You Don’t Need Two Air Conditioners for a Two-Story Home – You Need Zoning
House too hot upstairs in the summer? Downstairs too cold in winter? If you struggle with making your whole house comfortable at the same time, there’s a solution and it doesn’t involve purchasing another furnace or air conditioner. It’s called zoning and the team at Lancaster Brothers is here to tell you how it works. Zoning can help you save on your heating and cooling bills and make your home more comfortable and it can be added to your existing heating and cooling system.
What Is Zoning?
Most homes rely on one unit to heat or cool the home. A zoned home breaks your home into different segments based on your heating and cooling needs. Instead of trying to control the temperature throughout the entire house, zoning allows you to control temperatures in individual areas. Zoning can be added to your existing heating and cooling equipment. A zone control panel communicates with your thermostat, dampers and your furnace and AC. The thermostats in each zone send a signal to the control panel to send air to that area. Dampers placed in your ductwork are wired to a specific zone on the control panel, which is controlled by a specific thermostat. They automatically open and close depending on what the thermostats tell them they need.
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What Kind of Homes Benefit from Zoning?
If you have a home with more than two stories, a home with a finished basement, areas with large windows or high ceilings, or unused rooms that you close off in the winter or summer because they aren’t comfortable, you are an ideal candidate for zoning. Older homes can benefit from zoning as well because many older houses are unable to be equipped with traditional heating and cooling ductwork. Empty nesters can also benefit because empty rooms don’t need to be heated and cooled every day.
Zoning Gives You Flexibility
Sometimes examples help make the benefits of zoning more clear. Let’s look at a few. With zoning you would be able to have the master bedroom set at a colder temp than the kids rooms if you like it colder when you sleep. Or let’s say you’re having a party and lots of people would be gathering in the kitchen and family room. You would be able to direct additional cooling to the kitchen/family room to balance the heat from extra bodies, heat from cooking, and heat from soaring outdoor temperatures. With a zoned system you can control the temperature when and where you need it.
Air Conditioner Zoning Saves You Money
Zoning saves you money on heating and cooling bills because you only heat/cool the zones you’re using, instead of the entire house. It gives you more control over which zones are heated or cooled, saving you money on the zones you don’t need to be heated or cooled all day, every day.
Lennox iHarmony Zoning System
At Lancaster, we install quality Lennox products including the Lennox iHarmony zoning system. The iHarmony system makes heating and cooling your home simple and convenient. It allows you to control up to four zones and each zone has its own independent thermostat. Adjustments to zone temperatures can be made at each thermostat, and you have the option of adjusting every zone at your main thermostat as well.
If you’d like to learn more, call us at (913) 851-3399 or