If you own a home here in Nanaimo, BC or you’re thinking of getting one, the enchantment of this unique place has obviously cast its spell on you. However, one of the drawbacks of living in such beauty is that it gets very rainy. If you have spent a significant amount of time here, you know that our winters are long, cold, and wet. That means you will likely be spending a significant amount of your time in your home, taking refuge against the damp. Your heating will play a major role in the day-to-day comfort for you and your loved ones, and what the ideal temperature is may be different from one family member to the next. This is why zone heating is so important.
What Is Zone Heating?
Zone heating provides you with the capability of individually controlling the temperature level of different areas of your home. This means that you tailor the heating throughout your home to the residents’ individual needs. Everyone in your household can enjoy the heat level that is most comfortable for them. It also helps you maintain a more even temperature throughout certain types of homes that otherwise would typically have uneven heating.
How Does Zone Heating Work?
With this type of system, your home is divided into two or more “zones.” Each zone’s temperature can be controlled independently, even though you only have one heating unit. To increase the temperature of one of the zones, all you need to do is go to the thermostat that is assigned to that zone and adjust the heat.
To accomplish this feat, dampers are put in your ductwork at the openings that lead to each zone. This regulates the airflow to each area by allowing the dampers to open completely, open partially, or stay closed. The arrangement provides enough versatility so that you can directly target the desired amount of heat to go to one area, while less (or none) goes to other areas. This provides a highly efficient use of your heat energy because you are only paying to heat the zones you select. You wind up asking far less of your furnace. The efficiency is increased even further by the system shutting itself down once the desired temperature is reached.
Benefits of Zoned Heating
These are numerous advantages to this. Let’s explore them.
Comfort Control
With a single, central thermostat to control the temperature throughout your entire home, you are stuck having to change the heat level of your whole household, even if you simply want to adjust the warmth of a single room. Zone heating allows you the ability to target only the areas you need heated, putting a much greater amount of control over the comfort levels of everyone in your residence.
Energy Savings
Heating an entire home can use a considerable amount of energy, and it also requires a lot of time for the heat to make its way to where you ultimately want it. This translates to money out of your pocket. By investing in a zoned heating system, you only use energy to heat the area that you decide to. You wind up using far less heat energy and time getting an area to the temperature you desire. The difference this makes will be reflected in your monthly utility bill.
Improved Indoor Air Quality
The heated air that flows through your furnace and into your home may be filtered, but contaminants like dust, mold spores, pollen, and pet dander can still sometimes get through. With zoning dampers, air only makes it to the area that you select. This means any contaminants that manage to subvert the filtration process get restricted to one area, as opposed to the entire household.
Even Temperatures
With zone heating, uneven temperatures throughout the home become a thing of the past. The system allows you to address your heating needs by zone, which ensures that you can properly distribute heat to areas of the home that are naturally colder while limiting the amount of heat going to areas that already stay warm.
Extended System Life Span
Since being able to target individual areas of your home uses less heat energy, you wind up putting less strain on your heating system. This can actually extend its life span, meaning a longer time before a replacement is needed. You also wind up having less wear and tear, so you may require repairs less often.
Homes That Are an Ideal Fit for Zone Heating
While we believe that most homes can get a lot out of zone heating, the following types of homes typically reap the most rewards.
Homes With High Ceilings
A zoned heating system is of particular benefit to homes that have high ceilings. Heat rises, so homeowners often find heat getting trapped at the top of their ceilings, and they encounter great difficulty in adequately warming the lower level where everyone actually is. Typically, the way this is compensated for is by raising the thermostat so that the high-ceilinged living room gets to a suitable temperature while simultaneously making the other rooms in the home unbearably hot. A zoned system allows the high-ceilinged area to have its own zone and temperature controls so that the heat can be raised there without compromising the comfort of the rest of the household.
Multi-Level Homes
If you have a home with more than one level, you have similarly experienced the issue of heat rising to the highest space of the house. This can be especially problematic if there are any bedrooms on the upper level. At night, these bedrooms can get unbearably warm, forcing you to turn down the heat, leaving anyone on the lower level too chilly. Zoned heating solves this problem by allowing you to tailor the heat level of each floor.
Homes With Cold or Hot Spots
Some single-level homes are designed in such a way that particular areas just seem to stay colder or warmer than others. Zoned heating allows these cold or hot spots to be brought to the desired temperature without affecting the rest of the home.
Homes With Large or Many Windows
If you own a home in which some rooms have large, numerous, or out-of-reach windows that are difficult to curtain, you’ve likely noticed that these rooms can get warmer than other areas. This is because they naturally get more sunlight, which can dramatically alter the temperature of an area. Zoned heating allows you to keep the temperature of these rooms under control without sacrificing the comfort level of your other rooms.
Individual Comfort
Everyone is different, and that means an ideal temperature for one person in your household might not be the same for another. For example, you could have an elderly person in one bedroom who likes to keep it warmer than anyone else in the home does. Zoned heating provides the members of your household with the ability to adjust the temperature of their area to their exact preference.
Your Local Zoned Heating Experts
If you are looking into zoned heating for a home in the Nanaimo area, Twin Peaks Plumbing, Heating & Gas has you covered. Our team takes immense pride in providing members of our community with the utmost in customer service while finding the heating solution that best serves their unique needs. We also make it easy for each household to achieve complete comfort by providing not only heating and cooling solutions but also a full range of plumbing and indoor air quality services as well as ductless mini-split services. We offer expert communication and information every step of the way, making us an ideal choice for installations, repairs, and maintenance throughout this area. For more on what Twin Peaks Plumbing, Heating & Gas can do for your Nanaimo home, give us a call today.
