If you discover that you have hot and cold spots through your Laurel home, you’re not alone. This is a fairly regular issue. While it may seem like a major issue, the good news is that the normal 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 poorly 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 means you’re able to determine the air temperature in each zone. The system involves multiple thermostats that run dampers inside the ductwork of your forced-air system. The thermostats constantly read the temperature of their specific zone, then open or close the dampers according to the thermostat's settings. This may be the missing piece to keeping that one frozen bedroom warm in the winter, or that heat chamber 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 have hot and cold spots simply because their home’s duct system is the wrong size for the room that needs heated and cooled, or it’s poorly designed. We find this is pretty common in homes that were built before many of today’s tools and training were used. Unfortunately, even the most energy-efficient HVAC equipment can’t meet homeowners’ expectations if the duct system isn’t letting it do its job. In fact, a poor duct system could actually cause new equipment to work more often than necessary and reduce its life. The pros at H&C Heating and Cooling 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 appropriately for your home, it may 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 H&C Heating and Cooling can inspect your ducts and let you know if they need sealed. They might also find that your ducts aren’t leaking, but they’re not correctly insulated. Fortunately, this is also a pretty routine fix.
Improperly Sized HVAC Equipment
So maybe 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 might be the cause. A system that is too small has to run harder to heat or cool your home, meaning you have 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 leave you with problems because it’ll cycle on and off too often to do its job correctly.
No matter what’s the culprit of the hot and cold spots in your home, H&C Heating and Cooling can help. Just give us a call at 301-960-3247 and we’ll help you figure it out and figure out if you need air conditioning service, or any other types of HVAC service that can help you keep your home cozy.
*Source: U.S. Department of Energy statistics