Hi,
I just bought a new house and I have a question about the heating/air conditioning.
I don’t know too much about how these systems work so I will do my best to describe in laymens terms.
One of the things I questioned before we bought it was that although it is 5100 square feet (2000 first floor, 1600 second floor, 1500 finished basement), it only has one thermostat. The house is 2 years old and is an upscale house in an upscale neighborhood. The builder has the reputation as being the best in the area. I was told that one zone is common for that size house in this area. The house is in Pittsford, NY, so it gets fairly cold in the winter.
This was not a show stopper and we bought the house but now I was wondering if it made any sense to try to break the systems into 2-3 zones. My old house had 3 zones at 3300 square feet, one on each floor.
The way my old house was set up was that it had one set of ducts that supplied each floor with a sort of a flapper in front of each. As the thermostats called for heat or air to each floor, the appropriate flappers would open or close.
In the new house the ducts are not organized by floor. For example, one supply is attached to some rooms on the first floor and some rooms on the second floor. In the furnace room, the all of the ducts appear to be easily accessible and well labeled. It seems to me that it would be fairly easy (to someone who knows what he is doing – not me) to reorganize the ducts by floors and install some of the flappers and a couple more thermostats.
Does this seems feasable?
If so, does it seem like a good idea?
P.S. I am the kind of person who will spend money to do things the right way. To me “good enough” is not good enough.
Thanks in advance. Tom
Replies
We all know why it was done that way.... OH BOY!!
Have you spent a winter in this house??? How was the comfort through out...
Zone flappers at the branches would give you a semblence of zoned heat... More than one gate for a zone unless the supply for the 1st and 2nd floors are the same, can't easily be split and gating wold be disruptive to the zone not calling for heat ... Motorized / gated registers is another alternative.. Since these truely don't / won't close / seal completely (leak) whistleing is gonna happen...
Also a on demand multi-speed blower is in order...
How efficient is yur current furnace...
Would you consider zoned HW heat?
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Why? Clue me in. Less expensive?
Exactly...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
But then again..
is my answer to why it was done the way it was done or to to revamp with a HW system???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
The place to go to get answers to this question is HVAC-Talk.com
First of all my house is only 1600 sq ft, but 2 stories and I have two separate furnaces and only AC on tthe 2nd floor.
Designed that way and I am in favor of that some kind of zone and when I replace my systems I will either go back with two or convert the system to a single unit with zoning dampners.
But I would live it a year first.
Depending on how the house is laid out, how it is used (what part is active areas, what parts or passive areas) where you might have large expaneses of glass ect., and updown split zone might not be what you realy want.
Also you might find some areas that don't have enough supply air or more often the problem is enough return air.
In additon some or all of the furnace/AC equipment might need to be replaced with multi stage equipment or at least the blower upgraded to variable speed, if it does not already have one.
So, I would sugggest that you live in it for a year first.