What if you turned on the hot water at the kitchen sink, and suddenly all of the hot water outlets and appliances in the home turned on at the same time? It would waste a lot of water and quickly run up your gas or electric bill for no sensible reason. The same could be said about home cooling and heating.
Fortunately, conventional wisdom about home cooling and heating has changed in recent years, becoming more sensible, energy efficient and responsive to the real-time conditioning needs of homeowners zone by zone. Read on to learn what zoned temperature control is all about, including zoning system benefits, and wring out the waste in your Frisco home’s energy bill.
What Is a Zoning System?
The typical home has only one zone—the entire home. Conventional one-zone homes are cooled and heated throughout by temperature readings from single thermostats. (Perhaps you already see where this is going.) However, if you add another thermostat and some motorized duct doors, you’ve got yourself a zoning system with greater control of home comfort and energy expenditures.
A zoning system is simply a network of two or more thermostats and motorized duct doors. These components provide independent temperature control zone by zone, as adjusted or programmed in each respective zone. The modulating duct doors restrict or allow airflow as needed to maintain the thermostat temperature setting in each zone.
Zoning System Benefits
There are several zoning system benefits for comfort, efficiency and system performance in any season.
- Zoned comfort control – One nice aspect of zoned temperature control is that it may eliminate fussing over thermostat settings since each zone may be conditioned to the liking of the occupant. For instance, occupants of a home with bedrooms on multiple levels of living space may prefer different temperature setting, especially since heat rises and temperature variances between floors often exceeds 10 degrees.
- Energy efficiency – Zoning systems place control of cooling and heating energy consumption in your hands. You may make deep cuts in the energy budget by limiting cooling and heating in unoccupied zones. Make sure your HVAC professional installs programmable thermostats in each zone for automatic and total control of comfort and efficiency according to your programmed settings for each zone.
- Less HVAC system wear, longer life span – Better efficiency often means better performance for many HVAC and home systems, not less performance. This is true with zoning systems. By cooling and heating only occupied zones rather than the entire home, zoning systems help reduce wear on HVAC systems, which help them last longer with fewer repairs and often deliver quieter operation.
- HVAC system performance and efficiency – Forced-air HVAC systems rely on free airflow through the living spaces in order to operate efficiently. However, airflow can be disrupted by a closed door or too few return ducts. A zoning system that’s correctly installed for maximum comfort and energy savings alleviates airflow issues by providing a return duct in each zone and thermostats that are strategically placed. Therefore, if doors are closed to rooms in one zone, it won’t affect airflow in a different zone. In fact, with multiple return grilles, you may wish to keep doors closed to rooms in a zone when the zone is inactive to better maintain temperatures in all zones. It depends on the layout of your home and the design of the zoning system.
- Indoor air quality – A side effect of a poorly installed HVAC system is unbalanced air pressure, which forces air exchange through the home shell and ductwork and increases the burden on the blower motor. Forced air exchange with air outside the conditioned spaces and air outside the home may reduce indoor air quality. When combined with unbalanced air pressure through the living spaces, air leakage can cause backdrafting of combustion appliances. A professionally installed zoning system helps home efficiency with balanced supply air ducts and return air ducts.
Zoning Systems Link Home Systems
You may have noticed that home comfort, energy efficiency, HVAC performance, home efficiency and indoor air quality are all tightly intertwined. The home is one system comprised of many sub-systems and components that, when professionally designed, installed and maintained, keep the home comfortable, efficient and safe. A zoning system, perhaps more than any other system, helps other home systems work together more efficiently. Expect no less.
For more information about zoning system benefits, installation or other HVAC issue in your Frisco, McKinney or Allen home, please contact us at Bill Joplin’s Air Conditioning & Heating.
