The Story of the Skeptical Brothers

Even the Most Jaded Engineers Can Become Fond of "Snake Oil"

   There are some risks of writing about a product as revolutionary as IceCOLD.  Those of us who follow and write about the product get branded as crackpots.  I wrote a couple of responses on a commonly-visited site where HVAC techs talk about their experiences and share ideas.  Two of them were complaining about the claims of success by other IceCOLD fans.  Stupidly, I answered their questions with a few well-documented facts.  Their huge, bold responses were "BS", "BS" and I got banished from the site.  

   This also happens in one's own family.  Mark 6:4  Jesus said, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family."  Total strangers can accept this kind of news but someone closer to us is more dubious. My competitor and dear friend Kevin Wheeler with Aire Serv has been the one actually selling IceCOLD and installing it locally.  His brothers are pretty sure all this IceCOLD stuff is some kind of scam. Brother Sean does have a very nice 18 SEER, 2-stage R-410a system, so he's able to accept some new ideas.  But Sean in Tennessee and Tim in Missouri have been telling Kevin that all this IceCOLD stuff is BS and it cannot work.  This weekend he traveled to Tennessee and to install the catalysts into one brother's Goodman heat pump and back through Missouri to treat the other brother's two air conditioners.  Both his brothers are those "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" guys who have seen enough foolishness in this business to be skeptical of any new product and new claims.  

   It was worth a weekend road trip for Kevin and his bride to teach the brothers a lesson about a technology a bit different than what they already know.  Saturday was Sean's installation day.  Kevin and I had already noticed a drop in compressor noise at installation and Kevin was prepared to document that effect.  He noted a drop from 76dB to 71dB at installation. The effects were immediate.  Kevin and Sean recorded the following:

       Outdoor ambient: 56 degF   Return air 70 degF throughout

                    Pre-test           Post-test

                   Low     High        Low    High

Supply Air         84       92         89      97

Outdoor leaving    51                  49

Compressor Amps    6.6      7.8        5.3     6.5

Discharge Line     91       99         97     110

Discharge Press   290                 300

Liquid Line        88       89         88      87

Suction Press     135                 135

   This translates into a 35% increase in heating capacity on low and a 23% increase on high.  The power dropped by 19% on low and 16% on high.  Predictably, Kevin and Sean both got on the phone to Tim with the good news.  Equally predictably, the Missouri "show-me-state" guy was unimpressed.  He vowed that his results would be different because he would turn off the electric heaters messing up the other brother's test data.

    We can assume that Tim will be a convert quite shortly.  
UPDATE:  
    So Sunday night Tim got IceCOLD in both of his air conditioners.  Granted it was a bit cool in eastern Missouri, but the effects were equally impressive in cooling as Sean's were in heating. Tim's two air conditioners were blowing 43 degrees and 41 degrees respectively.  The power on the 2 1/2 ton dropped by 1.1 Amp and the 3 1/2 dropped 1.3 Amps.  Now, he's as excited to start saving on his utility bills as other brother Sean is.  
EPILOGUE:
     Kevin writes April 21:  "I spoke with my Tennessee brother about the performance of his heat pump after the installation of IceCOLD. (going on 3rd week) 
My brother notices the unit actually shutting off (being satisfied quicker)...and his subsequent defrost time is CONSIDERABLY less. In addition, because of the shorter run times, frost is NOT accumulating like before. 
My brother disconnected his heat strips to ensure we only have pure heat pump data. He is no longer skeptical. HE IS A BELIEVER!! "
EPILOGUE II:
     With warm weather finally arriving in Kansas, Kevin installs IceCOLD in his own home today in his 7 year-old Rheem 2 1/2 ton AC. 
      Outdoor ambient: 67 degF   Return air 71 degF throughout

                    Pre-test           Post-test

                   

Supply Air             51                 47

Outdoor leaving        79                 81

Compressor Amps       6.79               6.45

Suction Press          62                 60

Suction Line Temp      55                 53
Liquid Press           155                150

Liquid Line Temp       62                 64 

dB Level               95                 91
On Time/Off Time(%) 7:51/9:17 (45%)    6:44/10:36 (39%)
Amperage Reduction  5%
Run Time Reduction  13%
Capacity Increase   20%
Heat Rejection Incr 17%