One of the principal goals of highly efficient home performance is only using heating and cooling when and where you need it. But, as Dixon, Davis, and Vacaville homeowners know well, not all areas of your home need to be heated or cooled with the same intensity or frequency. That’s where a multi or dual zoned HVAC system can help, increasing your house’s energy efficiency and reducing your electricity bill.
What Is a Zoned HVAC System?
HVAC zoning is an added-on component to your heating and cooling system that offers you the ability to target specific areas of your house with increased or decreased heating and air conditioning services. This customization of your system allows you to direct conditioned air only to the areas where your family needs it.
The most traditional zoning set-up for HVAC systems involves installing motor-driven dampers at various points along the central AC ductwork system in your house, often where the ductwork splits. These dampers are controlled electronically, either by thermostats in each zoned area or by a central multi or dual-zone HVAC programmable thermostat, to regulate the flow of conditioned air along particular pathways corresponding with your customized zone settings.
How Do I Know if a Zoned HVAC System is Right for Me?
Are there areas in your house that go unoccupied for long periods of the day? If so, you’re likely wasting money to heat or cool that area when it’s not in use. Similarly, if an entire floor or a room in your home is too hot in summer or too cool in the winter (even when your HVAC system is cranking), zoned AC could be right for you. Zoned systems work especially well if the occupants in a home have different temperature preferences.
A few more areas that could benefit from zoned HVAC include:
- Rooms with lots of large windows
- Rooms over an unfinished basement
- Rooms with high or vaulted ceilings
Mini-Splits: A New Alternative to Zoned HVAC
A similar option and alternative to converting your central AC system into a zoned HVAC set-up are ductless mini-split heat pumps. These systems are made up of two components—an inside air handler which connects via refrigerant line piping through an exterior wall to an outdoor condenser—and offer affordable and energy-efficient control over a certain room of your home that your central HVAC system either underserves or doesn’t serve at all.
If your central air conditioner does a poor job of keeping your upstairs comfortable, for example, or if you have areas or rooms in your home that ductwork doesn’t extend to, like four season sunrooms or recently-converted living spaces over garages, mini-splits could be a great option. Additionally, heat pumps offer air conditioning in the summer and heating in the weather, giving you year-round comfort and energy savings.
Choose Greiner Heating, Air, and Electric for your Zoned HVAC Needs
At Greiner Heating, Air, and Electric, our team of qualified heating and cooling technicians can recommend the best zoned HVAC system for your California home. With locations in Davis, Dixon, Winters, and more, homeowners can also take advantage of our Maintenance Value Plan, which offers the convenience of twice-a-year system tune-ups with priority scheduling and discounts on repair and maintenance.
Take control over every inch of your home performance. Call or contact us to discuss HVAC zoning options for your house.
