Central air conditioning is a tremendous addition to any home. Whether you live in Port Orange, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville, or even Orlando, it can get extremely hot and humid in the summer months of July and August. Our homes become heat traps, especially if you are so bold to live without any central AC. This is why so many people have invested in central air conditioning systems over inefficient, loud, and troublesome window air conditioning units.
One of the most frequently asked questions that our homeowners have during the installation process is, how many zones they should have within their house? Having the correct amount of zones is important to the efficiency of the unit. Zones allow for control over the central air conditioning system and where and when it blows cold air to certain areas of your home. Adding zones may bring an increased cost, but the added control helps for the most efficient cooling. During the Installation Process talk it through with your installation expert!
Understanding Zones With a Central Air Conditioning System
In order to figure out how many zones you will need for your central air conditioning system, you will need to fully understand what zones are. A zone is when you divide up your home into sections. For example, you have all of the kid’s bedrooms on the second floor of your home but during the hours from 7 am to 4 pm, none of the rooms are being used. In this case, you would create a 2nd-floor zone where you would turn off the AC during those hours.
When you have multiple zones, a thermostat is going to be placed within each zone. This is what is going to dictate when the central air conditioning system is going to kick on so that it can cool that area or zone properly.
How Many Zones Do You Need?
Figuring out how many zones you want out of your central air conditioning system is going to depend largely on just how much control you want over the temperature of all of the different areas of your home. Say you want your bedroom to be at a certain temperature every night when you are getting ready to go to bed. If this is the case, you may want to have the bedrooms set up in a separate zone so that the temperature can be turned up during the day so you are being energy efficient, but turned down at night so the rooms can be cooled and ready for you.
It is important that you decipher the liveable zones. Here are some examples of how to zone different types of homes. If you live in a one-story ranch, it may be more efficient to have one zone in order to keep the house consistently cool. If you have a two-story house with multiple floors and areas, a few different zones may be more beneficial to your lifestyle. Control is the deciding factor, as is energy efficiency.
Central air conditioning systems are tremendous in that they allow you to control the temperature of your home and keep everything as cool and comfortable as possible. When you are having your central air conditioning system installed, think about the areas of your home and how you would want to section those off into zones. This can help you as you try to decide if you want your home all on one thermometer and zone or multiple for added control. You may want to consider installing a zone control system in your home!
Contact J&W Heating and Air + Plumbing for a Free Estimate on new AC units. We would be happy to walk you through this process.
