What To Do When Everyone Fights Over The Thermostat

Do people in your home fight over the thermostat setting? In many homes, especially split-level homes, someone is either too hot or too cold, and no one is happy.

Even in a home with adequate central air conditioning, mom or dad may find the temperature to be fine in the kitchen or living room, but their daughter is in the basement game room with her friends passing out sweaters for them. Then upstairs, their son is home from college wanting to study at his desk, but he can’t because the desk surface is hot enough to fry an egg! This is a house that might benefit from a zoned HVAC system.

What Is A Zoned HVAC System?

A zoned HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system allows the homeowner to set different temperatures in different parts or “zones” of the house. Rather than one thermostat for the entire house, each zone can be regulated with its own thermostat. A zone can be as small as one room or as large as an entire level of the house or an addition to the house.

How Does Zoning Work?

In a home with an existing forced air heating and cooling system (and one thermostat), it may be possible to install an automatic damper system into the HVAC ductwork that would divide the home into zones.

The better way to set up a zoned HVAC system is with ductless mini-split units. These units come in a variety of styles and models. The first part, the indoor air-handling unit (evaporator), is a rectangular heating and cooling unit that is mounted high on the wall (or into the ceiling). This is hooked up to the second part, an outdoor compressor/condenser. Several of the indoor units can be hooked up to one outdoor unit. Each indoor unit is controlled with its own thermostat.

Reasons Why You Might Want A Zoned HVAC System

Ductless mini-splits are a great solution for a newly constructed house, or a good retrofit for houses with non-ducted heating systems (like hot water heat or electric heating). They also work well for new additions to a house that lack ductwork or separate buildings like a garage or shed converted into offices or hobby rooms. Why might you want to look into installing some ductless mini-splits?

1. To solve the multi-level home heating/cooling problem (described above).
2. To balance the temperature in homes where one side of the house gets more solar heat than the other side.
3. To heat/cool only the parts of the home in use. (Why heat/cool a huge house if you’re only using a few rooms?)
4. To get heating/cooling in new house additions/separate buildings without installing ductwork.

Summary

To find out how a zoned HVAC system could work in your home, call your local heating and cooling experts at Handyside. With this surprisingly simple solution, you’ll never fight over the thermostat in your home again!