We have a 5,000sq.ft. 3 story home. It has 4 different zones. The upstairs is cold in the winter; the master bedroom is too warm; the dining room is 89 degrees {thermostat is set at 70}. What gives?? The heating contractors say the furnace is working perfectly. Before we spend another $100.00 for a service call we thought we would ask you.
From what you have told me I assume that you have had your furnace set up with four separate zones and four separate thermostats. If that is not the case, then it is very difficult to control the heat evenly.
For now, I will address this as if you have four separate thermostats. With a four Zone Heating System there would be four main trunk lines coming off of the furnace with electronic controlled dampers in each of the trunk lines where they come out of the furnace. Each one is thermostatically controlled to come on and shut off when the zone reaches the temperature set by the thermostat.
So if you had 2 sections of the first floor on 2 separate zones with 2 separate Thermostats, and the second floor with 1 zone and thermostat and the third floor with 1 zone and thermostat, each would be controlled independently from the others.
When one of the zones calls for heat, the damper for that zone would open and the heat would blow out to the area controlled by thermostat for that zone. The dampers for the other threes zones would remain closed until any of them called for heat.
The furnace would be running when any number of the zones called for heat. When all of the zones temperatures reached the temperature set on the the thermostats, then the furnace would shut off.
Even with a zone system you may have to adjust the dampers on the heating ducts in the basement and or the heat registers in the rooms to balance the heat as evenly as possible. This can take some experimenting, but once you get it where you like it, then take a black permanent marker and put an S for summer and a W for winter on the heating duct in line with the damper control arm after you have made the adjustment, so that you will know where to set them for the change of seasons.
If you do not have the zone system that I have described above, then you should really look into have it installed in your home. But, if you can't afford to do this, then you will have to experiment with adjusting the dampers and heat registers so that in the areas where that home is too hot, you would close them the most and where it is cooler, you would open them the most.
In either case, taking the time to make the adjustments and being patient in doing so, will help you to get your home to a more even and comfortable level.
For more information about Zone Heating and other Heating and Cooling concerns, click on the following link.
Heating and Cooling.
I hope this helps. Rick
Rick Maselli
Founder and Editor of Showroom411.com