Trying to figure out how to get cleaner air inside your home can be complex. We talk with Stuart Henley from Air Sniper about their solutions for air quality. One of the cool things is that some of these solutions can be a DIY project that doesnt need a tech to come install it for you. If you are looking at a plug and play air sanitization solution for your home.

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[00:00:18] Eric Goranson: Where's the heat coming through. It's coming through the fastest covered pipes over in the corner. Don't play with that as precipice. I mean, that's just kinda how

[00:00:32] Eric Goranson: for a, um, Legionella and what are even lived in our school.

[00:00:43] Stuart Henley: And we would always suggest in, in schools that first of all, it were awesome. It was you and N. So we've completed over 300 schools here in Calgary, Canada. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to [00:01:00] know this is around.

[00:01:19] Caroline Blazovsky: Hey, Eric, how are you today?

[00:01:28] Caroline Blazovsky: I love it. , I've, I've been a proponent of ultraviolet technologies since I don't know, probably 2002 in air ducks because they were using UV technology in water treatment for a very long time. I think since the 1950s, but our guests will tell us better, but ultraviolet light is used. Disinfect to kill microbial agents, antibacterial agents.

[00:02:12] Eric Goranson: Nice. Nice. Well, let's introduce Stuart Henley from air sniper.

[00:02:19] Stuart Henley: Well, looking forward to having a good discussion about UV today.

[00:02:39] Eric Goranson: I think even having. Healthier areas is more something that people are more aware about now than ever before.

[00:03:06] Eric Goranson: Agreed and Caroline, I mean, you do so many air tests out there, right? , you see what people are living with in their homes every single day. And

[00:03:28] Caroline Blazovsky: Your home is not perfect. So you have to find the right system for you and. I'm a proponent of testing prior, finding out what your issues are and then implementing a system that's actually going to work. And what I love about air sniper. So first tell us about the name Stewart, because air sniper is like the coolest name I've ever.

[00:03:48] Stuart Henley: find it a little aggressive, but, uh, to tell the story, I mean, we're out there killing the airborne pathogens that passed by our lab, and we make sure that we have [00:04:00] sufficient amount of energy to do so. And all of the things you mentioned, dander mold, uh, bacterial viral, every, every, uh, piece of airborne pathogen that passes bar lab is properly irradiated and it becomes.

[00:04:34] Caroline Blazovsky: Called ultraviolet light tech technology. And people often think because they get this through their HVAC that they're covered with this little bulb. That's maybe the size of my hand that shines back on your HVAC. So tell them why one that they aren't really protected using that it's sort of gimmicky in my opinion, but why they really need to have UV light that's properly calculated for their system and also installed properly and does what it needs.[00:05:00]

[00:05:22] Stuart Henley: So that means that if you have something inadequate and let's say. Uh, 18 or 36 watt lab. Typically, there's just not enough energy there. Uh, Phil's always about proximity, uh, intensity and dwell time. You just don't have the right amount of science, uh, from a standpoint of intensity of UV to properly irradiate the actual pathogen and making it inert.

[00:06:15] Stuart Henley: So energy is always declining. Now our lab actually, because it's an induction, which is like the gas through magnetics, as opposed to a filament, we actually, , get five years plus out of our lab and we don't hit past the 70% degradation curve until about six years. So, and also, depending on the duty cycle of an indoor air for us, , you might get somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 plus years, depending on how many times.

[00:06:57] Eric Goranson: Makes sense. Makes sense. Why waste that [00:07:00] energy and use the life of the bulb? Right? Exactly. Very cool. So how does this really affect inside your house?

[00:07:28] Stuart Henley: Well, what they can expect is to have a passage in free air. Throw out their home. So if somebody comes in with a cold or even, or there's outside influences, I mean, Pathogens on our clothing. Every time we open the door, we're exposing ourselves potentially more, more, more problems that can flow through the air, , pull in, , all kinds of, of disrupting things that can happen within your home.

[00:08:33] Stuart Henley: So that there's nothing that comes with. , it's usually the homeowner themselves or any, any occupants in the hole. And, , certainly that's not, we do worry about the word of radiation and there is no radiation per se, that comes along with this product. It's done through a, wavelength of 253.7 nanometers.

[00:09:18] Stuart Henley: And it does have harm to humans, anything, carbon organism, which we all are. And, uh, so yeah, we've, we've made sure to, to not produce any ozone within the home as a result of our, our lab.

[00:09:44] Caroline Blazovsky: And they think it's okay to use these . I mean, those are really powerful machines that can do all kinds of damage. Regular machines can still produce ozone and we try to eliminate that. So if you could just kind of touch on ozone and why people don't want to use it. I think it's helpful because [00:10:00] we know our audience.

[00:10:01] Stuart Henley: think it's. Yeah. And ozone is a very aggressive gas, I mean, clean surfaces in your home. So if it's cleaning the surface inside of your home, , you can appreciate the power that it possesses and, and such that, anybody with prolonged exposure will, will develop a respiratory illness of some sort could be some something that, uh, because it is a tactical.

[00:10:34] Eric Goranson: organisms. I was going to say it does a great job when my take my car into the car detailer of making it smell like a new car smell when they go in and clean the thing out. But you've also got to air it out after.

[00:10:59] Stuart Henley: , [00:11:00] so basically people aren't offended by the smell of fresh breeding or after thunder and lightning storm. , so it's, it's a pleasant smell that we know as humans. , so for that reason, people believe it's doing the job, it's taken away, the fish smell I had for dinner. However, it's a, you know, it's, it's, it's creating harm to us and it certainly should not be, , put into any home in.

[00:11:48] Stuart Henley: And in our area is about five parts per billion, you know, between three and five. Uh, that's an acceptable range, but what we shouldn't be adding to that. [00:12:00] Yeah,

[00:12:17] Eric Goranson: Black ones that had the sharper image ones that you could plug into the wall, the

[00:12:38] Caroline Blazovsky: So they ended up suing and through. Bad things happen and then we learn, but that's how it all kind of transpired that

[00:13:03] Stuart Henley: Or they even say that they use broad band, uh, spectrum UV. And when they say broad than a spectrum, it typically has a UV component or a pozole component. Uh, it's only through proper doping on the glass. I mean, all you view will produce. It's all very dependent on, on the dopamine of your glass to make sure you only allow the wavelength of the germicidal.

[00:13:36] Caroline Blazovsky: So just a quick question, Stuart, and I don't know if this is out of your purview, but, what do you think about the hydroxyl systems that have become so prevalent people hear a lot about hydroxyl systems now, as of COVID-19, a lot of restaurants put them in, um, and they are using, as you know, I think it's, it's a moisture and a UV technology to produce this hydroxyl.

[00:14:02] Stuart Henley: the other thing, hydroxyl, supposedly, or to go out and clean your surfaces? So anything that's going that actually says that they're going to clean your surfaces. We are almost guaranteed to have something aggressive that are looking to kill carbon organisms.

[00:14:49] Stuart Henley: So if they're truly claiming hydroxyl cleaning, Typically, and I always say typically, um, it has a component of Bozel and they use the ozone as a [00:15:00] cleaner, but they call them eyedrops the generator.

[00:15:10] Eric Goranson: I put in my house this last year, which is, uh, I've got two systems. I have the, the, my carrier infinity system that I put in. And so it has, they're just brand. Of, uh, uh, D GAPA air filter there. And then I have this, uh, heiress air scrubber coming out of it, which they have their quote certified space technology.

[00:15:47] Eric Goranson: You can't see it. You can't taste it, , is it actually doing what I'd say? It's doing.

[00:16:04] Eric Goranson: see you. There we go. We'll fix it right then we know what's going on. Fake

[00:16:27] Stuart Henley: So there's depending on the situation in a particular. We typically have a solution and we're a very innovative company. So if we don't have a solution, we will create one. I mean, we do manufacture a hundred percent of our product here in our 80,000 square foot facility in Calgary. We, , design and build all our own printed circuit boards.

[00:17:07] Eric Goranson: talk about those standalone units a little bit, because.

[00:17:29] Eric Goranson: And they had some challenges in the, in the radio TV one because they had to find something that was quiet, that they could actually use and not have it show up at the radio station. And it was fascinating to see. I mean, I knew that they were doing it, but I hadn't really seen it where I was like, oh, there's one right there.

[00:18:03] Eric Goranson: coming through. It's coming through the asbestos covered pipes over in the corner. Don't play with that as fast as yet. I mean, that's just kind of how it was.

[00:18:17] Eric Goranson: Legionella, what are even different lived in our school.

[00:18:26] Stuart Henley: And we would always suggest in, in schools that first of all, It were possible as doing an inline system. Like we've completed over 300 schools here in Calgary or in Calgary, Canada, and a variety of different schools. And it's always best if you do in line, because now you have total coverage of the whole school.

[00:19:09] Stuart Henley: I think probably the biggest drawback to those particular units is one is meeting. And the other one is noise. So typically, , Eric, you might have seen them, but you probably were hurting them first before you saw them.

[00:19:35] Stuart Henley: Yeah. And so, and so w we try to talk both the, you know, the maintenance issue and certainly the sound issues. We've created a standalone unit that goes into your Plaza minutes, Bluetooth controlled so that the teacher whomever can actually control it from their desk and not have to get up and turn it up and down if they choose to.

[00:20:10] Caroline Blazovsky: And that's quiet for people who don't like our audience doesn't know, as you increase your CFM, you get a much louder. It's like a motor, right?

[00:20:35] Stuart Henley: Well,

[00:20:49] Stuart Henley: talking. Yeah, it's standing right beside it. Normal conversation is not interfered with at all by then, by the noise.

[00:21:15] Eric Goranson: Yeah. That's so much better than like my range head, which is probably getting close to a hundred decibels when I have it on I, so when that thing's cranking it, uh it's uh, Hey, can you turn off the range? Yeah. It's Devin.

[00:21:41] Stuart Henley: And, and either there'll be. Or they'll, they will be, put on low, which now takes your 400 CFM level down to like 100. And, uh, I read a recent article that you typically need 10 air changes per hour to [00:22:00] properly, , combat airborne pathogens. And the other part of the equation that I didn't speak of yet was a maintenance.

[00:22:40] Stuart Henley: Probably about 13 to 15 years of use out of our unit with zero maintenance. Wow. Noises. So I

[00:23:09] Caroline Blazovsky: What do I want to solve? Cause there are some good to a lot of different products in the market, right? Not every product is bad and some products effectively get rid of what I need them to. Knowing that I usually typically use UV for microbiological, for mold, for fungus, for virus, bacteria. Do you feel you can fare as well with dander counts, particulate, VOC, or do you think.

[00:23:38] Stuart Henley: VOC is no, because, uh, typically the best way to combat VLCs is with the carbon filter. However, carbon filters you saturate and they need to be replaced. Right? We do have a slot on the bottom of our standalone unit that takes us standard off the shelf, a filter that you can buy at your local [00:24:00] hallmark, where.

[00:24:18] Stuart Henley: Yeah. Oh,

[00:24:39] Caroline Blazovsky: How do they go about getting this product and installing

[00:25:07] Stuart Henley: So it's very easy to install. It's , we take, , the magnetic, , reflectors that we use to put on the inside of the dock for their magnetic back. So take it out of the box. Put the magnetics a spot on your return. Air dock, find a spot where everything. Draw Sharpie line around it, cut it out place or reflective panels on the inside tech, screw it into the duct work, plug it in and

[00:25:33] Caroline Blazovsky: Isn't that cooler for all our DIY wires. You can now I don't want to hear anybody complaining about worried about viruses and all of this stuff. You can do it yourself with the air sniper. No excuses.

[00:25:51] Eric Goranson: Or how does that work?

[00:26:15] Stuart Henley: Cool.

[00:26:21] Stuart Henley: , we always liked to put it on the return side because then you're getting everything that's, uh, um, prior to the coil and your air conditioning. So we'll, we'll keep your air conditioning, coil clean from mold and mildew build up as well.

[00:26:46] Caroline Blazovsky: space do they need Stuart? Like, so if you're looking at a return and a traditional home and a wall, , some people have one or two returns where how much space would they need.

[00:27:17] Eric Goranson: sure. Which is generally pretty easy since you've got power to that unit there.

[00:27:27] Stuart Henley: Yeah. Right. And our unit also runs it like 3.6 amps at one 10, or if you want to lower that you can get to 1.8 amps at 2 0 8. Wow.

[00:27:43] Stuart Henley: That's very light. That's good.

[00:27:47] Eric Goranson: So interesting. I mean, you know what price point, , it's just a massive investment. , of course it's, , sold across the, the north America here, of course in the United States and Canada, wherever else. But, , is this [00:28:00] a massive investment for somebody to put this in there?

[00:28:05] Stuart Henley: And considering if you amortize the costs over the lifespan on the product, so we're saying 10 years and, and you're, you're going to be, uh, less than $3,000 completely installed

[00:28:28] Caroline Blazovsky: I mean, they're running about $3,000. Um, and you don't have to change the filter for five to six years, but when you're looking at traditional filtration and you're buying something, that's, let's say around $800, you have to, you have to calculate out changing that filter. And a lot of what happens with my clients is they forget to change the filter.

[00:29:02] Caroline Blazovsky: And so after testing indoor air quality for how many years, I started to realize that these purification systems that were capture not kill, um, and not destroy were actually making my clients.

[00:29:36] Stuart Henley: Uh, we don't have a caption system. , Normally, we would say if somebody is putting their filtration, , back yourself down to a Merv eight, which is really. Yeah, our catch particulate and not the, the mold and the viral material.

[00:30:00] Eric Goranson: Cause it was in June. I had the best timing in Portland, Oregon, because I didn't have central air in the house. It was working. And when we bought it and I ended up replacing the whole system and taken out the, you know, 1992 forced air system out of my house, But about three weeks before our 116 degree heat that is here in Portland, Oregon last summer.

[00:30:35] Stuart Henley: filter. Dammit. 15 is a very tight weed man, as we know. , so it's very easily. , captured all. It's going to capture in a very short time period and relevantly speaking, , and adding the low tier to your, uh, your, uh, motor in your handler, absolutely causes more energy drain.

[00:31:05] Caroline Blazovsky: fat itself and a lot of clients. So, um, for people who don't know, they, if you want to put filtration on your HVAC, It's very hard to do that, because think about it, the thicker, the filter, you go, the more static pressure it can. Takes to create creates, and then it causes this stress on your motor and also inhibits your air flow.

[00:31:45] Caroline Blazovsky: Become a capture system for all the things you don't want. Cat proteins, dog protein, um, peanut allergens. And they actually can contribute to you feeling worse than your home. Cause they're not hermetically sealed. , this isn't a thing that nothing comes out of it once it's there. So a [00:32:00] system like the air sniper doesn't allow you to block airflow on your HVAC.

[00:32:09] Stuart Henley: Yes. And like you say, you didn't and sometimes just physically not enough space in some of those situations as well. So, and then reminding yourself to reorder those filters on our own.

[00:32:28] Eric Goranson: I don't want to come across saying they didn't because it's a variable speed system it's designed for that filter. It's their filters. It's designed to work with that. So they made it work. But, uh, yeah, I, I, first time I went out and bought air filters for it. I went out and bought a pack of two and I'm like, I was 200 bucks, the air filters, and I'm gonna use this year.

[00:32:47] Stuart Henley: You know,

[00:32:54] Eric Goranson: I know Caroline was talking about going out and buying an, our midweek special this week. She was talking about going out and [00:33:00] she was heading to the lumber yard and I said, you get alone that way you can go get a, get the gas, gas station on the way back. You can go buy a lumber and go get a car, fill up.

[00:33:12] Stuart Henley: Exactly.

[00:33:32] Eric Goranson: And they've got multiple rooms, but they don't have that, uh, situation. And like a, , many Northern climates where air conditioning and a central air system is not. You know that not that common or they've got a mini split system that can affect anything. You really can't put a system into that.

[00:33:58] Stuart Henley: Right. And in that [00:34:00] particular case, we talked to recommend our standalone units, um, and. Albeit it's, it's quite large from a standpoint of putting in a home. Um, but you need to create air force for human clean, the air.

[00:34:34] Stuart Henley: However, I argue to say that most of those are insufficient for what you require, uh, in the entire a hole. So we do have our standalone , that works very well in those spaces is just a little larger than maybe your, you would be used to. So obviously you can always Dr. Unit if, if you feel the need to do so.

[00:35:14] Eric Goranson: For people out there that are trying to think of what a CFM is. I always explain it as a, as a cubic feet per minute is each CFM is a basketball.

[00:35:31] Caroline Blazovsky: That's like an awesome analogy. I love that I'm stealing that Eric that's stolen.

[00:35:45] Eric Goranson: Oh, you're in Canada. You're like basketball. Yeah. That's a thing that happens during hockey season.

[00:35:54] Eric Goranson: So,

[00:36:08] Caroline Blazovsky: Creating and designing air sniper. So I know I've heard through the grapevine. It's, you're pretty, uh, you're an enthusiast.

[00:36:30] Stuart Henley: , certainly a love scheme. We have some of the best skiing in the world here in the Rocky mountains and, uh, also, uh, hiking in the winter and all that. It might sound crazy to some that live in deep self states, but , it's, it's so beautiful in the winter. It's so pristine and everything looks so fresh.

[00:37:04] Caroline Blazovsky: Do you travel to, are you a person that travels to other courses like around the world and loves to go? Like, are you an avid golfer?

[00:37:32] Eric Goranson: Nice. There you go. There you go.

[00:37:38] Eric Goranson: how long has the golf season up there in Calgary?

[00:37:44] Stuart Henley: Today's in July,

[00:37:52] Stuart Henley: Yeah. It's kind of five to six months. So if I want to play in. [00:38:00] Obviously, I often go down to Palm Springs, California to play golf.

[00:38:17] Eric Goranson: uh, I love going down to Palm Springs for modernism week cause um, you know, the design architecture guy.

[00:38:30] Stuart Henley: Well, I need any, you always know you're going to have good weather and Palm Springs. I mean, it's probably the sunniest place on earth. Yeah.

[00:38:47] Stuart Henley: And

[00:39:13] Eric Goranson: We got it so high in the. Driving through downtown, regular Palm Springs, right by the mall there that we shorted out the electric, uh, flip out, uh, running boards on it. They quit working in the rental car because we had it up to the door, jams, the bottom of the door, jams and water out there, just trying to get through Palm Springs.

[00:39:43] Stuart Henley: Yeah. Well the dozer doesn't suck up very much water and a number 722. Knock Dubai, a rental car. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:00] Stuart Henley: If you're driving a stolen.

[00:40:15] Stuart Henley: Well, we've talked, we've touched on a lot of, uh, mean subjects. I mean, the one thing you'll find out is that, uh, when you engage with Aero, sniper is like I said before, we're a services solution provider and making sure that we find a solution to your problem.

[00:40:53] Stuart Henley: Where we can help you out

[00:41:15] Stuart Henley: Well, and we have been third-party tested and we put our test results right on our website. Uh, we do it. And I w the company in Ireland, full area where they have proper containment, chambers of their cycling, the era and the virus into. So they've been tested for Ms. Two, which is the surrogate to tell us for killing COVID or 99.9%.

[00:42:11] Eric Goranson: There you go. And Stuart where's that what's the best place for people to find the, all this information from the white papers to your technology and everything else on the web?

[00:42:30] Eric Goranson: There we go, Stuart.

[00:42:45] Caroline Blazovsky: Air sniper diaper. That's the best name ever. I'm jealous of that name. That is an awesome name.

[00:43:00] Caroline Blazovsky: I'm Caroline. And