If your home is like most with just one thermostat, it has some rooms that are more difficult to heat or cool than others. While that lone thermostat might do a great job controlling temperatures near where it’s installed, that’s not a big help for floors or areas of your home that have different heating and cooling requirements. A zoning system is an effective way to address this costly predicament.
How Does a Zoning System Work?
Once the home is divided into two or more zones — areas with unique heating or cooling loads — each zone is outfitted with its own programmable thermostat and automated duct dampers. When that room or area requires heating or cooling to achieve its set temperature, conditioned air is routed from the home’s HVAC equipment to that zone. Other zones that don’t require heating or cooling won’t get any conditioned air.
Examples of conditions that would benefit from a zoning system include homes with multiple floors (warm air rises, so upstairs bedrooms tend to get warmer than the main floor or basement); big rooms with lots of window coverage, especially if they face the afternoon sun; rooms with high ceilings; and rooms added onto an existing house.
Benefits of a Zoning System
- Energy savings. When your HVAC system is only directing conditioned air to rooms that need it, you’ll save energy and money by not providing conditioned air to the entire house.
- Improved comfort. In some single-thermostat homes, certain rooms never receive enough cooling or heating, since the home’s HVAC system — controlled by a thermostat on the main floor — cycles off long before those rooms get comfortable. For similar reasons, some rooms may routinely receive too much cooling or heating.
- Accommodating preferences. With household zoning, if one person requires more heat in one part of the house, it doesn’t have to affect another family member in a different area who has a different idea of comfort.
To discuss obtaining a zoning system for your Portland area home, please contact us at Roth Heating & Cooling.
