The percentage of the average American’s income that goes to heating and cooling their homes varies depending on the part of the country where they live. In our area, we spend more months having to cool our homes and fewer having to heat them. But overall, heating and cooling costs are the largest portion of energy use in American homes.
How can we cut the cost of heating and cooling without sacrificing our comfort? Is it even possible? Yes! In fact, you can use less energy—and spend less money—on heating and cooling while making your home more comfortable. A zone control system is the answer.
How Your HVAC System Works
When you’re heating your home, your furnace creates hot air. And when you’re cooling your home, your air conditioner generates cold air, thanks to the heat-transferring properties of refrigerant. If you have a heat pump, that refrigerant is what provides both warm air and cold air, all year round.
That air, carefully brought to an ideal temperature, needs to get to the various parts of your home. After all, it’s being generated in a central location, either at your air conditioner or at your furnace. And the way that air is distributed is with ductwork. These pathways make it possible for your whole home to be evenly heated or cooled.
How Zone Control Systems Work
What if you don’t want your home evenly heated or cooled? What if you and your spouse like a cool room to sleep in, so you don’t get overheated, but you also need to keep children, grandma, or tropical pets warm in another part of the house? Or what if your insulation isn’t ideal in one corner of your home, and it gets too chilly in the winter, but another area is hot and stuffy?
Zone control systems use dampers, like doors that open and close within your ductwork, to allow heated or cooled air to flow in that section of ductwork, or to prevent the air from flowing. You can adjust which parts of your home are getting the most heating and cooling, and which get less. Now everyone can all be perfectly comfortable.
Zone Control Saves You Money
Beyond comfort, the money you’ll save is an enormous benefit. This happens in two ways.
- Utility Bills: When you don’t have to keep your entire home at the same temperature, you’ll be able to only use the heat or air conditioning in the spaces that really need it. Working in your home office all day, but everyone else is out? No need to waste money keeping the whole house at a perfect temperature! With zone control, you’ll only pay for what you actually need.
- Wear and Tear: Heating and cooling systems work hard to keep your home comfortable. And that means they accumulate a lot of wear and tear over the course of each year. The more they are used, the more strain is put on the system. This means that more use equals more frequent repairs and having to replace the system sooner. Less use means a better-functioning, longer-lasting system, and money saved.
If you’re curious about how a zone control system could be added to your home, contact us to talk to an expert in all things HVAC in Lawrenceville, GA.
Reach out to Wall Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. to make an appointment.