John Basic Electrical Theory March 5, 2022, 5:35 pm

By March 5, 2022

John Basic Electrical Theory March 5, 2022, 5:35 pm

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HVAC School – For Techs, By Techs

Real training for HVAC ( Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration) Technicians. Including recorded tech training, interviews, diagnostics and general conversations about the trade.

Dr. Allison Bailes from Energy Vanguard joins the podcast to answer the age-old question: do houses need to breathe? He also talks about his new book, A House Needs to Breathe… Or Does It? You can purchase that book directly through the Energy Vanguard site at https://energyvanguardstore.com/ or on Amazon.

HVAC professionals can benefit from learning about building science because there is a lot of overlap between the two, and an HVAC technician who knows about building science can set themselves apart in the market.

In short, Dr. Bailes doesn’t think a house needs to “breathe,” especially if a house brings in low-quality air, especially humid air, through gaps and cracks. Some people also use the term “breathe” differently; some may be referring to leakiness, and others may refer to drying out a house. It is necessary for a house to be dry, but we want to make sure that fresh air is controlled.

If you build a home tightly, you have to ventilate it correctly. We have to control air, liquid water, water vapor, and heat. Heat is especially complicated, as it has three different ways of moving and can come in sensitive and latent varieties. One way of controlling those is through control layers like vapor barriers, though these aren’t always needed; we must understand the vapor flow to determine if a vapor barrier is necessary.

Dr. Bailes and Bryan also discuss:

Energy Vanguard’s resources
The chapters of “A House Needs to Breathe… Or Does It?”
IAQ – filtration, humidity control, ventilation, and source control
Challenges with attic air
Dr. Bailes’s book-writing process
The HVACR Training Symposium and other events w/ Dr. Bailes

Keep up with Energy Vanguard, read the blog, and subscribe to the weekly newsletter at https://www.energyvanguard.com/.

If you have an iPhone, subscribe to the podcast HERE, and if you have an Android phone, subscribe HERE.

Check out our handy calculators HERE.

Search Episodes

Do Houses Need to Breathe? w/ Allison Bailes

01/26/2023

Bryan Orr

What the Heck is High Performance HVAC w/ David Holt

01/19/2023

Bryan Orr

Setting Realistic Customer Expectations w/ Ed Janowiak

01/12/2023

Bryan Orr

Mini Split Install and Service Tips

01/03/2023

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CO Doesn't Leak w/ David Richardson

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One HSI Furnace Control to Rule Them All w/ Jim Fultz

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Using Ice to Balance Energy Consumption

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