If you find that you have hot and cold spots through your West Valley City home, you’re not alone. This is a pretty normal issue. While it may seem like a major issue, the good news is that the typical causes of hot and cold spots are normally easy to fix with a simple air conditioning service. The most common causes for hot and cold spots are:
- No zoning or improper zoning
- Poorly designed or ineffectively sized duct systems
- Leaky or inefficiently insulated air ducts
- Improperly sized HVAC equipment
Lack of Zoning or Improper Zoning
A zoning system breaks up your home into separate areas, known as “zones,” and means you can determine the air temperature in each zone. The system uses multiple thermostats that control dampers inside the ductwork of your forced-air system. The thermostats constantly read the temperature of their assigned zone, then open or close the dampers to match up with the thermostat's settings. This may be the key to keeping that one frozen bedroom warm in the winter, or that smoldering sunroom comfortable all summer. Plus, when you use it with a programmable thermostat, zoning could 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 especially common in homes that were built before many 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 letting it do its job. In fact, a shoddy duct system could actually cause new equipment to work more frequently than it should and reduce its life. The experts at Select Comfort Systems Heating & Air Conditioning can help you figure out if your duct work is working for your home.
Leaky or Inadequately Insulated Air Ducts
Even if your duct system is properly designed and sized for your home, it could still be the source of your home’s hot and cold spots. It’s commonplace for the ducts in a home to leak a bit over time. Experts like Select Comfort Systems Heating & Air Conditioning can check your ducts and let you know if they ought to be sealed. They could also find that your ducts aren’t leaking, but they’re not adequately insulated. Fortunately, this is also a generally routine fix.
Improperly Sized HVAC Equipment
So possibly your air duct system is just fine and you have a good zoning system, but you’re still experiencing hot and cold spots throughout 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, leaving you with hot and cold spots because it can’t take care of the amount of space it needs to condition. Even a system that’s too big can cause problems because it’ll cycle on and off too often to do its job well.
No matter what’s causing the hot and cold spots in your home, Select Comfort Systems Heating & Air Conditioning can help. Just give us a call at 801-305-4777 and we’ll help you pinpoint the problem and figure out if you need air conditioning service, or any other types of HVAC service that will help you keep your home comfortable.
*Source: U.S. Department of Energy statistics