Matt: "Don't get me started about fireplaces."
Me: * grabs popcorn * "Go on..."

Particularly excellent TBD episode, thank you. Having two systems to compare is genius. Please consider doing this format again.

As a person going through the process of modernizing a house from the early 1910s, its very informative to hear what Paul has to say. Matt's house is optimized to the point that much of the advice is not applicable. I fear a blower door test.

Nice discussion. Great job in showing the difference between Geothermal vs Air Source. Mr. NotABot.🤖

My own HP choice was for several reasons
 1. Mini splits were easily done DIY by this electrical type
     at a small fraction of a commercial installation

 2. I used extra total capacity with chosen low temp HPs, so I could
     ride thru almost any cold WITHOUT supplement resistance heat

 3. After countless central furnace failures (each causing a crises),
     I wanted completely decentralized system.  One failure can be
     compensated by the others just working a little harder.  

 4. I was able to retain the original central propane furnace as a backup
     to power loss (never actually needed here 5 miles from the Byron Nuke).
     The (solar generated) energy saved was used many ways, including
     running the old duct blower 10 minutes of every 30, so the electrostatic
     filter kept my air truly dust free.  Bruce Roe

Nice to see the extended discussion. Only thing i wish was covered more for people who don't follow Matt Reisinger is why spray foam on the underside of the roof deck is a bad idea.  There are still good roof deck ventilation strategies that can condition the attic though.

48:00 tell us more about these bots.

This is all wrong, my screen must be the wrong way because Matt is on the left side.  🙂

we need to put a caveat on windows keeping it warmer or colder in a house. Fact of the matter is I thought this was the case, bought all new windows for my house. The house was still very drafty. People neglect to mention type of windows is a very important factor.

Meaning picture windows are most efficient, casement windows are second most and third is double hung. So replacing double hung windows may not get you where you want. I installed an interior storm window which is essentially a seal with a clear film. These sealed against the draft in Illinois and increased the cold spots by 20 degrees Fahrenheit. These cost about $800 for one of my rooms and can help most people instead of an entire window replacement.

Also, all window makers are just trying to sell, sell, they are mostly full of it even when asking them about the most efficient windows. Non out of the 7 estimates I had knew a thing about making my home more efficient.

48:00 I've seen a lot of these bots copy another comment from the comments section, usually something within the past hour that's received a few thumbs up. Then the copied comment starts getting a suspicious amount of thumbs up very quickly, presumably botted. And if you go to the bot's channel, it's always linked to another channel that for the sake of moderation let's just say should be very easy for an "inappropriate content" image recognition model to automatically flag

Some of the more fancy ones do a basic rewrite of the comment (swapping a few words for synonyms so it's not exactly the same)

Wait?!! When did Matt do a heat pump video?!!! 😅😅😅

When I moved  in the attic was unvented(!) and there a bit of spray-in insulation on the ceiling making unconditioned space.  Unfortunately that's where the air handler was.  I replaced the 3-ton furnace/AC with 2.5 ton cold climate heat pump then six weeks later the insulation was vacuumed out out of the attic and 4 inches of closed cell spray foam was added along with new windows and doors.  Combined those dropped energy used for heating by 60% making my heat pump oversized.  Oh well.  Winter mornings can drop in the low 20s but usually are somewhere around 30.  Having a cold climate heat pump meant not having heat strips.  Since I knew I going solar and battery full electrification was always the goal.  I also live in Northern AZ so humidity is never an issue.  Growing up in Phoenix low humidity is wonderful to me.  My place stays about 40%.

Don't know if it is possible.. but would installing a "suction" fan in the rooms too far down the line to boost the air quality work so you don't need to use a compressor... maybe have the fan hooked to the Co2 monitoring. I would think you could do it with a raspberry pi and a old computer fan. Or maybe i am just crazy

Matt interpreted and implemented the instruction "Drill Baby Drill" in the only correct way.

45:15 - for, umm, reasons, I haven't yet been able to do much of this, and I absolutely need to.
45:58 - ooh, tricks like this, yes!  I've been trying to think of what the best ways to do some of this stuff might be... Had not considered match smoke!
48:24 - so true.  I hate "AI" (it's not AI, but that's a different rant)!  Kill it all.  😢

Is it possible to double up on a drilled well for a geothermal loop?

How can i reach out ?!

I'm curious though, how an HVAC contractor got all the way to coming to the house before discovering they were over their head and jetting (likewise having a contractor come up with a terrible in-slab duct system). Was it a failure of vetting on your side? Did you not ask the right questions, or did the contractor (ostensibly) lie about past similar projects? It seems to me that considering the rarity of Net Zero/Highly Efficient homes, the first question would be "How many Net Zero houses have you done?".

Sooooo... In sumary, Don't hire an MEP Installer (aka, contractor) to plan your system. Do hire an MEP ***ENGINEER***. You're welcome.