EP242 Give Every Heat Pump a Cell Phone - Predictive HVAC with Thalo Labs With Brendan Hermalyn (October 2025)
Release Date: 10/31/2025
EP253 The HVAC Trust Gap, and the Directory Built to Close It With Kevin R. Hart, Huff Hoffmaster & Darren Reuter (January 2026)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the episode: “Better isn’t a goal, it’s a direction.” “HVAC can feel like a house of mirrors for homeowners, and the cure is transparency plus measured results.” “We’re not trying to find the perfect contractor. We’re trying to find the contractor who keeps learning and won’t get complacent.” In this episode of the Building HVAC Science Podcast, Eric Kaiser flips the script and brings Bill Spohn on as a guest alongside Kevin Hart from Better HVAC and Darren Reuter and Huff Hoffmaster from Rewiring America. The group lays out a shared problem:...
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EP252 The Perfection Trap in the Trades With Eric Kaiser (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the episode: “Good enough isn’t a fixed point. It’s a moving target shaped by goals, expectations, and consequences.” “Perfection can push us forward, but it can also quietly pull us off track.” “If I delivered what I promised, in the time promised, using the resources promised, that is good enough for me.” “The real skill is knowing when extra effort adds value and when it just adds ego.” In this solo monologue episode, Eric Kaiser explores a deceptively simple question: Can good enough be perfect? Drawing on years of experience in the trades, Eric...
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EP251 Innovation in HVAC: The Quiet Shifts That Matter Most With Bill Spohn (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the Episode: “Innovation in HVAC isn’t one big breakthrough. It’s a series of quieter shifts that slowly change how we work.” “The future of HVAC depends on the people who measure, verify, and continuously improve.” “Collecting data is getting easier. Interpreting it well is where the real value lives.” “True innovation isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about reducing uncertainty and delivering better outcomes.” “Homes aren’t a collection of parts. They’re systems, and HVAC sits right in the middle of that system.” In this solo episode,...
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EP250 Beyond the Equipment: Reflections on 250 Episodes of HVAC and Building Science with Eric and Bill (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes from the Episode: “Good building systems don’t start with equipment—they start with a plan and a thoughtful process.” “Most comfort problems aren’t equipment problems; they’re building problems we haven’t taken the time to understand.” “If even one episode helps someone take the next step in their career, then it’s all been worth it.” Episode 250 of the Building HVAC Science Podcast flips the script. Instead of Bill Spohn and Eric Kaiser doing the interviewing, TruTech Tools’ Senior Marketing Manager Ginny Hebert steps into the host seat to reflect on 250...
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EP249 The Hidden Hazards: CO, H₂S and the Tech Behind Modern Gas Detection With Dave Massner from Sensorcon (December 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Episode quotes: “Hydrogen sulfide doesn’t announce itself. It can drift in, hit your mucus membranes, and start causing real harm before you know it’s there.” “You can’t treat sensor response like magic—it’s physics, chemistry, and smart filtering working together to tell you what’s actually happening in the space.” In this episode, Bill & Eric sit down with Dave Massner from Sensorcon, a long-time technical contributor in the world of portable gas detection, to dig into the realities behind CO, H₂S, and O₂ sensing in both HVAC and industrial environments. Bill...
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EP248 Balanced Comfort, Brutal Lessons: Scaling, Losing Half Your Revenue, and Starting Over with AI with Aaron Husak (November 2025)
Building HVAC Science
“Inspect your marketing the way you’d inspect a home—run diagnostics, don’t guess.” – Aaron Husak “Attitude is way more important than aptitude. One bad apple really can infect the whole company.” – Aaron Husak In this episode of the Building HVAC Science podcast, Eric and Bill sit down with long-time friend and contractor-turned-marketing pro, Aaron Husak. Aaron traces his winding path from solar in the mid-2000s to building performance and BPI training, and then to founding Balanced Comfort in Fresno, CA. What started as a small HERS and energy-audit firm bootstrapped its...
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EP247 From CEO to Chief Education Officer: Bill Spohn on Legacy, Leadership & Better HVAC (November 2025)
Building HVAC Science
“Get mad at the problem, not the person. When people feel safe, they’ll actually bring you the real issues.” - Bill Spohn “We’re woven into the fabric of this industry. The industry made me—so in a way, it owns me.” - Bill Spohn “What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” - Aristotle In this episode, Eric turns the mic around and interviews his co-host, Bill Spohn, about the evolution of TruTech Tools, his leadership philosophy, and why he’s shifting from “Chief Executive Officer” to “Chief Education Officer.” Bill traces the roots of TruTech back to late...
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EP246 Beyond MERV: The Truth About Smoke, Sensors, and Standards With Sissi Liu (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Episode quotes: “Below about 0.4 microns, many low-cost PM sensors are basically guessing—right where wildfire smoke and aerosols live.” — Sissi Liu “Electrostatic filters can look great at first—and then fall off a cliff in smoke. Pressure drop won’t warn you.” — Sissi Liu “Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.” — Carl Sagan Eric digs into the “fresh air” myth with Sissi Liu, CEO/co-founder of Metalmark Innovations and active ASHRAE committee member. Sissi explains why “outdoor = fresh” is context-dependent—urban...
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EP245 Retrofit the Future: Inside PHIUS’s New Revive Standard with Al Mitchell and Haley Harlow (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Eric Kaiser sits down with Haley Harlow and Al Mitchell from PHIUS (Passive House Institute US) to explore Revive 2024, a groundbreaking new retrofit standard focused on thermal resilience and healthier, safer existing buildings. Haley shares her path from Pennsylvania College of Technology to her current role managing building certifications at PHIUS. At the same time, Al recounts his journey from aspiring car engineer to building scientist, drawn to the elegant complexity of whole-building systems. Together, they unpack how Revive differs from traditional PHIUS new-construction standards....
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EP244 Envelope, HVAC, and Humans: Solving the IAQ Puzzle with Brantley May (October 2025)
Building HVAC Science
Quotes by Brantley: “Most moisture problems are a three-way dance—envelope, mechanicals, and the occupants.” “Skim the light, don’t blast it. The right flashlight technique makes the invisible visible.” “If you only understand one piece of the system, you’re solving 1/3 of the problem.” Indoor environmental specialist Brantley May joins the show to unpack how he investigates moisture, mold, and air-quality problems through building forensics. Starting as a mold remediator in his family business, Brantley shifted to assessment work and now runs national...
info_outlineQUOTES from the Episode
“Instead of landlines everywhere, give every heat pump a cell phone and let it call home.”
“We’re seeing close to 40% of heat pumps undercharged or leaking—no wonder callbacks are high.”
“What gets measured gets managed.” — often attributed to Peter Drucker (fitting this data-driven shift)
Brendan Hermalyn (CEO/founder, Thalo Labs) traces a zig-zag path from NASA and defense to self-driving cars—then into HVAC. His through-line: high-reliability sensing and prognostics. Thalo’s product aims to “give every heat pump a cell phone,” using a small, non-invasive module that snaps inside VRFs/splits (and eventually larger plants), measures power and line temps, backhauls via cellular, and flags undercharge/leaks and power-quality issues before they become emergency calls. It’s equipment management, not a full BMS—lightweight to install, built for techs, and friendly to API integrations, texts, and weekly roll-ups.
Brendan argues the market is ready: most commercial buildings still lack BMS, Wi-Fi is fragile for critical telemetry, and the economics of sensors/cloud have flipped. Thalo avoids tapping the refrigerant loop, prioritizes fast installs (often 10–30 minutes), QR/location tagging, and even a “buzz this unit” feature to find the right rooftop box. Early field data is sobering—he’s seeing ~40% of heat pumps undercharged and/or leaking—driving callbacks, compressor failures, and energy waste. The pitch to contractors: turn break-fix chaos into planned maintenance, white-label the savings report, and train new techs faster with data-driven cues. Oh, and the name? “Thalo” like the deep sky blue—an homage to adding tech to make the picture clearer.
Brendan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-hermalyn/
Thalo Labs: https://thalolabs.com/
This episode was recorded in October 2025.