Are there rooms in your home that seem particularly warm or cool depending on the season? Is your home comfortable for a little while, but then immediately uncomfortable once your HVAC system has shut off? If so, you’re one of the many homeowners who routinely complain of uneven home heating and cooling. To compensate for uneven temperatures, many people simply open and close vents, wear layers or fiddle with the thermostat throughout the day.
Aris Parviz of Able Air-1, Inc. says adjusting your thermostat or shutting vents to compensate for uneven heating or cooling is a waste of your time and money. And that uneven airflow can even be bad for your HVAC system itself, increasing your heating and cooling costs and also reducing the life of your system. Here Parviz discusses what can be done to ensure consistent temperatures throughout your home.
Uneven heating or cooling is one of the most common reasons for homeowners to contact an HVAC contractor. Hot and cold spots throughout the home are not only annoying, they’re inefficient. Just as you’re experiencing discomfort due to uneven temperatures, your system is constantly trying to compensate. This means sky-high bills for you and the potential for expensive repairs or replacement. Numerous factors can contribute to uneven heating or cooling, but luckily they can all be remedied. Here are just a few things you can do to address uneven heating and cooling in your home.
Variable Speed Motors
Variable speed motors save energy and provide more even heating and cooling by limiting energy-intensive stops and starts. Instead, they adjust the system’s output based on the home’s heating or cooling needs. Variable speed motors can also be helpful in situations where uneven heating or cooling is actually desired. If there are rooms in your home that are rarely used, you can save money by keeping them at a slightly higher or lower temperature than the other rooms in your home. This involves “zoning,” which means customizing temperature settings for different areas of the home. Generally, variable speed systems are the only systems that allow for zoning within the home.
Properly Sized System
In some cases, uneven heating or cooling may simply be due to an improperly sized HVAC system. This could be the result of an incorrect load calculation at the time of the system’s installation or the result of a home’s heating and cooling needs changing over time. This is common when an extra room is added or an area like an attic or basement is converted into living space. If your HVAC system is too small to properly heat or cool your home, uneven temperatures and system failures could result. To determine whether your HVAC system is properly sized, contact an HVAC professional for an up-to-date load calculation.
Airflow Balancing
Uneven temperatures can also be caused by problems within your home’s ductwork. If airflow to certain parts of the home is imbalanced, you’ll experience uneven heating or cooling in those areas. An airflow imbalance also causes your system to work overtime in order to compensate. This in turn will shorten your system’s life and decrease its efficiency, a costly combination. In order to create a balanced airflow, your HVAC contractor will need to inspect and assess the adequacy of the home’s ductwork. If the ducts are not properly sized, replacing them with correctly sized ducts can make a world of difference. Identifying leaks and blockages is also important, as leaks are a major contributor to inefficiency and uneven temperatures. If blockages are identified, they will be removed to restore airflow. Once the underlying causes of the imbalance have been identified, the appropriate repairs or replacements will be made to get your system functioning normally again.
