To watch a video version of this podcast, click here: https://youtu.be/eVsiOW_Ynig
In today’s episode, Reuben and Tessa reflect on their holiday experiences and catch up on recent home projects, sharing practical insights on everything from snowblowers to indoor air quality concerns. They dive deeper into the complexities of health issues tied to home environments and discuss water quality challenges in Tessa’s new Florida residence. Along the way, the conversation highlights the difficulties of identifying and resolving these issues while underscoring the importance of family, transitions, and new beginnings.
Check this link for my power shovel demo video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/FzCBk2Z1jpc?si=9iYfiCXwn88r8GD0
Takeaways
Time seems to speed up as we grow older.
Spending time with family is invaluable.
Snowblowers can be enjoyable to use.
Indoor air quality can significantly affect health.
Home diagnostics can be complex and frustrating.
Water quality issues can arise from various sources.
It’s important to investigate health symptoms thoroughly.
New beginnings can bring both challenges and opportunities.
Collaboration in the industry can lead to better solutions.
Listening to others’ experiences can provide valuable insights.
Chapters
00:00 New Year Reflections and Family Time
02:51 Home Projects and Snowblower Insights
05:59 HRV Troubles and Indoor Air Quality
12:01 Mystery Health Issues and Home Diagnostics
23:37 Water Quality Concerns and Solutions
30:02 New Beginnings in Florida
TRANSCRIPTION
The following is an AI-generated transcription from an audio recording. Although the transcription is mostly accurate, it will contain some errors due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
Reuben Saltzman: Welcome to my house. Welcome to the Structure Talk podcast, a production of Structure Tech Home Inspections. My name is Reuben Saltzman. I’m your host alongside building science geek, Tessa Murry. We help home inspectors up their game through education, and we help homeowners to be better stewards of their houses. We’ve been keeping it real on this podcast since 2019, and we are also the number one home inspection podcast in the world, according to my mom.
Reuben Saltzman (00:00.94)
Welcome back to the show. Happy New Year, Tessa. How are you doing this wonderful day?
Tessa Murry (00:04.294)
Wow.
Happy New Year. It’s kind of surreal that it’s 2026. I mean, I feel like I say that every year now, but doesn’t it just seem like time is speeding up? Like, I cannot believe 2025 is over.
Reuben Saltzman (00:19.232)
It is a universal truth that time speeds up for everybody. It’s universal. It happens.
Tessa Murry (00:21.894)
you
Tessa Murry (00:26.832)
Yes. Yes. Yeah, I’m just, yeah, so I’m trying to catch up to everything, but it’s good to see you, Ruben, and we’ve taken a little break here over the holidays, which was kind of nice. That’s fine.
Reuben Saltzman (00:36.982)
It’s been weeks, weeks as you know, we record these on Thursdays and you had New Year’s was a Thursday and Christmas was a Thursday this year. And I don’t remember what happened with the other one.
Tessa Murry (00:48.462)
I I canceled one because I was traveling or something. And yeah, it’s been a while. It’s good to see you though. We’re back at it. We’re back at it. Yeah. Well, so I want to hear about your holidays, Ruben, and a quick update on your life. Let’s hear what’s new for you. What’s going on?
Reuben Saltzman (00:51.203)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (00:55.362)
Yeah, we’re back at it. We’re back at it.
Reuben Saltzman (01:05.998)
Okay, well, holidays were great. You know, I had both kids at home. I’ve got my son and my daughter. They’re both in high school. And I feel like it was the most unproductive two weeks I have ever had in my life. It is I mean, it was fun. It was a lot of time with them a lot of time with the family. And it’s fine. It’s it’s fine. I don’t mind it. But then it’s like,
Tessa Murry (01:21.112)
I know that’s hard for you.
Tessa Murry (01:29.402)
Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (01:34.488)
get back into school and all of a sudden I don’t have interruptions every five minutes and I can just focus and get stuff done. It’s it’s nice to have that too. But these are times that I will never get back with the kids. And so when they’re around, it’s like I’m not trying to shoo them out. I’m trying to spend time with them. And I realize this is all going to be gone quickly. And like you just said, time speeds up. I mean, these are those things where I’m going to look back and I’m to be like,
Tessa Murry (01:42.758)
It’s nice. Yep.
Tessa Murry (01:58.701)
It does.
Reuben Saltzman (02:02.872)
I should have spent even more time with them. Should have taken more time off. But I mean, let’s be honest, I took a lot of time off for the last two weeks. We spent plenty of time just hanging out together. So.
Tessa Murry (02:08.112)
Thanks.
Tessa Murry (02:14.278)
You know, I feel that way too. like man, I went to Minnesota to visit family. My sister and her family, two nephews live up there, so do my parents. And so I went back to visit them for the holidays and it went by so fast. Every moment I could spend with my nephews I did because they’re just, at such a cute age. Sammy is four and Micah is almost two and they’re just…
They’re hilarious. They’re starting to say, we’re, Micah’s starting to talk now. And we went sledding because there was tons of snow. Minnesota has tons of snow this year. we went, we went sledding and Micah who, he’s a daredevil. Sammy’s a little bit more shy. Sam went down first on his mom’s lap and Micah watched that said, Micah, do you want to go on Auntie T’s lap or mom’s lap? And he said, Micah, self.
Reuben Saltzman (02:51.522)
Yeah, it’s great.
Tessa Murry (03:10.022)
And I was like, you want to go by yourself? And it was a steep hill. And he goes, yeah, yeah. And I was like, Danielle, do you think that’s safe? And she’s like, I don’t know about that. was like, what if I release him halfway down the hill? And he’s sitting on one of those blow up inner tubes, you know, and he can’t even hold on to little mitten hands. And I was like, okay, I’ll release him halfway down. And I was like, well, maybe we should take the smaller part of the hill first. he’s like, he’s like, Micah, fast. And he pointed to the big, the biggest spot on the hill.
Reuben Saltzman (03:25.186)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (03:39.662)
like, okay, he wants to go fast. And I let him go and he just whooshed down the hill and he had such a great time. He wanted to keep doing it over and over and over. So my point though is at the end of you know, Constant Family 24 seven, no breaks. I think we’re all ready to kind of get back. Get back into a regular routine. I am. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (03:48.726)
I love it.
Reuben Saltzman (04:04.706)
Yes, yes, yes.
Tessa Murry (04:08.432)
Well what else happened Ruben? Anything else going on this year?
Reuben Saltzman (04:12.276)
Well, you know, I’ve got all kinds of stuff to talk about for home projects and home woes. I mean, there’s lots of other stuff going on that we could we could save for another episode. first off, just something that I thought of when you’re talking about all the snow we got this year. It’s been years since I’ve used a snow blower. I bought a new snow blower several years ago. I think it was like three years ago and
Tessa Murry (04:17.584)
So.
Yes. Okay.
Tessa Murry (04:32.806)
You
Reuben Saltzman (04:42.19)
I never put gas in it the first year. I think I put gas in it last year and I used it once and so far it’s just sat. But this is a year where it’s gotten a lot of use. And I got to talk about snowblowers for a quick sec. I know you really care Tess, living in sunny Florida.
Tessa Murry (04:48.395)
Wow.
Tessa Murry (05:00.298)
It’s not super relevant to me anymore, but I bet to the majority of our listeners, they’re curious. You’ve got their attention.
Reuben Saltzman (05:06.99)
Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, for the few people who get snow, I’ll tell you, you you get you get a few different types of snowblowers out there. You got the single stage where you got just this this impeller that spins really fast and it’s got these rubber blades. I don’t know what you call them. They spin real fast and they throw the snow. That’s a single stage. Then you got the two stage where you’ve got a relatively slow metal logger that chops up the snow and it
brings it inside of itself. And then he got a second thing that shoots it up and out and throw it and it throws it really far. That’s a two stage. It’s doing two different things. But but Toro has got this other one and it’s it’s kind of a hybrid. It’s it’s basically it’s a it’s a single stage. But it’s a turbocharged single stage where it’s it’s got just a gigantic
Tessa Murry (05:40.974)
Okay. Yes. Okay.
Tessa Murry (05:59.248)
Hmm.
Reuben Saltzman (06:01.87)
Scantic mouth and it’s actually self-propelled so it’s something right in between the two and I I had a neighbor who had one and I tried his out many years ago and I just went whoa This is the greatest thing ever. So that’s what I ended up buying. It’s it’s kind of the toro hybrid thing and I Don’t know every time it snows. I feel like you would have to pay me to use my snowblower. I enjoy using it that much
Tessa Murry (06:13.636)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (06:21.797)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (06:31.896)
It’s just, it’s a delight.
Tessa Murry (06:33.616)
they’re doing everybody sidewalk and everybody’s drive. Are you that neighbor?
Reuben Saltzman (06:36.8)
I should be I should be I don’t because like everybody else has snowblowers and they don’t need me mucking up their yards. But if I had elderly neighbors or something like that, I would definitely be over there taking care of their yards because it’s just a blast.
Tessa Murry (06:47.288)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (06:51.968)
Well, I was gonna say, how many times have you used it this winter?
Reuben Saltzman (06:55.358)
half a dozen maybe. And we’re only at the beginning of the year. So I’ve got a lot more comment.
Tessa Murry (06:56.518)
More- Yeah, I was gonna say, it- Yeah.
It was, yeah, was snowing every day while I was in Minnesota. And you guys had like a big winter storm the day before I flew in too, which made me nervous about even if my flight was going be canceled, but it wasn’t. But yeah, you guys have had a lot of snow this winter. So I’m glad you finally get to use your snowblower. And I did not know that there were these different stages. So there you go. You taught me something new.
Reuben Saltzman (07:13.609)
sure, yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (07:18.22)
Yes. Yes.
Yep, they’re all out there. And then and then there’s one other one that I got a I got a comment on, which is something called a power shovel. Now one of my family members ended up buying a power shovel. And it’s it’s it’s basically think of a snowblower think of like this little wheel that sits right down by the ground attached to a stick. And you pull the trigger and this little wheel spins. And it just it just kind of shoots the snow from ground level straight out.
Tessa Murry (07:35.558)
Just kidding.
Tessa Murry (07:46.746)
Thanks.
Reuben Saltzman (07:52.812)
I mean, it’s the most basic device in the world. And I’ve always sneered at those, like who would ever want one of these things? You’re never going to clear your driveway with it. But I had a family member buy one and he bought the Ryobi one. know, Ryobi’s got a line of tools for just about anything you can imagine that all take the same battery. And he raved about it. So I ended up buying one myself just to clear off the deck and clear off some stuff in the backyard. Cause I don’t want to take my small blower back there.
Tessa Murry (08:02.928)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:11.908)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:21.251)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (08:21.858)
I don’t remember what I paid. think it was about a hundred bucks for this thing. And it’s the greatest little gadget. It clears like a little 10 inch path. And one, I don’t know how much of my battery it takes up, but it can definitely do all the work I need to have done in less than one battery charge. And it’s the greatest little thing. So I’ve always sneered at these little power shovels, but I think the current version that runs on that runoff lithium ion batteries.
Tessa Murry (08:25.072)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:33.574)
cute
Reuben Saltzman (08:51.298)
They’re great little tools. Maybe not what you’d use to clear a whole driveway, but if you got the little stuff, sidewalks, back deck, whatever great tool. That’s my two cents on tools today. Okay. I’m not writing a product review. Just got to say this was a delightful little purchase. A little something for me for Christmas. There.
Tessa Murry (08:58.874)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (09:10.918)
want to see a picture of you next to it, Ruben. You should have Anna take a picture of you.
Reuben Saltzman (09:15.086)
Okay, I will do that and I will include it in the podcast. How’s that? Okay. All right. All right. I got to make myself a note here. Power shovel photo. All right.
Tessa Murry (09:18.982)
Okay good good good. Hey can it pick up and blow dog hair Ruben?
Reuben Saltzman (09:29.294)
If it did, my wife would be using it inside the house. You know this. Yes. I haven’t tried it yet though and I’m not gonna. Yeah, that’d be, I don’t want it inside the house. But okay, all right. Here’s another one. Speaking of inside the house, I’ve talked about this on the podcast many times about how my HRV, I’ve got problems with my heat recovery ventilator, at least.
Tessa Murry (09:33.624)
you
Tessa Murry (09:39.839)
Bitch! Don’t give her any ideas! that’s good.
Tessa Murry (09:56.953)
Yes.
Reuben Saltzman (09:57.346)
I thought I did. tried to get to the bottom of it. I ended up ruining my old HRV, had to have the whole thing replaced, got a new one. And then it felt like every time I turned it on, I’d get sneezy. I’d get these cold like symptoms. And I’ve got this cold spot on the floor in my entryway. When you walk into the house, you go about 12 feet into the house and there’s a cold spot.
Tessa Murry (10:10.992)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (10:22.952)
And I mean, you can feel it. You put your foot there and it’s like, it’s cold. You shoot it with an infrared camera. It’s about a one foot circle where it’s really cold. And what I concluded was that one of the ducts for my HRV, the big insulated tubes, surely became disconnected and it’s sucking all kinds of contaminant from the ceiling space and distributing those throughout the rest of the house. And maybe that’s what’s making me sneezy and get sick.
Tessa Murry (10:33.03)
So you’re
Tessa Murry (10:40.421)
Mm-hmm.
Reuben Saltzman (10:52.394)
I’ve been meaning to open up my ceiling to figure out exactly what’s wrong. Well, I finally got around to doing it. Tess, I open up the ceiling.
Tessa Murry (10:58.214)
In those two weeks, with all that family time, you got to take a little… Yeah. Okay. You find.
Reuben Saltzman (11:03.166)
Yeah, had to spend some time doing this and I’ll tell you what what what really motivated motivated me to do this is it was really cold like you said and I was getting crazy condensation on all my windows. I mean when it’s negative 10 out or whatever you get condensation on the windows and eventually it’s gonna wreck your windows frost is gonna make its way up into the attic. I mean
Tessa Murry (11:15.11)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (11:24.536)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (11:31.92)
Yep.
Reuben Saltzman (11:32.408)
houses should not be subject to this kind of condensation. And so to fix the condensation, every time it got really cold, I would turn on my kitchen hood fan on low and I would just leave my kitchen hood fan running until the condensation was gone from all my windows. Because I mean, it’s an exhaust only ventilation system. It does work. It’s a huge energy penalty. I’m replacing all of that air with outdoor air.
Tessa Murry (11:37.211)
Thank
Tessa Murry (11:48.037)
Wow.
Reuben Saltzman (12:01.784)
coming straight into the house, but it was very effective. I’d turn on my kitchen fan and then I’d wake up the next morning and all of the condensation would be gone from all of the windows in my house.
Tessa Murry (12:01.847)
Yeah.
you.
Tessa Murry (12:13.912)
That’s fast. Did you track your indoor relative humidity? I wonder at what point it went from overnight running that fan, like if it went from 30 or something. I’m very curious. Because you’ve got a fairly large house with a lot of windows, so that’s impressive running that fan did the job. You must have a leaky enough house or it’s pulling air from the combustion make-up air or something like that.
Reuben Saltzman (12:22.604)
I, you know, I didn’t.
Reuben Saltzman (12:30.978)
Yeah, a lot of windows.
Reuben Saltzman (12:36.963)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (12:42.018)
That’s what it’s doing. think most of it’s coming from the combustion slash make up air duct. You know, it’s a big insulated duct that goes down in the furnace room and it’s, big enough to supply all that air. So that’s where it’s coming from. And it just, it’s changing out the air in the house and that will eliminate condensation. mean, and my point in bringing this up is if, if you are living in a house where you don’t have a heat recovery ventilator or an energy recovery, recovery ventilator, something that’s going to change out the air.
Tessa Murry (12:43.438)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yep.
Nice. Okay. Huh.
Reuben Saltzman (13:11.99)
You can do what I call the poor man’s HRV. You just turn on your bathroom exhaust fan or you turn on your kitchen hood fan and you let that thing run. Huh?
Tessa Murry (13:20.091)
Crack a window. And crack a window if you don’t have a makeup error.
Reuben Saltzman (13:26.262)
Yeah, yeah, crack a window in an area where it’s not going to be uncomfortable for you to have that air coming in, you know, don’t do it in your living room, maybe. But in you’re changing out the air in the house. And that will eliminate the condensation eventually you just pay an energy penalty for it. But for me, I’d much rather pay the small energy penalty than deal with windows that get ruined. Right?
Tessa Murry (13:44.143)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (13:49.095)
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that is some serious motivation. Okay. So let’s go back. Let’s go back to this part where you opened up your ceiling. What did you find?
Reuben Saltzman (13:59.232)
Okay, yes. so what brought me to that was, all right, look, this is ridiculous. I’m running my kitchen hood fan and paying this big energy penalty. I need to get my HRV working again. And I’ve been putting this off. I just didn’t want to cut a big old hole in my ceiling, but I did. And, and so, you know, I, I used my, my multi tool. It’s the little thing that vibrates very quickly and makes a nice straight line. I must’ve spent a half hour.
Tessa Murry (14:10.202)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (14:14.212)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (14:26.238)
marking out exactly where my cuts are going to be. It felt like that was the most tedious part of the project because I wanted to make the marks right in the middle of the floor joists and I wanted this to be perfectly square and I didn’t want it to be ugly. it’s, you know, it’s a perfectly square thing. I marked it all in pencil, made the cuts. I used a magnet to figure out where the extra screws were and then
found the screws, backed them out of the drywall, then the two foot by two foot square came straight down. That’s on my Joister space, or two feet on center. Got the thing down. And what I, well, you know, it’s in a very conspicuous spot. It’s right in the middle of a finished basement living room area. So I didn’t want it to be super ugly. And then what I found was extremely unsatisfying.
Tessa Murry (14:55.797)
my gosh.
Tessa Murry (15:01.162)
Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. You thought that one through, didn’t you?
Tessa Murry (15:15.534)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (15:23.27)
What?
Reuben Saltzman (15:25.166)
I probably could have figured this out if I had thought it through enough. It’s directly the the area where my floor gets cold is directly above a big beam that runs through the middle of my house and that beam takes up almost the entire floor space. I mean, it goes down to the ceiling in the basement and it goes up almost all the way.
Tessa Murry (15:33.794)
Thanks for watching.
Tessa Murry (15:42.224)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (15:52.77)
to the floor that you’re walking on on the first floor. And the duct for the HRV, the flexible HRV duct got smushed in between my floor and the beam. So this six inch duct is pushed down to approximately two and a half inches thick. I mean, they took this big round thing and they just smushed it. So it’s pressing right up against the floor. And that’s what’s making the floor cold.
Tessa Murry (16:01.638)
Bye.
Tessa Murry (16:06.214)
you
Tessa Murry (16:15.434)
my gosh. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (16:22.766)
So it is pulling air in from the outside, from that duct. It’s just touching the underside of the floor so you can really see it there because it’s squished. Okay, so also, I mean, you know, upon installation of these, this equipment, like the duct work is not supposed to be squished, correct? Like it’s supposed to be fully open and also that will impact, like, is it balanced? How much air is it pulling in? How much air is it pushing out? Like, so…
Reuben Saltzman (16:26.85)
Yeah.
Precisely. Precisely.
Reuben Saltzman (16:41.932)
No, no.
Reuben Saltzman (16:50.403)
Yes.
Tessa Murry (16:51.642)
I’m sure that’s something that you’re not fixing or capable of fixing, but does it make you wonder about is it pressurizing your house or depressurizing your house when it turns on? Is it balanced?
Reuben Saltzman (17:03.074)
That was my first thought right away is exactly what you brought up tests. How was this affecting stuff? But then I realized, you know when they installed this I asked him how are you guys gonna balance this? don’t see any balancing ports on here or anything or balancing dampers. Well Most of the new models you install are self balancing They’ve got a little computer chip in there and they figure out exactly how much is coming in and going out and they balance themselves and nothing needs to be done. So Yeah
Tessa Murry (17:07.43)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (17:30.95)
Is that the version you have? okay. Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (17:32.908)
Yeah, it is. So, so I’m really not all that concerned about this compromising performance. mean, it’s dumb. And at some point it’s, it’s, it’s surely not helping, but it’s not a big thing and it’s surely not worth any of my effort to try to fix it.
Tessa Murry (17:41.612)
Yeah. No.
Tessa Murry (17:52.673)
So, the mystery of why you get sneezy when it turns on. Have you figured that one out?
Reuben Saltzman (17:59.296)
Okay, great question. I turned on my HRV probably three weeks ago. That’s probably how long ago I did this. And I have not been sneezey or coughing or anything since. So all of these issues that I was having when I would turn that on were purely coincidental.
Tessa Murry (18:00.423)
Is it mold in the duck?
Tessa Murry (18:08.646)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (18:17.743)
Wait.
Tessa Murry (18:24.211)
Or, hasn’t there been a change? Didn’t you replace the core?
Reuben Saltzman (18:28.726)
No, I started having problems with the new one too. I mean, I’d run this new one and I had problems. I thought it was the core of the old one. I thought once I replace it, it’ll eliminate all my problems. I put in the new one and it didn’t. And that’s why I thought it’s something else.
Tessa Murry (18:31.716)
Wow.
Yeah.
And it did. Gosh. Okay, so that’s super frustrating. Okay. Very unsatisfying. Okay, at least you have a pretty hole in your ceiling though. Well, I’m sure you put the sheetrock back up and you can barely see it, huh?
Reuben Saltzman (18:47.286)
Super frustrating, very unsatisfying. Yes. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (18:57.856)
You know, you’re kind of right. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. mean, I’ll still need to patch it. I’ll probably get my dad to come over and help me patch it because I’m no good at patching popcorn ceilings. He’s probably better at that than I am. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (19:01.878)
Yeah.
I mean, me neither. That’s a special skill. Well, it’s going to say, know, Ruben, all, this all reminds me, I’ve got a client, long time client in the Twin Cities area. It’s a family that bought a house built in the late 60s, I want to say, two story house, pretty simple design, just a rectangle. And since they moved in, they’ve had all these health problems. And
one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to another. And I’ve probably brought up this story before on the podcast, but they ended up realizing that they had mold in the walls and they had stucco and they had kind of a mixture of different sidings and they had buffalo board and windows weren’t flashed properly. And so they ended up basically rebuilding this house from
the exterior in. I mean, first they started by gutting the kitchen and bathroom and spending tens of thousands on mold remediation in those rooms. And then we’re still sick. Gutted a newly finished basement, still sick. And then I got involved. And that’s when I was like, okay, well, I think you need to do intrusive moisture testing or some more investigation here because of what I’m seeing on the siding and the type of house you have.
what the wall sheathing is made out of. And sure enough, they peeled it back and they’ve got all these problems. And so they ended up rebuilding all the exterior walls, all new insulation. did exterior rigid foam insulation. They did rock wool. And they put in new ventilation everywhere. And all this to say, I just talked to this client, actually, like last night, she’s still having symptoms. And it’s…
Tessa Murry (20:58.242)
It’s similar to what like carbon monoxide poisoning, like she feels lightheaded, she feels a little like she can’t focus, sometimes she feels dizzy. And it comes and it goes. And she does have a gas stove top, an electric oven. And they also have a wood burning masonry fireplace that has a gas insert in it. And they have a power vent water heater. And I think they have a high efficiency furnace. so
I was going through with her trying to figure out, problem solve, okay, is it carbon monoxide poisoning? What could it be? And she talked to another person who was an air quality expert and they brought up the idea that it could actually be her chimney that could be creating issues. Because apparently, creosote, like exposure to creosote and those toxins on the inside of a wood burning chimney can make you feel sick and make you feel that way too.
Reuben Saltzman (21:52.237)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (21:55.079)
And so I talked to her about that and she said she smelled for the very first time this summer after the house had basically gotten all new siding, all new windows, new attic insulation, all new interiors. The very first time she started smelling the chimney in her house. Like that smell of, you know, when you have a campfire or you just burn wood. She started smelling that, but only in August.
Reuben Saltzman (21:56.119)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (22:19.853)
Yeah, yeah.
Tessa Murry (22:24.888)
or it didn’t start until like late summer. So and she feels she usually feels sick in her kitchen though, not in her living room. So first of all, I’m like, okay, can we just make sure it’s not carbon monoxide poisoning that you’re having? Like, you know, make sure it so we went through all that checked every box off. You know, gas fireplace doesn’t seem to be leaking co
Reuben Saltzman (22:28.193)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (22:50.374)
She has a low level carbon monoxide detector that she’s been using since I talked to her and she’s been monitoring that. And every once in a while she’ll get like seven parts per million here or there when she’s cooking, but she opens up the window. She also turns on the hood vent, which is a giant range hood. And so I was thinking, well, could it be the chimney? I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anybody being sick because of this, but doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
Reuben Saltzman (22:54.594)
Smart.
Tessa Murry (23:19.274)
And why would she be smelling it now? And my thoughts were that, okay, she’s taken this old house that used to be pretty leaky and now they’ve tightened the whole thing up. The building envelope is much more tight and they’ve added a big kitchen exhaust range hood and bath fans. And I don’t know if she has a combustion make-up air. I think she said she might, but not sure, 100%. So when they’ve got the AC running, where is the, well…
Basically, when you’ve got, you know, it’s cold in the house, hot outside, that vapor pressure is pushing from outside to inside and the airflow is kind of moving from warm to cold. So we’ve got that happening. But then also, if she’s using her range hood when she’s cooking or other bath fans and exhausting air, it’s gonna be pulling her from somewhere. And so even though she’s got a gas insert, there’s little gaps around that insert that she’s smelling her original wood burning fireplace through.
Reuben Saltzman (24:16.898)
Sure. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (24:18.038)
So I said, okay, well, we’ve got potentially like pressure issues in your house too, and some air leakage. And someone had recommended to her that she take out the gas insert and clean the original chimney. And that would fix it. And I was like, I don’t think that’s gonna do it. I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine. It’s a two story house. The chimney’s in the center of the house. They’d have to take apart the entire, you know.
Reuben Saltzman (24:35.31)
That’s a lot of work.
Tessa Murry (24:43.658)
the metal liner and get in there and then how do you actually really clean it perfectly to get all the creasso off and I was like I I don’t know that’s worth the time and the money and the effort is there a way you can try and seal between the gas insert and the yeah and the actual chimney structure itself so you don’t have that air leakage and air communication between the chimney and the house
Reuben Saltzman (25:05.986)
Yes.
Tessa Murry (25:07.686)
And so I like, I would try that first. That’s going to be a lot cheaper, a lot easier than taking out your gas insert. But also, is there something going on with the pressures in her house too, with this big new range hood and something else going on? But it doesn’t seem to be a CO issue. And so the last thing that we were both talking about, and she’s very scientific, but she’s at the end of her rope.
Reuben Saltzman (25:14.851)
huh.
Tessa Murry (25:36.199)
knowing what to do now. I mean, there’s nothing like they’ve done new mold tests and everything is coming back negative. Everything is mold cleared out. She’s like, maybe it’s EMFs. She’s like, when I’m on my first floor, I feel way worse than when I’m on my second floor. And there’s a lot more metal piping that could be bonded. there’s, you know, wiring running underneath the first floor between the basement ceiling and the first floor. And
So to me, that makes sense, I guess. could be sensitivity to that. That’s making her feel that way. I don’t know. It’s one of those things where, like you’re talking about, I mean, she’s spent, I’m sure they’ve spent hundreds of thousands on this house, completely redoing it. And they still don’t know why they’re feeling that way.
Reuben Saltzman (26:28.706)
Well, off the air, I’ve got an idea for a company that I would like to introduce her to. So you and I got to talk off the air and for any listeners, this is surely something that I’m going to come back to, but I’m not ready to present it yet. So I’ll just have to leave it as a teaser, but we’ll come back.
Tessa Murry (26:35.044)
yes please. Okay. Thanks.
Tessa Murry (26:44.569)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (26:48.13)
That sounds well, I appreciate that. I, you know, I was starting to talk to her too about just, okay, you know, if it is a pressures thing, you know, if you’re, you turn on your AC or you turn on your furnace, certain rooms are pressurized, certain rooms aren’t, is that creating some sort of issue too with pulling in contaminants from somewhere? And, and I mean, there’s a lot of testing, like detailed kind of pressure testing that could be done.
turning on the kitchen hood vent, turning on the bath fans, having the water heater and furnace run, turning on the gas insert, seeing what it’s like when it’s windy or not windy, turning on the AC or the furnace and measuring all the different pressures in the rooms and how it impacts it. like, I need someone who can do that type of testing that I can recommend too. And there’s just not a lot of people out there that can. I’ve got like one or two people in mind, but it’s…
Reuben Saltzman (27:37.816)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (27:45.095)
It’s difficult when you’ve got these complex things happening in these houses. There’s not a lot of skilled diagnosticians out there to do this type of work. So I feel for her. Yeah, no, I feel for her and her family for what they’re going through. And I want to try and figure this one out. But I am at a roadblock too, so.
Reuben Saltzman (27:58.752)
No, no, no, I don’t know anybody. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (28:13.422)
Sure, sure. And I take it she has not tried sealing around the gas fireplace yet, right? Okay. All right. All right. I’ll be interested to hear what ends up happening. Because that was exactly what I was thinking, Tess. It seems like that’s a great recommendation you made.
Tessa Murry (28:14.128)
Thanks for you. I was looking for this.
Not yet. I just talked to her last night. So we’ll see how that impacts her. Me too.
Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, good, good. Well, yes, anyways, sorry, I got on a tangent with that one. But it just your story reminded me of that because you’re feeling sick and you think you know what it is and you take it apart and then it’s not that and it’s like, what’s going on?
Reuben Saltzman (28:40.075)
yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (28:45.215)
Yeah, I was so convinced of what I was going to find there.
Tessa Murry (28:49.2)
You know, and I also, think too, part of it might also be like that they have had blood worked on to check for mold, like mitotoxins in their blood, and they’ve got high markers. And now that their house is testing negative, that there’s no mold, and they’ve done all these different types of mold tests to verify that it’s just maybe our bodies are holding on to…
the toxins and just little tiny things that wouldn’t normally irritate people when your body is already kind of maxed out, that it sets you, you know, over the edge and that if she can somehow detox or get that out of her body, that maybe her current house wouldn’t irritate her so much. I don’t know.
Reuben Saltzman (29:32.692)
Has she tried living somewhere else for a week or two to see if these symptoms go away?
Tessa Murry (29:36.486)
They had, throughout this whole process, they’ve had to move out of their house and move back in and move out and move back in. Every time they move out, they feel better.
Reuben Saltzman (29:44.904)
okay. All right. Got it. Yeah. Okay. That sucks. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (29:46.399)
Yeah, I know. Same thing. Same thing. yeah. Well, anyways. Yeah, there’s a lot of people that I work with that seem to have these kind of mystery health issues, then it’s not always, I can’t, not always able to solve them. So if someone listening has any recommendations on people who…
building scientists or diagnosticians who can do some more of these detailed tests that can help someone like this client of mine, please let us know.
Reuben Saltzman (30:21.762)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, like I said, I got one for you. We’ll talk about it off the air. But what what else is going on in your world test?
Tessa Murry (30:32.032)
Well, let’s see. I am now officially a resident of Florida. So that happened. Thank you. I, I still am doing some consulting work, although I will say my schedule availability is very limited right now to take new clients. I come back up to the Twin Cities, you know, every month, every other month, so I can see clients then new clients, but,
Reuben Saltzman (30:38.146)
High five, I think. Yes.
Tessa Murry (31:00.614)
But primarily this year, I’m going to be doing more work and collaborating with the Energy Conservatory and helping them out with their curriculum and training. So I’m looking forward to that. I’m going be doing some more traveling with that, some more teaching and speaking and curriculum development. So that’s been good. And yeah, 2025 was just a, it was a whirlwind coming down to Florida.
and all that life had in store for me. And I’m just kind of rolling with it. I’m happy. It’s sad not being close to family and friends and everything that I had up in Minnesota. But at the same time, I’ve kind of got a new life here in Florida that I’m very grateful for and feel very blessed and things are working out. So yeah, yeah, it’s good.
Reuben Saltzman (31:54.316)
Yeah, yeah, that’s good.
Tessa Murry (31:57.393)
That’s really good. Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (31:58.936)
Glad to hear it. You know, before we started the show, you mentioned something about having some stinky water down at your new place.
Tessa Murry (32:06.214)
Thanks for reminding me. Yes. Okay. So along the lines of your mystery with your HRV, so I just moved again. I moved I moved twice in 2025. Once from anyways, this is I’ve only been in this house now for a little less than a month. And there’s something going on with the water I cannot figure out. So we’re out kind of in the country.
in this like little kind of community, there’s little houses nearby and we all share a well. sometimes in the morning, the water stinks coming out of the faucets. And at first I’m like, oh man, is that sewer gas? Am I smelling the drain? Like, what is that? But no, it’s sulfury. It’s very sulfury. And in every sink, every faucet, the water coming out smells like that. It’s not just one in particular.
Reuben Saltzman (32:55.992)
Mmm.
Tessa Murry (33:03.11)
and it’s not every morning so I cannot figure out why. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (33:09.646)
And it’s the hot and the cold. Okay. Okay. All right. Have you had the water tested?
Tessa Murry (33:18.695)
No.
Reuben Saltzman (33:19.638)
Okay. All right. I am not a water expert by any means, but I mean, I’ve heard that what will fix this is shocking your well. And I can’t remember what that consists of. mean, what I want to say, and this can’t be right, is like the equivalent of like just pouring bleach down there. And I’m sure that’s not what it is. But it’s just it’s just what comes to my mind. So I don’t know exactly what they do. But
Tessa Murry (33:42.052)
Yeah, chemical. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (33:48.492)
They do something.
Tessa Murry (33:50.567)
So why, but why would it only smell like in the morning, like when you first turn on the water, it hasn’t been used for a while. And why would it only smell it like for a little while and then stop smelling?
Reuben Saltzman (34:02.43)
And yeah, and I don’t know. But my first thought would be you’ve got a bunch of water sitting there in the pipes and you’ve got this bacteria growing in there and the water has just been sitting stagnant. And that’s why it’s bad in the morning. And if you were to run the water for, you know, 20 minutes, it’s not going to stink anymore. That’s my theory.
Tessa Murry (34:11.461)
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (34:24.646)
Thanks.
Tessa Murry (34:28.71)
Well, so I was thinking about that too, but I didn’t think about, so it could be that it’s the pipes from the well to the houses that are the problem. The pipes.
Reuben Saltzman (34:39.192)
Hmm. I don’t think so, but I don’t know enough about it. I’m going way outside my lane here Tess. I probably shouldn’t even be seeing anything.
Tessa Murry (34:43.662)
Yeah. There’s some type of filtration. I was going to say I’ll have to do some research on this because I haven’t done any research yet and I don’t know much about wells either. But I know enough to know that smells like there’s a bacterial problem, but I just can’t figure out why it’s only certain times, a very small windows of time. But it would make sense that it’s in the pipes though because we have had power outages and we get a little bit of water for a while.
but then it stops. So whatever water is in the pipes, there’s quite a bit of water in the pipes from the well to the house that we can use once the power goes off that we still have water for a little while. But maybe that’s, and that’s the water that stinks.
Reuben Saltzman (35:19.085)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (35:23.352)
Well, you know, there’s a company we had on as a guest many years ago when Bill was still doing the podcast with us. was Aquarius.
Tessa Murry (35:34.15)
yeah. Yes, I do.
Reuben Saltzman (35:36.526)
You remember those guys and they specialize in water treatment and all that. And I had it on. They were kind of on my list to give them a call because I’ve got my own water problem. I’ve got a reverse osmosis system in my kitchen and I finally got around to replacing all of the filters. I went longer than I should have, but it’s five filters. It’s like, you know, the pre filter and the post filter and the taste filter. I don’t know what they all are, but I replaced them all.
Tessa Murry (35:41.25)
I’ll reach out to Aquarius.
Tessa Murry (35:47.462)
you
Hmm.
Tessa Murry (36:00.077)
or.
Reuben Saltzman (36:06.318)
I got these aftermarket filters. They weren’t as expensive as the brand name ones. And then my water just didn’t taste good. And like nobody in the family wants to drink it anymore. So, so it got to a point where I was like, all right, forget it. I’m buying the brand name filters and I bought the brand name filters, the OEM from APAC, A-P-E-C. That was the brand name. I bought the real ones. I replaced, I replaced them all and the water tastes exactly the same. It still tastes terrible, but
Tessa Murry (36:15.494)
Sure.
Tessa Murry (36:34.725)
What?
Reuben Saltzman (36:35.584)
It tasted great up until the point where I replaced my filters and I have no idea why. And I know it didn’t taste like this when I first installed the RO system. Then I am completely stumped. mean, and I got my whole family drinking tap water now. They will not drink the RO water, which is better for you. So maybe I need to get those guys on the podcast and we can just quiz them and they can sell their services.
Tessa Murry (36:40.006)
I’m sure.
Tessa Murry (36:45.68)
Yeah. That’s weird. That’s weird too. my gosh. Wow. Yeah. I’ll just do that.
Reuben Saltzman (37:05.207)
What do you say?
Tessa Murry (37:05.604)
Okay, and please, if anybody’s listening and has weird mystery water problems too, please write in and let us know what they are. We’ll, yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (37:12.908)
Yeah, help us.
Okay, all right, good. Well, I don’t know if we gave any great advice to anybody today. We just lamented about our own.
Tessa Murry (37:17.624)
Yeah, that sounds good.
Tessa Murry (37:23.746)
I gave zero great advice today. You gave some good insights, Reuben. I learned about snowblowers today.
Reuben Saltzman (37:29.454)
Very, very helpful for you, Tess. I’m so glad I could help you with that.
Tessa Murry (37:34.608)
will apply that knowledge maybe later.
Reuben Saltzman (37:37.428)
Never, hopefully. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, cool. I know you got to run. We’re bumping up against your schedule today. But for the listeners, if you got any thoughts for us, please don’t hesitate to write us. We love hearing from you. You can email us. It’s podcast at structuretech.com and we will catch you next time.
Tessa Murry (37:59.462)
Thanks for listening, everybody.
Reuben Saltzman (38:01.4)
Take care.
Reuben Saltzman (00:00.94)
Welcome back to the show. Happy New Year, Tessa. How are you doing this wonderful day?
Tessa Murry (00:04.294)
Wow.
Happy New Year. It’s kind of surreal that it’s 2026. I mean, I feel like I say that every year now, but doesn’t it just seem like time is speeding up? Like, I cannot believe 2025 is over.
Reuben Saltzman (00:19.232)
It is a universal truth that time speeds up for everybody. It’s universal. It happens.
Tessa Murry (00:21.894)
you
Tessa Murry (00:26.832)
Yes. Yes. Yeah, I’m just, yeah, so I’m trying to catch up to everything, but it’s good to see you, Ruben, and we’ve taken a little break here over the holidays, which was kind of nice. That’s fine.
Reuben Saltzman (00:36.982)
It’s been weeks, weeks as you know, we record these on Thursdays and you had New Year’s was a Thursday and Christmas was a Thursday this year. And I don’t remember what happened with the other one.
Tessa Murry (00:48.462)
I I canceled one because I was traveling or something. And yeah, it’s been a while. It’s good to see you though. We’re back at it. We’re back at it. Yeah. Well, so I want to hear about your holidays, Ruben, and a quick update on your life. Let’s hear what’s new for you. What’s going on?
Reuben Saltzman (00:51.203)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (00:55.362)
Yeah, we’re back at it. We’re back at it.
Reuben Saltzman (01:05.998)
Okay, well, holidays were great. You know, I had both kids at home. I’ve got my son and my daughter. They’re both in high school. And I feel like it was the most unproductive two weeks I have ever had in my life. It is I mean, it was fun. It was a lot of time with them a lot of time with the family. And it’s fine. It’s it’s fine. I don’t mind it. But then it’s like,
Tessa Murry (01:21.112)
I know that’s hard for you.
Tessa Murry (01:29.402)
Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (01:34.488)
get back into school and all of a sudden I don’t have interruptions every five minutes and I can just focus and get stuff done. It’s it’s nice to have that too. But these are times that I will never get back with the kids. And so when they’re around, it’s like I’m not trying to shoo them out. I’m trying to spend time with them. And I realize this is all going to be gone quickly. And like you just said, time speeds up. I mean, these are those things where I’m going to look back and I’m to be like,
Tessa Murry (01:42.758)
It’s nice. Yep.
Tessa Murry (01:58.701)
It does.
Reuben Saltzman (02:02.872)
I should have spent even more time with them. Should have taken more time off. But I mean, let’s be honest, I took a lot of time off for the last two weeks. We spent plenty of time just hanging out together. So.
Tessa Murry (02:08.112)
Thanks.
Tessa Murry (02:14.278)
You know, I feel that way too. like man, I went to Minnesota to visit family. My sister and her family, two nephews live up there, so do my parents. And so I went back to visit them for the holidays and it went by so fast. Every moment I could spend with my nephews I did because they’re just, at such a cute age. Sammy is four and Micah is almost two and they’re just…
They’re hilarious. They’re starting to say, we’re, Micah’s starting to talk now. And we went sledding because there was tons of snow. Minnesota has tons of snow this year. we went, we went sledding and Micah who, he’s a daredevil. Sammy’s a little bit more shy. Sam went down first on his mom’s lap and Micah watched that said, Micah, do you want to go on Auntie T’s lap or mom’s lap? And he said, Micah, self.
Reuben Saltzman (02:51.522)
Yeah, it’s great.
Tessa Murry (03:10.022)
And I was like, you want to go by yourself? And it was a steep hill. And he goes, yeah, yeah. And I was like, Danielle, do you think that’s safe? And she’s like, I don’t know about that. was like, what if I release him halfway down the hill? And he’s sitting on one of those blow up inner tubes, you know, and he can’t even hold on to little mitten hands. And I was like, okay, I’ll release him halfway down. And I was like, well, maybe we should take the smaller part of the hill first. he’s like, he’s like, Micah, fast. And he pointed to the big, the biggest spot on the hill.
Reuben Saltzman (03:25.186)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (03:39.662)
like, okay, he wants to go fast. And I let him go and he just whooshed down the hill and he had such a great time. He wanted to keep doing it over and over and over. So my point though is at the end of you know, Constant Family 24 seven, no breaks. I think we’re all ready to kind of get back. Get back into a regular routine. I am. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (03:48.726)
I love it.
Reuben Saltzman (04:04.706)
Yes, yes, yes.
Tessa Murry (04:08.432)
Well what else happened Ruben? Anything else going on this year?
Reuben Saltzman (04:12.276)
Well, you know, I’ve got all kinds of stuff to talk about for home projects and home woes. I mean, there’s lots of other stuff going on that we could we could save for another episode. first off, just something that I thought of when you’re talking about all the snow we got this year. It’s been years since I’ve used a snow blower. I bought a new snow blower several years ago. I think it was like three years ago and
Tessa Murry (04:17.584)
So.
Yes. Okay.
Tessa Murry (04:32.806)
You
Reuben Saltzman (04:42.19)
I never put gas in it the first year. I think I put gas in it last year and I used it once and so far it’s just sat. But this is a year where it’s gotten a lot of use. And I got to talk about snowblowers for a quick sec. I know you really care Tess, living in sunny Florida.
Tessa Murry (04:48.395)
Wow.
Tessa Murry (05:00.298)
It’s not super relevant to me anymore, but I bet to the majority of our listeners, they’re curious. You’ve got their attention.
Reuben Saltzman (05:06.99)
Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, for the few people who get snow, I’ll tell you, you you get you get a few different types of snowblowers out there. You got the single stage where you got just this this impeller that spins really fast and it’s got these rubber blades. I don’t know what you call them. They spin real fast and they throw the snow. That’s a single stage. Then you got the two stage where you’ve got a relatively slow metal logger that chops up the snow and it
brings it inside of itself. And then he got a second thing that shoots it up and out and throw it and it throws it really far. That’s a two stage. It’s doing two different things. But but Toro has got this other one and it’s it’s kind of a hybrid. It’s it’s basically it’s a it’s a single stage. But it’s a turbocharged single stage where it’s it’s got just a gigantic
Tessa Murry (05:40.974)
Okay. Yes. Okay.
Tessa Murry (05:59.248)
Hmm.
Reuben Saltzman (06:01.87)
Scantic mouth and it’s actually self-propelled so it’s something right in between the two and I I had a neighbor who had one and I tried his out many years ago and I just went whoa This is the greatest thing ever. So that’s what I ended up buying. It’s it’s kind of the toro hybrid thing and I Don’t know every time it snows. I feel like you would have to pay me to use my snowblower. I enjoy using it that much
Tessa Murry (06:13.636)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (06:21.797)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (06:31.896)
It’s just, it’s a delight.
Tessa Murry (06:33.616)
they’re doing everybody sidewalk and everybody’s drive. Are you that neighbor?
Reuben Saltzman (06:36.8)
I should be I should be I don’t because like everybody else has snowblowers and they don’t need me mucking up their yards. But if I had elderly neighbors or something like that, I would definitely be over there taking care of their yards because it’s just a blast.
Tessa Murry (06:47.288)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (06:51.968)
Well, I was gonna say, how many times have you used it this winter?
Reuben Saltzman (06:55.358)
half a dozen maybe. And we’re only at the beginning of the year. So I’ve got a lot more comment.
Tessa Murry (06:56.518)
More- Yeah, I was gonna say, it- Yeah.
It was, yeah, was snowing every day while I was in Minnesota. And you guys had like a big winter storm the day before I flew in too, which made me nervous about even if my flight was going be canceled, but it wasn’t. But yeah, you guys have had a lot of snow this winter. So I’m glad you finally get to use your snowblower. And I did not know that there were these different stages. So there you go. You taught me something new.
Reuben Saltzman (07:13.609)
sure, yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (07:18.22)
Yes. Yes.
Yep, they’re all out there. And then and then there’s one other one that I got a I got a comment on, which is something called a power shovel. Now one of my family members ended up buying a power shovel. And it’s it’s it’s basically think of a snowblower think of like this little wheel that sits right down by the ground attached to a stick. And you pull the trigger and this little wheel spins. And it just it just kind of shoots the snow from ground level straight out.
Tessa Murry (07:35.558)
Just kidding.
Tessa Murry (07:46.746)
Thanks.
Reuben Saltzman (07:52.812)
I mean, it’s the most basic device in the world. And I’ve always sneered at those, like who would ever want one of these things? You’re never going to clear your driveway with it. But I had a family member buy one and he bought the Ryobi one. know, Ryobi’s got a line of tools for just about anything you can imagine that all take the same battery. And he raved about it. So I ended up buying one myself just to clear off the deck and clear off some stuff in the backyard. Cause I don’t want to take my small blower back there.
Tessa Murry (08:02.928)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:11.908)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:21.251)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (08:21.858)
I don’t remember what I paid. think it was about a hundred bucks for this thing. And it’s the greatest little gadget. It clears like a little 10 inch path. And one, I don’t know how much of my battery it takes up, but it can definitely do all the work I need to have done in less than one battery charge. And it’s the greatest little thing. So I’ve always sneered at these little power shovels, but I think the current version that runs on that runoff lithium ion batteries.
Tessa Murry (08:25.072)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (08:33.574)
cute
Reuben Saltzman (08:51.298)
They’re great little tools. Maybe not what you’d use to clear a whole driveway, but if you got the little stuff, sidewalks, back deck, whatever great tool. That’s my two cents on tools today. Okay. I’m not writing a product review. Just got to say this was a delightful little purchase. A little something for me for Christmas. There.
Tessa Murry (08:58.874)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (09:10.918)
want to see a picture of you next to it, Ruben. You should have Anna take a picture of you.
Reuben Saltzman (09:15.086)
Okay, I will do that and I will include it in the podcast. How’s that? Okay. All right. All right. I got to make myself a note here. Power shovel photo. All right.
Tessa Murry (09:18.982)
Okay good good good. Hey can it pick up and blow dog hair Ruben?
Reuben Saltzman (09:29.294)
If it did, my wife would be using it inside the house. You know this. Yes. I haven’t tried it yet though and I’m not gonna. Yeah, that’d be, I don’t want it inside the house. But okay, all right. Here’s another one. Speaking of inside the house, I’ve talked about this on the podcast many times about how my HRV, I’ve got problems with my heat recovery ventilator, at least.
Tessa Murry (09:33.624)
you
Tessa Murry (09:39.839)
Bitch! Don’t give her any ideas! that’s good.
Tessa Murry (09:56.953)
Yes.
Reuben Saltzman (09:57.346)
I thought I did. tried to get to the bottom of it. I ended up ruining my old HRV, had to have the whole thing replaced, got a new one. And then it felt like every time I turned it on, I’d get sneezy. I’d get these cold like symptoms. And I’ve got this cold spot on the floor in my entryway. When you walk into the house, you go about 12 feet into the house and there’s a cold spot.
Tessa Murry (10:10.992)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (10:22.952)
And I mean, you can feel it. You put your foot there and it’s like, it’s cold. You shoot it with an infrared camera. It’s about a one foot circle where it’s really cold. And what I concluded was that one of the ducts for my HRV, the big insulated tubes, surely became disconnected and it’s sucking all kinds of contaminant from the ceiling space and distributing those throughout the rest of the house. And maybe that’s what’s making me sneezy and get sick.
Tessa Murry (10:33.03)
So you’re
Tessa Murry (10:40.421)
Mm-hmm.
Reuben Saltzman (10:52.394)
I’ve been meaning to open up my ceiling to figure out exactly what’s wrong. Well, I finally got around to doing it. Tess, I open up the ceiling.
Tessa Murry (10:58.214)
In those two weeks, with all that family time, you got to take a little… Yeah. Okay. You find.
Reuben Saltzman (11:03.166)
Yeah, had to spend some time doing this and I’ll tell you what what what really motivated motivated me to do this is it was really cold like you said and I was getting crazy condensation on all my windows. I mean when it’s negative 10 out or whatever you get condensation on the windows and eventually it’s gonna wreck your windows frost is gonna make its way up into the attic. I mean
Tessa Murry (11:15.11)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (11:24.536)
Yep.
Tessa Murry (11:31.92)
Yep.
Reuben Saltzman (11:32.408)
houses should not be subject to this kind of condensation. And so to fix the condensation, every time it got really cold, I would turn on my kitchen hood fan on low and I would just leave my kitchen hood fan running until the condensation was gone from all my windows. Because I mean, it’s an exhaust only ventilation system. It does work. It’s a huge energy penalty. I’m replacing all of that air with outdoor air.
Tessa Murry (11:37.211)
Thank
Tessa Murry (11:48.037)
Wow.
Reuben Saltzman (12:01.784)
coming straight into the house, but it was very effective. I’d turn on my kitchen fan and then I’d wake up the next morning and all of the condensation would be gone from all of the windows in my house.
Tessa Murry (12:01.847)
Yeah.
you.
Tessa Murry (12:13.912)
That’s fast. Did you track your indoor relative humidity? I wonder at what point it went from overnight running that fan, like if it went from 30 or something. I’m very curious. Because you’ve got a fairly large house with a lot of windows, so that’s impressive running that fan did the job. You must have a leaky enough house or it’s pulling air from the combustion make-up air or something like that.
Reuben Saltzman (12:22.604)
I, you know, I didn’t.
Reuben Saltzman (12:30.978)
Yeah, a lot of windows.
Reuben Saltzman (12:36.963)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (12:42.018)
That’s what it’s doing. think most of it’s coming from the combustion slash make up air duct. You know, it’s a big insulated duct that goes down in the furnace room and it’s, big enough to supply all that air. So that’s where it’s coming from. And it just, it’s changing out the air in the house and that will eliminate condensation. mean, and my point in bringing this up is if, if you are living in a house where you don’t have a heat recovery ventilator or an energy recovery, recovery ventilator, something that’s going to change out the air.
Tessa Murry (12:43.438)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yep.
Nice. Okay. Huh.
Reuben Saltzman (13:11.99)
You can do what I call the poor man’s HRV. You just turn on your bathroom exhaust fan or you turn on your kitchen hood fan and you let that thing run. Huh?
Tessa Murry (13:20.091)
Crack a window. And crack a window if you don’t have a makeup error.
Reuben Saltzman (13:26.262)
Yeah, yeah, crack a window in an area where it’s not going to be uncomfortable for you to have that air coming in, you know, don’t do it in your living room, maybe. But in you’re changing out the air in the house. And that will eliminate the condensation eventually you just pay an energy penalty for it. But for me, I’d much rather pay the small energy penalty than deal with windows that get ruined. Right?
Tessa Murry (13:44.143)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (13:49.095)
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that is some serious motivation. Okay. So let’s go back. Let’s go back to this part where you opened up your ceiling. What did you find?
Reuben Saltzman (13:59.232)
Okay, yes. so what brought me to that was, all right, look, this is ridiculous. I’m running my kitchen hood fan and paying this big energy penalty. I need to get my HRV working again. And I’ve been putting this off. I just didn’t want to cut a big old hole in my ceiling, but I did. And, and so, you know, I, I used my, my multi tool. It’s the little thing that vibrates very quickly and makes a nice straight line. I must’ve spent a half hour.
Tessa Murry (14:10.202)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (14:14.212)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (14:26.238)
marking out exactly where my cuts are going to be. It felt like that was the most tedious part of the project because I wanted to make the marks right in the middle of the floor joists and I wanted this to be perfectly square and I didn’t want it to be ugly. it’s, you know, it’s a perfectly square thing. I marked it all in pencil, made the cuts. I used a magnet to figure out where the extra screws were and then
found the screws, backed them out of the drywall, then the two foot by two foot square came straight down. That’s on my Joister space, or two feet on center. Got the thing down. And what I, well, you know, it’s in a very conspicuous spot. It’s right in the middle of a finished basement living room area. So I didn’t want it to be super ugly. And then what I found was extremely unsatisfying.
Tessa Murry (14:55.797)
my gosh.
Tessa Murry (15:01.162)
Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. You thought that one through, didn’t you?
Tessa Murry (15:15.534)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (15:23.27)
What?
Reuben Saltzman (15:25.166)
I probably could have figured this out if I had thought it through enough. It’s directly the the area where my floor gets cold is directly above a big beam that runs through the middle of my house and that beam takes up almost the entire floor space. I mean, it goes down to the ceiling in the basement and it goes up almost all the way.
Tessa Murry (15:33.794)
Thanks for watching.
Tessa Murry (15:42.224)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (15:52.77)
to the floor that you’re walking on on the first floor. And the duct for the HRV, the flexible HRV duct got smushed in between my floor and the beam. So this six inch duct is pushed down to approximately two and a half inches thick. I mean, they took this big round thing and they just smushed it. So it’s pressing right up against the floor. And that’s what’s making the floor cold.
Tessa Murry (16:01.638)
Bye.
Tessa Murry (16:06.214)
you
Tessa Murry (16:15.434)
my gosh. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (16:22.766)
So it is pulling air in from the outside, from that duct. It’s just touching the underside of the floor so you can really see it there because it’s squished. Okay, so also, I mean, you know, upon installation of these, this equipment, like the duct work is not supposed to be squished, correct? Like it’s supposed to be fully open and also that will impact, like, is it balanced? How much air is it pulling in? How much air is it pushing out? Like, so…
Reuben Saltzman (16:26.85)
Yeah.
Precisely. Precisely.
Reuben Saltzman (16:41.932)
No, no.
Reuben Saltzman (16:50.403)
Yes.
Tessa Murry (16:51.642)
I’m sure that’s something that you’re not fixing or capable of fixing, but does it make you wonder about is it pressurizing your house or depressurizing your house when it turns on? Is it balanced?
Reuben Saltzman (17:03.074)
That was my first thought right away is exactly what you brought up tests. How was this affecting stuff? But then I realized, you know when they installed this I asked him how are you guys gonna balance this? don’t see any balancing ports on here or anything or balancing dampers. Well Most of the new models you install are self balancing They’ve got a little computer chip in there and they figure out exactly how much is coming in and going out and they balance themselves and nothing needs to be done. So Yeah
Tessa Murry (17:07.43)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (17:30.95)
Is that the version you have? okay. Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (17:32.908)
Yeah, it is. So, so I’m really not all that concerned about this compromising performance. mean, it’s dumb. And at some point it’s, it’s, it’s surely not helping, but it’s not a big thing and it’s surely not worth any of my effort to try to fix it.
Tessa Murry (17:41.612)
Yeah. No.
Tessa Murry (17:52.673)
So, the mystery of why you get sneezy when it turns on. Have you figured that one out?
Reuben Saltzman (17:59.296)
Okay, great question. I turned on my HRV probably three weeks ago. That’s probably how long ago I did this. And I have not been sneezey or coughing or anything since. So all of these issues that I was having when I would turn that on were purely coincidental.
Tessa Murry (18:00.423)
Is it mold in the duck?
Tessa Murry (18:08.646)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (18:17.743)
Wait.
Tessa Murry (18:24.211)
Or, hasn’t there been a change? Didn’t you replace the core?
Reuben Saltzman (18:28.726)
No, I started having problems with the new one too. I mean, I’d run this new one and I had problems. I thought it was the core of the old one. I thought once I replace it, it’ll eliminate all my problems. I put in the new one and it didn’t. And that’s why I thought it’s something else.
Tessa Murry (18:31.716)
Wow.
Yeah.
And it did. Gosh. Okay, so that’s super frustrating. Okay. Very unsatisfying. Okay, at least you have a pretty hole in your ceiling though. Well, I’m sure you put the sheetrock back up and you can barely see it, huh?
Reuben Saltzman (18:47.286)
Super frustrating, very unsatisfying. Yes. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (18:57.856)
You know, you’re kind of right. It’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. mean, I’ll still need to patch it. I’ll probably get my dad to come over and help me patch it because I’m no good at patching popcorn ceilings. He’s probably better at that than I am. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (19:01.878)
Yeah.
I mean, me neither. That’s a special skill. Well, it’s going to say, know, Ruben, all, this all reminds me, I’ve got a client, long time client in the Twin Cities area. It’s a family that bought a house built in the late 60s, I want to say, two story house, pretty simple design, just a rectangle. And since they moved in, they’ve had all these health problems. And
one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to another. And I’ve probably brought up this story before on the podcast, but they ended up realizing that they had mold in the walls and they had stucco and they had kind of a mixture of different sidings and they had buffalo board and windows weren’t flashed properly. And so they ended up basically rebuilding this house from
the exterior in. I mean, first they started by gutting the kitchen and bathroom and spending tens of thousands on mold remediation in those rooms. And then we’re still sick. Gutted a newly finished basement, still sick. And then I got involved. And that’s when I was like, okay, well, I think you need to do intrusive moisture testing or some more investigation here because of what I’m seeing on the siding and the type of house you have.
what the wall sheathing is made out of. And sure enough, they peeled it back and they’ve got all these problems. And so they ended up rebuilding all the exterior walls, all new insulation. did exterior rigid foam insulation. They did rock wool. And they put in new ventilation everywhere. And all this to say, I just talked to this client, actually, like last night, she’s still having symptoms. And it’s…
Tessa Murry (20:58.242)
It’s similar to what like carbon monoxide poisoning, like she feels lightheaded, she feels a little like she can’t focus, sometimes she feels dizzy. And it comes and it goes. And she does have a gas stove top, an electric oven. And they also have a wood burning masonry fireplace that has a gas insert in it. And they have a power vent water heater. And I think they have a high efficiency furnace. so
I was going through with her trying to figure out, problem solve, okay, is it carbon monoxide poisoning? What could it be? And she talked to another person who was an air quality expert and they brought up the idea that it could actually be her chimney that could be creating issues. Because apparently, creosote, like exposure to creosote and those toxins on the inside of a wood burning chimney can make you feel sick and make you feel that way too.
Reuben Saltzman (21:52.237)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (21:55.079)
And so I talked to her about that and she said she smelled for the very first time this summer after the house had basically gotten all new siding, all new windows, new attic insulation, all new interiors. The very first time she started smelling the chimney in her house. Like that smell of, you know, when you have a campfire or you just burn wood. She started smelling that, but only in August.
Reuben Saltzman (21:56.119)
Okay.
Reuben Saltzman (22:19.853)
Yeah, yeah.
Tessa Murry (22:24.888)
or it didn’t start until like late summer. So and she feels she usually feels sick in her kitchen though, not in her living room. So first of all, I’m like, okay, can we just make sure it’s not carbon monoxide poisoning that you’re having? Like, you know, make sure it so we went through all that checked every box off. You know, gas fireplace doesn’t seem to be leaking co
Reuben Saltzman (22:28.193)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (22:50.374)
She has a low level carbon monoxide detector that she’s been using since I talked to her and she’s been monitoring that. And every once in a while she’ll get like seven parts per million here or there when she’s cooking, but she opens up the window. She also turns on the hood vent, which is a giant range hood. And so I was thinking, well, could it be the chimney? I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anybody being sick because of this, but doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
Reuben Saltzman (22:54.594)
Smart.
Tessa Murry (23:19.274)
And why would she be smelling it now? And my thoughts were that, okay, she’s taken this old house that used to be pretty leaky and now they’ve tightened the whole thing up. The building envelope is much more tight and they’ve added a big kitchen exhaust range hood and bath fans. And I don’t know if she has a combustion make-up air. I think she said she might, but not sure, 100%. So when they’ve got the AC running, where is the, well…
Basically, when you’ve got, you know, it’s cold in the house, hot outside, that vapor pressure is pushing from outside to inside and the airflow is kind of moving from warm to cold. So we’ve got that happening. But then also, if she’s using her range hood when she’s cooking or other bath fans and exhausting air, it’s gonna be pulling her from somewhere. And so even though she’s got a gas insert, there’s little gaps around that insert that she’s smelling her original wood burning fireplace through.
Reuben Saltzman (24:16.898)
Sure. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (24:18.038)
So I said, okay, well, we’ve got potentially like pressure issues in your house too, and some air leakage. And someone had recommended to her that she take out the gas insert and clean the original chimney. And that would fix it. And I was like, I don’t think that’s gonna do it. I can’t imagine. I can’t imagine. It’s a two story house. The chimney’s in the center of the house. They’d have to take apart the entire, you know.
Reuben Saltzman (24:35.31)
That’s a lot of work.
Tessa Murry (24:43.658)
the metal liner and get in there and then how do you actually really clean it perfectly to get all the creasso off and I was like I I don’t know that’s worth the time and the money and the effort is there a way you can try and seal between the gas insert and the yeah and the actual chimney structure itself so you don’t have that air leakage and air communication between the chimney and the house
Reuben Saltzman (25:05.986)
Yes.
Tessa Murry (25:07.686)
And so I like, I would try that first. That’s going to be a lot cheaper, a lot easier than taking out your gas insert. But also, is there something going on with the pressures in her house too, with this big new range hood and something else going on? But it doesn’t seem to be a CO issue. And so the last thing that we were both talking about, and she’s very scientific, but she’s at the end of her rope.
Reuben Saltzman (25:14.851)
huh.
Tessa Murry (25:36.199)
knowing what to do now. I mean, there’s nothing like they’ve done new mold tests and everything is coming back negative. Everything is mold cleared out. She’s like, maybe it’s EMFs. She’s like, when I’m on my first floor, I feel way worse than when I’m on my second floor. And there’s a lot more metal piping that could be bonded. there’s, you know, wiring running underneath the first floor between the basement ceiling and the first floor. And
So to me, that makes sense, I guess. could be sensitivity to that. That’s making her feel that way. I don’t know. It’s one of those things where, like you’re talking about, I mean, she’s spent, I’m sure they’ve spent hundreds of thousands on this house, completely redoing it. And they still don’t know why they’re feeling that way.
Reuben Saltzman (26:28.706)
Well, off the air, I’ve got an idea for a company that I would like to introduce her to. So you and I got to talk off the air and for any listeners, this is surely something that I’m going to come back to, but I’m not ready to present it yet. So I’ll just have to leave it as a teaser, but we’ll come back.
Tessa Murry (26:35.044)
yes please. Okay. Thanks.
Tessa Murry (26:44.569)
Okay.
Tessa Murry (26:48.13)
That sounds well, I appreciate that. I, you know, I was starting to talk to her too about just, okay, you know, if it is a pressures thing, you know, if you’re, you turn on your AC or you turn on your furnace, certain rooms are pressurized, certain rooms aren’t, is that creating some sort of issue too with pulling in contaminants from somewhere? And, and I mean, there’s a lot of testing, like detailed kind of pressure testing that could be done.
turning on the kitchen hood vent, turning on the bath fans, having the water heater and furnace run, turning on the gas insert, seeing what it’s like when it’s windy or not windy, turning on the AC or the furnace and measuring all the different pressures in the rooms and how it impacts it. like, I need someone who can do that type of testing that I can recommend too. And there’s just not a lot of people out there that can. I’ve got like one or two people in mind, but it’s…
Reuben Saltzman (27:37.816)
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (27:45.095)
It’s difficult when you’ve got these complex things happening in these houses. There’s not a lot of skilled diagnosticians out there to do this type of work. So I feel for her. Yeah, no, I feel for her and her family for what they’re going through. And I want to try and figure this one out. But I am at a roadblock too, so.
Reuben Saltzman (27:58.752)
No, no, no, I don’t know anybody. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (28:13.422)
Sure, sure. And I take it she has not tried sealing around the gas fireplace yet, right? Okay. All right. All right. I’ll be interested to hear what ends up happening. Because that was exactly what I was thinking, Tess. It seems like that’s a great recommendation you made.
Tessa Murry (28:14.128)
Thanks for you. I was looking for this.
Not yet. I just talked to her last night. So we’ll see how that impacts her. Me too.
Yeah, yeah, okay. Okay, good, good. Well, yes, anyways, sorry, I got on a tangent with that one. But it just your story reminded me of that because you’re feeling sick and you think you know what it is and you take it apart and then it’s not that and it’s like, what’s going on?
Reuben Saltzman (28:40.075)
yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (28:45.215)
Yeah, I was so convinced of what I was going to find there.
Tessa Murry (28:49.2)
You know, and I also, think too, part of it might also be like that they have had blood worked on to check for mold, like mitotoxins in their blood, and they’ve got high markers. And now that their house is testing negative, that there’s no mold, and they’ve done all these different types of mold tests to verify that it’s just maybe our bodies are holding on to…
the toxins and just little tiny things that wouldn’t normally irritate people when your body is already kind of maxed out, that it sets you, you know, over the edge and that if she can somehow detox or get that out of her body, that maybe her current house wouldn’t irritate her so much. I don’t know.
Reuben Saltzman (29:32.692)
Has she tried living somewhere else for a week or two to see if these symptoms go away?
Tessa Murry (29:36.486)
They had, throughout this whole process, they’ve had to move out of their house and move back in and move out and move back in. Every time they move out, they feel better.
Reuben Saltzman (29:44.904)
okay. All right. Got it. Yeah. Okay. That sucks. Yeah.
Tessa Murry (29:46.399)
Yeah, I know. Same thing. Same thing. yeah. Well, anyways. Yeah, there’s a lot of people that I work with that seem to have these kind of mystery health issues, then it’s not always, I can’t, not always able to solve them. So if someone listening has any recommendations on people who…
building scientists or diagnosticians who can do some more of these detailed tests that can help someone like this client of mine, please let us know.
Reuben Saltzman (30:21.762)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, like I said, I got one for you. We’ll talk about it off the air. But what what else is going on in your world test?
Tessa Murry (30:32.032)
Well, let’s see. I am now officially a resident of Florida. So that happened. Thank you. I, I still am doing some consulting work, although I will say my schedule availability is very limited right now to take new clients. I come back up to the Twin Cities, you know, every month, every other month, so I can see clients then new clients, but,
Reuben Saltzman (30:38.146)
High five, I think. Yes.
Tessa Murry (31:00.614)
But primarily this year, I’m going to be doing more work and collaborating with the Energy Conservatory and helping them out with their curriculum and training. So I’m looking forward to that. I’m going be doing some more traveling with that, some more teaching and speaking and curriculum development. So that’s been good. And yeah, 2025 was just a, it was a whirlwind coming down to Florida.
and all that life had in store for me. And I’m just kind of rolling with it. I’m happy. It’s sad not being close to family and friends and everything that I had up in Minnesota. But at the same time, I’ve kind of got a new life here in Florida that I’m very grateful for and feel very blessed and things are working out. So yeah, yeah, it’s good.
Reuben Saltzman (31:54.316)
Yeah, yeah, that’s good.
Tessa Murry (31:57.393)
That’s really good. Yeah. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (31:58.936)
Glad to hear it. You know, before we started the show, you mentioned something about having some stinky water down at your new place.
Tessa Murry (32:06.214)
Thanks for reminding me. Yes. Okay. So along the lines of your mystery with your HRV, so I just moved again. I moved I moved twice in 2025. Once from anyways, this is I’ve only been in this house now for a little less than a month. And there’s something going on with the water I cannot figure out. So we’re out kind of in the country.
in this like little kind of community, there’s little houses nearby and we all share a well. sometimes in the morning, the water stinks coming out of the faucets. And at first I’m like, oh man, is that sewer gas? Am I smelling the drain? Like, what is that? But no, it’s sulfury. It’s very sulfury. And in every sink, every faucet, the water coming out smells like that. It’s not just one in particular.
Reuben Saltzman (32:55.992)
Mmm.
Tessa Murry (33:03.11)
and it’s not every morning so I cannot figure out why. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (33:09.646)
And it’s the hot and the cold. Okay. Okay. All right. Have you had the water tested?
Tessa Murry (33:18.695)
No.
Reuben Saltzman (33:19.638)
Okay. All right. I am not a water expert by any means, but I mean, I’ve heard that what will fix this is shocking your well. And I can’t remember what that consists of. mean, what I want to say, and this can’t be right, is like the equivalent of like just pouring bleach down there. And I’m sure that’s not what it is. But it’s just it’s just what comes to my mind. So I don’t know exactly what they do. But
Tessa Murry (33:42.052)
Yeah, chemical. Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (33:48.492)
They do something.
Tessa Murry (33:50.567)
So why, but why would it only smell like in the morning, like when you first turn on the water, it hasn’t been used for a while. And why would it only smell it like for a little while and then stop smelling?
Reuben Saltzman (34:02.43)
And yeah, and I don’t know. But my first thought would be you’ve got a bunch of water sitting there in the pipes and you’ve got this bacteria growing in there and the water has just been sitting stagnant. And that’s why it’s bad in the morning. And if you were to run the water for, you know, 20 minutes, it’s not going to stink anymore. That’s my theory.
Tessa Murry (34:11.461)
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Tessa Murry (34:24.646)
Thanks.
Tessa Murry (34:28.71)
Well, so I was thinking about that too, but I didn’t think about, so it could be that it’s the pipes from the well to the houses that are the problem. The pipes.
Reuben Saltzman (34:39.192)
Hmm. I don’t think so, but I don’t know enough about it. I’m going way outside my lane here Tess. I probably shouldn’t even be seeing anything.
Tessa Murry (34:43.662)
Yeah. There’s some type of filtration. I was going to say I’ll have to do some research on this because I haven’t done any research yet and I don’t know much about wells either. But I know enough to know that smells like there’s a bacterial problem, but I just can’t figure out why it’s only certain times, a very small windows of time. But it would make sense that it’s in the pipes though because we have had power outages and we get a little bit of water for a while.
but then it stops. So whatever water is in the pipes, there’s quite a bit of water in the pipes from the well to the house that we can use once the power goes off that we still have water for a little while. But maybe that’s, and that’s the water that stinks.
Reuben Saltzman (35:19.085)
Yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (35:23.352)
Well, you know, there’s a company we had on as a guest many years ago when Bill was still doing the podcast with us. was Aquarius.
Tessa Murry (35:34.15)
yeah. Yes, I do.
Reuben Saltzman (35:36.526)
You remember those guys and they specialize in water treatment and all that. And I had it on. They were kind of on my list to give them a call because I’ve got my own water problem. I’ve got a reverse osmosis system in my kitchen and I finally got around to replacing all of the filters. I went longer than I should have, but it’s five filters. It’s like, you know, the pre filter and the post filter and the taste filter. I don’t know what they all are, but I replaced them all.
Tessa Murry (35:41.25)
I’ll reach out to Aquarius.
Tessa Murry (35:47.462)
you
Hmm.
Tessa Murry (36:00.077)
or.
Reuben Saltzman (36:06.318)
I got these aftermarket filters. They weren’t as expensive as the brand name ones. And then my water just didn’t taste good. And like nobody in the family wants to drink it anymore. So, so it got to a point where I was like, all right, forget it. I’m buying the brand name filters and I bought the brand name filters, the OEM from APAC, A-P-E-C. That was the brand name. I bought the real ones. I replaced, I replaced them all and the water tastes exactly the same. It still tastes terrible, but
Tessa Murry (36:15.494)
Sure.
Tessa Murry (36:34.725)
What?
Reuben Saltzman (36:35.584)
It tasted great up until the point where I replaced my filters and I have no idea why. And I know it didn’t taste like this when I first installed the RO system. Then I am completely stumped. mean, and I got my whole family drinking tap water now. They will not drink the RO water, which is better for you. So maybe I need to get those guys on the podcast and we can just quiz them and they can sell their services.
Tessa Murry (36:40.006)
I’m sure.
Tessa Murry (36:45.68)
Yeah. That’s weird. That’s weird too. my gosh. Wow. Yeah. I’ll just do that.
Reuben Saltzman (37:05.207)
What do you say?
Tessa Murry (37:05.604)
Okay, and please, if anybody’s listening and has weird mystery water problems too, please write in and let us know what they are. We’ll, yeah.
Reuben Saltzman (37:12.908)
Yeah, help us.
Okay, all right, good. Well, I don’t know if we gave any great advice to anybody today. We just lamented about our own.
Tessa Murry (37:17.624)
Yeah, that sounds good.
Tessa Murry (37:23.746)
I gave zero great advice today. You gave some good insights, Reuben. I learned about snowblowers today.
Reuben Saltzman (37:29.454)
Very, very helpful for you, Tess. I’m so glad I could help you with that.
Tessa Murry (37:34.608)
will apply that knowledge maybe later.
Reuben Saltzman (37:37.428)
Never, hopefully. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, cool. I know you got to run. We’re bumping up against your schedule today. But for the listeners, if you got any thoughts for us, please don’t hesitate to write us. We love hearing from you. You can email us. It’s podcast at structuretech.com and we will catch you next time.
Tessa Murry (37:59.462)
Thanks for listening, everybody.
Reuben Saltzman (38:01.4)
Take care.