It seems like all of us have a different comfort zone when it comes to the heat and air conditioning system in our home. However, there is a way to solve this issue and it satisfies everyone’s needs. It is called zoning systems. Basically what this system does is allow you to heat or cool certain “zones†or areas in your home to different temperatures, based on your needs.
Zoning works with both forced air and hot water heating systems, and offers customized comfort for every area of your home.
Zoning operates through a group of components. The first of these is the motorized dampers. These open and close based on the requirements of the zone thermostats – and zone thermostats are another component. Standard thermostats are used. When each zone is divided in the house it uses its own thermostat to control the temperature. for the individual zone.
The zone thermostats, along with the dampers, are wired into a central control panel. The panel is then connected to the thermostat connection on the HVAC unit. Where other systems use one thermostat the zoning systems has a master control panel. This allows the until to be operated by multiple thermostats.
When any of the thermostats make a request for heating or cooling the panel accepts the call from that zone. This zone will then be serviced while the other zones remain at their present temperature until their call is made to be serviced. Once the control panel receives the request it then services that next specific zone.
Most homes require either a two or a four zone system. If the home has two zones it is basically divided as follows: one zone covers the living room and kitchen; the second zone would include the bedrooms and bathrooms. There are optional ways of zoning and this depends basically on the size and configuration of the home or office.
Zoning systems are not only convenient, they also offer more efficiency. This efficiency equates to a major savings on future energy bills.
T.F. O’Brien services the Long Island, New York area.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about preventive maintenance and other HVAC topics, please download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.