If you live in a home with more than one level, odds are you could benefit from a zoning system. Other special circumstances in a home also make HVAC zoning a good idea.
With a zoning system, the home is divided into two or more separate areas, in which the rooms share climate conditions. Using separate thermostats and automated duct dampers, the homeowner can control temperatures (and sometimes the humidity) in the separate zones. The dampers open when the thermostat calls for more heating or cooling, and close when the set temperature has been achieved.
In a home with just one thermostat, temperatures throughout the house are affected, for better or worse, by climate conditions or comfort preferences in the room where the thermostat is located. This is usually a living room or hallway on the main floor.
In a multi-floor home, this means a finished basement will stay chilly in the winter, since the thermostat in the living room shuts down the heat long before the basement is comfortable. Likewise, in the summer, upstairs and loft bedrooms never cool off since the A/C shuts down when the desired temperature is reached on the main floor. Homeowners resort to unsatisfactory solutions such as loud and clanky room air conditioners and energy-sucking space heaters.
Other situations that result in variable temperatures in a home include rooms or sections made with different building materials, more or fewer windows, orientation to the sun, and vaulted ceilings, among many others.Following are some basic benefits of a zoning system:
You'll save energy (and money at the end of the month) by not heating or cooling unoccupied areas.
Family harmony will prevail when different family members aren't arguing over the thermostat. If they don't like the temperature in one area in the house, they can move to another.
You shouldn't have to tolerate a home where some rooms or areas are uncomfortable without space heating or cooling. Whole-house comfort should be a given.
To talk to an expert about a zoning system for your Broken Arrow area home, please contact us at Air Assurance.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “geralt/Pixabay”