#AskDerekCole Episode 53: What is Dual Fuel

Hey, on this episode we talk about R-22, dual fuel, two-stage heating, and what is my sign? You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Hey, this is Derrick Cole and this is— Restart. Hey, this is Derrick Cole and this is episode 53 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show, answering your home and energy questions. And if you missed the game Friday night, it was a good game. Scotland, Pinecrest, 35-31. It's like 10,000 people there, it's like all kind of crazy. But the Scots pulled out. It was a little intense, but a good game by two great teams. Hate you missed it, or glad you're there, depending on which one you stand on. But it is nice and chilly this morning, nice and cool, so that was fun. Went outside on the way to the car, I was like, yes, it's 37, 35 degrees. I'm like, fantastic. Unfortunately, someone's heat is not working, but that's, that's our business. That's what we do, so That's why we're here. So let's get on with the show.

How does two-stage heating and cooling work?

Right, two-stage heating and cooling. Um, so you have two stages on the compressor is usually what the two-stage is talking about. So you have a high and a low. Most of the time— when I say most of the time, I'm talking about 60% of the time, 70%, it's probably running on a low stage. So if you have a 3-ton— well, let's make it easy. If you have a 4-ton system, most of the time you are only going to need 2 tons of heating or air conditioning. So if it's like it's been this week, last week, 75 degrees, 70 degrees, you really don't need 4 tons of cooling to make you comfortable. Okay, if your house is at 75 degrees, um, you're only going to need it on low stage, a little bit of cooling just to keep up with the— with what you want. So that's what it means. Now you all— you have a high capacity, which would be 4 tons when you need it, when it's 95, 90 outside, you know, 10 days in a row, you know, you can go up to high stage. So it's really— you're going to use low stage most of the time, and then you have high stage as you need it. They even get really smart on the electric heaters in these heating systems, where let's say you have 15 kW of heat on this 4-ton unit or 5-ton unit, but it'll come on in banks of 5. So 5 kW, 10 kW, 15 if it's needed. If you only need 5 kW backup heat, then it's only going to run 5. Still behind, we're going to shoot for 10. So the system is really smart enough to know what it needs, what the temperature is outside, what the gap is inside, how to fill the gap. If we need to get 10 kW or 15 all at one time, going to blast it. The curtains are going to move, it's going to sound like a freight train, it's going to be like pshh, because it wants to blast that cooling or that heating as fast as possible because it knows It's not the most efficient to be on high. It'd rather be on low and rather run longer. I mean, I think we talked before about run times and how it's more efficient for the unit to run than to turn on and off, on and off, on and off. So it knows it's more efficient to run a low stage. So if it's 90 degrees outside and your unit's on 75 and it's maintaining 75 and it's running That's where you want to be. So it makes you more comfortable, and yes, it is running, but it's fine because you don't want it to stop running. I think I told a lady who came in the office one time, she's like, my unit will not come off, cut off. It's like 90, 95 degrees outside. And I'm like, well, did you turn your air conditioning in your car off on the way here? She said no. I said, why? She said because it would have got hot. I said, exactly. Your unit is the same way. It does not want you to get hot or cold. It knows what's going on. The thermostats and the technology today is a lot more advanced than 30 years ago when you had the Honeywell slide bar with the red light coming on saying auxiliary heat's on. Or you get a little thing and you turn it and you're like, oh, 60. Oh, it's 80. I got to turn it to 80 to get it on 75, really. Because it's off that much. Those days are gone, okay? It's very accurate, it's very smart. It knows what you need in your home. If you have it on 75, it knows it's going to take— okay, if I'm programmed to 75 degrees, if I want it at 75 degrees when I wake up in the morning at 6 AM, okay, after a few cycles it's going to know, okay, I need to come on at 5 AM to make up at 6 AM to be at 75. So it's not going to say at 6 AM I'm going to turn on. No, at 6 AM I want it to be 75. So then it knows how much of a gap I got to fill to get to that temperature. It's pretty cool. Anyway, that's two-stage. Was that— that was the question? Yeah, that was your question. You know, the answer was in there somewhere, uh, but yes, I mean The systems that you can get today are very intuitive, very smart. The algorithms let them decide the most efficient way to operate and what's going to keep you comfortable. So really, you don't know anything that's going on unless you're just paying close attention to what's happening. You know, you should be comfortable and not really saying, hey, am I eating a song all the time? That's all I got. That was like a 5-minute answer.

Yes, that was a 5-minute answer.

All right.

Is R-22 Freon really being phased out? Give us the down low on what's going on.

Really? Seriously? Is it all a big conspiracy? Yes, it is being phased out. I believe if my facts are correct, 2020 they can no longer make R-22. Now they've been capping how much can be made over the last few years. So that's why the price has of course risen on our R-22. But R-22 is considered an HCFC. So you remember the hairspray you used to use in the '80s with the aerosol? Yeah, the aerosol. Yeah, well, they placed those on, so you can't do that anymore. So that's why it's same thing with our R-22. R-410A, which we have been using since I want to say 1996. Actually, it came out in '96. Carrier first introduced it. Actually, we started using it in 1998. So we've been doing R-410A systems for a long time because this was coming down the road a long time ago. So I mean, it's the right thing to do. It's damaging to the ozone. It's not ozone-friendly. It's not environmentally friendly. So yes, it is going away. R-410A is the refrigerant that we'll be using. We have been using it since '98. It used to be R-410A was like higher than R-22, but last couple years it's kind of evened out. Now R-22 is a lot higher than R-410A, and that's the way it's going to go because of supply and demand. So the more people who need it And of course, the less that they produce, the less they have, the higher the price. So I don't— I'm trying to think. We have not residentially installed an R-22 unit, I want to say, in about 3 years, 3 or 4 years. What they started doing was making what they call a dry-charged unit. Which you could add R-22 to it because the EPA stopped the fact that you could actually make R-22 into units. So they would give you a dry charge unit and then you would install it, charge it with R-22, and you'll be good to go. But we never did that because that was not, in my opinion, the right thing for the customer because you have a product that's going to be obsolete in a couple years. You have a product that's going to be very high in price in a couple years. And yes, it is cheaper to get an R-22 dry-charged unit than an R-410A unit. But then again, heating and air, I've said it a lot, is one of those things that you're going to pay for it now or you're going to pay for it later. But either way, you're going to pay for it. If you get it installed cheaply, you're going to pay for it with energy bills. If you get it installed more expensively and correctly, then you're going to save money. But either way, you're going to pay for something. And that's kind of how it is with R-22. And we didn't do that because it was, you know, not the right thing to do. Because, you know, I'm going to sell you a cheaper product, but hey, it's really going to nail you if you have a problem in a couple years and you need R-22. You know, that was not the right thing to do. So Yes, it is going to be phased out, and I mean, we're ready for it. Like I said, R-410A has been installed here since '98, um, probably a little longer than 3 years, probably 3 or 4 years since we actually installed an R-22 system because we knew it was coming. So we took an opportunity to educate you, the homeowner, you know, you got option A, option B, This one's been obsolete a couple years, this one's not. Which one you want to go with?

What does dual fuel mean when talking about a heating system?

Dual fuel, uh, we do quite a bit of dual fuel, and here's why. We get the phone call quite a bit of, hey, I don't want to pay the gas company anymore, I don't want gas, I want to go all electricity. And we're like, yeah, for real? They're like, yeah, really? And I'm like, okay, let's talk about dual fuel. Dual fuel is the best of both worlds because it's electricity and it's propane or gas, depending on what you have. And if you have natural gas, there is absolutely no way I would get away from natural gas. I mean, it's the cleanest, one of the most efficient ways you can heat your home. Is by natural gas. Propane, not quite as clean, but it still is effective. And dual fuel is this. So if it's in this area, if it's above 40, 35 degrees outside, it's more efficient to use electricity to heat with. So if I have a heat pump at home, I have a split unit, so it's more efficient for me to heat with the heat pump heat electricity until it starts. I think we talked last time about defrost cycle and having to do all that. Well, you don't have to worry about that with this because the emergency heat is the gas. That is your backup heat. So once we cannot use electricity efficiently anymore, we switch over to gas. So if I wake up and it's 20 degrees outside, I'm using gas. Because the heat pump heat is not going to keep up with that, the electricity. So it's going to go with the most efficient way. So instead of my backup being strip heaters that run the electric bill sky high, my backup is natural gas or gas or oil, whatever you have. It's the most efficient way to heat your home at that point. So dual fuel is the way to go. I mean, if I had natural gas in my house, no question I would have dual fuel, but I don't, so I'm stuck with electric heaters. But dual fuel is the way to go. I mean, it's— to put it in my words of my father, it is a no-brainer. Yeah, I would agree with that because What happens in these older homes, especially, they're harder to heat because of the high ceilings and maybe the insulation and the doors and the windows aren't as efficient as a new home. So really, dual fuel is the way to go because some people want to get away from gas. So again, you got the heat pump and then you can switch over to the gas as a backup heat.— or as a primary heat depending on the season. You know, if it's 20 degrees for days in a row like it was last year, I'm using, you know, gas heat over and over again. If it's a morning like this, then the gas heat is probably my backup depending on what my house is.

What is your zodiac sign?

I don't know. When's your birthday? March 10th.

So you're probably, uh, not an Aries.

Sagittarius?

If I had my phone, I could Google it.

I don't know. As you can probably guess, I don't put a whole lot of stock in that. Stock in the whole— But there are people out there. There are people that do, and that's fine. That's just not my deal.

I think you're Aquarius or such, something.

Let's find out. You're an Eric Cole. Let's look it up. All right, see you, Periscope. You're an original. You said zodiac sign, is that what you said? Yep. Zo-di— oh, there it is. Zodiac signs, date symbols, and meanings. Okay, so what's the deal?

I was trying to think of what—

oh, here it is. I don't know what she is though. Pisces. Huh? I was way off. Fish. No. They keep an extremely low profile. Uh, 5-2, why banana? They are honest, unselfish, trustworthy, and often have quiet dispositions. Hmm. I would say that for me. I mean, kind of. Yeah. Kind of. They can be overcautious, sometimes gullible. Mm, not really. I'm not falling for that. Pisces can be taken advantage of, which is unfortunate. The Pisces is often the victor of ill circumstance because of his or her intense determination. They become passionately devoted to a cause, but particularly if they are championing for friends or family. There you go. All right, so, um, Pisces.

Pisces it is.

Pisces. What's the— is there an animal for something, or is that— that's the Chinese thing?

No, it should have a symbol because like, like I'm a Scorpio and that's the like scorpion. I don't think— I think Pisces is fish.

Well, if we don't have a symbol, we can use my face as a symbol. You're the Derek. Not keeping a low profile. All right, any, uh, I forgot what I was on. Any questions? Any energy, home heating, air conditioning questions? Hashtag #AskDerekColeman. We'll get some something on the show.