Best practices for multi-zone AC temperature
#1
Best practices for multi-zone AC temperature
I had a tech come out yesterday to take a look at my 13 year old Heil ac system. It has 2 zones - upstairs and downstairs. There are return vents in every single room.
The reason I made the appointment was because it wasn't cooling that well during the middle of the day. He added 2 pounds of R22 and couldn't find any obvious leaks. He thinks it's likely very small since the previous homeowners never had to add refrigerant in 13 years (I have the service records). Hopefully I'll get a few more years out of my system. The supply air is definitely cooler now and the house definitely is reaching the set temperature more quickly.
Anyway, we got to talking about the temperature settings on the thermostats and he suggested that the upstairs be set to be 2 degrees cooler than downstairs since cooler air will naturally drop, and it would create a comfortable environment throughout the house. I noticed that when both zones are calling for cooling, it heavily decreases the airflow coming out of the upstairs registers, so this should help with airflow since the downstairs zone would call for cooling much less. Thoughts? I changed the settings to 74 upstairs and 76 downstairs, and while away 78 upstairs and 80 downstairs.
The reason I made the appointment was because it wasn't cooling that well during the middle of the day. He added 2 pounds of R22 and couldn't find any obvious leaks. He thinks it's likely very small since the previous homeowners never had to add refrigerant in 13 years (I have the service records). Hopefully I'll get a few more years out of my system. The supply air is definitely cooler now and the house definitely is reaching the set temperature more quickly.
Anyway, we got to talking about the temperature settings on the thermostats and he suggested that the upstairs be set to be 2 degrees cooler than downstairs since cooler air will naturally drop, and it would create a comfortable environment throughout the house. I noticed that when both zones are calling for cooling, it heavily decreases the airflow coming out of the upstairs registers, so this should help with airflow since the downstairs zone would call for cooling much less. Thoughts? I changed the settings to 74 upstairs and 76 downstairs, and while away 78 upstairs and 80 downstairs.