Central air conditioning is a pretty great system. It’s convenient, effective, and basic way to keep your home cool. However, it’s not a perfect system. Central air conditioning actually has a number of disadvantages that contribute to a massive loss in energy efficiency in certain circumstances. Don’t worry, though. You don’t need an entirely different cooling system to mitigate these disadvantages. All you need to do is supplement your air conditioner with zone control. What is zone control? Read on to find out.
Disadvantages of Central Air Conditioning
There are two major disadvantages to using central air conditioning. The first is that central air conditioning is often controlled by a single thermostat. The problem with that is that the thermostat can only really monitor the room in which it is installed. This means that the entire air conditioner operates based on the temperature in one room, when several other rooms throughout the house may need less or more air conditioning due to their different temperatures.
This brings us to the second disadvantage, which is that central air conditioning can only cool the entire house or none of it. There is no way for a central air conditioner to naturally provide different levels of cooling to different parts of the house. That’s where zone control comes in.
Advantages of Zone Control
A zone control system is a series of dampers installed throughout the home’s ductwork. These dampers are essentially large valves, with one installed in the ducts leading to each room. A thermostat is installed in each room equipped with a damper. When one of these thermostats calls for air conditioning, it opens the damper leading to that room. This allows each room control over how much air conditioning it receives and for how long, solving both of the disadvantages of central air conditioning.
If you’d like to augment your air conditioning system with zone control, call SPS Mechanical Inc. We install and service zone control systems throughout Haddonfield, NJ.