Heating and cooling can be one of the primary expenses of home ownership. There are a number of ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency, from cleaning the A/C coil to carefully sealing air leaks. Even so, if you live in a large home, it can be very difficult to get a uniform temperature in all the rooms. The answer to this problem can be upgrading to a zoning system. Zoning allows you to fine-tune the temperature throughout different parts of your home.
What is a Zoning System?
Zoning is a fairly simple and inexpensive way to send conditioned air throughout your home. Upgrading to a zoning system requires only a few additional components.
- Control unit: Located near your system’ s air handler, the control unit manages the air that is being sent to the zones inside your home
- Thermostats: Connected to the control unit are a series of thermostats placed in zones throughout the home. These thermostats inform the control unit when a zone needs more conditioned air
- Dampers: The control unit sends a signal to dampers to open or close to allow conditioned air to go where it is needed in the home. Zoning systems allow for customized temperatures in different parts of the home
Why Should I Upgrade to a Zoning System?
If your home has the following features, you might need to switch to zoning.
- Two or more stories: Because heat tends to rise in the home, the lower floor in your home will generally be cooler than the upper floor
- Windows: If you have a lot of windows in your home, or extremely large ones, that are facing the sun for much of the day, you may need a zoning system
- Additional rooms: Parts of your home can also be uncomfortable if you’ve added room additions after your original heating and cooling system was installed
Zoning can save you money and make your home more comfortable. If you have any further questions, please contact Around The Clock Air Conditioning and Heating. Our team of experienced professionals will be happy to help you.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Los Angeles, North Hollywood and surrounding areas 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.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock