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Today's
Cool spots in your home? Try zoning Q: Somebody is always complaining that our house is too hot or cold. The temperature does seem to vary from room to room. Will adding a zoning kit solve this problem? Will it cut our heating and cooling bills.? - Mary T. A: The answer to both your questions is an unqualified "YES". Nearly every house has a room or two that are always too hot or cold. By adding a simple whole-house zoning kit, there is no need for anyone in your family to be uncomfortable. There are many designs of these systems that can fit virtually any heating and central air-conditioning system. In addition to the comfort improvement, and fewer family feuds over the thermostat setting, adding a zoning kit typically cuts heating and air-conditioning costs by 15 percent to 20 percent. The utility-bill savings result from not overheating or cooling various rooms in your house. Installing a zoning kit can pay back its cost many times over its life. Whole-house zoning is a very simple concept. The amount of heated or cooled air flowing into the various rooms of your house is varied depending on the desired temperature in each room. For example, you may want to have the dining room a little warmer while you have dinner and then, later, the living room warmer as you relax after dinner. In the summer, you just reverse this.
Most whole-house zoning kits accomplish this by using easy-to-install motorized dampers in the ducts (near the furnace) leading to the various rooms. These dampers control the amount of heated or cooled air flowing to each room or group of rooms (zones). There is a thermostat in each of the zones to tell each duct damper when to open or close. The simplest low-cost kit is a two-zone system. One zone generally includes all the bedrooms and the other zone includes all the daytime living areas. There are more complex systems that can handle up to 16 zones and can individualize the temperature/humidity climate in literally each room of your home. There are hundreds of variations of damper designs and control features for zoning systems to match each family's needs. If you have children with inquisitive little fingers, you might consider adding a kit with a lockable single master programmable thermostat. These kits just have temperature sensors, not thermostats, in each of the other zones that report to the master thermostat. In addition to being able to set different temperatures in various rooms, you can also vary each room's temperature schedule throughout the day. For example, you may want the kitchen to be cooler only during times when you are James Dulley is a mechanical engineer who writes on a wide variety of energy and utility topics. His column appears in a large number of daily newspapers. Copyright 1998 James Dulley 18 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING DECEMBER 1998 cooking and warmer other times. You may want the bedroom warmer only when you go to bed and again early in the morning when you awake. For the most convenience, choose a kit with an automatic heating-to-air-conditioning changeover. During mild spring and fall weather, your husband may get hot in a sunny south-facing workroom while your children may be chilly studying (actually snoozing) in a north-facing bedroom. Without zoning, the temperatures on opposite sides of your house can vary significantly. If your husband's workroom gets hot and its sensor calls for cooling first, the central air conditioner will start and blow cool air out only in the workroom or any other hot room. After his workroom is cooled to the desired temperature, the furnace will start and blow heated air out only in the kids' bedrooms. One unique, easy-to-install design uses low-cost pneumatic duct dampers without motors. A small air pump actuates them. You install a low-cost damper in each room duct. This allows the flexibility to keep bedrooms at each end of your house warmer with a middle one cooler. One zone can even include rooms on different stories. For the best comfort and savings, consider a more sophisticated system that uses modulating dampers. Instead of each damper being either completely opened or closed, an electronic brain modulates how far the damper needs to be opened. One room might get a little heated air while another gets a lot — it is not all or nothing. Write for (or instant download — www.dulley.com) Utility Bills Update No. 899 — buyer's guide of 12 home zoning systems, number of zones, type and size of dampers, control/comfort features and a savings chart. Please include $2 (with check payable to Jim Dulley) and a business-size SASE. Mail to: Jim Dulley, Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708.
DECEMBER 1998 • ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 19 |
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