Tips and Tricks: Fixing Cold Spots

Tips and Tricks: Fixing Cold SpotsWhile we in Yuma enjoy relatively benign winter weather, it still does get cold occasionally, necessitating the use of a furnace or heat pump. It can be very discouraging when you do need to turn on the heat to realize you’ve got cold spots in your home — that being places where the heating just doesn’t seem to do its job.

Let’s look at some of them, and what to do about them.

Wrong Size HVAC System

After you’ve eliminated drafts, the single most likely reason for cold spots in your home is that your HVAC system is incorrectly sized for your home. When a system is sized too large, it short cycles, turning on and off before temperature set points are reached. When it’s too small, it runs continuously and never effectively cools or heats. Either way, the result is likely to be inadequately cooled or heated spots in the home.

When you replace your HVAC system, make sure your HVAC company uses industry software (Manuals S, D and J) to correctly size your equipment. This software will not only help determine the correct heating and cooling load for your home, but will also prescribe what capacity your HVAC system should have, as well as the right capacity of the ductwork.

Zoned System Lacking

One way to work with your current system to eliminate cold spots is to turn it into a zoned system. Zoning allows the home’s occupants to independently control the temperature in various areas of the house by means of individual thermostats wired into a central control panel.

The person in each zone can adjust the thermostat to regulate the volume of air allowed through the vent. Dampers in the vents open and close as needed, directed by the thermostat command. With this type of system, you can turn off the heating/cooling to a particular zone when it’s unoccupied and save money.

To learn more about fixing cold spots and other HVAC issues, contact Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company of Yuma.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about fixing cold spots and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 928-723-3183.