If you’ve ever wondered why you’re spending money to heat or cool a room that people hardly ever use, or if you’re finding that you have problems maintaining the desired temperature on certain floors or in certain areas of your home, zoning systems may be the solution.

In basic terms, a zoning system is an HVAC division that allows you more accurate control over specific rooms or areas in your home. Each zone in your system is controlled by a separate thermostat, allowing you to heat or cool only the parts of your home that you’re using, or the parts that aren’t as warm or cool as you’d like them. This happens frequently in the upper stories of homes during the summer; hot air rises, making the upstairs bedrooms warmer than the rest of the house. Zoning systems can be designed to provide separate control for the downstairs and the upstairs, allowing you to run the air conditioning in the upper floor only when rising hot air has made it sticky, humid and too warm for comfort. Another scenario for which zoning is highly effective is in those homes, either single story or multi-level, with windows on the southern and western exposures. Windows, even the most efficient low-e double pane models, account for around one half of a home’s requirement for cooling BTU’s. A zoning system can effectively “follow the sun” around your home as the day goes by placing the cooling where it is needed most. Rather than over cooling (or over heating) certain areas of the home just to make the “sunny” side comfortable, you can put the comfort right where it is needed throughout the day.

The benefits of zoning systems are both financial and environmental. They allow you to heat or cool only the parts of your house that aren’t already at the right temperature and free you from the financial burden of manipulating the temperature of rooms people aren’t using. Over time, zoning systems can reduce the cost of running your HVAC system by as much as 20 percent (or more). In fact, a good zoning system will eventually pay for itself, as you’ll recover your initial investment through energy savings.

You’ll also be doing the environment a favor. By reducing the amount of energy you’re using to heat or cool your home, you’re cutting back on the pressure your local power grid faces to meet consumer demands.
Zoning systems take a little planning, and the professionals at Jon Wayne Heating and Air Conditioning are happy to help. Call us with any questions or for expert advice.