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The Measuring Post is a podcast about growth, not perfection.
It’s a place to pause, reflect, and measure what actually matters in your life, your work, and your personal development. Not by comparing yourself to others, but by comparing who you are today to who you were yesterday.
I'm Joe Massa, and I created this show because I believe growth isn't a solo journey. Each week, you’ll hear thoughtful interviews with incredible guests: entrepreneurs, leaders, creatives, and everyday people doing meaningful work, sharing real experiences, lessons learned, and practical insights you can apply right away. These conversations are designed to help you think differently, grow intentionally, and move forward with clarity.
Alongside the interviews, you’ll also find The Daily Measure, short, bite-sized solo episodes focused on simple words of wisdom and actionable ideas you can use in your daily life. Think of these as quick check-ins to help you stay grounded, focused, and consistent.
This isn’t about hype or shortcuts. It’s about honest conversations, small improvements, and growing together over time.
If you’re someone who values progress, reflection, and becoming a better version of yourself, you’re in the right place.
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, join the conversation, and grow with us.
Joe Massa (00:00.178)
The giant box on my head makes no sense. All right, with that in mind, here we go.
Hello, everyone, welcome to another edition of The Measuring Post, where we truly measure what matters. And today we're going to talk about something we've yet to cover on this show, something that we all do each and every day, but we never really put a whole lot of thought into it, and that is breathing clean air. My guest today has been noticing a problem since the late 70s when he was working in an auto dealership and coming out of a car's vents, there was a really weird odor, something that he couldn't quite place yet. Turns out that he spent the next 20 years.
Waiting for the right solution before he ever built the company around it. His name is Ramiro Moreno. He is a Vietnam veteran, turned entrepreneur. He's also the founder of DWD2 Clean Air. He pioneered one of the very first ways to clean an AC system without having to tear it all apart. He even built a category around something most of us never really stop to measure. Like I mentioned, it's the air we breathe. With that in mind, please welcome Ramiro to the Measuring Post. How are you today?
Day, sir.
Ramiro Moreno (01:09.826)
Very good. Thank you.
Joe Massa (01:12.158)
Yes, it's a pleasure to get you on there. And I thank you and everyone around you thanks you for the clean air that we breathe. But we gotta dive a little deeper into how you got into this area of expertise. So tail take us back to the 1970s. You're working at an auto dealership, you're getting ready to get a car to be sold to a new owner.
And you get in and there's a really weird odor. Now, does that strike you as something that's common or what makes you think that there's something that needs a deeper dive to figure out what's really going on underneath the hood for a a nice pun for you?
Ramiro Moreno (01:44.546)
To tell you the truth, I didn't know what the problem was. I actually went out there and started the car wanting to find out that the car was in good working condition. As any salesman would do, you want to make sure that the car is in good condition. I turned on the engine and a foul smell came from the ventilation system. And I didn't know what that was. I just know that
This customer is not gonna like this, I'm not gonna be able to sell this car. That's what came to my mind.
Joe Massa (02:19.124)
Yeah. And I would imagine that the idea of it being some type of mold or fungus was probably the last thought on your mind. More along the lines of, hey, this car just needs a good cleaning or, you know, that you ran over a skunk or something. I mean, that's what most people would think, as opposed to, hey, the quality of air that we're actually putting into our lungs right now is less than optimal. I would imagine it it took a little bit of
research into finding that out. But but before you got into the automotive industry, you were a Vietnam veteran. I thank you for your service, by the way, sir. and then you also got a psychology degree. So you've had this really unique, amazing background. You're a military vet with a degree in psychology. How do you end up in the automotive industry in the first place before you even realized, you know, clean air was on your radar?
Ramiro Moreno (03:11.886)
Well, you know, I was intrigued with psychology because it's about people.
Ramiro Moreno (03:19.512)
You know, before I didn't think like this, but I have come to love people. and I want to do things for them. And I I don't know if it was a psychology part of it, but I wanted to get that degree because it was about people.
Joe Massa (03:45.931)
Yeah. And not only taking care of obviously their psychological well-being, but the fact that you were able to build an entire business taking care of their physical well-being is as well. I would imagine there's a profound sense of excitement and achievement by building this company. so let's talk about exactly dating back to that original sort of
Understanding that there was a problem with air quality in vehicles specifically was sort of the catalyst that got you moving forward. How did you discover that this wasn't just a foul odor, but this was actually something much deeper that needed to really be cleansed? Because breathing in mold and toxins, obviously, very detrimental. How did you finally discover that there was mold and sort of toxins in the ventilation system?
Ramiro Moreno (04:33.355)
Well, I I really didn't know. I I well I only knew because I've experienced that I know it was mold and bacteria in the evaporator. But a friend of mine from Japan, he introduced me to this product that would that would kill mold and bacteria in the in the ventilation system.
He told me that there was a Jap it was a Japanese inventor that came up with it. When I heard that, I I quickly I was at the co and selling cars at that time. Right away I put down the phone and I
Quickly went to visit him. I wanted to see what this technology was. And what it was is a foam spray. This this inventor came up with a way to clean the evaporator without having to remove the ventilation system. And the way it was is that you would have to drill a hole between the blower fan and the evaporator. Once you shoot the foam through the between the two.
You turn on the system and it would force the foam between the evaporator fins and then once you turn it off the contamination would drain from the evaporator drain of holes. It was amazing. I thought, wow, this is something we really need.
the auto industry.
Joe Massa (06:20.096)
Yeah, absolutely. So for someone that's a layman like myself that doesn't understand the technology side of it or the technical side of it, is this simply a cleansing tool that you force through the system where it it actually kills the spores in the mold and then gravity and sort of rinsing it will remove it completely? Or is this something where it sort of isolates it and removes it?
Ramiro Moreno (06:43.669)
No. The foam is pushed in through the evaporator fans from the blower fan. What what then has to happen is you turn the system off because the foam itself will start eating away the contamination or whatever's in the evaporator. And then it will drain, it'll turn into liquid and it'll drain through the evaporator drain.
very effective and and it works. Works really well. And of course you can put some fragrance in it also, but you have a clean evaporator. As best that you can get it cleaned. You you you can't take it out and wash it. It's cost prohibitive. But this way it's perfect. It works good.
Joe Massa (07:32.266)
Yeah, and I would imagine the fact that you don't have to dismantle the entire system to get in there and clean it with a toothbrush not only is financially more practical, but obviously much quicker and safer to do it this way. So if this technology started in Japan and was already living there under a a creator or inventor, how d how does it come into your possession? And I guess why why would he have not used this technology for the same purpose? Or was it designed for something completely different?
Ramiro Moreno (08:01.538)
You know, he would contact me frequently about products from Japan. Cause he saw that I was a good salesman and he thought we can work together. And so he would introduce me to things like well any any kind of products, different kinds of products. One day he called me about this particular product, and that's when I said when I went to visit him,
because I wanted to know more about this product. I knew this product, the industry needed this product. And believe me, we, I was the first one to have this product in the market. I took it to market, hired a lot of salesmen, and we went from dealership to dealership and sold the product.
Months, years later we got copied and now it's all over the United States and other parts of the world, of course, cleaning the evaporator by using a foam cleaner. But we were first to have that product.
Joe Massa (09:18.569)
Yeah, and and you started DWD two clean air in nineteen ninety-seven, but but you found this problem back in the seventies. So you're talking, you know, twenty years of time passed between first identifying that this was something that was happening and then creating the business. During that twenty year stretch, how how do you connect point A to point B? Was there
Was this always an idea like, hey, I should find a solution? Or was it you just knew of the problem, eventually you found a potential solution, and then started building from there?
Ramiro Moreno (09:51.51)
Right. You see, like I said, I didn't know what the problem was with this foul smell that came in when I turned it turned on the ventilation system. I had no no idea but I never forgot. It was always in my mind because I'm a I'm a car I was a car salesman, I'm a car guy and
Well like I said, I I didn't know what it was until well until I until my friend told me about this product. And so then I I that's how I started the business.
But maybe I didn't answer your question. Could you re could you repeat what I didn't answer?
Joe Massa (10:47.315)
Yeah, no, so that was pretty thorough. I I guess the the question more stems from, you know, as the time went on from when you when you first maybe didn't realize that it was mold, but you you know that you noted an odor coming from the car in the 70s. And then you know, almost 20 years later is when you start the business. So I guess more of a reframing of the question would be during the time
when you first identify the odor to when the business starts. Was this something that you thought would be like your your trajectory in business? Was this something that you were passionate about? Or did you sort of just fall into it and then just found this amazing technology out of Japan that sort of repositioned you as the authority in the space?
Ramiro Moreno (11:35.564)
Well of course I I did know that that was a big problem. The only thing is that I had no idea how can this be fixed except dismantling the ventilation system. And so
When I talked to my friend I I thought this is really needed. i I was excited about it and this is how I actually started this company because I knew being a car salesman and and not only that, just being in the car business all you know, I I was into cars, you know. So well anyway that's how I started my business and and it it flourished really quick.
Joe Massa (12:28.756)
I would imagine that when you first Yeah, that that's great. So I imagine when you first went out into the open market and you're going to dealers, you're going to these auto magazines and you're saying, Hey, look, I figured out a way to get this problem solved without ripping the whole dashboard out and pulling everything out manually. Did you get a lot of pushback where people looking at you like you were speaking a different language because they go, This guy's crazy? There's no way that this can work this simple. Did you get a lot of pushback when you were first introducing this?
Ramiro Moreno (12:29.004)
Because
Ramiro Moreno (12:53.89)
But yes.
Ramiro Moreno (12:59.926)
yeah, well, not really pushback, but I you know, people were well you know human beings, they were skeptical that this could happen. But this technology, it's very effective. It actually cleans it as if you would take apart the product, I mean the components, and actually clean them with the holes or whatever.
Th this does a really good job. The the product itself now we didn't come up with the technology. The inventor actually formulated this using surfactants of course. And so we were able to do that here in Cal in the United States. But it works.
Joe Massa (13:50.666)
Very cool. Yeah, which is, I guess, the most important part. Does it actually work or not? Sometimes that's the only answer people really care about. so walk me through. You get featured in like Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, even national broadcast, broadcasts. So at what what moment during this sort of
the light being shined on your new technology or your new company, do you realize that you're really onto something that's much bigger than like a garage experiment? That you're really taking something to a platform and a level that is gonna be adopted by auto manufacturers nationwide.
Ramiro Moreno (14:29.476)
yes. I was contacted a few times from from different companies and also big dealerships would contact me. In fact, I missed out on s some of the really big dealers not dealers but companies that wanted to know what I had and I guess
I guess it's just because I was thinking it's just automotive. But there were big companies that wanted to talk to me about that. And I missed it. So but but no matter what, our company did str thrive because of this technology. We were
Joe Massa (15:16.948)
Yeah, so I wanna pivot to I wanna pivot to a couple of different angles on this. Number one
When you have some of these things growing in your evaporator system, and even a Georgia study found a Georgia State study found forty-one different pathogens living in a single evaporator. What are the health implications for not dealing with this? And what do these pathogens do to the average person just driving down the road with their family, breathing it in for long amounts of time without cleaning that? What what sort of the health impact that can have on your body?
Ramiro Moreno (15:53.458)
it's not good. Let me just tell you one thing that I did when I started this technology. I I what I did is I went to the junkyard, got the blower fan and the evaporator, I did the whole I put the whole system together to test it. And what I did is I turned on the the the blower fan and got in front
of the of this evaporator and you know I'm a healthy kinda guy. I was healthy, you know, I'm I'm was younger then and I got in front of this evaporator and that foam I mean that air blew into my face and I wanted to smell it and and you know it just made me sick. And I'm a healthy person.
and but I I got sick. And when I say sick, what I meant is I was it's kinda nauseated. Anyway, so I knew that there was a problem in ventilation system. Now this was a used one, but I didn't know it was gonna be affect affecting me this much. So and I'm a healthy person but someone with asthmatic person
or maybe someone or has problem with air quality or odors and things like that. If I got sick, not sick, but if if I felt the way I felt, how much worse would it be to people that are that have problem in breathing and and lung problem.
Joe Massa (17:47.677)
Yeah, and the amount of damage that can be done from mold in general, I mean, it can be fatal in some cases, but certainly nauseating, certainly it can disorient you. Spores in general, very toxic. You know, that you get black mold in your house from water damage, it can kill you. So having that pumped into your face from your your car, certainly not a an ideal scenario. so I love that you guys have sort of built this business around.
solving it at the source instead of just masking the odor or covering it up or sort of sweeping it under the rug for lack of a better term. But I would imagine that this also has a lot of really great implications outside of the automotive industry. Although it might have started there, you know, and and nowadays everything is we want to live in a non-toxic world. Everything's everything we have around us is basically pumping us full of cancer and everything else. So
it's really health conscious people now in our in our world where we wanna live in a a very sterile environment. Do you find that this technology works great, like in home HVAC systems, in restaurants, in gyms? Is this technology transferable to other areas outside of automotive?
Ramiro Moreno (19:03.464)
Absolutely. Anywhere there's a a air conditioning system, whether it's a huge building or whatever, there of course there's big air conditioning systems, but they have to be treated. They have to have the right like we have the filters. You know, you have filters in your car, you have to pull those filters out because they get contaminated.
and then you have to put a new one in there. But same way with buildings, anywhere there's air conditioning you have to there has to be maintenance done on those
These air conditioners.
Joe Massa (19:48.607)
Yeah, and again, that's a good reminder to everyone listening. make sure that you change your air filters in your house and your cars. It's amazing how easy it is to forget about those. But you know, they only work if you got high-quality ones installed and in place. So make sure that you obviously check on those regularly. And if you're just joining us, I'm here with Ramiro Moreno. He is the founder of D D do excuse me, DWD2 Clean Air. And he has
A proprietary system where they actually clean out the mold and toxins in evaporator systems, starting back in the automotive industry, but now in more practical business and residential applications as well. So this definitely is intriguing. How does somebody test their system or how do they get your services?
If they need it for not only their car, their home, are you based in one state? Are you nationwide? Is it self served? How do we get involved with your company?
Ramiro Moreno (20:50.042)
well first in testing, I think rule of thumb, this is what this is my opinion that at least every six month you should have your ventilation clean. Now in your house you should make sure you have the the filters changed and
so and so forth in your car. We do the treatment here of if you come to us here in Fountain Valley, we will actually do a thorough cleaning in your car. And what we do is we because we know this is how I started this, this is you know back in nineteen seventy
Nineteen seven, not nineteen no, I'm sorry. nineteen ninety-seven when I actually started cleaning evaporators and learning about this technology. But your ventilation system has to be cleaned and not just because of you have this pro you can develop the problem if you don't
if you don't treat your ventilation system. And I'm sorry, I think I forgot one po one part of that question. Could you repeat it again? Yeah.
Joe Massa (22:21.396)
Yeah, I think it was more along the lines of just understanding how we can get involved or i is this something now I know if we go visit DWD twocleanair dot com, you do have products for sale.
So obviously getting tested is great. We want to make sure you consistently are aware of any sort of toxins or mold in your system. But what products of yours can we purchase and is that something that like I could just plug into my my system and and run it myself? Or do we actually have to go to your company, have you professionally do that service?
Ramiro Moreno (22:56.578)
no, you can buy it you can go to Amazon and buy our products. We have mold killers, we have foggers where you can fog your your car, you can fog your your house with our products. We have different sizes, fourteen ounce, eight ounce, four ounce. these are all good for different parts of your your home.
One way to do that is if you wanted to fog your your full house, you turn your ventilation system on and you let it circulate and you go from room to room and activate a fogger and your house will be mold remediated by doing that.
So yeah, we have it here. We we manufacture the products. So we really we're a wholesaler. So and like I said, we we started this technology, so we know what we're doing in order to do it thoroughly. We'll do it for the car and for your home.
And we'll even do it, well of course you can bring your car here and we'll do the service here for you. And it's inexpensive compared to going to a dealership, which you could be charged somewhere between $300 and $500. You can do it here for $199.
Joe Massa (24:33.269)
Saving money, saving your lungs, all good scenario in my mind. a little harder to bring your house over to you, so you have to do that one on your own. But but you know, I think it's such a it's such an important thing that doesn't get talked about enough. Everybody talks about the food we put in our bodies, what we drink, the blue light technology from phones and screens. We very rarely talk about the air we breathe. you know, a lot of people are very climate conscious, but then again, they're sitting in in a car full of toxins and they don't even consider that as a
Ramiro Moreno (24:48.35)
Yeah.
Joe Massa (25:03.223)
possibilities. So I tip my hat to you, you know, just even thinking along those lines. It's something that I think is a very underserved community. And I have to ask, you know, now that you look back 20 plus years after starting the business, and really over 40 years now, that's when you sort of realize that this was even a problem.
I would imagine that this is not the life you set out on to be the clean clean air guy, but how cool is it to see a company that you have put together have such an impact on on the well being of people, especially coming from a psychology background where, you know, the human mind is of importance to you. Now you're helping people breathe better. Talk about sort of just the the satisfaction of watching this company grow.
Ramiro Moreno (25:48.3)
It is amazing. I started in a s in well actually my home and then another small office and we're in a bigger office now. And no, I love it. I've always been an entrepreneur and I think I thank God that He gave me this because I can do what I like and take care of people.
Joe Massa (26:15.977)
Yeah, I love it. And you know what, you're right, being an entrepreneur
sometimes isn't the glamorous life that you think it will be. Everyone thinks of starting the next Amazon, the next Facebook. Those are so few and far between. The really successful people that make it in the entrepreneur world or business owners in general, it's identifying a problem and then solving that problem. And and I've worked with other groups and people that really teach us and focus on this. Find a problem that needs solving and just get really good at solving that one problem. And I think you've really identified and accomplished that by identifying.
Identifying the fact that these systems, and and they're not built maliciously, it's not intentional, but just from contamination of the road, the air around us, the world we live in, mold grows in these wet, damp, dark areas of your vehicle and your home and in your your evaporator systems. And if you don't treat it,
you might as well be drinking the poison right out of the bottle. I mean, it's just that simple because it's a silent killer that can have a profound effect on you long term. So I love that DWD Two Clean Air has made this
education and solution so readily available. Again, guys, you can check out Amazon.com. I'll put links around there with the link directly to these services. But now I want to go back because I was a bit confused. I think I understand, but I might as well clear it up. When you talk about a fogger, is that something similar to like what you would do for an insect infestation where it's like you you basically put it in the room, you let it fill up the room and that does the the dirty work of killing the mold?
Ramiro Moreno (27:54.794)
Exactly. We have it in fogger where you lock down the actuator and then you leave the room and let it fog your room, for example. Then we have it in spray because you know in your car you you as the ventilation circulation is happening you can spray it in your in your intake and so this way it will
go through the evaporator and and kill the mold in the evaporator as well. So you don't have to be technical about it. You can just do it yourself. Anybody can do it and it works. And so you have it in both auger and spray. We have it. And in of course different sizes as well.
Joe Massa (28:45.268)
Very nice. And I have to ask this because I know undoubtedly this question will come up and I know the answer because it wouldn't be in your home if it wasn't. But obviously these products are safe to be around children, around pets. So if we run a fogger in the house and we got little Fido running around, he's not gonna have any ill effects from the fogger or the spray.
Ramiro Moreno (29:04.824)
Good question. yes, it's it's the only part that you can't do when you fog a room, for example, you need to get out because you still have the even though the product itself is plant-based, the fogger has the the gas the that that actuates the fogging
you need to not be there. So but it it's not gonna hurt you, but you need to stay away for well well first you have to stay away so that the fogger can penetrate all the areas of your room. You open then after you fog it you
Let it sit that way for at least about an hour. I'm just giving an example. And then you open the door to where wherever you fogged and let it air out before you go in there. It's not like you're gonna die, but some people are sensitive to any kind of odors. And it's not really an odor, it's actually a clean area at that time. But then again there's that gas propellant that you might be breathing in.
And that might bother you. One hour is good enough. You open it up and let it air out just for a few minutes and then you can go back and
Joe Massa (30:39.284)
And enjoy your clean breathing air. I like it. No, this is something I think is really really powerful and wise to do, especially as I mentioned earlier, in a world that's so consumed right now with healthy eating, healthy living, healthy water, healthy climate, healthy air. Why do we not talk about this enough? So no, I think this is such an amazing product and really, you know, kudos to you for keeping your eyes open on a problem that
Maybe somebody would have figured out eventually, or like you said, you've got copycat companies now that do exactly what you do, which is, you know, the ultimate form of flattery. If they can't beat you, they copy you. So I think it's it's valuable though to to state that DWD2 Clean Air is the first in the business to do this sort of treatment. And you've made this available to the the modern day homeowners, car owners. So again, guys, you want to check out their website. That is DWD2cleanair.com. These products
Ramiro Moreno (31:17.23)
Yeah.
Joe Massa (31:36.649)
Products are also available on Amazon. I'll put links to both of those in and around the video. But I think this is something we don't measure enough. It's your air quality. And that's something that it's it's an easy fix because you know companies like Ramiro's here have made it so easy to get your hands on these products.
But don't overlook these because these are something that once you do damage to your lungs, you're breathing in spores, it's much harder to go back and try to medically fix yourself than to prevent it all together by just cleaning your air and your service system. So, Ramiro, I I love the work that you're doing and excited to share this with our audience. If you had one piece of advice for somebody that saw a problem like you did, and they want to turn this into a business, what's one piece of advice you would tell this person like
How d how do you go from seeing a problem to a a profiting business?
Ramiro Moreno (32:31.938)
Well, you you need to plan because once you have something great and which I did, but you see, I didn't know what I was doing. I only knew that I had it's like gold in your hand. I knew that people needed it.
I knew that it it would sell really good. But you have to plan ahead of ahead of time. Think about what are you gonna do? Of course the excitement is there, and so you wanna do s you wanna just get out there. But I think if you make your plan and and be specific in the steps that you want to take.
that you should take and then ask for advice for somebody that knows about business and how to get it out there. The other thing I want to say is our our website is dwd2.com. It's not dw2cleanair.com, it's dwd2.com.
Joe Massa (33:32.906)
Gotcha. My apologies. I'll make sure to update that when we push that out there. and again, you can find these products on Amazon. But I really like your business advice having a plan put together. But one thing I would also add to that is remember you don't have to have every detail planned out. You are gonna learn as you build and you'll learn what works and what doesn't work. All too often we get stuck in this planning phase forever where we don't actually take the steps to do the work. I love that you kind of did the opposite of that. You knew it worked, you knew you had this bar of gold in your hand.
You just didn't know quite how to get it out there. But instead of like, you know, writing a a thesis on it, you hired some sales guys and you went and knocked on a bunch of dealer doors. And sometimes the legwork and the and the boots on the ground is really the solution you needed. But you got to keep your eyes open for the opportunity when it presents itself. So really amazing work. I'm excited to share this with our audience. I love what you do. I'm definitely going to check out some of these foggers. I absolutely know I probably have some molds somewhere in my house with kids running around spilling things everywhere.
Ramiro Moreno (34:04.982)
Yeah.
Ramiro Moreno (34:11.715)
Yeah.
Joe Massa (34:32.92)
So make sure you're taking care of the air you breathe the same way you do the body you live in. It's really important to do that. So, Ramiro, I really appreciate your time on the measuring post. And again, check out dwd2.com and we'll make sure that we share that with the audience. Love the work you're doing and can't wait to see what you do next.
Ramiro Moreno (34:33.656)
Yeah.
Ramiro Moreno (34:52.568)
Thank you so much. I appreciate talking to you and you're really good.
Joe Massa (34:58.996)
well thank you. I appreciate that. He didn't he didn't even have to pay me for that endorsement, so that's good. Well, thank you, Ramiro. I appreciate it. And look forward to seeing what's on the horizon for your company. Talk soon.
Ramiro Moreno (35:10.498)
All right, thank you, Joe.