The majority of homes in America use more heating and cooling than is actually needed because they’re controlled by a single thermostat. Are you really occupying every single room in your house at all times? During the day, you might not spend time in your bedroom, while at night, your living room and kitchen probably see less use. HVAC zoning lets you cut down on energy use by heating and cooling areas of your home separately.

What Are Zoning Systems?

Zoning systems use motorized dampers inside ductwork to direct the flow of air through the system. Rather than closing off the vents in the rooms themselves, which allows non-conditioned air to circulate back into your system through return vents, increasing the workload of your central system, these dampers lower or cease airflow to areas of your home that don’t need it. Depending on your home’s design, they may also create bypass airflows to maintain the correct air pressure throughout your system.

Where Is Zoning Especially Helpful?

The larger a home is, the more valuable a home zoning system can be. In addition, some architectural features make HVAC zoning especially useful, such as:

• Multi-story homes, where warm air tends to rise to the upper levels
• Rooms with high ceilings, which may need less cooling or more heating as warm air rises to the ceiling and out of human range
• Rooms with unusual amounts of sun exposure that take on excess solar heat
• Homes with additions
• Homes with above-garage living areas, basement living areas that exchange heat with the ground, or attic living areas with more exposure to the outside air
• Rooms with large windows that lower the insulation value of that area

If you’re curious about how a home zoning system could benefit your Peachtree City home, contact us today at Powers Heating & Air.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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