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<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/feed.xml</id>
<title>mhoush</title>
<author>
<name>Michael Housh</name>
</author>
<link rel="self" href="http://localhost:3000"></link>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:55:31Z</updated>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2025/vapor-htmx-todo-app/</id>
<title>Vapor + HTMX</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:47:31Z</updated>
<summary>Build an example application using Vapor and HTMX.</summary>
<link rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:3000/articles/2025/vapor-htmx-todo-app/"></link>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2024/free-as-in-freedom/</id>
<title>Free As In Freedom</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:39:28Z</updated>
<summary>Salute to open-source software engineers</summary>
<link rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:3000/articles/2024/free-as-in-freedom/"></link>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2024/pgp-encryption-introduction/</id>
<title>PGP Encryption Introduction</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:36:11Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;In this article I introduce PGP and show a use case for me, which perhaps you can use as well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;What is PGP&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP stands for &lt;strong&gt;Pretty Good Privacy&lt;/strong&gt;, it was first developed in 1991 by Phil Zimmermann. PGP uses&lt;br /&gt;
cryptographic privacy and authentication and is generally used in data communication.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy"&gt;Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; its name was inspired&lt;br /&gt;
by a grocery store named, “Ralphs Pretty Goody Grocery” featured in radio hosts Garrison Keillors&lt;br /&gt;
fictional town of Lake Wobegon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP is commonly used in software development to “sign” software commits or files to help ensure both&lt;br /&gt;
who the commits were from as well as make sure they were not modified from the original versions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It should also be noted that when people say PGP they are often referring to OpenPGP or GnuPGP which&lt;br /&gt;
are implementations of the PGP standard protocol.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;What it does&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Note: I am in no way a cyber-security expert, I am a layman and only describing things in terms&lt;br /&gt;
that I understand / make sense to me. Do what I do at your own risk!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP offers both symmetrical encryption (uses a session key and password) or asymmetrical encryption&lt;br /&gt;
(uses a session key and a private key). Asymmetrical encryption is more secure but is more resource&lt;br /&gt;
intensive (which is generally not a problem with computers of today).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Generally speaking PGP uses what are known as public and private key pairs. The public portion of&lt;br /&gt;
the key par is meant to be shared with others freely, while the private portion needs to be secured&lt;br /&gt;
/ not shared with anyone &lt;strong&gt;EVER&lt;/strong&gt;. It is best practice to generate your keys on a computer that is&lt;br /&gt;
“air gapped”, meaning it is not connected to any network / internet, and does not save a history of&lt;br /&gt;
commands performed on it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP encrypts data (files, messages, etc.) for one or more recipients, using the recipients public&lt;br /&gt;
key. The recipients private key is required to decrypt the data once its been encrypted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Your key pair is tied to your identity / person, generally by your name and email(s). The key can&lt;br /&gt;
also have multiple “subkeys”, meaning that if you have more than one public email, alias, etc. it&lt;br /&gt;
can be tied to your same private key. This is useful for example for work vs. activism vs. software&lt;br /&gt;
development.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once your key is generated and your private key secured, you can share your public portion of the&lt;br /&gt;
key to a “keyserver” where other people can download it and verify messages were sent by you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Web of Trust&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP also uses what is called the &lt;strong&gt;“Web of Trust”&lt;/strong&gt;, which is used to validate that messages are&lt;br /&gt;
encrypted by a trusted source. There are different levels of trust depending on where a key is&lt;br /&gt;
retrieved from. For example, if somebody gave you their public key in person and you were able to&lt;br /&gt;
inspect that the identity matches their government id, then you can give it a higher trust level&lt;br /&gt;
than one that is sent / retrieved from a keyserver.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My understanding of this portion is that over time your key is signed by others with their level of&lt;br /&gt;
certainty about you / your key, which over time increases the overall trust in your key.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Out of the weeds&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now that weve got an understanding of some of the technical aspects, lets talk about some real use&lt;br /&gt;
cases of PGP encryption.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PGP encryption is used by some email clients / applications, such as&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://canarymail.io/"&gt;Canary&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/115.0/holidayeoy/"&gt;Thunderbird&lt;/a&gt;, or&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://gpgtools.tenderapp.com/"&gt;GPGSuite&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In my understanding, it is also what is used in devices such as a&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://www.yubico.com/"&gt;YubiKey&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Many of the mentioned applications allow for an easier interface / adoption, as one of the reasons&lt;br /&gt;
it is not very popular is that it can be hard to use PGP for the average person.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Aside from using my PGP key for signing software commits, my major use case is for encrypting files&lt;br /&gt;
that I store in a “cloud” provider. Know that when someone says the “cloud”, it is really just a&lt;br /&gt;
computer (in reality a gang of computers in a data center). You are solely reliant that these cloud&lt;br /&gt;
providers are not snooping on, inspecting, or even selling your data.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Of course, some data may not be that sensitive, so maybe you dont care. However with a little bit&lt;br /&gt;
of effort on your part you can at least make it very hard for anyone to know what is inside your&lt;br /&gt;
documents. You can be in control of the way your items are encrypted and have confidence that nobody&lt;br /&gt;
but you can access what is inside your documents.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heck, I even encrypt documents that are stored on my own network / computer so that if something&lt;br /&gt;
gets stolen or someone breachs my network they will not be able to easily get to sensitive data.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This article is just meant as an overview of PGP encryption. In future articles I will show you how&lt;br /&gt;
to use it to encrypt your data and be in control of your privacy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Resources&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://gnupg.org/"&gt;GnuPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.openpgp.org/"&gt;OpenPGP&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://gpg.wtf/"&gt;gpg.wtf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4880.html"&gt;RFC4880&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2024/unvr-as-nas/</id>
<title>UNVR as NAS</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:32:01Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;In this post, Im going to show how to setup a Samba server on a Ubiquity UNVR so that it can be&lt;br /&gt;
used as NAS (network attached storage). Be aware that this should be done with caution and may void&lt;br /&gt;
any warranty on your UNVR as we are using it for purposes beyond its original intent. Its also&lt;br /&gt;
possible that this setup will break when / if updating the UNVR software. With that said, lets jump&lt;br /&gt;
in.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This post follows along with&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/11o7v8l/how_to_use_the_unvr_as_a_nas_instructions/"&gt;this reddit post&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br /&gt;
with some adaptations to get it to work on the latest Unifi-OS release of &lt;code&gt;3.2.12&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step One - Setup SSH &amp;amp; Login&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In your unifi network console you need to enable the &lt;code&gt;SSH&lt;/code&gt; login option and set a secure password&lt;br /&gt;
for the root user to login to the UNVR.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2024-03-15-ssh.png" alt="ssh.png" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once that is complete you can login to your UNVR using your terminal and the IP address of your UNVR&lt;br /&gt;
on your network.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;ssh root@192.168.1.10&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step Two - Install Samba&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First, well update the package registry information.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;apt-get update&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Next, install samba.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;apt-get install samba&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step Three - Setup Samba&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In order to edit the configuration we are going to need to install your terminal based text editor&lt;br /&gt;
of choice (generally nano or vim), for me I will install vim.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;apt-get install vim&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Create a backup of the default configuration.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Open the configuration file to be edited.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;vim /etc/samba/smb.conf&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just above the &lt;code&gt;Share Definitions&lt;/code&gt; section of the configuration, I added some global settings to&lt;br /&gt;
make the samba server act better for time machine backups.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;#======================= MacOS Client Optimizations =======================
vfs objects = fruit streams_xattr
fruit:metadata = stream
fruit:model = MacSamba
fruit:posix_rename = yes
fruit:veto_appledouble = no
fruit:nfs_aces = no
fruit:wipe_intentionally_left_blank_rfork = yes
fruit:delete_empty_adfiles = yes
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also because we want users we create to be able to read and write to their home directories created&lt;br /&gt;
on the samba server, we need to change the option under the &lt;code&gt;[homes]&lt;/code&gt; share definition to be&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;code&gt;read only = no&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is our primary configuration. You can add more share definitions at the bottom of the file to&lt;br /&gt;
suit your use case, there are decent examples of this in the original reddit post, linked in the&lt;br /&gt;
beginning.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Save and exit the file.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;:wq&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step Four - Start Samba&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Use the following command to start the samba server.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;sudo service smbd start&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can check the status, by running the following command.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;systemctl status smbd&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2024-03-15-status.png" alt="status" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Enable the samba server to start on boot.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;systemctl enable smbd.service&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step Five - Create Users&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Create a user with a home directory that they can use.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;useradd --create-home michael&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Give the user a password to login to the samba server.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;smbpasswd michael&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Step Six - Login to Samba Server from Client&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;code&gt;Finder&lt;/code&gt; app on macOS you can type &lt;code&gt;⌘k&lt;/code&gt; to connect to a server.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the text field enter &lt;code&gt;smb://&amp;lt;USER&amp;gt;@&amp;lt;UNVR_IP&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; to connect to the samba server.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2024-03-15-connect.png" alt="connect" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can also automatically connect to the server when you login to your client device, for this to&lt;br /&gt;
work you need the credentials to be stored in your keychain (ticking the box in the step above when&lt;br /&gt;
you first connect to the server).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is found in &lt;code&gt;System Settings -&amp;gt; General -&amp;gt; Login Items -&amp;gt; Open at Login&lt;/code&gt;. Click the plus button&lt;br /&gt;
and select the volume you would like to mount at login.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2024-03-15-login.png" alt="login" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once you have it setup so that the server is connected on login, you can also set it up as location&lt;br /&gt;
for Time Machine Backups. &lt;code&gt;System Settings -&amp;gt; General -&amp;gt; Time Machine&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2024-03-15-time-machine.png" alt="time-machine" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2024/elevating-hvac/</id>
<title>Elevating HVAC: A Skilled Trade Beyond Labor</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:25:29Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a guest post from my good friend, &lt;strong&gt;Ty Branaman&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Introduction:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is often mistakenly categorized as a simple labor&lt;br /&gt;
job, overshadowing the intricate skill set and technical expertise required in this field. Labor&lt;br /&gt;
jobs are also very important positions needed to keep society running. HVAC, like other skilled&lt;br /&gt;
trades, demands a high level of knowledge, precision, and adaptability. This article aims to shed&lt;br /&gt;
light on the misconception surrounding HVAC, emphasizing its status as a skilled trade that plays a&lt;br /&gt;
pivotal role in creating comfortable and efficient living and working environments.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Technical Proficiency:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of the defining features that distinguish HVAC as a skilled trade is the level of technical&lt;br /&gt;
proficiency required. HVAC professionals must have a deep understanding of thermodynamics, fluid&lt;br /&gt;
mechanics, electrical circuits, Psychrometrics and air properties. This knowledge is essential for&lt;br /&gt;
designing, installing, and maintaining HVAC systems that operate seamlessly and efficiently.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;System Design and Installation:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;HVAC professionals are involved in the intricate process of designing and installing heating,&lt;br /&gt;
ventilation, and air conditioning systems. This task requires not only a thorough understanding of&lt;br /&gt;
the physical principles governing HVAC but also the ability to tailor solutions to meet the unique&lt;br /&gt;
needs of each space. Proper system design and installation are crucial for achieving optimal energy&lt;br /&gt;
efficiency and performance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Diagnostic Skills:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Troubleshooting and diagnosing issues in HVAC systems require a keen analytical mind and&lt;br /&gt;
problem-solving skills. Skilled HVAC technicians possess the ability to identify and rectify&lt;br /&gt;
problems efficiently, ensuring minimal downtime and disruption to the comfort of occupants. This&lt;br /&gt;
diagnostic acumen is a hallmark of a trade that goes beyond routine labor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Adaptability to Advanced Technologies:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The HVAC industry is in a constant state of evolution, with new technologies and innovations&lt;br /&gt;
continuously being introduced. Skilled HVAC professionals are adaptable and stay abreast of these&lt;br /&gt;
advancements. From smart thermostats to energy-efficient systems, they integrate cutting-edge&lt;br /&gt;
technologies to provide state-of-the-art solutions for their clients.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Safety and Compliance:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Safety is paramount in the HVAC trade. Professionals must adhere to strict safety protocols to&lt;br /&gt;
protect both themselves and the occupants of the spaces they work in. Additionally, compliance with&lt;br /&gt;
industry regulations and codes is a testament to the skilled nature of the trade, ensuring that HVAC&lt;br /&gt;
systems meet the highest standards of safety and efficiency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Continual Learning and Certification:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Unlike a labor job, HVAC professionals engage in continual learning to stay current with industry&lt;br /&gt;
trends and technological advancements. Many pursue certifications and attend training programs to&lt;br /&gt;
enhance their skills and expand their knowledge base. This commitment to ongoing education is a&lt;br /&gt;
hallmark of skilled trades.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning is undeniably a skilled trade that goes beyond the&lt;br /&gt;
perception of a labor job. Labor jobs are also very important to the function of society and I have&lt;br /&gt;
proudly done these jobs myself. The technical proficiency, problem-solving abilities, adaptability,&lt;br /&gt;
and commitment to safety make HVAC professionals essential contributors to the creation of&lt;br /&gt;
comfortable and efficient indoor environments. It is crucial to recognize and appreciate the skill&lt;br /&gt;
set inherent in the HVAC trade, as it plays a vital role in shaping the quality of life for&lt;br /&gt;
individuals and the functionality of diverse spaces.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ty Branaman&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/most-important-job/</id>
<title>Most Important Job</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:21:54Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This short tech tip is about something one of my good friends in the trade told me a long time ago,&lt;br /&gt;
that has stuck with me through the years. It is a simple phrase / mindset.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The current job youre on, is the most important job of your day”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This mindset should be carried from the dispatcher, manager, and technician to make this successful.&lt;br /&gt;
Im not gonna lie and say this is always easy, or even always possible, but if you strive to use&lt;br /&gt;
this mindset then you will gain lifelong customers and satisfaction of not having loose ends hanging&lt;br /&gt;
out there.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I do think its also important to acknowledge that there are times that a technician has exhausted&lt;br /&gt;
all their options, maybe they just dont have the mental capacity anymore to continue with a problem&lt;br /&gt;
job, or need a break to come back another day with a fresh set of eyes, etc… This is also an&lt;br /&gt;
important thing for a technician to realize, and hopefully those type of instances are much more few&lt;br /&gt;
and far between, but I do want to acknowledge that scenario does also exist.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are a business owner, then this is something to consider instilling in your operations.&lt;br /&gt;
Empower your technicians and dispatchers to understand when things need to be shuffled around in&lt;br /&gt;
order to accommodate taking care of the customer at hand. It costs a lot of money to get a&lt;br /&gt;
technician to job, so minimizing truck rolls to the same job is important from a business&lt;br /&gt;
standpoint.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This was just a quick tech tip of something that has been rolling around in my mind lately. I hope&lt;br /&gt;
you find it helpful and it sticks with you through your career as it has mine.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/cancel-this/</id>
<title>Cancel This</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:17:16Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This post is going to be hard to put into words, its going to seem egotistical at points, but know&lt;br /&gt;
that my actions / feelings online are the same as they are if you met me in person. The problem with&lt;br /&gt;
online interactions is tone and other subtleties do not come across, so its hard to tell when&lt;br /&gt;
someone is joking or being serious.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Meat&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It has been brought to my attention that someone out there thinks that Im sexist and should not&lt;br /&gt;
speak at the HVAC School symposium because of it. They are holding a curse word against me that I&lt;br /&gt;
said two years ago, in the moment A) it was fitting and B) it was one of those times that my mouth&lt;br /&gt;
was working faster than my brain (raise your hand if thats ever happened to you).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am an open book, I am not afraid of showing failures and strengths. Ive never claimed to be&lt;br /&gt;
perfect (well, actually I have but its always a joke). Im not at all condoning what Ive said in&lt;br /&gt;
the past, nor will I repeat it out of context now, but I communicate with people like adults and I&lt;br /&gt;
look at people as piers. We do not always have to agree with one another, conflict helps us learn&lt;br /&gt;
where to grow, but we also can not expect people to change to fit our wants / needs, thats just not&lt;br /&gt;
how it works.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I do not at all agree with the tactics used by whomever is behind this. I would happily discuss this&lt;br /&gt;
in private or out in the open. You can find all my contact / social information in the sidebar of&lt;br /&gt;
this website and Ive offered up my cell phone number in private groups that we are all probably a&lt;br /&gt;
part of.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Potatoes&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am a father of 3 girls, I have a sister, talk crap about my mom and youll find out who I am! I&lt;br /&gt;
love women, I have no problem with women in the trades, I encourage women who are in the trades. I&lt;br /&gt;
try to help every person that I can, if I can. I have failed more times than you can imagine! I am&lt;br /&gt;
self taught in about everything I do, so I give of it freely. I have all kinds of work to do to grow&lt;br /&gt;
into the man that I should be, but at the same time, I am not afraid to be the man that I am today.&lt;br /&gt;
I will greet you by whatever pronoun you want to be referred as.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I would love to say that I dont judge people, but I do, just as Im being judged! I am fine with&lt;br /&gt;
someone judging me and having opinions about me, I mean that is our right. I will not say that&lt;br /&gt;
person is wrong, because in their mind theyre right. What I will not do is stop being myself. I&lt;br /&gt;
know for a fact that Ive helped more people than this person has gotten “cancelled”. I will&lt;br /&gt;
continue to help people in the trades, homeowners, or people in need. I also will not remain quiet!&lt;br /&gt;
I will give my opinion like it or not. There are people in my corner that really know me and my&lt;br /&gt;
intentions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Final Words&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The trades are rough around the edges, just as am I. The trades are a slow turning ship (just look&lt;br /&gt;
at how many still do not follow proper practices, etc. even with the capabilities and resources&lt;br /&gt;
available today).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are new / coming into the trades then I hope you are not overly sensitive to foul language&lt;br /&gt;
and other inappropriate comments. Thick skin is valuable in the trades, but at the same time dont&lt;br /&gt;
be afraid to speak up if something offends you. Remember we are adults, we can handle disagreements&lt;br /&gt;
like adults (well, some of us can). Adults can learn from those of any age, they can reflect on&lt;br /&gt;
their own behavior and make their own decisions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I personally think that being offended is not a bad thing, it causes us to reflect / repair our&lt;br /&gt;
foundational beliefs. I hope that we can stop with this “cancel culture” of today, stop hiding&lt;br /&gt;
behind a keyboard, and be a diverse community.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To wrap things up, I just want to reiterate that I am not at all mad at whomever is behind this. To&lt;br /&gt;
everyone out there who has shown me love and support, I greatly appreciate it.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/hope/</id>
<title>Hope</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:13:20Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a piggy-back article off of&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://mhoush.com/posts/20231018224631-the-struggle/"&gt;The Struggle&lt;/a&gt; article that I had recently.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I was a bit of a “Debbie Downer” in that article, which is okay, I get that way sometimes. In this&lt;br /&gt;
article Id like to take a minute to layout some of the things that give me hope, things that I&lt;br /&gt;
focus on to try and kick myself out of the rut I can get into sometimes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I believe its important to have &lt;strong&gt;hope&lt;/strong&gt;, to realize that feeling down is normal / part of being&lt;br /&gt;
human. Its just as important to have hope. For some it is a harder thing to focus on, it may be&lt;br /&gt;
easy for us to try and dwell in negative feelings, to some that may feel more comfortable. When&lt;br /&gt;
were feeling cynical, its easy to feed the negativity, although its rarely helpful.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Hope&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of the things that I try to focus on is that Im human, it brings me hope to realize that Im&lt;br /&gt;
not the only one who feels the way that I do. This was evident by the feedback on my previous&lt;br /&gt;
article.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My problems are very much “first world problems”.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Make no mistake, Im selfish, but its the selfishness that makes me feel distant or disconnected.&lt;br /&gt;
The times that I feel connected are without a doubt the times that I let go of my ego and focus on&lt;br /&gt;
things outside of myself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Its the feeling I get from going to customers home and feeling truly appreciated. Theres no push&lt;br /&gt;
back on price, no one telling me how I should run my business, no “the part only costs $x on&lt;br /&gt;
amazon”, etc.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The feeling of seeing your child smile. The safety you feel when getting a hug from your mother or&lt;br /&gt;
father. When youre looking up at the stars and realize how small you actually are.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When youre out with friends and trick the DJ into playing a Mr. Bungle song and no one else&lt;br /&gt;
appreciates it, but you. The times when your guard is completely down and you laugh with abandon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The smell of your lovers hair when youre holding them close. The joy you receive from sitting with&lt;br /&gt;
your pets. The songs of nature, insects, birds, etc. The sounds of waves / water in the distance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The feeling when youve helped someone learn a new skill, when something finally clicks and makes&lt;br /&gt;
sense. When a complex topic is understood at a fundamental level. The breakthrough of a problem&lt;br /&gt;
youve pondered for days / months / years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are so many things to be grateful for. This does not mean that there will not be hard times,&lt;br /&gt;
there surely will be. This does not mean that you are wrong for having negative feelings, for&lt;br /&gt;
feeling depressed or anxious. There are many around you that likely feel similar (they may just not&lt;br /&gt;
be able to express it in the same way). You never truly know what the person next to you is dealing&lt;br /&gt;
with. Be compassionate (including showing yourself compassion).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When you are feeling down, try to do something for someone else. Make your own list of things to be&lt;br /&gt;
thankful for. Maybe my non-exhaustive list above will give you some ideas. Write those items down&lt;br /&gt;
regularly so that you can look back on them when you feel out of balance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There is plenty of negative energy in this world, be true and genuine and you will receive rewards.&lt;br /&gt;
When you focus on blessings then the negativity will fade.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What impact are you going to leave with what little time we have?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hope that you enjoyed this short article. Know that you are &lt;em&gt;NOT&lt;/em&gt; alone, you are important, and&lt;br /&gt;
that I appreciate &lt;em&gt;you!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/heat-recovery-chiller/</id>
<title>Heat Recovery Chiller</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:08:37Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is an article that I wrote back in 2020, but I dont believe that I published it anywhere, so&lt;br /&gt;
Im doing it now. I did discuss this on&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://hvacrschool.com/podcasts/is-the-future-of-air-conditioning-self-contained-propane-chillers/"&gt;this episode of the HVAC School Podcast.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Heat Recovery Chillers&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I have always had a love and passion for hydronic systems, perhaps its because they are not that&lt;br /&gt;
common in most areas. The designs tend to be elegant and the flexibility is unparalleled by most&lt;br /&gt;
equipment choices currently available in the U.S. Im going to try to not get too far into the weeds&lt;br /&gt;
in this article, but offer an overview of what I feel would be my dream system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Source&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A heat recovery chiller will do simultaneous heating and cooling, as opposed to a traditional&lt;br /&gt;
heat-pump or reverse cycle chiller that can only operate in one mode at a time. This system would&lt;br /&gt;
have a second refrigerant to water heat exchanger and utilize the air-source when we dont need to&lt;br /&gt;
bank / store heat, or are running in heat only mode. There are several benefits to this style&lt;br /&gt;
system, the main being that while operating simultaneous heating / cooling mode the COP of the&lt;br /&gt;
system doubles. For example, the &lt;a href="https://multiaqua.com/mhrc2/"&gt;Multi-Aqua MHRC2&lt;/a&gt; shows a COP of&lt;br /&gt;
about 8, which is approximately equivalent to 30 EER or 34 SEER. This gives us geothermal level&lt;br /&gt;
performance without the need of a field.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Indoor Portion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The indoor portion of the system, we would utilize buffer tanks as thermal storage for the chiller.&lt;br /&gt;
The buffer tanks give us several benefits, including longer run times for the chiller, load&lt;br /&gt;
matching, and the ability to size for larger load (heating or cooling) without some of the problems&lt;br /&gt;
that occur when over-sizing a traditional system. The buffer tanks also allow sizing more&lt;br /&gt;
aggressively by having storage during peak load conditions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2023-10-27-buffers2.png" alt="buffer" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This shows a cooling buffer tank as well as a heating buffer tank. The horizontal pumps are what&lt;br /&gt;
circulate water through the chiller, while the vertical pumps are what distribute the water to the&lt;br /&gt;
load / emitters. This configuration allows for water to be used for the loads first and extra&lt;br /&gt;
capacity to go into the buffer tanks. The buffer tanks also offer hydraulic separation for the pumps&lt;br /&gt;
(meaning that they wont interfere with each other if / when there are different flow rates).&lt;br /&gt;
Another advantage of the buffer tanks is that you can connect multiple heating or cooling sources in&lt;br /&gt;
parallel to the system. This is shown by the extra tees in the hot buffer tank where we could&lt;br /&gt;
connect something such as solar water collectors, pellet or wood boiler, or a conventional boiler.&lt;br /&gt;
Youll also notice on the right side of the hot buffer tank, that I am showing a brazed plate heat&lt;br /&gt;
exchanger that would be used to supply domestic hot water.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Distribution System&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This could be a number of things, from radiant panels, in-floor, high-output baseboard radiators,&lt;br /&gt;
however Im going to model it as a 4-pipe hydronic air handler.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2023-10-27-ah.png" alt="ah" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The hydronic air handler is able to provide cooling, heating, and re-heat dehumidification, all in&lt;br /&gt;
one package. With a hydronic system, it would be very easy to load match by controlling the fan&lt;br /&gt;
speed and utilizing a Delta-T pump or outdoor reset controls. These air handlers are available from&lt;br /&gt;
several manufacturers and come in different styles from traditional (as shown), small duct high&lt;br /&gt;
velocity systems, and even ductless styles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disadvantages&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Not highly available in the U.S.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;When the chiller is down nothing works (not much different than traditional)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Lack of understanding / technicians afraid to work on this style system.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Potentially higher upfront costs.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Lack of design or planning could cause unhappy clients (same with traditional)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Distribution systems need to be designed around low water temperatures (not a drop in replacement&lt;br /&gt;
for traditional boiler systems)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Advantages&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Central plant for heating, cooling, and DHW (also a disadvantage)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Flexible distribution options / methods.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Self contained refrigerant circuit&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ability to produce / store thermal energy during off peak electrical hours&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ability to move BTUs more efficiently through water than air&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Long life for distribution system (50-100+ years)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Easier transition to natural / flammable refrigerants&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In conclusion, there are many advantages to this style system, as well as disadvantages. One of the&lt;br /&gt;
main points is to think of the system in 3 distinct components, the source(s), thermal storage, and&lt;br /&gt;
distribution. As mentioned, this only one concept, but in reality, there are many ways to accomplish&lt;br /&gt;
this, which is one of its advantages. For example, perhaps in certain scenarios it makes sense to&lt;br /&gt;
dump excess heat into a pool, create ice storage during off peak hours, cascade into another water&lt;br /&gt;
-&amp;gt; water heat pump for higher temperature distribution, incorporate solar collectors, and so on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thank you for reading all the way to the end!&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/you-should-learn-markdown/</id>
<title>You Should Learn Markdown</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T20:51:49Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a quick article about why you should learn markdown.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;What is markdown&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Markdown is a “mark-up” language. It allows you to write content in plain text that can be easily&lt;br /&gt;
converted to other formats, such as &lt;strong&gt;html, pdf, docx&lt;/strong&gt;, and many more. All the articles written on&lt;br /&gt;
this website are written in markdown, heres an image of this article written in markdown.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2023-10-21-markdown.png" alt="markdown" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The reason you should learn markdown is that it allows you to focus on the content / text of your&lt;br /&gt;
content with simple concepts for formatting. Markdown is used heavily in documenting software&lt;br /&gt;
projects, which is how I got introduced to it, however it can scale all the way up to writing&lt;br /&gt;
research papers or even books.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I use markdown for probably 80% of all the text documents I need to write, from company documents,&lt;br /&gt;
web / software documentation, and so on. It allows me to get content out quickly without having to&lt;br /&gt;
click around with formatting options in a program like &lt;strong&gt;Word&lt;/strong&gt; or &lt;strong&gt;Pages&lt;/strong&gt;. To be clear, a lot of&lt;br /&gt;
the reports and things I generate for my &lt;strong&gt;Home Performance Assessments&lt;/strong&gt; are written using&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Pages&lt;/strong&gt; (for now at least) because I have templates that make the documents look more&lt;br /&gt;
professional, however I am working on solutions to migrate those to be markdown based.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Markdown is supported in mostly all the &lt;strong&gt;Google&lt;/strong&gt; tools, as well as the &lt;strong&gt;Outlook&lt;/strong&gt; email client&lt;br /&gt;
(which is one of my least favorite tools, BTW). It makes it simple to create tables, lists, and many&lt;br /&gt;
common document related tasks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Resources&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can learn more about the syntax used for markdown at&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/"&gt;markdownguide.org&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;A non-exhaustive list of where you can use Markdown and editors.&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;table&gt;
&lt;thead&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;th&gt;Platform&lt;/th&gt;
&lt;th&gt;Description&lt;/th&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/thead&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Google&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Most goggle tools support markdown, docs, sheets, etc.&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Outlook&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Although I hate outlook email client, it does support markdown.&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Dillinger.io&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;An online tool for writing / previewing markdown&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;MarkText&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;A multi-platform editor for writing markdown&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can use tools such as &lt;a href="https://pandoc.org/#"&gt;pandoc&lt;/a&gt; to convert Markdown files to other formats.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/articles/images/2023-10-21-pandoc.gif" alt="pandoc" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hope that you take the time to research and see if Markdown is good fit for your document /&lt;br /&gt;
content creation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading until the end!&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/the-struggle/</id>
<title>The Struggle</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T20:53:34Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a get stuff of my chest article. Probably going to be a mixture of ranting and whining. If&lt;br /&gt;
that is not your cup of tea then feel free to skip this article.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The struggle&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It has been one of those “when it rains, it pours” type of weeks. As write this, I feel like a baby&lt;br /&gt;
/ complainer, which is not my intention, but here it goes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My aunt had a stroke and is likely not going to make it through the week. My aunt has always lived&lt;br /&gt;
in Florida during my life / memory, but has always come to visit. She is my moms oldest sister (9&lt;br /&gt;
years apart), so she helped raise my mother growing up. Theyve always had a close relationship and&lt;br /&gt;
are like two peas in a pod. They would always visit us, especially while my grand-parents were still&lt;br /&gt;
alive. She is currently not really awake or expected to make it. She does not eat / drink and&lt;br /&gt;
theyve basically just been making her comfortable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of my employees broke his neck over the weekend. I dont have a ton of details on this subject,&lt;br /&gt;
but he had surgery to fuse some discs back together and should eventually be ok, however it will be&lt;br /&gt;
a long recovery time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A few weeks ago, I commited one of the deadly sins of running a blower door test without checking /&lt;br /&gt;
asking about the fireplaces, which caused lord knows how much damage from the soot that was spread&lt;br /&gt;
throughout the living room(s).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An online friend lost her mother.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All of these things have just got me emotional.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;My secrets&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am an emotional person, sometimes to my detriment. Im prone to fits of anger and depression. I&lt;br /&gt;
spent many years masking things through alcohol abuse and many other idiotic tendencies. I still&lt;br /&gt;
drink on occasion, but not as I once did.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I often put my faith in folks, even if I havent met them in person, this can often lead to being&lt;br /&gt;
let down. I guess I struggle sometimes with the reality of online relationships. I think that people&lt;br /&gt;
are genuine, because Im that way (how I act online is the same as I act in person for the most&lt;br /&gt;
part). I will happily show / share the good and the bad, in hopes that someone may learn. This is&lt;br /&gt;
not at all something to be ashamed of, or anything that Id like to change, however it does on&lt;br /&gt;
occasion lead me into turmoil when I find out some true identity / personality of someone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hold grudges, like forever grudges. It is very hard for me to get over somethings, even if I want&lt;br /&gt;
to. I can sometimes put things out of my mind, but when Im spinning, they will resurface. I want to&lt;br /&gt;
forgive people, but it is just not the way it works for me often times. It takes a lot to get me&lt;br /&gt;
beyond my breaking point, but once someone has gotten me there, there is likely no turning back for&lt;br /&gt;
that person. Luckily, I can count on one hand the number of folks that Ive had to cut out of my&lt;br /&gt;
life for these reasons. Id love to say that Im a bigger / better person, that I forgive them, but&lt;br /&gt;
truthfully I do not.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My emotions sometimes make me say things publicly that I should keep to myself. I dont have a lot&lt;br /&gt;
of regret around these things, because I generally mean what I say, and also feel we are entitled to&lt;br /&gt;
opinions as well as entitled to change those opinions as often as we see fit. Although I dont&lt;br /&gt;
regret them per-se, it does make me wonder what type of impression it leaves (something for future&lt;br /&gt;
pondering, perhaps).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Im one of those that says “I dont care what they think about me”, when I really do care what&lt;br /&gt;
people think about me. This often leads to fear and anxiety, especially in social settings. Im not&lt;br /&gt;
the greatest at conversation, Im better at writing or some interaction that gives me a bit of time&lt;br /&gt;
to think before responding. Therefore, Im quick to make a joke or something rather than having&lt;br /&gt;
thoughtful / genuine responses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Community&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All of these things have just got me thinking about community. Community is an aspect that seems&lt;br /&gt;
distant nowadays, even though we have more opportunity than ever. We call ourselves part of&lt;br /&gt;
communities, especially online, but Im not convinced that it is really community (or at least not&lt;br /&gt;
most of the time, not saying it cant be / in absolute terms).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I have met a lot of folks online that I consider true friends. Friends that I would do anything for&lt;br /&gt;
and feel they would do anything for me, just like my real life friends who have stuck with me for&lt;br /&gt;
many years. These are people that challenge me and how I think on a regular basis. They do their&lt;br /&gt;
best to lift me up when Im down.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Its easy to hide when so much of our interactions are not really in person, to feel like the&lt;br /&gt;
relationships we do have are not genuine, but thats awfully cynical. I prefer to give people the&lt;br /&gt;
benefit / trust they deserve until, at least until they dont then see my part about holding grudges&lt;br /&gt;
;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Do you ever feel the same? Instead of being cynical and down, today, Im trying to be positive. Im&lt;br /&gt;
trying to share a little bit of what I feel community should be. Although, Ive never met HVAChicks&lt;br /&gt;
Jennifer in real life, I read today about her mom and decided to take an hour or so to put together&lt;br /&gt;
a website for the &lt;a href="https://hvachicks.com"&gt;HVAChicks Community&lt;/a&gt;, hoping it would bring a moment of&lt;br /&gt;
happiness to her day. While Ive deployed several websites in the past, this one for some reason was&lt;br /&gt;
a total PITA, but I got through it. I could feel how grateful she was when I shared it with her (and&lt;br /&gt;
its basic AF), but that truly made me feel useful / great after being down in the dumps for a bit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ive probably rambled enough and am losing direction here, so I will end with a few things.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Build the community around you that you want / deserve.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Dont be so quick to pass judgment.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Spend time with your loved ones, while you can.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Tell someone you love them.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Finally, Id like to shout out some people that Im grateful for. This is non-exhaustive list, if I&lt;br /&gt;
left you off, Im sorry and please do not take it personally.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Bryan Orr
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Bryan has cultivated an awesome group / community that Im proud to be a part of. His time and&lt;br /&gt;
commitment to the HVAC industry is something that I hope he himself is proud of. Without Bryan,&lt;br /&gt;
mostly all the following names would not even be in my vocabulary.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ty Branaman (forget exactly how to spell his last name).
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Ty has such a great personality during his videos / training and Im sure its a struggle to be&lt;br /&gt;
positive all the time, however it brings me hope and joy everytime!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Dustin (mother fn) Cole
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Dustin is like a brother that I never had, hes a true master of his craft and I know that I&lt;br /&gt;
can rely on him anytime I need it!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Genry Garcia
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The cuban crusader who has taught me so much about home performance, and especially ZPD (baby,&lt;br /&gt;
baby)!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Chris Hughes
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Its hard to put into words here, but I know that Chris is there to talk when I need it and&lt;br /&gt;
hes a great motivator because of his action items :)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Eric Kaiser
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;I think genuine when I think of Eric, I hear his voice in my head when I write reports because&lt;br /&gt;
of guidance he has given in the past. He truly wants to help teach people.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Michael Cianfracco (??)
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Man does he make me laugh and we share a passion for the 4-Roses.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;HVAChicks Jennifer (Ill butcher her last name from memory)
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Jennifer is inspiring with her goals and everything she does to help anyone in the industry. I&lt;br /&gt;
cant wait to meet her in person one day soon!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;HVAC Overtime Crew
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Im lumping these guys together because I truly enjoy when Im able to make their live stream&lt;br /&gt;
on Fridays. And I interact with A-Team a lot and really appreciate him / them!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alicia Hollon
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alicia is so awesome to me, I mean she just made my favorite pancakes and sausage for dinner,&lt;br /&gt;
love you babe!&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lastly, I have to shout out to my mom. I know shes going through a rough time with my aunt&lt;br /&gt;
currently. My mother is the kindest gentlest soul that Ive ever met. I look up to all 5 of her!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At any rate, thanks for sticking it out to the end through my ramblings. Be kind to someone today&lt;br /&gt;
and tomorrow!&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>http://localhost:3000/articles/2023/calculate-seer-degradation-by-age/</id>
<title>Calculate SEER Degradation by Age</title>
<updated>2025-02-19T21:55:30Z</updated>
<content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a quick tech-tip to learn how to calculate the degradation of SEER based&lt;br /&gt;
on age.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The degradation of SEER is due to fouling of the evaporator coil with dirt and&lt;br /&gt;
refrigerant charge losses. It should be noted that this is not true for all&lt;br /&gt;
applications, but is used as an estimation based on research done by the &lt;code&gt;DOE&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
of the average degradation based on systems tested.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Formula&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is the formula used to calculate the SEER based on age of the evaporator&lt;br /&gt;
coil / air handler.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;$$ SEER_d = SEER_n \times (1 - M)^{age} $$&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;| Where | |&lt;br /&gt;
| | —————————————— | — |&lt;br /&gt;
| $SEER_d$ | Degradated SEER rating |&lt;br /&gt;
| $SEER_n$ | Nominal SEER rating when equipment was new |  |&lt;br /&gt;
| M | Maintenance factor, 0.01-0.03 |&lt;br /&gt;
| age | The age of the equipment, in years |&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The maintenance factor of 0.01 is for expertly maintained equipment and 0.03 is&lt;br /&gt;
for unmaintained. The maintenance factor in essence is based on 1%-3%&lt;br /&gt;
degradation per year, however there are some&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="https://publications.energyresearch.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/FSEC-PF-474-18.pdf"&gt;studies&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
that show that this can actually be as high as 5% or above depending on climate.&lt;br /&gt;
We could use up to 0.05 as the maintenance factor, just to see what the “range”&lt;br /&gt;
of degradation would be.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Interestingly, the study linked also shows that the degradation is higher the&lt;br /&gt;
higher the tonnage of the equipment. It also shows that the degradation is lower&lt;br /&gt;
per year the higher the nominal SEER rating of the system (which is corelated to&lt;br /&gt;
using TXVs and lower airflow rates because of the equipment having multiple&lt;br /&gt;
stages).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Example&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lets consider that we have a 13 SEER piece of equipment that was matched when&lt;br /&gt;
installed and the system is 15 years old.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Plugging those numbers into our formula.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h4&gt;Lowest Range (1% degradation / year)&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;$$ SEER_d = 13 \times (1 - 0.01)^{15} = 11.2 $$&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;h4&gt;Highest Rage (5% degradation / year)&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p&gt;$$ SEER_d = 13 \times (1 - 0.05)^{15} = 6 $$&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An expertly maintained system may not have degraded that much, with an 11.2 SEER&lt;br /&gt;
vs. a poorly maintained / dirty system that also suffers from refrigerant charge&lt;br /&gt;
losses can be as low as 6 SEER.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thanks for learning how to estimate SEER degradation based on equipment age!&lt;/p&gt;</content>
</entry>
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