HVAC Zoning 101 & Smart Zoning

Your HVAC system is more than just a thermostat. It’s actually several machines doing several different jobs, all coordinated by your thermostat.

Courtesy of starrmechanicalservices.com

Your HVAC system probably has a furnace (or heat pump) responsible for creating hot air, an air conditioner for creating cold air, and an air handler (blower fan) for moving that temperature-controlled air around. Your thermostat coordinates these functions.

Thermostats are fairly simple devices. They used to be entirely mechanical and could do their job with a bimetallic strip that would expand in response to changes in temperature. Nowadays, the temperature sensing is electronic, but the function is the same: when a temperature threshold is reached, turn on the furnace or the AC then turn on the blower to move the air through the whole house. However, your thermostat doesn’t know or do anything about the individual temperature differences between rooms. It simply turns on a blower and ventilates the whole house as if every room were the same temperature at the same time.

Back in the old days, if you had a temperature imbalance, or wanted to save energy by only heating the part of the house that you were using, you either ran around your home manually closing off air vents or you installed another zone. Zones are simply different areas of your home, each controlled by separate thermostats--though creating multiple zones takes a lot more than adding a second thermostat.

In addition to leveraging a second or third thermostat, zoning works by adding a zoning board/controller and several duct dampers. The thermostats are wired to the zoning board, which manages the distribution of air based on whether one, the other, or all of the thermostats call for hot or cold air. If the thermostats compete–such as one calling for heat and one for AC–the last one to ask wins out.

The zoning board is also responsible for controlling the duct dampers. Dampers are baffles controlled by electric motors that permit or block airflow inside the duct-work. Sounds similar to Smart Zoning, we know, but unlike Smart Zoning, dampers are invasive, meaning they are installed inside of your ducts, rather than at the supply vents. Yes, this means tearing open your wall/ceiling and then patching/repainting to install every single damper. If a zone is not calling for heat or AC, the baffles are closed. Some zoning systems have pressure bypasses, such as when there are many zones and too much of the airflow might be restricted--but most don’t. Here’s a diagram depicting a typical zoned HVAC system.

Image courtesy of smarthomeideas.com

Zoning systems can get the job done if you are living with temperature imbalances. That said, most zoning systems are technologically stale by several decades yet also quite expensive. The average traditional zoning system costs between $3,000 and $8,000, including the cost of labor to install them. 

That’s where Smart Zoning come in.

Smart Zoning takes the concept of traditional zoning and brings it to the modern era. Where traditional zoning systems divide a home into two or three zones based on floors of the home, Keen Zoning lets you turn each room in your home into independently controlled zones. You’re more likely to be able to identify a room or two in your whole house that you aren’t using or that have temperature imbalances, rather than an entire static group of rooms. As a result, your system can run less and you could see savings of up to 25% on your energy bill.

Smart Zoning uses connected devices, so they improve over time through "over the air" software enhancements. We’re always looking to roll out new features that will benefit our users. Additionally, Smart Vents vary the levels of airflow as opposed to simply being open or closed like most zone dampers. Keen Zoning is DIY, meaning you can install the system yourself, saving you a lot of cash on the cost of hiring someone to come out and install a traditional zoning system.

Keen Zoning is modular and can be built up room by room, costing less than $1,000 for most households. Ecovent Whole Home Zoning offers a complete, pro-grade state of the art system customized to your home's unique needs to give you maximum control and efficiency gains.

Here’s a table we put together comparing Smart Zoning to traditional HVAC zoning systems:

With winter approaching, now is the perfect time to consider adding smart zoning to your HVAC system. You’ll have greater control over airflow throughout your home, meaning more comfort and a smaller energy bill every month.

Whether you invest in a traditional zoning solution for each floor of your home, or have even more control by creating discrete zones for each room with Keen Zoning or an Ecovent Whole Home System, you’ll be doing yourself, your family,  and the environment an enormous favor by eliminating those troublesome hot and cold spots in your home.