In many technical and service industries, there’s a language that goes beyond normal, everyday understanding. This lingo is unique to the companies and vendors that use it, which usually means that it never meets the ears of the homeowners hiring those companies. Usually that’s no big deal, but sometimes these niche words and phrases should be known by the average person. Why?  Because the more you know before you hire a technician, the easier it becomes to advocate for your needs once they’re in your home.

That’s the purpose of our HVAC Terms Defined series. 

To make the HVAC  industry more accessible and understandable to the people who trust us to take care of their home’s heating, cooling, and air. 

We’ve covered a few topics already: BTU, SEER, and MERV. Today’s post, however, we’ll be talking about zoning systems.

What are zoning systems?

Your home’s HVAC system is always working to make you as comfortable as possible, whether that’s through heating or cooling. Despite this, there are times when you might feel hot spots, cold spots, or areas of your house where the temperature doesn’t feel as controlled as it should. There are a lot of reasons for why this happens. It can be due to physics, your house’s original design, sun exposure, or plenty of potential reasons.

The purpose of an HVAC zoning system is to prevent these annoying fluxuations from happening in the first place.

A zoning system doesn’t heat or cool your home as one whole. Instead, they’re developed to address different “zones” independently of one another. Zones can be rooms, areas, floors, etc. depending on your home and family’s unique needs.

The main component of a zoning system are the individual dampers. These dampers get installed inside your duct and are what allows the cooled or heated air to go (or not go) where it needs. Each zone has its own dampers that are then connected to a thermostat that then gets wired into a centralized control panel. This panel is the hub that speaks to the different thermostats and controls the dampers that allow cooled or heated air into the rooms that need it. 

Why should I care about zoning systems?

You should care about zoned HVAC systems because they come with a lot of convenience and benefits for the average homeowner. The main benefit is the amount of control they give you over the specific temperature of each room in your house. This is excellent if you have a large family filled with individuals with different temperature needs, or if your home is older and needs a little help with regulation. Other benefits include:

• Energy efficiency. A zoning system gives you more control over where your home is – and isn’t – heated or cooled. If you have rooms or floors you don’t frequently enter, you can give them their own zones that can be left warmer in the summer or cooler in the winter to save on energy use and cost. 
• Convenience. If you’re having a zoned system installed, it likely means you’re including smart thermostats in the package. This is due to their efficiency and ease of use. Most smart thermostats connect to apps on your phone that will allow you to control each zone’s temperature from wherever you are – even if it’s on the other side of the world.

Zoned HVAC is unlike traditional HVAC because it gives you more control over the way various parts of your home are heated or cooled. If you’re interested in learning more about smart thermostats, zoning, and how these can improve the overall comfort level in your home, give us a call! You can call, email, or contact us anytime to learn more.