Is there a room in your home that never gets as cool as you wish on a hot summer day? Maybe one of the kids needs extra blankets in frosty weather because the heat from your HVAC system never seems to get to their bedroom. Or, perhaps, you have a particular room that always has humidity problems.
A growing number of homeowners are solving problems like these by having an HVAC zoning system installed in their homes. What is HVAC zoning and what can it do for your home? Nardco Heating and Air Conditioning have the answers to all your HVAC zoning questions.
What Is an HVAC Zoning System?
In simple terms, a zoned HVAC system is a heating and cooling system that uses technology such as additional thermostats and dampers to make sure every room is consistently heated and cooled.
HVAC zoning isn’t only for problem areas of your home. For example, it’s a medical fact that it’s easier to sleep when you’re a little cooler. So some homeowners use their zoning and programmable thermostats to lower their bedroom temperatures by a couple of degrees. Let’s say all your home’s bedrooms are on the second floor, and nobody’s up there while you’re at work and the kids are at school. Your system can automatically adjust so you’re not spending money to heat or cool empty spaces.
HVAC zoning gives you the same kind of control over your home’s temperature that light switches give you over lighting. You can lower the temperature in one room or raise it in another without affecting the rest of the house.
What Are the Benefits of Installing a Zoned HVAC System?
Comfort is the biggest benefit of HVAC zoning, but it’s followed closely by cost savings. When you can tailor your heating and cooling to specific needs, you’re not spending as much on energy bills to keep your home comfortable. One of the Lennox® zoning systems our team installs can produce energy savings of as much as 35 percent when used in conjunction with programmable thermostats.
How Does HVAC Zoning Work?
While the technology behind HVAC zoning may seem complicated, it’s very simple. After discussing the comfort challenges you’ve experienced, we’ll divide your home into zones, each with its own thermostat. As your system sends warm or cool air through your ducts, mechanical dampers within the ductwork will open or close to adjust the airflow for each zone. If sunshine turns your living room into a sauna on summer days, the system will send more cool air there. If Junior’s bedroom is always freezing in January, the system will send more heat.
Because warm and cool are sent to where they’re needed most, temperatures throughout your entire house tend to remain more stable. That means fewer of those chilly drafts as you pass through a particular hallway.
Another zoning approach uses what is known as ductless mini-splits to bring warm or cool air to rooms that may not be connected to your ductwork. A great example is rooms that have been added on. Instead of ripping the walls apart to install new ductwork, a ductless mini-split uses small copper tubing to bring heat or cool air where it’s needed.
Ideal Applications for HVAC Zoning
Is HVAC zoning right for you? That depends on the design of your home and the nature of your comfort challenges. If your current heating and air conditioning system or heat pump meets your needs, you probably don’t need to invest in a zoning system. But if your home includes any of these elements and you struggle to get comfortable, it’s worth considering adding zoning to your existing HVAC system:
- Cathedral ceilings
- Multiple stories
- Basement or attic living spaces
- Sunrooms or four-season rooms
- Rooms with large windows
- Multiple wings
Contact Nardco to Learn More About Zoned HVAC Systems
If a zoned system sounds like the right approach for you, the best way to begin is to talk to a professional heating and cooling company to see whether it can help. Nardco Heating and Air Conditioning have extensive experience with designing and installing HVAC zoning systems that have helped our customers solve their most frustrating comfort challenges, and we’re ready to do the same for you! Contact us today to schedule an appointment.
