If you discover that you have hot and cold spots through your Long Island home, you’re not alone. This is a fairly regular occurrence. While it might 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 likely 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
- 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 is composed of multiple thermostats that control dampers in the ductwork of your forced-air system. The thermostats are always reading the temperature of their assigned zone, then open or close the dampers according to the thermostat's settings. This could be the missing piece to keeping that one cold bedroom warm in the winter, or that heat chamber sunroom comfortable all summer. Plus, when you use it with a programmable thermostat, zoning may mean home energy savings of up to 35 percent.*
Poorly Designed or Ineffectively Sized Duct Systems
Some homeowners experience hot and cold spots simply because their home’s duct system isn’t sized correctly for the room that needs heated and cooled, or it’s poorly designed. We find this is fairly normal in homes that were built before many of today’s tools and training were available. 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 bad duct system could actually cause new equipment to work more frequently than it should and reduce its life. The experts at Airmax Long Island Inc 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 appropriately for your home, it may still be the cause 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 Airmax Long Island Inc 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 correctly 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 around your home. Improperly sized HVAC equipment may be the cause. A system that is too small has to run harder to heat or cool your home, which leaves 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 causing the hot and cold spots in your home, Airmax Long Island Inc can help. Just give us a call at 631-737-5566 and we’ll help you decide what the issue is and figure out if you need air conditioning service, or any other types of HVAC service that can help you keep your home comfortable.
*Source: U.S. Department of Energy statistics