If you realize that you have hot and cold spots through your Port St. Lucie home, you’re not alone. This is a fairly normal problem. While it can seem like a larger issue, the good news is that the common causes of hot and cold spots are usually easy to fix with a simple air conditioning service. The most common causes for hot and cold spots are:
- Lack of zoning or improper zoning
- Poorly designed or ineffectively sized duct systems
- Leaky or inefficiently insulated air ducts
- The wrong size of HVAC equipment
Lack of Zoning or Improper Zoning
A zoning system breaks up your home into separate areas, known as “zones,” and allows you to customize the air temperature in each zone. The system uses multiple thermostats that control dampers inside the ductwork of your forced-air system. The thermostats are always reading the temperature of their designated zone, then open or close the dampers to meet the thermostat's settings. This may be the missing piece to keeping that one cold bedroom warm in the winter, or that smoldering sunroom comfortable all summer. Plus, when you use it with a programmable thermostat, zoning can mean home energy savings of up to 35 percent.*
Poorly Designed or Ineffectively Sized Duct Systems
Some homeowners end up with hot and cold spots simply because their home’s duct system isn’t sized correctly for the area that needs heated and cooled, or it’s improperly designed. We find this is fairly normal in homes that were built before much of today’s tools and training were around. Unfortunately, even the most energy-efficient HVAC equipment can’t match homeowners’ expectations if the duct system isn’t allowing it to do its job. In fact, a bad duct system could actually cause new equipment to work more frequently than needed and decrease its lifespan. The pros at Custom Air Systems Inc can help you decide if your duct work is working for your home.
Leaky or Inadequately Insulated Air Ducts
Even if your duct system is designed and sized properly for your home, it might still be the cause of your home’s hot and cold spots. It’s common for the ducts in a home to become leaky over time. Pros like Custom Air Systems Inc can inspect your ducts and let you know if they should be sealed. They may also find that your ducts aren’t leaking, but they’re not properly insulated. Fortunately, this is also a pretty routine fix.
Improperly Sized HVAC Equipment
So there’s a chance your air duct system is just fine and you have a good zoning system, but you’re still feeling hot and cold spots through your home. Improperly sized HVAC equipment could be the issue. A system that is too small has to work harder to heat or cool your home, which leaves hot and cold spots because it can’t keep up with the amount of space it needs to condition. Even a system that’s too big can leave you with problems because it’ll cycle on and off too often to do its job properly.
No matter what’s the cause of the hot and cold spots in your home, Custom Air Systems Inc can help. Just give us a call at 772-247-2283 and we’ll help you figure it out and decide if you need air conditioning service, or any other types of HVAC service that will help you keep your home cozy.
*Source: U.S. Department of Energy statistics