Zoning systems are a great way to save on utility costs without sacrificing comfort. In fact, utilizing zoning as part of your heating and cooling system can make everyone in a house more comfortable.
Zoning systems allow you to program separate thermostats so you can adjust the heating or cooling to desired temperatures in different rooms/areas of the house, rather than altering the temperature of the entire house. By changing the temperature in fewer rooms rather than the entire house, the heating and cooling equipment does not have to work as hard, using significantly less energy.
Before switching, you should consider a few things:
- Which rooms are most used? The house still has a centralized A/C unit, but certain rooms may not necessarily need further adjustment. For example, a small home office that heats from a constantly running computer would be a prime example of a room that may need extra cooling from an individual thermostat. During a cold winter, when the family is together in the living room, the individual thermostat can direct extra heat into that room, leaving all unattended rooms unaffected, instead of wasting energy heating rooms where heat is unneeded.
- Next, it’s time to determine how many individual thermostats should be installed. The typical number ranges from two to seven. Two-story houses often have one thermostat for the upstairs, and another for the downstairs.
- If your home has vaulted or cathedral ceilings that open to the second floor, then extra care must be taken when designing your zoning system and ductwork. In many cases, when the second floor thermostat calls for cooling, a majority of the cool air supplied to the second floor is able to fall down to the first floor. This can result in an accumulation of unwanted cold air on the first floor while the upstairs remains hot. A house such as this would benefit from a second-floor hallway door that can help maintain separation between the first and second floor air masses.
- If possible, consider wireless thermostats. Hardwiring multiple thermostats together can be complicated, and conversely, expensive. Wireless thermostats provide a simple and inexpensive means of communication with the heating and cooling equipment (usually located in a basement) without having to cut into drywall or “fish” wires between wall studs.
If you have further questions considering zoning systems, Aladdin Heating and Coolingwill be happy to answer them. Contact us any time.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about zoning systems and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Aladding Heating & Cooling services the Detroit, Michigan and the surrounding areas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!
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