Kelli Green: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Live Better Podcast with Centric. I'm Kelli Green, your host, and I'm glad that you're tuning in. Each month, we're bringing you real conversations, helpful tips and inspiring stories, all focused on helping you live better, not just financially, but in every part of your life. So if you're not already subscribed, go ahead and hit that button so you never miss an episode. Today we are turning up the heat, but not on your utility bill. With me today is AJ and Keith of Faith Heat and Cool.

Kelli Green: 0:29

We're diving into all things home energy tips and tools to stay cool this summer, whether you own a home, rent or you just want to keep things chill. This one's for you, so let's get into it All right. Well, guys, thanks so much for being here today. This is so great. We're honored that you have entrusted us with your relationship and this is just great. So I'm excited. AJ, Kalynda, with business services, has just spoke volumes about the relationship that you guys have developed, and and we're just excited to have you guys here. Keith, this is great. We're so excited that y'all are here. And so, listen, this is the first time you guys have ever been on our podcast and I'd love to know a little bit about how the two of you guys came together for Faith Heat and Cool. Tell us about it.

AJ Chase: 1:28

Well, I seen him on the side of the road needing some work. No, so I had a business and uh, fire business, Chase H eating and Cooling , and he had Elite Heat and Air and uh, he had always just been a really just a really nice guy. Just uh, we worked together really well. Um, money between us was never an issue. When I did a job he'd say, hey, just take what you want. Vice versa, we never had any kind of an issue, so kind of a guy thing. We kind of decided, hey, we need to come together, and that's a very long story short. But in the end game we got together and we made a habit for God. So that's why we're together.

Kelli Green: 1:55

I love it. So you guys have come together through faith, literally, and heat and air, so that's really awesome. I love, love, love that. So how long have you guys been in the business?

Keith Bamburg: 2:07

I started doing heating and air when I was about 19. So this has been, oh God, 21 years now, until I age a little bit.

Keith Bamburg: 2:15

That's okay, I've been around 20 years.

AJ Chase: 2:18

Probably the same.. I started out with my dad. I was probably 14, 15, and I went to work for a cheeseburger, so that's what I worked for. So we've been doing it probably the same, probably 20 years.

Kelli Green: 2:28

, that's wonderful. Well, it's great here in our area to have experts of people who are of faith and who know what's happening and will be truthful and honest, because I think that we can all attest to situations that might have gone south, maybe when people put profits above people, and so that's how I think that we're so similar as a credit union. I'm not sure if you guys have ever even heard of this, but our whole how credit unions came about was people helping people, and that's like this old adage that we have just subscribed to from the very beginning, and so I'm just thankful for partners like you guys that we can certainly refer to our members when they may have a situation, and here in the South it's hot, I mean, we're just getting the summer kicked off right.

Kelli Green: 3:13

And so it's been really hot. It's already what this? I think it's here in the early month of June. You know it's already. We've seen a hundred degrees. Yeah, it's just crazy.

Keith Bamburg: 3:22

We've had a hundred again. Yeah, it was yesterday was. We've had 100 again, haven't we?

Kelli Green: 3:24

Yeah, it was, yesterday was 100. We were driving from Shreveport, not quite in this particular area, but my car now my car read it was 100 degrees you know, if the car says it, it's true.

Kelli Green: 3:33

There you go, there you go, so I love it. Well, listen, there's a lot of cool things puts us in a bind, but right now we can't even relate to that Well. So I really would love for us just to take a moment and talk about a few things. We want to bust some energy myths with the summer heat, so, guys, just crank it out for me. Tell me what you think. So I want to know these tips that we may share. But does it really work? Okay, so does cranking down the thermostat way down cool your house faster, or is that just a southern tall tale?

AJ Chase: 4:15

I mean, it's a little bit crazy.

Keith Bamburg: 4:18

You get a call that it's 70 in here. I bumped it down to 60, and it's not blowing any colder. It's not going to make it blow any colder. It's not going to make it blow any colder, it's a light switch, basically on and off. One degree below the temperature in the house is the same as bumping at 25 degrees below the setting.

AJ Chase: 4:32

You mean to tell me, if I set it to 60, it's not going to blow like 40 degree air dude, Come on man.

AJ Chase: 4:38

I told you that, yeah, come on, ain't that the way it's supposed to work? The colder. It's not so. And a lot of people get confused, right? Because our cars and trucks come with a dial that you turn your dial down in your truck and it says, hey, the colder you go, the colder that air feels, and that's how they correlate that to their home AC system. And it's not the same. So just adjust it down to the temp that you want to keep it at. Keep it there, I promise you.

Kelli Green: 5:02

It's not getting any colder by just your thermostat yeah, so you think it's more energy efficient than to maintain, say, a certain temperature throughout the day, even if you're at work or what have you?

AJ Chase: 5:12

yes, damn definitely yeah, and I would say, um, keep it at a temperature that you're comfortable with. If you're going to bump it up a little bit, bump it, but no more than two to three degrees, yeah.

Kelli Green: 5:22

So I love that. So you know, and everybody has their own certain sweet spot, that temperature, that I think is just perfect, you know. And so, oh my gosh, how about you. Our house is 68 oh, my source, okay, and like he's talking about.

Keith Bamburg: 5:39

If we leave our house for two or three days, it goes. Goes like 71. We're not going to 78 because to maintain that 71 is cheaper than when we get home to bring a house from 78 to 70.

Kelli Green: 5:50

So you guys can confirm that when you crank it all the way up just while you're away and then you come back into your home and you crank it way down, it's more costly to do that as opposed to just kind of maintaining a one to three degree temp throughout your day? Definitely, wow, well there so question. So is it true that ceiling fans cool a room even when no one is in it?

AJ Chase: 6:17

Ceiling fans don't cool anything. Ceiling fans move air. That's it. That's it. There's no air conditioning behind it and it feels good. It's just like when you roll the window down in your truck it feels good, the wind feels good, but yeah, that's just moving the same temperature.

Keith Bamburg: 6:31

It's moving the temperature air. That's all we're doing.

Kelli Green: 6:36

Okay, so we'll move on to this one. So does closing vents in unused rooms save energy or does it actually strain your system?

AJ Chase: 6:42

Do you want to make an AC man have a heart attack?

Kelli Green: 6:46

We don't.

AJ Chase: 6:48

That strains the system bad yeah because so when we design systems and you want to elaborate on that when we design, we have to design to the airflow for the efficiency. So there's actually a chart that we have to go by for new construction that says, hey, this room needs exactly this much airflow and this room needs exactly this much airflow, and then, uh, by closing one of those vents, you're restricting your system, losing efficiency, and it's you've imbalanced this whole system that we've. We've probably, frankly, spent some time.

Keith Bamburg: 7:22

Yeah, you can actually dump cold, more colder air to this room. That's where you get sweaty ducks and everything else as well, so oh, wow.

Kelli Green: 7:29

So then that turns into could be mold and all other sort of things, wow, okay. So cracking the myth on a few things. So we want to maintain a certain degree all the time, one to three degrees difference. And then, of course, yeah, and leave it alone, don't mess with it, let them blow. Let us mess with it, don't let yet. Yes, so in something like that yeah, well, tell us about that. What is that? What does that look like?

Keith Bamburg: 7:53

uh, we have a they call a cfN meter where we come out and if somebody has not set your ducts right to your room or to your house, we come out and take an airflow assessment and then we can resize the ducts or adjust your dampers Like people shut off 100%, they just. They don't need to be shut off, they can be adjusted to.

AJ Chase: 8:13

And I'll get a little even more technical here on the technical aspect. You know, when it comes to that, there's like J-load calculations which we have to have for any new construction. So that takes into consideration and it's a big myth about air conditioning that that's what cools your house. But you take in your windows and doors, you take in your insulation and they have, like I call it, a u factor for the windows and doors. They have an r value for insulation. They have a sear rating for your, for your ac. Take all that into account with your cfms, which is, uh, your airflow for your ac, and calculate it into it's.

AJ Chase: 8:49

It's very technical, very sciencey, but there's a method behind it. And I would say, if you're going to shut your registers, have an AC company and we would love to do it for you. It's faith-eating, cool. But we could come in and install dampers, as he was talking about, and mentioned that we can adjust that airflow at the source versus at your register. Because what's going to happen when you shut that off? You're going to see condensation, you're going to see it sweating and dripping and it's going to be, it's going to get aggravating.

Kelli Green: 9:23

So leave them alone, and not over time. My gosh, can you imagine setting in with mold and what that could bring on, my goodness? So that's great. This is such good information. So now we've talked about some things that maybe don't work. Let's maybe think about some expert hacks that do work. Okay, all right. So what's one simple change that homeowners can make today that will surprise them with how effective it really is?

AJ Chase: 9:44

I'm going to take this second to plug in maintenances. Yeah, you have to.

Keith Bamburg: 9:49

You have to have a maintenance. I mean we prefer you to have ours, but you have to be on a maintenance program changing filters, washing coils. I mean people don't even know their AC coils need to be washed and cleaned. You go up to 90% of them. They're matted and it's just not efficient for the system, for your home cooling or anything. Oh wow, you end up popping motors, capacitors, and just simple maintenance can solve a bunch of stuff.

AJ Chase: 10:12

And I ran into a guy yesterday that we went on the no service call You're going to pay for it. Whether you do the maintenance or not, You're going to end up paying for it. But he said, and I quote my energy bill last month was $1,000. And I do not want to call y'all because I didn't want to pay for the repair.

Kelli Green: 10:30

So you're going to pay one way or the other.

AJ Chase: 10:31

You're fixing to pay the energy guy and you're going to pay the man because because you're not fixing to stay hot for long.

Kelli Green: 10:37

I'm curious what was the square footage of that home having $1,000?

AJ Chase: 10:44

At least 2,000 square feet to 2,500. And it wasn't, but I would say, built in the 1980s.

Kelli Green: 10:48

Yeah.

AJ Chase: 10:49

So I mean it wasn't a bad home. I mean nine foot ceilings. I mean it wasn't a bad home, I mean nine-foot ceilings. I mean it gives you an idea of what you're looking at.

Kelli Green: 10:54

Right, so there is just a regular maintenance. So tell us about that. Like, what does regular maintenance look like? Something from your perspective and what you do really with your own homes. What do you think is like a really good plan?

Keith Bamburg: 11:06

We have two plans that we offer. We have just where we come out summer and spring, or summer and fall. Sorry, we need to clean the coils, change the filters, just check everything, um. And then we have the other three visits, so it's more. We have commercial stuff. Residential, yes, um, I don't know I would say that.

AJ Chase: 11:26

You know, if you're just looking to get your units cleaned out, you know, and it's a no-bra topic for us I'm going to charge you X amount of dollars to come out and clean your system versus, you know, a $15 a month plan, and that's you pay more for Netflix. You know why would you not pay for AC? You know, and that's that's keeping ahead of the game. You pay for your oil changes in your car. You don't wait till your motor blows up before you go and change your oil. You keep your oil changed in your car, and the same concept applies to AC. If you take care of it, it'll take care of you.

AJ Chase: 11:58

And what that looks like for us is, you know, cleaning your system is simple, Something that's cleaning your cools, outside cools Just taking a water hose and taking a chemical treatment, boiling out the and literally just taking the dirt and ground from between those fins and wash it so it can breathe. I mean, this is all. It gets technical again, but I mean every little thing matters, Every little small speck, like you mentioned, motor amps and the electricity flow through your motors and through your compressors and through different things. It all takes into calculation.

Kelli Green: 12:31

So you guys offer that maintenance plan, something that's very simple. They just give you a call and can set that up pretty quickly. Call their office and we can get you set up. That's awesome. I love it. Okay, so what is a common upgrade that most people overlook but really should consider?

Keith Bamburg: 12:50

Hmm, I'm going to plug a UV light, that's what I was about to say, some type of sanitation system that a lot of people don't know about. They just a straight cool system and they don't have any air purification. When we go to uh yesterday I went to a maintenance you take a panel door off and it's loaded with mold on the inside. We live in louisiana. It is crazy. So if you think about humidity in your system, cold and dark, dark spaces or, in the summer, hot spaces you're going to have mold, so you have to have something to combat that. I would say a UV system or an air scrubber of some sort is a must-have here, I think.

AJ Chase: 13:26

And it's not going to do much for your energy but your air quality. You've got to think. I mean you're breathing this naturally and if you have mold, why not get ahead of it? You've got to think I mean you're breathing this naturally and if you have mold, why not get ahead of it? Everybody, you're going to freak out when I take that air conditioning panel off and show you the mold. You're going to be like oh my God, am I breathing that? Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

Kelli Green: 13:52

You know, it's just in your air quality. Thinking about this with us, you know, from a cost perspective, what is that? What is that? Something like that looking like for the cost for the average home?

AJ Chase: 14:03

I would say, there it's UV lights. I mean, you're probably there. I'd say, not even ten dollars. Ten dollars a year to run. I mean it's, it's nothing when it comes to what it takes to run a UV light. I mean it's nothing when it comes to what it takes to run a UV light. I mean, you're nothing when it comes to that.

Kelli Green: 14:18

My goodness, that's incredible. It's just, it's so wild. The little things really add up to be the big deal, right, kind of like laying you up here in Louisiana that we talk about. Okay, so talk through this. Are there any smart home tools or apps that can help manage energy use more effectively? You know, keith, I know you know my husband very well. He has an app for everything, so do tell us he has. So all of the thermostats and so forth in our home are operable from our phone.

Keith Bamburg: 14:50

That's what I was about to go into the Sensi smart thermostats. Yeah, and y'all have them here. We've installed them here at the Sensei smart thermostats. That's the only thing I can think of app-wise that I would lean towards and that would be a must-have for me is a smart Sensei Wi-Fi thermostat.

Kelli Green: 15:08

So we've spoken a lot about residential. I'd love for us to get into talking about that from a commercial standpoint. You're talking about these different digital programs or products, things like the Sensi thermostats and so forth. How does that really benefit an organization? You know, I know we're not necessarily probably the largest company that you guys work with, but for us having that digital thermostat managing in multiple cities has been very beneficial. But maybe talk through something like that for our commercial listeners who are looking to be more energy efficient.

AJ Chase: 15:39

Yes, I mean anything that at your fingertip, with technology, is going to be a lot more energy efficient. So when it comes to managing your heat calculations and your loads, that SINCI thermostat is going to be able to be all controlled in one spot, one process, and you're not going to have to go to each individual thermostat. Worry about, you know, sister Susan over here, that's freezing and she's got an issue. You can really, from a corporate standpoint, keep your AC under lock and key, versus the old style actual lock and key.

Kelli Green: 16:11

Yes.

AJ Chase: 16:12

You know, and you don't have to worry about your uh consumers or your uh, your employees coming and bumping this down, saying, well, I was too hot, I bumped it up to 78, you could keep it managed, and a lot of times, um, and I and I get it, we're all different natured but being able to control that from one spot is essential.

AJ Chase: 16:30

You have to have that and they even make sensors. Um, these thermostats have sensors to be able to be, and when it comes to corporations and it comes to commercial and industrial standards, we can get as technical as having registers and vents and sensors in each room, individualized to where you can have, if it is an issue where Sister Susan is upset with her temperature in her room, if it is an issue where Sister Susan is upset with her temperature in her room, you don't have to control from one central thermostat, you can control from each individual sensor. Oh wow. And each individual room can be that can be accommodated to adjust to their temperature, to where they're comfortable, because, let's face it, you're in the same business of live better.

AJ Chase: 17:11

You have to have a good attitude to be at work I mean in a good work environment and includes me being comfortable, that's right. I'm not going to be hot, you know I'm not going to be cold. So, yes, simple, simple as that. That a lot of people don't know, that's even available to them. Um, as simple as a sensor and, uh, maybe some airflow adjustment could really just make your employees a lot happier I love that that it's also for a commercial.

Keith Bamburg: 17:35

If you have them, we'd like to plug in our information into that thermostat, so if something goes wrong you don't even have to know about it. It's going to alert us. Oh, that's nice, so that's a huge benefit. If that system loses power it senses the cooling leg breaks or something like that it's going to let us know. It sends us a notification.

Kelli Green: 17:54

What I love about you mentioning that too is with Faith, heat and Air. I think it is so, so important that you're saying accountability is critical to you guys. Oh, yeah, yeah. And as a business partner, that is something. You build trust with people and you ensure hey, you guys have installed these systems. The maintenance is important, as we've discussed today, and sometimes business owners aren't necessarily. They don't have the time per se just to focus on that. You know one particular situation and you guys just have a reputation for being accountable, making sure that those systems are running efficiently and as best as possible. So I appreciate that. Thanks for mentioning that. That is outstanding.

Kelli Green: 18:32

Our listeners who may have a need. Thanks for mentioning that. That is outstanding. Our listeners who may have a need. We know the hot months are here and you walk outside and you're sweating, no doubt for sure, but I would just really love for you guys to check them out. Faith, heat and Cool this is it, this is the business to really connect with, and so tell us. So how might we be able to reach out to you guys? How?

AJ Chase: 18:54

can we contact you? Well, there's social media. You can find us on Facebook. You can find us through the web at faithheatandcoolcom. Very simple, we have an office number 318-777-COOL or 777-2665. You can find us, like I said, online Facebook Pretty much. If there's a way to get a hold of us, you I said online Facebook pretty much. If there's a way to get a hold of us, you're going to find it there.

Kelli Green: 19:17

Perfect, I love it. So tell us a little bit too. As far as like the area and the coverage area that you guys offer, how far do y'all? What's your boundary lines? I'm better with you guys. You're like wherever.

Keith Bamburg: 19:30

We'll call us we're coming when we started. I don't think we're going to have a boundary line. So do you want us there? We're coming more or less and we'll get a. I don't know, we don't have a we went to Lake Providence.

AJ Chase: 19:43

Just to be very realistic, we went to Lake Providence two days ago to change a thermostat, so it doesn't, I mean, when it comes to relatively as far as we would go to right now. We go to North louisiana line, to the anyway shreveport, it don't matter.

Kelli Green: 19:59

So I love that. That's outstanding. So you know our coverage area, you know we're in 28 different parishes and counties that are here in louisiana to arkansas, and so that is just really outstanding. So, listeners, we just we want you to know that faith eating cool. These are the guys, aj Keith, they're local folks, they're right here serving you, keeping you cool, and they'll keep you warm too in the future, you know, but again, we can't even think about that right now. Well, listen, is there anything else you guys want to share with our listeners, anything that you think? Listen, if you've got, if you could say one you know, bit of advice to our listeners, what would that be?

AJ Chase: 20:38

Well, mine would be to trust a small guy. Yeah, I think so. We are big, but we're not as big as the big-name companies, and I'll tell you what we do is we stand behind what we mean when you mentioned accountability. We stand behind our work 100%, and we thank every one of our customers that's got us here. We're only going to grow from here, and we love it.

Kelli Green: 21:05

That's awesome.

AJ Chase: 21:06

Great.

Kelli Green: 21:06

I love it. That's awesome. What a great way to wrap up. Well, guys, we are so grateful that you're here. Thanks again for trusting us.

Kelli Green: 21:14

We wanted to share with our listeners that, Centric, we offer a full-on suite of commercial products, whether that be deposit products or loans. We're here to support and it's important that we have partnerships, like with you, guys, where we can share with our communities that we serve of, who are trusted partners and who you can link up with to ensure your home is energy efficient, not just today, but ongoing. So thank you all so much for being our guests. It means the world to us. Thank you All right. Well, in wrapping up, guys, we thank you so much and we hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you for listening to our podcast and tune back in next month for another episode of the Live Better Podcast with Centric. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and to ensure you never miss out on helpful tips. Like us on Facebook at Centric, Federal Credit Union, and find us at MyCentric on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube. You can find information about today's topic, our monthly blog and more at MyCentricorg. Centric is federally insured by the NCUA.