If you discover that you have hot and cold spots in your Muldrow home, you’re not alone. This is a fairly normal problem. While it may seem like a major problem, the good news is that the typical causes of hot and cold spots are typically easy to fix with a normal air conditioning service. The most routine 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
- Improperly sized HVAC equipment
Lack of Zoning or Improper Zoning
A zoning system splits 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 run dampers inside the ductwork of your forced-air system. The thermostats are working nonstop, reading the temperature of their designated zone, then open or close the dampers to meet the thermostat's settings. This may be the missing link to keeping that one frozen bedroom warm in the winter, or that hot box sunroom comfortable all summer. Plus, when you utilize 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 is not sized appropriately for the room that needs heated and cooled, or it’s improperly 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 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 often than necessary and shorten its life cycle. The pros at Air Service Co. can help you determine 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 could still be at the root of your home’s hot and cold spots. It’s commonplace for the ducts in a home to leak a bit over time. Professionals like Air Service Co. can look at 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 generally easy 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 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 leave you with problems because it’ll cycle on and off too often to do its job correctly.
No matter what’s the cause of the hot and cold spots in your home, Air Service Co. can help. Just give us a call at 918-212-8943 and we’ll help you decide what the issue is and determine 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