The SecureAire® Platinum Dealer Direct Program
In January of this year I announced the residential SecureAire Platinum Dealer Direct Program. If you missed this, I encourage you to take 5 minutes and read about the product and how it works. If you did read it, and want to skip to the Program, just click here.
Dear Valued Clients:
The U.S. residential indoor air quality (IAQ) market exceeds $8 billion annually and the forecast for 2023 is to exceed $12 billion. The majority of this market is served by retailers, both local and online, with a small percentage going to HVAC contractors. We…including you…are missing out.
For the past year I have been working with a manufacturer of a proven commercial air purification product. Since 2004, this technology has been used in hospital operating rooms, commercial buildings, clean-room applications and more, and has proven that it will outperform even the best commercial HEPA filtration systems. By “outperform”, this technology has consistently produced a reduction of airborne contaminants, particles, virus, bacteria and VOC’s, by over 90%!
I’ve Learned a Thing or Two Because I’ve Seen a Thing or Two
Most of you know that I began my 40-year HVAC career with a major manufacturer of controls and IAQ products. Air filters and related products received most of my attention in all of my jobs, including contractor sales, IAQ product specialist, commercial IAQ sales manager, residential new construction marketing and more. I’ve installed every type of filter and IAQ device in my home, so I can learn how well they perform and coach others how to sell them. I won’t say I’m an IAQ expert, but I am relatively well-informed.
Technology Continues to Improve
What was a technical marvel 30, 20 and even 10 years ago can be obsolete today. Progress had been made, and products have improved, but we have fallen short of a complete solution. Until now.
What Do Your Customers Expect
I’m certain they expect you to tell them the truth. Give them the facts and let them decide if the product is worth the investment. They want you, as an expert, to understand their needs and show them choices on how those needs can be met. They don’t want you to make decisions for them, they want to choose for themselves. Soft sell, high skills.
Abundance of Products and Claims
There are countless types of air filters, UV lights, PCO devices, odor neutralizers, ozone generators, negative ion generators and so on, with varying claims about how one is superior over another. In some cases, manufacturer performance claims are significantly overstated, or purposely vague, and government regulators have stepped in to try to protect consumers. We all know what happened to Sharper Image’s Ionic Breeze.
What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us
What we have been taught was true back then, may, in fact, be proven false. Science continues to uncover hidden information about the air that we breath. We still don’t know exactly how airborne particles and gases impact our health, but the latest information is not encouraging.
Did you know that there can be over 20 million particles in a cubic foot of air? We breathe over 11,000 quarts of air a day and that means that our nose, throat and lungs have to deal with over 7,000,000,000 particles a day. 7 BILLION!!!
Did you know that the smaller particles, under 10 microns, called Fine particles, can get deep into the lungs, directly causing serious health problems?
Did you also know that the smallest particles, under 1 micron, called Ultrafine particles, get into the deepest part of the lungs and are absorbed into the bloodstream and even the brain, causing even more serious health issues?
Did you know that most of these Fine and Ultrafine particles are permanently suspended in the air, essentially weightless, and that they are held there by natural forces that prevent them from getting into the airstream and back to your filter?
Did you know that devices that “charge” airborne particles, or create electrical fields, ALL produce potentially harmful ozone? And that ozone is now recognized as a serious health hazard and ASHRAE, EPA and the American Lung Association all recommend that any device that produces ozone should not be used in the home?
Fact is, my friends, that even after a lifetime of studying the products I didn’t study the science of airborne particulates and how the products may…or may not…have an effect on removing them.
We Can’t Solve a Problem We Don’t Understand
How do your customers, and you, judge if a filter is working or not? Most people assume if it’s dirty, it’s working. Since visible particles make up about 1% of all of the airborne particles, believing the filter is working because it is dirty is about 1% true.
You have seen visible dust floating in a sunbeam in your own home. How can that be? You have the top of the line electronic filter, plenty of return air, sealed ductwork, variable speed fan running 24/7…how can that “big stuff” ¨still be in the air? The reality is that nearly all of the airborne particles in your home stay suspended, like fruit in gelatin, because of natural forces. Gravity, Brownian Motion, EMF, air flow speed…all of these and more…are preventing 90% of what’s in the air from getting to the filter. The filter never has a chance.
What Filters Do…and Don’t Do
The MERV rating system does help level the playing field in an otherwise confusing and misrepresented landscape. MERV tests all filters at 12 different particle sizes including 0.3 microns which is actually the most difficult particle to capture. At least having that standard for uniform comparison helps dispel claims by some that their 1-inch filter is as effective at a 5-inch HEPA, for a fraction of the cost.
But what about smaller particles, such as virus and bacteria? If you study the MERV chart you’ll see that these don’t get captured unless you are at a near-HEPA MERV rating, and they are generally not installed in residential applications anyway due to high pressure drop and other reasons.
And what about VOCs, those potentially harmful gases that increasingly air-tight homes now trap, and you and your family breathe for 12 hours a day? MERV doesn’t test for VOCs.
Regardless of the MERV rating, the bigger question is, what does the filter do in the living space…not in the test chamber?
Ozone…NOT Good
ASHRAE, EPA, American Lung Association…pick a source and none of them think ozone is a good thing. I mean any amount of ozone.
Every device that creates an electrical charge to capture or “destroy” airborne contaminants creates ozone. Electrostatic precipitation…yep. Ion Generators…yep. Plasma producers…yep. Ozone Generators…duh!
Here is what ASHRAE says about ozone:
“Negative health effects arise from exposure to ozone and its reaction products. Consequently, devices that use the reactivity of ozone for cleaning the air should not be used in occupied spaces. Extreme caution is warranted when using devices in which ozone is not used for the purpose of air cleaning but is emitted unintentionally during the air-cleaning process as a by-product of their operation.”
ASHRAE Position Document on Filtration and Air Cleaning
Approved by ASHRAE Board of Directors. January 29, 2015
What Really Matters When It Comes to Indoor Air Quality
What really matters is what will be removed in the living space where people breathe.
We certainly want a product with the capability of removing the particles that reach the filter, and killing pathogens that reach the filter, and neutralizing harmful VOC’s that reach the filter.
BUT we have to have a way to get all of the airborne particles, pathogens and VOC’s back to the filter!
SecureAire’s Breakthrough Technology Has Been Proven
Developed by a world-class team of particle and material scientists, and over 20 years of research and testing, SecureAire has developed a patented process for doing what has been, until now, impossible.
First introduced in clean rooms, SecureAire was proven to reduce particle counts to reach ISO 6 level. To put this in perspective, ISO 9 levels are similar to an outdoor condition in a city with 35,000,000 of greater than 0.5 micron sized particles per cubic foot. ISO 6 allows no more than 35,000 particles per cubic foot…a 99% reduction. My home in Seattle has had readings as low as 6,000 particles per cubic foot! Amazing…and true.
When applied in hospital operating rooms, the results were staggering. In test after test, when the SecureAire was used and compared to 99.99% HEPA filtration, it far surpassed the HEPA filters, further reducing total airborne particulates by a whopping 90%. In addition, airborne pathogens were eliminated…eliminated!
In a commercial application, when an office building failed LEED IAQ Certification, SecureAire’s filters took just 48 hours to reduce all levels of concern to far below the minimums, and the building was certified.
In a health care facility, where strong odors were a constant problem, a SecureAire unit removed all noticeable traces of the odors and reduced the TVOC levels by 94%…in 30 minutes!
How Does It Work
To begin, there is no electrical “zapping” of particles (that’s why there is no ozone). SecureAire’s technology begins at the inlet of the device, “conditioning” all airborne particles, down to molecules of gases, to move at incredible velocities, causing them to collide with each other and form larger, heavier clumps of particles. When they are large and heavy enough they will be captured in the filter. Most of them get stopped right here.
Some particles, the smallest ones, get past the filter, and this is what we want! These smallest particles are actually pulled through the filter and again “conditioned” so that they go out into the living space all primed to attract other particles and, now, to absorb VOC’s, just like a sponge. Once again, when the clumped particles become large and heavy enough, they will be caught up in the airstream, brought back to the filter, and captured.
Those pathogens that are part of this process, once captured, are forever “inactivated” or killed, unable to reproduce or cause any further health risk.
You Don’t Live in an Operating Room
No, you don’t, nor do you want to. SecureAire has developed a residential Air Purifier with the same proven technology, so you, and your customers, can get the benefits of purified air in your homes.
This is an opportunity to help many people in many ways, both personally and in their businesses. That’s why I have joined the SecureAire team and will be establishing an Authorized Distribution and Authorized Dealer network across North America.
Authorized Distributors will be exclusive in their territories and will provide the highest level of support to their Dealers.
Authorize Dealers will be limited as well, and we will seek only those who follow the best-in-class sales, installation and customer service practices.
Okay…Now You’re Interested…How Much Is It
Let’s say for the moment that you studied all of this particle science stuff and you put one in your home and absolutely believed that this product, properly installed by you, would deliver on its promises. How much would that be worth?
Today you, or other contractors, are selling OEM branded air filters for $2,000 or more and PCO or ion-generating devices for $1,000 or more. SecureAire will do the jobs of both of these products…even better!
As a Direct Platinum Dealer, your cost will be just under $1,000, more than most air filtration products, but not all. Given all that it will do, it’s value-priced as a premium product at a medium price point. When you add in material, including turning vanes or radius-turned replacement return drop, labor, overhead and profit, the retail sell-to-the-homeowner price could be somewhere around $2,500. A very fair investment for your customers with a lifetime of benefits.
Why Isn’t SecureAire Available Through a Distributor
It will be. We are committed to a two-step distribution business model and intend to eventually have the best-in-class distributor-partners to support you. It takes time to establish these relationships so, while we are doing that, we don’t want to hold back on introducing SecureAire to contractors like you who are eager to offer a proven solution to their customers’ indoor air quality needs.
What are the Platinum Dealer Requirements
Pretty simple, really. All that we ask:
- The owner/manager determines this is a good fit for your company
- We conduct online training for your entire company: sales, service, CSRs
- You agree to apply and install SecureAire to the industry’s best standards
- At least one person installs a Personal Use unit at a heavily discounted cost
- You order 3 units to get started
- Most importantly, you agree to offer SecureAire on every high-end system you propose. That means you agree to include it, and then take it off if the customer is not interested.
What a Platinum Dealer Receives
- You purchase directly from SecureAire at reduced Platinum Dealer Pricing
- You are the exclusive provider for the Replacement Air Purification Cartridge
- We provide online sales, installation and CSR training and support
- You have website-based resources at www.secureaire.com
- 10-Year Full Product Replacement Warranty
- 5-Year $200 Labor Allowance Replacement Warranty
- 90-Day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
- Consumer Video online
- Consumer Brochure
- Free literature
- Personal Use pricing
- Dealer Locator on www.secureaire.com
- More
What’s the Next Step
Let’s talk and see if this is a good fit. We will discuss the SecureAire Platinum Dealer requirements, tell you about the training and support you’ll get, and we’ll run some numbers.
Don’t miss out…contact me now. And hurry…
Tom Piscitelli
425-985-4534
tomp@secureaire.com
PS:
If you are located in Minnesota or Wisconsin please contact your TM at Auer Steel
If you are located in Alaska, Washington, Oregon or Idaho please contact your OSR at Gensco
If you are located in Chicagoland please contact your TM at TEC