Dealing With Reality

I ask: Is this guy nuts? Sure, take away the forced-air systems and you can decrease the contaminant circulation. Let’s eliminate food and we won’t have any fat people.

What he should be addressing is what do we do with what we have now. One story says it all.

An employee came to me with a situation. His fianc¿had some sort of asthmatic attack on a recent Wednesday evening. After taking her to the emergency room to get some relief, she went to her allergist the following day. The allergist prescribed a breathing machine and some medicine. The monthly rental of the machine and the medicine were going to cost them $200. I could see that he was upset at having to face this for the rest of his life.

He lives in an apartment that was recently remodeled. I asked him if there was much dust, and he said no. Pets? No. Mildew or mold? No. Musty smells? Maybe. Gas appliances? No. How is your system set up? Wild return through the closet door, supplies in soffit. Hmm. Negative pressure. Do you have a fireplace? Yes. Any odor? My future mother-in-law says it is bad, but we don’t smell it.

This was on a Friday morning. I told him at lunch to go home and measure the return and see if we could put a short plenum on it and get a filter rack and “Sanuvox” on. He did. We did. By Monday morning, the filter was filthy, the odor from the fireplace was gone, and his fianc¿was doing jumping jacks! As Dave Barry would say, “I’m not kidding.”

She revisited the allergist on Tuesday. The allergist is stunned. Everything was gone! This is not the exception, but the rule. We have made dramatic improvements on the worst cases.

Cure the problem. Deal with reality.

Dennis Pruiett, President , Jack Frost Inc., Evansville, IN

Publication date: 08/05/2002