How Does A Zoned Heating/Cooling System Work?


Based on the design and structural plan of your house, each room has different temperature needs. A traditional HVAC system cannot cope with these varying and unique needs of each room. This may result in wasted energy and discomfort in a few rooms. With a zoning system, you can heat and cool different rooms independently, making it a better option than having just a traditional HVAC system to address your heating and cooling needs.

How Does a Zoning System Work

The first step is to divide your home in two or more zones. Each of these areas will have their unique cooling and heating loads. Fit each zone with its own programmable thermostat and automated duct dampers. When one particular zone requires cooling or heating to attain the set temperature on the thermostat, the conditioned air will be routed from the home’s HVAC equipment to that zone. However, the other zones that do not require similar temperature won’t get any conditioned air.

You would need zoning if your home has multiple floors. Since warm air rises up, the rooms on higher floors will get warmer as compared to the basement or the main floor. Likewise, rooms with direct sunlight and large windows will be warmer compared to others. By zoning you can control the temperature of these rooms and keep them comfortable at any time of the day. Zoning also helps with minimizing the flow of conditioned air to the lesser-used rooms, without wasting any energy.

Benefits of Zoning

Greater Control

With a zoning system you can create zones in your home, each having its own thermostat. These thermostats can be set at different temperatures, which allow you to control the temperature and comfort level of each zone separately. You can separate your bedrooms and kitchen/dining/living room as different zones. Since you would use the bedrooms mostly used the night time, you can set your thermostat to make your HVAC system circulate less conditioned or heated air during the day. The thermostats of the frequently used room like the living room or kitchen can be set to allow constant heating or cooling to keep the surroundings comfortable.

Custom Comfort

Not everyone at your home prefers similar temperature in all the rooms. Your kids, siblings or parents might have unique temperature requirements of their own, which makes a zoning system a perfect idea. Each occupant of the room can adjust the temperature in their room to match his/her comfort, without affecting the comfort of the people in the other rooms. Even if you share the same comfort levels, when someone falls sick you can adjust the temperature in their room to suit their comfort.

Lower Energy Bills

You have the power to minimize the energy distributed in different rooms. With zoning, you can manipulate the heating and cooling of different areas in your house. This helps in lowering your energy bills and in saving more money. The savings will be even significant if you pair the zoning system with programmable thermostats.

Extended HVAC Equipment Life

When you implement zoning in your house, you help in extending the equipment life of your HVAC system. Zoning reduces the load on the A/C compressor and air handler, thus resulting in less wear and tear. This will contribute to the longer life of the heating and cooling system.

Installing a zoning system seems a little expensive for some. However, with its temperature control features and benefits offered by energy savings you can compensate for the initial investment. Your savings will definitely be more than the initial investment.

We understand the unique requirements of each house and address them accordingly. Our main goal is to provide the best comfort based upon the design of your house. We provide services of zoning your house along with HVAC and duct maintenance. If you are considering it, feel free to call us.

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