Are You Finding The Many From Your HVAC System ?

Energy costs are headed upward and in the not too distant future, paying your heating and cooling bills might seem like carrying an additional mortgage. Installing additional insulation and energy efficient windows may help the specific situation or you might want to consider upgrading your HVAC system to keep your time costs in order, but when you take those drastic measures - are you currently getting the most from the current HVAC system?

Tweaking your HVAC System for Better Efficiency
Whenever your home was built, an HVAC contractor did load calculations based on room dimensions and window locations to ascertain how big is your HVAC system. The calculations were also used to size the home's supply and return vents and a floor plan determined their best locations. Those calculations provided an excellent starting point for ensuring the house's first owner received an HVAC system that conditioned the inner of the home efficiently, however, everything could have changed as soon as a family moved into the residence.

Furniture placement, window treatments, and how your family goes about living their daily life can impact the performance of one's HVAC system and before long you may observe that some rooms are too warm while other parts of the home seem impossible to heat. Don't panic - in most cases you don't need any large scale repairs, all that's needed is really a system tweak.

A Balanced HVAC System
If you're having issues along with your HVAC system heating or cooling your property properly, ask a contractor to come out to accomplish something balance. New homes sometimes have one trip by the HVAC contractor to balance the heating and cooling system a part of their warranty.

The HVAC contractor will use a meter to ascertain air movement at each supply register and use trunk line dampers to increase or decrease air movement as needed. If your ductwork doesn't have dampers, they might recommend they be added - that is typically a fairly easy and inexpensive task. Sometimes the contractor may suggest adding supply or return vents to rooms that don't respond adequately to air movement adjustments.

The One Zone Dilemma
One of the most common HVAC problems many homeowners encounter is uneven heating and cooling distribution in a multi-level home with a one zone system. A one zone system means this one HVAC unit with a single thermostat is working to keep the temperature on different levels of the home. When you yourself have a situation like this and the thermostat on your primary level is placed at the temperature you would like, there's an excellent chance that your upper floor or finished basement will be too cold or too warm with respect to the season.

It can be difficult for an HVAC contractor to ease this problem with manual ductwork dampers because you can wish to regulate the temperature on the level you are already using. In this example, the contractor may suggest adding a digital damper to one's body -- this allows an additional thermostat to be added on the top of or finished basement level of one's home. The electronic damper permits one to direct air movement far from the level not currently being used and keep the temperature perfect where you are.

In extreme cases your contractor may recommend adding an additional HVAC system to your home. Asking an HVAC contractor to balance one's body is a good way to ensure you're getting efficient performance from one's body and don't forget to keep your filters clean.

Elevation Mechanical owner Chris Baker and Miguel Quijas works practical in the heating and air conditioning industry daily website, keeping him update with current trends in the heating and air conditioning business.