What is a Zoned Cooling System
Many people have homes where they need some rooms cooler (or warmer) than others. A zoned cooling system helps them to set individual rooms to the proper temperature, without taxing their HVAC systems. With a zoned system, all rooms of your house could maintain the perfect temperature for the people who use it most.
Why Would I Need Zones in my Air Conditioning?
There are many reasons why you might want to have parts of your home cooler than others. Due to the nature of homes, certain rooms will be naturally warmer and others will be naturally cooler. People who live in loft bedrooms might be sweltering in the summer heat, given the fact that hot air rises. While you have the whole house set to 68 in winter, you might be freezing in the basement. If you have a large house with a lot of rooms you do not often use, you might not want to heat or cool all of those rooms, all of the time. Better yet, you may have certain spaces that ought to be kept at a specific temperature, year-round. Should you want to build a cold storage pantry or a wine cellar, temperature control is key to keeping your produce and wine collection ready for use.
How Does a Zoned Cooling System Work?
This basic function can be easily achieved through a zoned cooling system. When you control your average programmable thermostat, you are using your air conditioning and heating as one system. The zoned cooling system looks at your HVAC system as a series of zones, which may have different needs at varying times. You adjust the temperatures of each zone from one thermostat. Changing the settings for one zone only affects that zone. This allows you to maintain cooler rooms as needed, but have the ability to make other rooms warmer if necessary. You preserve ideal efficiency because now you are just cooling and heating the rooms that need it.
Can’t I Just Close Vents for the Same Purpose?
Technically, you could close your vents if you want to cool or heat some rooms and not for others. However, closing vents may be a risky way to route around the natural function of your HVAC system. Your air conditioner is sized for use in all the rooms in your home. If you simply close vents to control the temperature in some rooms, your air handler is still sending the same amount of cooled air through your ductwork. You will not save money or energy as a result. The zoned cooling system is more efficient, because it controls how much air is sent to specific parts of the home.
That boiling hot attic bedroom or the ice-cold basement are just two examples of zones that you might want to cool or heat differently. A zoned cooling system will allow you to do just that. Contact us at Ace Plumbing to learn more about Sacramento HVAC systems that are right for your home, as well as what to do if your water heater leaks.