In this episode of the Ask Derek Cole Show, host Derek Cole answers three audience questions about home HVAC topics. First, he critiques smart meters offered by utilities, arguing they provide negligible savings (about $25‑$30 per year) while allowing the utility to remotely shut off power, which he deems not worth the inconvenience. Second, he advises against closing vents in unused rooms, explaining that doing so forces the HVAC motor to work harder, disrupts proper conditioning of exterior walls, and can cause uneven temperatures; he also warns against using floor‑mounted diffusers that defeat the purpose of wall‑mounted vents. Third, he outlines how to determine the correct HVAC unit size, emphasizing the need for a detailed load analysis (heat‑loss/heat‑gain calculation) that accounts for insulation, window type, door orientation, and house orientation, rather than relying on rules of thumb or the size of an existing unit. Throughout, he stresses practical, system‑focused reasoning and invites listeners to submit more questions via various social media platforms.
Chapters
Hey, and welcome to episode 33. Today we're talking about smart meters, should I close the vents off in my room, and how do I know what size unit I need?
You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show.
Ask Derrick Cole episode 33. We are ready to go. Had a good weekend, beautiful weather, like no humidity, right? I mean, it was, it was nice. I actually went outside and hung out for a little while and walked the dog a couple times. Not good for business though. I mean, we need humid, hot weather to really get you guys to call us. Just kidding. No, but serious. All right, so let's, let's get into it.
Question number 1: What do you think about smart meters?
Smart meters. I think you're talking about the kind like a Progress Energy would provide to you. In that case, I would not recommend it, not at all. I mean, you're saving what, $25 a month? Oh no, $25 a year. And basically they get to turn your power off whenever they feel like it. So if it's a 100-degree day and your unit's working cooling the house and you're like hanging out and all of a sudden they could flip the switch and turn the power off. So I personally don't think it's worth $25, $30 a year to have that kind of inconvenience. I mean, it's up to you. I mean, what do you think? You like it? No, you wouldn't do it either. Dwayne, would you do it? No, no, we're all saying no. Nope. No, we're all saying no here. So again, I wouldn't do it. If you read the brochure, I mean, it sounds good, sounds great. But when you think about being practical, it's not going to work out in your benefit.
Alrighty, question number 2.
Boom! The power company is not going to like that answer. The power company is not going to like the answer.
Next question: should I be closing the vents off in rooms that I don't use in my house?
I have quite a bit of my friends that think they should shut the vents in the rooms they don't use. And you know, that's fine. They're not, you know, up on what needs to be done. I would say no, don't do it, because what you're doing actually, you're closing the vent. If you have a split system or package unit, it doesn't really matter, but the air is now coming back into the duct system. So the motor is having to work harder to get it pushed back out to where it needs to go. Versus where it's going to start with. Does that make sense? And also, it's conditioning the house. So if you have a bedroom you don't use and say it's on the southwest wall, okay, it's trying to condition that wall. The purpose of heating and air is to condition those outside walls. So again, you're defeating that purpose as well. You walk in that room, it's a little hot or it's a little cold. It's not good. So if you close it off, it's going to push the air back into the duct system and then it's going to make the motor work harder to get it to where it needs to go because air is just like water. It's going to go to the easiest place it can get to. So if you're making it difficult, you're going to have challenges. So I would not close those vents. Also, I'll kind of expand on that. I've seen these little plastic diffusers that blow them on the floor versus the wall with the curtains. Again, I wouldn't use that either. That's the same purpose. I mean, the reason the vent is on that wall or on that window is to condition that exposure. So if you're blowing the air into the middle of the house, you're defeating the purpose. So I would stay away from the diffusers, and I would stay away from closing the vents.
How do I know what size unit I should be using in my home?
You would do what is called a load analysis or a heat loss, heat gain, which is what we do at every single changeout, every single installation. We do a heat loss, heat gain, and that's what's supposed to be done. Now, we get the question quite a bit, hey, I've had this unit for 30 years, I don't need a heat loss, heat gain. Well, the reason we do it is because in those 30 years you might have improved the insulation in the house. You might have went from single-pane to double-pane windows. You might have gone to insulated doors. You might have put some insulation in the walls. So you might need a smaller unit than you did 30 years ago. Does that make sense? So we do a heat loss, heat gain for that reason. Sometimes you do run into that situation where you need to upsize, downsize the unit depending on the house. But again, every house is different. I mean, you think about these subdivisions you go to, and the back door is facing south on the other side of the street, the front door is facing south. So there's different load requirements for this house versus that house. So a load analysis needs to be done on each one to to see which one, which each one needs. So it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of scenario. Hey, I got a 1,600-square-foot house, what size unit do I need? Well, I need a lot more details. I mean, what kind of insulation you got, which way is your front door facing, what kind of windows you got, what kind of doors you got. All these play into what size of equipment you need. So it's not a It's not a one-size-fits-all scenario. It's not a rule of thumb. You know, some guys might say, hey, you've had a unit for 30 years, that's the one you should go back with. Well, that might be true, but we're just going to double-check to make sure that it's correct. That's it. So Episode 33, Ask Derek Cole. Again, submit your questions, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook. Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr. Am I missing any social media? Any— whatever social medium you have, we can take the question.
You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derek Cole Show.
