Zoning or Zoned HVAC Systems

Zoned cooling is the process of dividing a home or building into two or more separate zones which gives more control over the cooling and heating system allowing for individual control of temperature in each of these zones. There are several ways of doing this depending on the size of the home or building.

With a zoning or zoned air conditioning system you can divide your home into two to four different zones that have similar cooling and heating needs. A system of electronic thermostats and electronically controlled modulating dampers automatically adjusts the temperature in each of those zones effectively turning one air conditioning system into many smaller ones. This saves energy by allowing you to turn off heating and cooling to rooms that no one is using. While zoning does not affect the efficiency of your air conditioning unit it does make efficient use of the system possible. Often zoning can save up to 30% off your heating and cooling bill.

Another form of zoning is having two or more units in a larger home or building. Each unit controls a different part of the building. In larger homes especially where a unit of larger that 5 tons is required often two units are used, one for the living areas and one for the bedrooms. His way at night when the occupants are asleep they can set the temperature in living areas for a higher temperature to save money. During the day the same can be done for the bedrooms when they are used as often. In large buildings they may have more than one unit to control different area or may have a water chiller with individual evaporators which control separate areas. Other systems have air controlled dampers which control the airflow to small rooms or areas.