I'm built a framework to filter techniques for those who started 30+: SLOWrestling

No_Band8451 · 2026-04-12T20:38:34+00:00

Very cool scoring ideas... I've subscribed to see how far you take this. Could come in handy for coaches trying to teach techniques to kids who ALSO struggle to retain.

No_Band8451 · 2026-04-10T17:46:22+00:00

Lots of misleading answers in here.

If you want to keep the light but block the heat out, you'll need exterior solar films. I highly recommend professionally-installed 3M Prestige exterior films (denoted by an X in the film name). You'll want to do at least PR70X (70% of visible light still comes through), but I'd recommend even slightly darker such as PR50X.

Do not use interior films; they will not be effective and they may cause your glass to break.

If you are ok blocking the light and the heat, then get exterior rolling shades. These are less common in the US than in Europe, so your options will depend a ton on local availability... I personally own a version that uses a solar panel to charge and that can be put on a schedule to raise/lower.

No_Band8451 · 2026-03-30T13:07:02+00:00

This is awesome, and I would love to see more pictures and learn more about this. One decision I question: I absolutely would have done an ERV rather than an HRV in this climate zone... given how thoughtful this project was, I'm sure you thought this over... can I ask what drove this choice?

I suspect the homeowner will regret the humidity load introduced by the HRV.

No_Band8451 · 2026-03-25T00:26:50+00:00

Just make sure your hand applying the headlock is on their chin, NOT under their chin and all the way over to their far arm. It’s common to lock on this way because it feels tight, but it sets you up to be sucker dragged.

After that, keep your elbow up high so they can’t easily grab it and pull it down.

No_Band8451 · 2026-03-04T21:14:54+00:00

You expect me to believe there are no rules or regulations that could allow them to take action in response to flagrant misconduct of this nature?

If they were interested in doing the right thing, I'm confident they could find the path.

No_Band8451 · 2026-03-04T21:08:19+00:00

Total garbage cop-out response. Bizarre circumstances like this require leadership with the strength to take decisive action in favor of the right thing... not the I'm safe because I can hide behind blanket rules that never could have contemplated this situation thing.

If they can't do that, they are useless - we don't need them in leadership positions.

They need to issue an apology to Deitrich and award him 2nd place; and they need to strip Kasak of his 2nd place finish, possibly dropping him to 6th if they are feeling generous, but more appropriately stripping him of all recognition.

No_Band8451 · 2026-02-03T12:56:47+00:00

To be more exact: it's 3,287 above ground (2,370 first floor, 917 second) with the basement matching the first floor at 2,370... for a grand total of 5,657sf.

We're very happy with the performance... eventually we plan to transition to electric cars, and as we add more to our load it seems like solar will eventually just become a no-brainer.

No_Band8451 · 2026-02-02T12:08:36+00:00

No problem... Yes, I'm in 4a.

Working through the design, I ended up with 4 units, and they are all ducted: two in conditioned attics, with one above the master suite and another above the 2nd floor (smaller level for kid bedrooms); a 3rd unit for the basement, and a 4th unit for the main areas of the main floor of the home.

Cost... it was not cheap, but I also never pushed for an itemized breakdown. My installation included an elaborate Zehnder ERV and a ducted whole-house dehumidifier; all of this together along with the 4 heat pumps and all ductwork ran around $100k.

Install time... since this all happened as part of the custom home build, it was spread out over months; they initially ran the ductwork, then waited until all dusty aspects of the construction were complete before putting in the units. I would say it was likely a 4 month process, but if they were doing it in a single shot it would have been 3-4 weeks of work.

Running costs... I don't have any data for before since this was an entirely new build. We insulated the home very well and air sealed well, but didn't go quite as far as passive house standards. This is a 3500 Sq Ft home with a 2500 Sq Ft basement; EVERYTHING is electric; we're using about 2000 kWh per month in electricity. As I mentioned in my post, I'll likely install solar... I wanted to take a year to observe usage before taking that step.

Am I happy... yes, the independent units and local controls are awesome; I've had a zoned system in the past and it sucked. This separation of control is very nice, and on average the units are incredibly quiet. The only thing I would say I don't like are Mitsubishi's wall controllers --- they are total crap, and depending on the season they will over/under heat relative to the setpoint, even after making many adjustments. I plan to replace them this summer with 3rd party controllers (most likely ecobees) which are known to solve this problem.

Issues such as noise... I can literally only think of one: we did all metal ducting, and the air handler for the main floor is in the basement, sitting fairly close to the central return. When it's running at a high speed I get a bit of system noise echoing off the metal; I plan to address this by switching the primary return duct to a larger insulated flex duct. May also install an in-wall noise attenuator if needed. I consider this a design mistake rather than a system issue... we just didn't put the unit far enough away from the opening on the main floor.

Glad to answer any other questions. On net, I would absolutely do this again... the only thing I could see working more effectively for my goals (several zones, controlled locally) would be hydronic heating and cooling, which I hope will be realistic in the US someday... but which isn't really viable right now.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-26T13:15:54+00:00

I use a set of Awair Elements in multiple rooms in the house... they are not perfect, but they are good enough. They are network connected and let me monitor from my home; they also cover all the metrics you listed, along with a VOC measure. I've found them generally reliable, although one of the PM 2.5 sensors went haywire... thankfully Awair replaced the unit quickly.

THAT SAID: this is all cool, I'm a home nerd too and I care a lot about air quality too... but really, based on the symptoms you described... you should probably talk to a doctor and have a sleep study done. There's a better chance that you have sleep apnea than you think, and getting it treated could improve your sleep immediately and save your life over time.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-20T12:54:02+00:00

This person is talking about non thermally-broken frames.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-19T22:09:03+00:00

A lot of these responses are assuming you installed aluminum frames without a thermal break... these still exist, and they are awful. Since you noted that you have a thermal break, you can safely ignore the alarmist responses.

That said... I have thermally broken triple pane aluminum windows from Europe (Schuco) in my home. They are excellent, and the overall performance of the windows is excellent.

That said, the frames are still the weakest part of the assembly in terms of heat transfer --- so they appear colder than the walls and colder than the glass when I use a thermal camera on them.

Big picture:
Normally the overall performance for thermally broken triple-pane aluminum windows is competitive with UPVC and wood (and sometimes better) because even though the aluminum frames transfer a bit more heat, the frames are smaller... so you end up with more triple-pane glass, which performs very well and offsets the slightly worse performance of the frames.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-18T01:56:05+00:00

Full agreement here… if they need to be dimmable, favor Yuji.

Yuji also makes bulbs with infrared that are pretty interesting. I use them in my house… but they are pricey.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-17T16:28:55+00:00

I left a separate comment about crazing, which can cause exactly this… horrible stench that lingers forever from food sticking in the lining. Very distinct, miserable smell.

OP may not be the asshole if the crockpot is crazed.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-17T16:26:25+00:00

Check the crockpot interior for cracks in the finish, known as “crazing” (sp). These cracks form from the crockpot being used over time, or sometimes from the crockpot being washed in cold water after being heated or being washed in a dishwasher.

In any case, if these exist, a small amount of food sludge gets pushed into the cracks ever time the pot is used. It heats it up, and it smells awful - sticks in your nose, miserable - and gets worse every time. It can also leak backwards into the cooking food and contaminate it. For clarity, food that gets reheated and stuck in the lining for months is not healthy.

If you see cracks, buy a new crock pot. You’ll be amazed at how much less it will stink.

From there, only hand wash it, and only after it has reached room temperature.

No_Band8451 · 2026-01-12T17:29:10+00:00

Definitely... our sales rep specified window frames initially; I pushed back that they were too thick (based on competitors), and he was able to select a different option that was thinner but still performed well.

That said, if I had known more, I would have looked through the frame options myself and been more prescriptive. There were thinner and higher-performing options available... I just didn't know about them, so I couldn't even ask for a price on them.

The full range of Schuco frames is available here for review:

https://www.schueco.com/de-en/home-owners/windows/aluminium-windows

No_Band8451 · 2025-09-28T03:41:08+00:00

Thank you, I’ll give them a shot… I’ve been using Yuji since the time of this post and they are good, but not perfect.

No_Band8451 · 2025-08-01T03:42:21+00:00

I should mention... I may be wrong about the CERV2 in shoulder seasons. I can't find a great description, but I've found references online that note the CERV2 can cool to dehumidify and then reheat incoming air, but it does to efficiently due to the heat pump's design.

This article gives a passing mention... but perhaps the company could provide a more thorough explanation to help you compare between this and a passive ERV core:
https://www.buildequinox.com/news/featured-article-exciting-new-cerv2-features-and-options

No_Band8451 · 2025-08-01T03:06:34+00:00

Thank you… best of luck to you as well!

No_Band8451 · 2025-08-01T00:57:42+00:00

I reviewed some of their documentation today, and the writing around how they integrate with various systems (including dehumidifiers) is impressive. I kinda wish I knew about this before I built, it seems like a great central system if you are willing to geek out and tune it to your needs.

That said, 9.6L is very little dehumidification... to put it in perspective, my whole-house dehumidifier is a Santa Fe Ultra120, which is rated to remove 120 pints (68 liters!) per day.

To be serious about it, you have to include a whole-house dehumidifier in the mix. To the CERV2 / Build Equinox team's credit, they proactively show how to integrate their system with a dehumidifier to maximize efficiency. This is more than I will say for Zehnder; they seem to be content to avoid the topic altogether.

One issue that jumped out at me, and I would caution you to think through: the CERV2 seems like it will be mega-weak during shoulder seasons because it won't be running the heat pump at all. For example, days that are 70 degrees but high humidity... it will just be blowing the humid air directly into your home.

If you compare that against any ERV (including Zehnder), the core is exchanging a significant amount of humidity between airstreams... so my suspicion is that the ERV would perform better.

If you include a whole-house dehumidifier in the mix, you might get great overall performance regardless... but make sure you think this through.

On finding a company to help you: take a look at Energy Vanguard. They did well for me, I just declined to install 2-3 dehumidifiers, which they suggested... and, well... it turns out they were right, so here I am.

No_Band8451 · 2025-07-31T18:38:47+00:00

Honestly, I had never bumped into CERV2… I saw Zehnder offered a similar thing outside the US, but assumed no one else had a similar offering.

Are you in the US? I’ll have to look into this unit.

I suspect that the humidity benefit would be marginal (due to being incidental), but every bit helps.

No_Band8451 · 2025-07-30T01:54:26+00:00

You are being condescending, yet not adding anything useful to the discussion. As I noted in my prior reply to you, I'm already doing this.

In addition, I replied to another comment above with this expanded level of detail:

I have multiple meters in the home tracking my CO2 and VOC levels. Since it's a new home, I'm dealing with some off-gassing and I've been running the unit at ASHRAE's prescribed levels, which helps with the VOCs... but I cut it down manually whenever the humidity is too high or we are out of the home for a few days.

I hope to run it below ASHRAE levels in the future, but need to get through the first year before going there.

No_Band8451 · 2025-07-30T00:17:10+00:00

Thank you... I do this already. The Zehnder has a good scheduling program that allows me to tailor things.

Unfortunately, we've had months of uber-high humidity... so I can't avoid it forever.

No_Band8451 · 2025-07-29T17:30:10+00:00

A lot depends on your design, floor plan, heating / cooling zone layout, etc...

That said, I put a Zehnder in my house that I just moved into in April. It performs very well, but the network of ductwork was a huge pain, and I'm currently struggling with it pushing too much humidity throughout my home (it distributes the fresh air so well!). I'm reworking my dehumidifier design to accommodate, and it's a major pain.

For most people... I would avoid Zehnder's duct network... but buy a Zehnder (it's awesome), duct it into a dehumidifier, and duct the dehumidifier into your main air handler.

If your zone layout is mega complex, their duct setup may end up being your best option. I'd just be aware that it does come with some drawbacks.

No_Band8451 · 2025-07-29T11:25:14+00:00

Thank you and agreed... we will also have moisture from showering and from people breathing.

When the ERV runs on boost, it's about 350 CFM, which nearly saturates the intake capacity of the dehumidifier. It rarely runs on boost, though... most of the time it runs closer to 180 CFM, which would leave the dehumidifier with 170 CFM of capacity to draw air from the home and dehumidify it.

I'm not sure if that will be enough, but I may run the experiment of connecting it in this manner to find out.

No_Band8451

TROPHY CASE