Zoned HVAC systems are not uncommon in households. However, only a few of the owners and dealers know about them. This is why the owners who have Zoned HVAC installed in their houses wildly suggest their friends and panic when the AC requires repair.
To ensure you are not suggesting Zoned HVAC system to your friends without realizing this HVAC system might not work for your house setup or to ensure you know how to troubleshoot and be prepared in the AC repair situations, you better know how this system operates and how each component plays their role in the HVAC system.
What is Zoned HVAC system?
The very first thing you need to know is what Zoned HVAC system means.
What Zoned HVAC system does is splits the home into several zones. These zones allow better control over the heating and cooling of the zones. This means the individual zones can be controlled separately when needed. For example, you can separate the kitchen temperature from the bedroom or the bedroom from the living room. So, when you go to bed for sleeping, you can turn the heat up for the cozy night. When you cook food in the Kitchen, you can take the temperature down. Again, when you have too many guests in the living room, you can adjust the temperature of the living room without disturbing the stable ambiance of the bedrooms and kitchen. This is what Zoned HVAC system is.
How does the Zoned System work?
The zoned HVAC system controls the heating and air conditioning by electronic thermostats and modulating dampers.
Is the Zoned HVAC system more efficient?
While other traditional HVAC system heats and cools the entire house, zoning allows you to turn on or off individual zones. This is how the zoned HVAC system is using less energy by turning off heating and cooling in certain zones of the home.
On average, a zoned system can save you around 28-30 percent off of the air conditioning expenses.
AC Repair situations for Zoned HVAC system
Like any other individual or central air conditioner system, zoned system also breaks down from time to time and AC services & repair people should be informed about it.
The thermostat
The thermostat is one of the key components of the system. You get it set up during HVAC installation and forget about it because, by AC Repair, you don’t mean the thermostat repair. But you use it regularly though. You use it to control the temperature of the whole house, individually or by zone by zone. When it breaks down, no need to panic because most probably the air conditioning units are still working. So, you just need to replace it and everything will be back to normal.
Air ducts & vents
Air duct cleaning is something that most people avoid. Whether it is due to air duct cleaning cost or just because you are too lazy to do it, you must not avoid it. Do proper AC maintenance & repair when needed. If you see molds in duct, hire professionals for mold removal. When you hear a leak, cover it up as tightly as possible. When you see the support is failing, make sure it doesn’t get any worse.
Failures of other components
Air conditioning repair can be very tricky sometimes. Unless you know how each part of the HVAC system functions, you have no idea how to track down the problem source. It can be the Gas Furnaces, it can be the Ac condenser, it can be heat pump or any other major or minor part of the HVAC system. So, in cases where you don’t know what caused the zoned HVAC system to break down, simply turn it off if it’s already turned off and then call the AC repair guys.
Advantages of Zoned HVAC System
Other than the advantages of efficiency in air conditioning expenditure, there are other benefits of Zoned HVAC systems over the traditional HVAC system. Here are some of the most important ones.
1. Convenience of use
The very first thing that you realize when you have a zoned HVAC system in your home is how convenient it is. When you have individual air conditioning units all over your home, you have to access them individually by going near the air conditioner. Again, when you have a central ac unit in your home, you don’t get the option to control the different parts of your home individually. But with the Zoned HVAC system, you can control the temperatures of all the zones from where you are.
You can adjust the humidity level, fan speed, temperature with the control. The control can be either a wall-mounted thermostat or a remote controller. So, you can see how convenient Zoned HVAC system is in comparison with other more traditional ones.
2. Maximum comfort
There are literally dozens of catalysts that affect the temperature and ambiance of your home. The shading, cathedral ceiling, wind chill, cooking, the appliance you use, etc. have a major role to play in indoor temperature adjustment. When you have a Trane system, for example, as the central air conditioning unit, you have the access to change the temperature and other scales depending on where you are right now. But when you go from one place to the other, say you were in the kitchen till now and now you are going to your bed to sleep, you might find the temperature of the room to be uncomfortable. This is because you adjusted the temperature when you were in the kitchen. But the factors or catalysts I just talked about are different in your bedroom in comparison with the kitchen. Obviously, you’ll be less comfortable with the current adjustment. But with the Zoned system, you can adjust the different parts of your home at different scales. This way, you have a non-universal, comfortable environment throughout the house.
Bottom Line
Bottom line is zoned systems is more efficient every way. Sure, the efficiency of the home HVAC system depends on the air conditioning units too. Trane systems, Carrier systems are all good but unless you are zoning your home, the HVAC experience won’t be the best. Also, note that the efficiency of the Zoned HVAC system will also depend on the home your living in. Depending on the size and layout, you can use Zoned Commercial HVAC for your factory, facility or workshop. The only requirement is – the zoning system has to be suitable for the home or the workshop.
