Pros and Cons of HVAC Zoning Do you need it? Basic zoning systems explained. Honeywell etc.

hey guys before we get to the video please click that subscribe button hey guys joshua griffin here serving the middle peninsula and the northern neck of virginia wanted to do a video on zoning and just a little preface i'm not going to get super crazy in this video if there's something specific that you're wondering about just give me a comment below but i wanted to address a few things when it comes to a zoning system on your regular central ducted system i wanted to touch on a few times that you know it makes sense to have zoning and then there's times when maybe it doesn't make sense to have zoning and i'm actually going to start with that when it doesn't make sense versus when it does because you know it might surprise you but i know a lot of times companies that do what i do they're going to push it or you know if it's an extra they're trying to sell you something or whatever and before i get into everything i just want to say that if ductwork is installed properly so if it's sized right everything's installed right and then the system is installed correctly you should get i would say within five cfms or so the vent that's the furthest away from the system versus the vent that's the closest to the system you should get within five or ten cfms out of both it should not matter that that vent is so far away i've seen houses where the ducts weren't sized properly or installed properly and so you start getting these vents that are further away and they don't have the velocity they don't have the oomph to you know heat and cool that space so if everything is installed right and sized right you should have relatively the same everything should be balanced it should be all blowing out correctly and all that good stuff i just want to start with that so if you have an instance in your home where you are having low airflow out of one vent versus another or something like that adding a zoning system or even just a manual damper may actually fix that but that's not in my opinion the root of the problem so if you're having that then you know somebody needs to take a look at what you have going on again let's talk about instances that maybe it doesn't necessarily make sense for you to have zoning and again we're just talking about basic zoning systems regular you know you're gonna have your zoning module and dampers that open and close no modulating stuff for communicating stuff in this video uh there's systems out there that you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with and i'm not gonna talk about any of that in this video we're just talking about a simple you know in one area it has a thermostat with a damper if that thermostat calls that damper opens brings the system on and blows air into that area when does it not make sense for you to have a zoning system installed well first thing i would say is if you have a house that's sort of an open floor plan concept or a space of that nature i don't think you necessarily need to spend the money on you know putting in anything crazy you know putting in zoning and all that stuff uh you know you may have to regulate the air or change this or that based on hot and cold spots in your home but as i've already said if everything is installed properly and sized properly you shouldn't have those types of issues anyway not saying you won't ever have anything but in general you should not be having those sorts of issues so that would be the first thing i would throw out there the other thing is i've seen houses where you know it'll be a choppy floor plan and they'll have just like this tiny little bedroom with its own zone you know and and their thought process is well you know if that room's hot or cold versus the rest of the house then you know i don't need to heat and cool the rest of the house i'll just heat and cool that room that we're spending time in or whatever and it's a smaller space that gets right back to if everything's installed properly and so on if you have a small zone like that and you're turning on this you know let's just say you have a four ton system so you got this massive system that has the capability of doing all this square footage and all this space in a house and you're turning on that monster of a system as far as capacity to heat and cool just this little tiny room in my opinion and you know there's there's been studies about whether it's more efficient to have a zoning system or not and all this stuff but just in general just from a a common sense standpoint if you got this monster of a system coming on just to heat and cool this little space it's not the best for that system in general to be honest with you now there are systems that they'll install bypass dampers so that that extra air has somewhere to go and there's a systems that they'll they even have like a temperature probe on the supply side of your air handler or furnace and that will tell the outdoor unit to shut off if the air coming out is too much of a difference you know so there are things that will help mediate that but just in general if you got this monster of a system running and imagine if you're breathing through your mouth but you can only ever breathe right you know i'm covering all those other zones and you got to live your entire life like that through breathing through just that little hole you know the wear and tear on that system again in my opinion i'm sure there's heating and air guys that have had other experiences there's people on youtube way smarter than me they love commenting on my videos and telling me how smart they are but i'm just saying in general from a common sense standpoint i don't know that you need zoning if you have that small room if there's a problem temperature problem in there then your issue gets back to the installation or the sizing or whatever you might need to take a look at that have somebody that knows how to do all that stuff the last thing i'll say is if you have a house that is heating and cooling just fine and now you've got some heating and air tech trying to sell you zoning because in their opinion your comfort level will go up or whatever again i would say just in general i don't know that you need to spend money on all the dampers and all it's really more stuff that you're gonna have to maintain it's you know stuff that can go bad dampers go bad and those zones stop or whatever it's just my opinion that if everything's installed right you won't you won't have any issues with that now let's talk about when it makes sense for you to have zoning so if you've got a house and you're wondering if you should do zoning when does it actually make sense for you to have zoning well the first thing immediate first thing that comes to mind for me is when you have multiple levels in a house so let's just talk you know there's there obviously there's different scenarios and all kinds of different houses out there but just in general if you have a house that's a two-story house and you have one system supplying the downstairs and the upstairs i don't care how good your duck guy is i don't care how good he is he will never be able to size or install that duct work properly so that the upstairs and the downstairs stay at the same temperature all year long what do i mean by that well let's just say the the guy is great and he sizes it and gets it just perfect to where in the summertime on a hot summer day the upstairs is getting a little more air than the down because heat rises and all that sort of stuff so you're getting everything nice and perfectly comfortable well come winter time now you've got all that extra airflow heat rises and you've got all that extra airflow dumping into the upstairs so hopefully that makes sense because heat rises and some sometimes you know when you have a two-story house you've got you know where the upstairs is going to be a little bit warmer whether it's in the summer or the winter the upstairs that heats rising and so in those cases i think that it does make sense for you to have zoning if you don't want to have two separate systems in your home then you need to have zoning on that one system where the ducks go up to the upstairs or you know vice versa ducks going down to the downstairs or whatever you need to have that zoning system to be able to close off the other level when one level calls for heat or cool next i'll say if you are wondering if you need zoning or whatever i do think it does make sense that if you have areas of your home that you're going to spend time in versus areas that you're not it there is something to be said for not heating and cooling a space as much as the areas that you're spending time in but it gets back to that scenario i was saying before you know if you got just a small little bedroom or just a small space and you're trying to make that his own i mean most houses i would say you don't need more than two three four zones you know if you've got a system where you got all these zones and you got bedrooms and this and that you're just starving that system for air at times so if you got you know i don't know a thousand square feet per zone or you know every house is different so you know i wouldn't use that as a general rule but just in general as i'm chatting about this i'm just saying that you know if you have a 3 000 square foot house and you want to do three zones or whatever and hopefully the guy laying out the duct work put some common sense thought into you know this should be in this zone and that sort of stuff so you can save some energy that way you know if you're not spending as much time in a certain part of the house and you know you don't want to shut that part of the house off entirely but you know you want to if it's summertime set that temperature to where if it gets you know above say 75 you know at least bring it back down to that point the system's just not running all the time or whatever then you'll save a little bit energy you know you're only cooling that space that you're spending time in again hopefully that makes sense i'm not getting all the modulating stuff or some of the systems have sensors instead of thermostats and spaces and different types of zoning you know i'm not getting into all that because you're talking about a whole nother animal whole other monster when it comes to that modulating and communicating stuff there's times when you know if you got an inverter system you can supply you know air to smaller spaces and things like that without starving the system for air because the system can ramp down so you know i would just say talk to your installer find out what's the pros and cons you know if if you don't do zoning versus whether or not you do do zooming yes i did just say do do um but you know just talk to them and and find out the pros and cons i think the people that do what we do the best are the ones that you know number one you can talk to them but number two they can tell you why they are doing what they're doing i mean are are they just installing something just so they can sell you something or do they have a legit concrete reason why they think your home is going to be more comfortable or the system's going to be more efficient and you know so on to install this zoning system so i hope that helps i appreciate you watching and if you again if you do have any questions just put a little comment down in the comments and i will try to help you with that so thanks for watching if you're in our coverage area give us a call we'd love to earn your business if you're not in our coverage area and you are in the market for a new heating and air system you gotta check out my new website i'll put a link to it down in the notes it's called new hvac guide dot com and i've put so much stuff on this website things that manufacturers and other contractors don't even want you to know i'm putting it on this website i even have a whole page called no nos things to stay away from while you're you know replacing your heating and air system so check that out and please subscribe thanks for watching

Channel: HVAC Guide for Homeowners

Views: 30,970

Keywords: hvac zoning systems, air conditioning zones, hvac zones, pros of hvac zoning, top hvac zoning, best hvac zoning, when to do hvac zoning, hvac zoning, ac zoning system, ac zoning, central air zoning, honeywell zoning, hot room zoning, how to do hvac zoning, ac zoning system not working, heating zoning, Hvac zoning dampers, ac zones, pros of hvac, ac zoning board, cold room zoning, hvac zone dampers, low air zoning, hvac zoning system troubleshooting, Hvac dampers zoning

Id: 54G-K9X6S6U

Length: 13min 15sec (795 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021