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Building HVAC Science — Education
Building HVAC Science

Exploring the science, people, and practices shaping better buildings.

The Building HVAC Science Podcast dives into both the technical and human sides of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and building performance. Hosted by industry veteran Bill Spohn, CEO and co-owner of TruTech Tools, the show reflects Bill’s passion for advancing the HVAC craft through practical knowledge, curiosity, and conversation.

With more than 250 episodes and counting, the podcast features discussions with contractors, distributors, manufacturers, educators, and thought leaders from across the HVAC and building science communities. Each episode blends field experience with broader industry perspective, helping professionals stay ahead of trends, sharpen their skills, and build stronger businesses.

Topics include:

New tools, technologies, and field practices
Real-world case studies and lessons learned
Building performance, comfort, and indoor air quality
Industry innovation, workforce development, and the human side of the trades

Whether you’re a technician in the field, a business owner, a manufacturer, or simply curious about how buildings breathe and perform, Building HVAC Science connects you with the ideas and voices moving the industry forward.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This show is a production of TruTech Tools®, LTD.

Latest Episodes:

EP50: Why you should attend the National Home Performances Conference with Steve Byers (EnergyLogic) & Peter Troast (EnergyCircle) Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

"Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn

Ben Franklin

Bill is joined by Peter Troast of the Energy Circle and Steve Byers of Energy Logic to share their many reasons for attending the National Home Performance Conference year after year.

Sign up for the 2021 National Home Performance Conference (all virtual) now at:

https://events.building-performance.org/national/

Learn more about our guests and their businesses at these links:

Energy Logic: https://theenergylogic.com/

Energy Circle: https://www.energycircle.com/

TruTechTools: www.TruTechTools.com

EP49: A unique air quality monitor for the home with Ben Reed (TZOA) & Kaleb Saleeby (HVAC School) Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

"I've been struck again and again

by how important measurement is to improving the human condition."

Bill Gates

Lend us your ears as Kaleb and Bill have a very fun interview with Ben Reed, VP of Products at TZOA, a relative new comer to the world of measurement products.

TZOA's approach with the Haven product is totally unique: a retrofittable residential air quality monitor that lives inside the central air handler and can control 1 or 2 systems that can impact air quality.

Not just measurements/sensors, but control/solutions.

This product is exclusively available to qualified contractors and is NOT a DIY device.

In addition to a great streamlined product, the dashboard is AMAZING, largely due to the tight ties between the contractor-beta testers and clever product developers.

Learn more at these links:

Tzoa: https://tzoa.com/

HVACRSchool: www.HVACRSchool.com

The Haven product: https://www.trutechtools.com/haven-central-air-monitor.html

This episode was recorded in December 2020.

EP48 Buildings & Health. An interview with Dr. Stephanie Taylor Nov 27, 2020

Show notes

"He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."

Thomas Carlyle

Bill was honored to welcome Dr. Stephanie Taylor to the podcast where she shares the fascinating story of her career path from medicine to architecture to crusading for better building health by bridging these professional silos.

He had a great time interviewing Stephanie, plumbing the depths of her knowledge and experience. We discuss many aspects of IAQ and focus in on the impact of humidity on human health.

A key takeaway is our discussion of the invisible impact of a building on one's health.

You can learn more about her work at www.40to60RH.com or follow her on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-h-taylor-md-march-frsph-uk-cabe-ashrae-d-l-b6456b8

This episode was recorded in November 2020.

EP47 Insights from ENCON: A Unique, Generational Mechanical Contractor Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."

George Santayana

Bill is joined Marty and David Indursky, a father and son team that have built Encon, an award winning, NJ-based HVAC/building solutions company.

Hear how David has reinvigorated the company by implementing modern technology techniques after he took it over from his father who founded ENCON in 1968.

They share best practices and what sets ENCON apart.

We also hear about and what David envisions for the future of the industry.

You can follow Encon via their website, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube.

https://enconmech.com

https://www.instagram.com/enconmech/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/encon-mech

https://www.facebook.com/enconmech

https://www.youtube.com/enconmech

This episode was recorded in August 2020.

EP46 A new refrigerant born from science and sweat with Peter Capuciati Founder of Bluon May 01, 2020

Show notes

"I grew up thinking that a research scientist was a natural thing to be."

Stephen Hawking

There's physical science. And there's a kind of science as to how the mind works and how people achieve their dreams.

Blend one-part plasma fusion physics with one-part commercial real estate and stir this in an open and creative mind and you have Peter Capuciati, the Chairman and Founder of Bluon and the guest of today's podcast.

Starting in 2011, Peter has led the team at Bluon to develop a true solution for R-22 replacement. It's called TdX-20 (R-458a), something unlike anything the HVACR world has ever seen.

It truly is an energy saving product, as they are demonstrating amp draw decreases of 10-20% and increases in capacity of 3-6%.

We love digging into the science of HVAC in this podcast, and Peter is the perfect tour guide for the challenging journey of creating a refrigerant chemistry that has been proven to perform in about 80% of R-22 systems. This is backed up by real-world testing on equipment, not just simulations

After an easy, free registration and testing process, techs can gain full access to the operating manuals of over 22,000 types of R-22 units as well as individual retrofit instructions and compatibility ratings for each unit.

Beyond all this, Bluon provides the training, know-how and demonstrates (sometimes in person) the skills necessary to successful do a successful conversion.

If this sounds like a commercial for Bluon, it sort of is, as we sell Bluon at TruTech Tools.

However, this is exactly the kind of product we love selling; smart, well supported and one that relieves a major pain point for our customers. Plus, it's fun working with the energetic Ninja team at Bluon, or as Peter calls them the Analog Renaissance Cowboys.

You can learn more about Bloun at www.BluonEnergy.com and join the thousand technicians every month that are downloading and using the app.

EP45 Making Homes Perform better – HVAC tips with John Semmelhack Mar 06, 2020

Show notes

"The only think I have learnt over the years is that if you enjoy your work and put in best efforts it will show. If you follow this process, things work out. But if you go chasing a formula, success will elude you."

Mahesh Babu

While building his own house, John Semmelhack's innate curiosity grew as he researched the best was to design and build a home.

This lead him to start his own business, Think Little.

The name of his business is deceptive as John is truly a big thinker, who acts in quiet ways to create comfortable, energy efficient and durable homes that have excellent indoor air quality.

Lend us your ears to learn how following simple, yet important processes lead to amazing results.

We discuss HVAC Air filtration and why and how to get super-inexpensive, extremely effective filtration

He employs test and measurement at every appropriate juncture as well as post work, continuous monitoring for IAQ, energy and comfort. These factors are easier to measure than ever before!

John also reviews aspects of running this type of business including the variety of services he has developed over the years.

John Semmelhack is the owner of Think Little (www.think-little.com) and co-owner of Comparetto Comfort Solutions, a pair of home performance consulting and contracting firms based in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia. Think Little specializes in building enclosure and mechanical system design and commissioning for single-family and multi-family Passive House and zero-net-energy homes in the mid-Atlantic. Comparetto Comfort Solutions focuses on high performance HVAC installations for new homes in the Charlottesville and Richmond markets, as well as home performance contracting to help meet clients' comfort, indoor air quality, durability and energy efficiency goals.

EP44 What's new in Home Performance 2.0 with Nate Adams Aug 30, 2019

Show notes

"True genius lies not in doing the extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well."

General Louis H. Wilson, Jr.

Building science principles are few and fairly straightforward; ordinary, perhaps.

HAM: A lot of it amounts to control the flow of Heat, Air and Moisture.

But, like so many things in this world, the devil is in the details.

Listen in as I chat with my good friend Nate Adams (a true genius) to get an update on his extraordinarily execution of ordinary measures in his new concept of Home Performance 2.0.

This is a follow up to Episode 36, where I interview two of the HP 2.0 practitioners, Neil Comparetto and Michael Housh.

Measurements (so near and dear to my heart) are at the core of what he and his HP 2.0 army are all about.

For a more complete overview, tune in to a recording of his recent webinar on HP 2.0: www.bit.ly/NATE-HP20

Nate's book, The Home Comfort Book, is perfect for consumers or practitioners alike and can be found at TruTech Tools or on Amazon.

You can reach Nate at Nate@EnergySmartOhio.com.

EP43 Radon 101 with Dick Kornbluth Aug 23, 2019

Show notes

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

George Carlin

Yep, Radon is force of evil.

Pure evil.

Colorless.

Odorless.

Deadly.

But sneaky. It's deadly over decades.

My good friend Dick Kornbluth joins me to unravel the intricacies of all aspects of Radon – a colorless, odorless, poisonous radioactive gas.

Dick explains how and where radon is formed, how it gets into the air we breathe and the health impact it has on us.

He reveals where the famous 4 picocuries per liter exposure amount comes from, underscoring that there is NO SAFE LEVEL.

The US EPA has a treasure trove of information on Radon at www.epa.gov/radon

Dick shares with us his extensive and practical experience in how radon gas moves through a structure, how it is measured and how Radon mitigation systems work along with a note about radon resistant construction.

Dick is very engaged in the home performance world, and believes an improved understanding of Radon is key part of the home performance goals of healthy, more durable and energy efficient homes and buildings.

You can reach Dick at Dick@DickKornbluth.com

TruTechTools carries a broad array of radon detectors.

Learn more at this link: https://www.trutechtools.com/radon

EP42 Smart buildings and HVAC Controls- News you can use with Eric Stromquist of ControlTalkNow Podcast Aug 16, 2019

Show notes

I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

Jimmy Dean

While we picked a specific topic, this is a wide-ranging episode with my friend in the industry, Eric Stromquist of Stromquist.com – 2nd generation controls distributor based out of Atlanta, GA.

We discuss our thoughts and opinions on:

How hard it is to actually get access to people – cold calling is basically dead

Closed vs. open architecture in building automation systems

C suite execs focus on productivity, which ties in to all building systems

How the internet has changed the way information is shared- knowledge hoarding is done

The psychological effects of improper lighting

And much, much more.

Eric teams up with Ken Smyers to manage a ton of educational and informative resources centered around building controls and automation that you will find at www.ControlTrends.org They even have their own Awards ceremony that takes place before the AHR Expo!

Eric is an avid podcaster and actually had me on his show in Episode 311!

YouTube link: http://bit.ly/YT-ControlTrendsBS

Podcast link http://bit.ly/ControlTrendBS starting 31:39

EP 41 Great Indoor Air Quality Can Improve Your Health with Ty Newell of Build Equinox Aug 09, 2019

Show notes

To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

Buddha

HVAC and building performance contractors are seeing more homes built or retrofit to tighter levels. Blower door test outs like 3, 2, 1 ACH50 or less.

What do you do when the "house can't breathe?"

Hopefully, you see the humor in that statement.

Of course - you build it tight and ventilate it right!

(Credit for that phrase likely goes to Earle Perera and Lynn Parkins as the title for their article in the June 1992 Building Services Journal a UK publication)

Listen in as Ty Newell founder of BuildEquinox shares with us how he got to the point of feeling the need to create his own ventilation product, the CERV2: Conditioning Energy Recovery Ventilator.

This unique product senses when to run, ventilates or recirculates the "fresh air stores" in the space using a small variable output heat pump. It incorporates slick controls and internet connectivity.

Plus, I cannot wait to be using it the new high-performance home we are building for occupancy by the summer of 2020.

Learn more about the product and more importantly the philosophies behind the product by surfing over to www.BuildEquinox.com

The BuildEquinox site has numerous white papers, tech specs & installation info, recording and upcoming webinars and more. You can also learn about the net zero house (which includes the CERV 1) that Ty built.

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