Wait, that, that doesn't even make any sense. If... They would have that information through the DMV. Well, that's the interesting thing, is a lot of these agencies either can't or won't or are not allowed to talk to each other. It is absurd to me that this thing has showed up. And

I have a friend who said their wife works at an attorney firm and said, "You have to respond to this. This is, this is moving forward." Yeah. And- You can't ignore it. Otherwise, ladies and gentlemen, it'll be me next time on the Wise Home Energy Show describing the scene where Jeff was cuffed- That's right? ... and stuffed in the back of a New

York City police cruiser. Maybe we could do that from, uh, a cell. Maybe I could do a remote, and I could talk about the, uh, inefficiencies of, uh, you know, the prisons or something like that. Well, yeah, yeah. Hopefully, it' doesn't get to that. New York City jail cells, uh, apparently are, not just, you' know... Uh, it's not just that they're inconvenient and bad, it's they're, they're kind of dangerous. Just ask Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, no, wait a minute.

Yeah. That's right. No, I, I guess you can't do that. That's right. No, that's not possible. That's not possible. So those are my inefficiency stories. and, and, I just want to, uh, you know, let people know, you should be able to call a company.

Uh, w- I can't control the government agencies, but call a company and be able to start the process. Accidents happen. Goofy stuff happens. Uh, and that's what Wise Home Energy will do. That phone number, you call that, you'll get a live person or a, a quick call back, and, and we'll start resolving, uh, anything that's out of the norm that needs to be corrected. Accidents happen. Things happen. Goofy stuff happens. But s- you want somebody that, uh, has the common sense to say, "Let's get this thing fixed up." Yeah. This is the beauty of the f- uh, capitalist free market, by the way- Yeah ... ladies and gentlemen, because built in is competition, which I don't think the

New York s- City, you know, Department of, uh, of Wrong Plate, uh, the citations- Yeah ... is, uh, is probably got much competition. They- No ... kind of do it their own way. No. And I, and

I wish it was my Nissan LEAF that it's all electric, you know? And, uh, that would've been neat if they, uh, you know, flagged that one, for some- That wouldn't surprise me ... idling. Maybe somebody was smoking a cigar in the Nissan LEAF or something.

Um, so, uh, you know, I do wanna mention, people don't seem to get their AC units checked. It's a good idea to get these checked. We are offering a special in Monroe County. For $49, you can get your central air conditioning cleaned. Uh, we'll also check it over and just, you know, note, note any, uh, areas of concern and just to let you know. Wow, that's a great, great deal. 49 bucks? Yeah, 49. So outside Monroe County, just give us a call, and we'll see if we have a discounted rate, and we'll use some efficiencies. If we're out that way, we can, uh, you know, maybe partner that up with a deal. But it's a good idea. People just don't get these things, uh, cleaned at all, and, and what happens is in these hot streaks, that thing just gets stressed out. It's overworking, and it'll do damage to it and shorten the life of it, and it won't provide as much cool if it's not cleaned.

So- Well, there's another thing too. I mean, not only do they, does it work harder in hot weather, but around here, it gets all plugged, plugged up with that cottonwood. That cottonwood. Every air conditioner is packed with that stuff. Yeah. We had one recently, and it looked like they had just un, unrolled a sweater off it. I was looking at the pictures, and I thought, "Look at that thing. That's unbelievable."

Uh, so you don't want that around your central AC unit. So, uh, $49, yeah, we wanna make sure, uh, uh, people are, uh, you know, having cl- clean running, uh, central air conditioning because it's, it's expensive to replace this equipment, so let's get it to last and, and operate, uh, as, as best we can with the, the age of the unit. So, uh, you know, talking about, uh, AC and inefficiencies, I, I got a call, uh, recently where a gentleman had just got a new furnace in the past six months, and he wanted, uh, he had heard our ad, and he wanted us to come out and give a second quote for an AC unit. So the company he used was, oh, there's private equity, and there's publicly traded. It was once a local company, and it's been bought out. And, uh, uh, so I went out there' and, and it's interesting to not talk trash about another company.

But here' I was looking at this giant furnace, and I pulled off the cover, and there was, facing me in the eye, 100,000 BTU furnace, uh, which that's sort of... You don't see those very often anymore and definitely don't see six-month-old ones. Uh, so looked it over. It was a two-stage unit. That' means on low stage, it's firing at 70,000. So I'm not, uh, you know, gonna do a full calculation at that moment standing in front of his furnace, but, I look at the gentleman and

I say, "We would have installed the next lower unit." So I, I, I wanted to soft pedal it' and just say, you know, "Looking at your gas usage, looking at, uh, the home,

I haven't done a manual J load calculation, but this is what I would install." And then I went back and did some more calculations, and I thought, "Oh, no, we, we would have installed a 60,000 two-stage unit." So on our low fire, we would have been at 42,000 BTUs, and he is never going to 100,000 in this thing. And he's very happy with it, and that's the nice thing is you can get-

Um, ri- run over the coals and be happy with it. And I guess if that, works, that' works. But, but now- Whatever, whatever floats your boat. Yeah. He said he got a good deal, and it was an emergency, uh, um, install, and, and he had a service plan with them. And, and

I'm, I'm struggling. If any listeners have good ideas of how I can not be the bearer of bad news- ... or soften the approach. So a manual J load calculation would've, uh, trued that up. I did not do one. I used more some educational guesses with the usage and the size of the home and the insulation values.

And, uh, but because the manual J load calc- calculation takes a lot of effort, so it's typically charged for. You. have to climb up in the attic. You have to check the insulation levels, the window glazings, uh, measure everything about the home, and then do that blower door test, and then go enter that into a database, uh, software that you have to pay for. So typically people charge for that.

Uh, if they offer it free, please give me a call and I'll subcontract it to them. Uh, so- ... it's, uh, it's not something that people are doing and they're just guesstimating, and they're guesstimating terribly wrong. Um, I guesstimate using some secondary, uh, confirmation factors like usage, uh, and my experience on what has worked in other homes. So it's not a guesstimate, it's an estimate.

Yeah. Yeah. Big difference. Yeah. I'm using, uh, certainly more of my, uh, uh, experience of past homes, and this is just a person sitting at the home. Sometimes salesmen are people that just didn't wanna install anymore. So the person who installed generally didn't do sizing calculations. They were the installer. So those are the things that, um, are challenging from the Wise Home Energy standpoint.

Uh, we always wanna be in the home, uh, before these major upgrades are made. And now I have to match some type of air conditioning to it and it, and it, it matches with the furnace. Uh, so this furnace is now, on the upper end, is gonna move 2,000 CFM of air. Well, the ductwork might not be sized for that.

So there's some switches we can, you know, move that down to a lower range. But it, it's just, uh, it's, it's interesting.

Uh, I don't wanna, uh, destroy this person's trust. I don't wanna slam this other company. Uh, but it's, it's... These are 20-year investments, and he is, he is locked into this. Nothing I can say can make him go back to that company and get them to acknowledge that this was the wrong play, and it was an emergency install.

And it's, it's just heartbreaking 'cause now comfort, energy, uh, sound, it's gonna be a louder system. These things are all gonna be, uh, affecting this person's home and his energy bills and his family's comfort.

And, uh, it, it's one of these things where I, I don't even know if I wanna propose anything because it's just, uh- So you can, you can strap it down to o-operate at a lower level though. Is that right? Do I understand that? Uh, it'll, it'll just, it'll fire at that 70,000 because it's never gonna be cold enough to, to run long enough to, to hit that 100,000 mark. It's just never gonna. So i-it's, it's, um...

It would've been better suited to be in that lower stage. In October and April, that thing is just gonna be on, off, on, off all the time. On, off all the time is more inefficient because it's, uh, these devices are meant to run low and slow. Mm-hmm. Uh, so the startup is a quick amp draw and things like that. So- Right. So you get that, that, that big, uh, uh, initial-

Yeah ... uh, kick. And probably the temperature swing is gonna be more notable, right? It is. It is. That's... It's not gonna warm up or cool down your s- uh, walls and your, uh, components in your home in a more even fashion. So, um,

I... That's just what I caution. If, if you're, if you know your unit's old, maybe get an energy audit so you have a better idea of, of what you have going on, how old your equipment is, uh, and what a good proper size of a new, uh, system is. And that's where that, uh,

New York State no-cost energy assessment is available. You just give us a call at 585-270-5836. They're not all the same. Uh, we get called for second opinions all the time and, and a lot of times we hear, "Well, the other company didn't climb in the attic."

So we're uncertain how you, how you do an energy audit without looking at the things and, and testing the things, so. So is it a safe thing to say, Jeff, that, uh, you're considering maybe a change in your

HVAC. You know, maybe you don't think the... Maybe it's heating okay, but it's not cooling very well, and you, you just, you got the sense that it's not comfortable in your house.

Is it a good thing preventatively, like as a diagnostic, to call you guys first before you call up the HVAC guys? Absolutely. Yeah. And, and we're gonna, we're gonna date the equipment. We're gonna look at the numbers. So sometimes it's there in plain sight, sometimes it's hidden. We're gonna show you what, where it's at. And then has it had maintenance?

The l- the 15-year-old system with no maintenance is gonna be struggling. Uh, this device that I saw that was six months old, I pointed out to him that there was already humidity dripping in there, probably because it was oversized and it was ripping so much air through it, it was, it was, uh, condensing, uh, on, too quickly. Uh, where a more properly sized AC and blower would, uh, not condense inside his furnace, which you don't want water inside the components. Well, no, it's made of steel and-

Yeah. ... it's gonna, it's gonna, it's gonna rust like that 1959 Chevy- Yeah ... uh, station wagon. So yeah, it's always a good idea 'cause then you're armed with information, and information makes you a much more, uh, powerful person when you go to, to make a purchase.

So you're gonna know, uh, when it's, when it's done right, uh, how much energy you use compared to, uh, the size of the unit. And right there we can tell by last year's heating degree days, "Hey, you probably should downsize this." So most units are oversized as it is. So it is a good idea to have this as a preventative, especially if you know you're getting close.

The ones you think you're two or three years away, uh, your unit might tell you in July, "No, it's, it's next week. You're, you're, you're changing this out next week."

It might conk out and the repair might be so costly that there's no sense in doing that. So yeah, being prepared Is definitely the, the way to go. And, and then the incentives are, are there. So market rate, anybody of any income, uh, there is insulation rebates that are available through the utilities or through NYSERDA. So they're the same pot of money. So we as the expert look at which one is the best path for you.

Once we get to the home, uh, we do the assessment, it's no cost. Then from there we look at which path is best for you on that. And that's just market rate. Now, as we talked about inefficiencies, uh,

NYSERDA has a low to moderate income program and it has slowly been on the incline of, uh, doing a lot of work and servicing a lot of homes and, and putting robust, uh, work scopes, uh, into these homes. And we have received word for a couple months that this is, uh, having a downshift in income or, uh, revenue to these programs, or funding

I should say. And these are going to be, uh, uh, slowing down. And so that's gonna create a challenge for us. Uh, all across the state I think we're gonna see layoffs of companies that only worked in low income.

So there are companies that don't have logoed trucks and this is all they participate in because the customer doesn't really know if they got good work or bad work and that's kinda sad. Uh, but I... So I think that'll be help reset the market and l- and, and, and get rid of some of the folks that maybe shouldn't be out there. Uh, but what'll happen is we're gonna get calls and we've been advertising this for three years right on this radio show, sign up for this program.

What'll happen currently now is we'll sign up, we'll come do the assessment, we will submit it to the state and they will say,

"It's approved, but it's provisional. You are not allowed to install it until we give you the notification." Uh, we don't know how long that'll take. It could take a month, two months. That's presuming they don't change the rules. Rules can always change.

So, uh, it's always a good idea to get involved and get signed up because this stuff just takes maintenance and it breaks down and insulation always can be improved. The technology changes and it's always a good idea to, to move forward with these programs 'cause you never know when they're gonna disappear or, um, downgrade like this one is. And this is gonna cause challenges for us because we wanna communicate to people. Right now it, the current setup is the application is approved, we can come do the assessment in the low to moderate income, but from there we don't know what's going on. And in c- and customers are calling us,

"When can you install it? I'm gonna call NYSERDA and switch contractors." Well, that'll p- put you at the end of the line. Start right over. You restart over and we close out our assessment, they pay us for the assessment and you start from scratch. And you know, many times, you know, maybe it's a foam job. We had a guy recently, we're gonna foam under his mobile home and he, he's wants to re-s- you know, uh, apply and you might go with a contractor who doesn't do that work, so you might get nothing.

Mm. So it, it's, um... So we're a, a robust contractor that does, uh, really everything that's approved in the low to moderate income program. So that's, not all of them are, uh, offering all the services. So- So I don't get this. What's... This is NYSERDA's job, is it not? I mean, why, why are we dialing everything back? So we all have, uh, we all have a boss, right? Yeah. Uh, so, uh, you know, even though I'm the owner of Wise Home Energy, I have someone I have to answer to. Well, NYSERDA, uh, has to answer to the Public Service Commission. So, uh, it gets a little, uh, murky. We don't exactly understand it. So the funds, uh... There's always a, a, a tug of war of where the funds wanna be used for solar or geothermal or, uh, new technologies on commercial. Uh, so our understanding is they shift the market and they wanna put some more money toward, uh, market rate. Uh, but it, it's, it's, it's unknown and then there might be a lag. What we're hearing is there'll be a lag. So if they do that, they're gonna kinda decimate the contractors. With... Like I said before, it's fine if the c- if the contractor wasn't out selling solutions to people that would pay for it, they were really just kinda, uh, I guess, uh, on the dole with the government. So that is not something that Wise Home Energy is doing.

We offer those. When someone calls up and says, "I want this work done. I wanna fix my home," we say, "How much do you make and how many people work in your home? Well, you'd be eligible for this program." It just seems like the ethical thing to do and, uh... But we'll also... If you don't, uh, some companies will be like, "Oh, if you're not income eligible we won't, we won't service your home," 'cause they don't maybe know how to create solutions. So, uh, that, uh, that is different than the way we do it. We wanna know what the challenge is you wanna fix, and then we'll match it up with those market rate rebates.

There's, there's, uh, things that are available that can offset the money, uh, for these, for these upgrades. So, um, so NYSERDA, we don't understand it exactly. The Public Service Commission or the DPS and, and they move money around and so they're still committed to energy efficiency. It just might be more along the lines of, uh, getting your enhanced license or getting your postage paid mail. Uh, yes. Right. Or it might be, uh, idling of a car. Maybe they're spending their money- ...

on these idling tasks. That's, that's the problem. So It's because of you and your damn van. You can't keep your vans under control. I, I don't know. I, I, I, I get the distinct smell of politics going on here so pardon my cynicism, but that's, uh, that's kinda like s- yeah, you know. Somebody... It is the golden rule, Bob, for sure. Absolutely. Somebody, somebody has the gold. Follow the money. Yeah.

Yes. So, uh, we still have the no-cost assessments for everybody. We still, uh, have these, uh, rebates and, and grants available.

It's a tried and true process. We're, we're not here to push you or sell you. Uh, we just do the assessment, you sign up, we do a little paperwork for you. Uh, we come out to the home.

Uh, some people, uh, it's sad, we try to communicate everything we want, but they're like, "All I wanted was windows," and, and, uh, the programs just don't cover windows. Mm-hmm. And they won't incentivize windows, and that's not my fault. We, we, we try to tell you that all up front because you're headstrong that you want windows.

You're welcome to go buy windows if that's what you'd like. Uh, if you wanna fix your home, that is so low on the list. You gotta make sure everything else is done. Wow. Air seal, insulated. Everybody, everybody thinks, everybody thinks that's huge.

Yeah. Uh, it is... It i- you're just better off, the, the ABCs is really getting the attic done. You wanna do the attic. And so that is measurable. It is not, "Oh, I had that blown in years ago." We test it. Is it performing? Is your attic performing well?

Is it tightened down? Is it not leaking air? Do you get ice issues? Is your second floor hot or cold? These are the tests. It is not a visual of, "There's stuff in my attic. Uh, I paid for it 10 years ago."

It is actually quantifiable and, and measurable of how well it is air sealed and insulated. So insulation is not forever. It, it's not. Well, it's, it has to be, uh, matched up with air sealing. So cellulose and fiberglass are not, uh, air sealing, um, um, properties or, uh, uh, materials unless, unless in a dense pack form of a, an enclosed cavity, and then it's more of a air retarder, where air, uh, sealing is more of sealing these little cracks along the way.

Um, you just think of a little boat. Anybody knows somebody who has a boat, and they maybe didn't put that little plug in, that little tiny plug. Oops. Yeah, that drain plug. Is a- Terribly important ... is a critical plug, and soon that boat'll be on the bottom of the the lake, and, uh, that plug is important, and it's only a half-inch wide. So same thing on your attic. You just have to air seal and, and we test all that stuff, and we give you quantifiable little numbers to show you where you're at and where your home's at and where it can go. So the bottom line here is make sure the drain plug's in. Yes. Uh, and then pick up the phone and you call Wise

Home Energy, because you don't wanna be hot and humid and uncomfortable, uh, and sticky in your home, at 270-5836. Yeah. That's 585-270, uh, 5836. Yeah, you can call or text. You can visit us on the website.

Uh, we're just gonna give you unbiased, uh, uh, information, and a lot of times if we can't help you, we'll point you in the right direction. Yeah, you're not equipment salesmen. I think it's important to say that, right? That's right,

100%. All right. Well, Jeff Flaherty, so great to have you here on your monthly visit, uh, at the Voice of Liberty, and, uh, you've been listening to the Wise Home Energy Show. Give him a call, and, uh, don't be hot and humid and uncomfortable in your home, and get the real answers that you need. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you, Bob. See you next time.