Tag Archives: thermostat

Should I Run My Air Conditioning All Summer Long?

Lots of homeowners worry about running their air conditioner too long. They want to save energy, or they don’t want to cool rooms that don’t need it. So they only turn on the A/C when it’s really warm out.

That seems like common sense, but there are actually different schools of thought on this issue. In fact, some people worry about running the A/C too little. Why’s that?

For one, when your house is very warm, it takes a lot of energy for your air conditioner to cool it down. The surfaces of your home all store heat—from your roof, to your walls, to your windows. And the greater the temperature differential between indoors and outdoors, the longer the air conditioner has to run to reach the target temperature. So it’s reasonable to think that if you leave the A/C running at a consistent temperature, your system won’t have to work as hard to keep you cool.

That may be true in the short term, but it can create unexpected consequences in the long term.

One big issue is “short cycling.” If your home is always close to your target temperature, your A/C only needs to run for a few minutes to cool it to the proper level. That shorter cycle may be long enough to reach your target temperature, but it’s often not long enough to dehumidify the air. Too much humidity can make your home feel warmer than it actually is, so you may end up running to the thermostat to turn it down even lower.

Also, short cycling isn’t the most efficient way to run your air conditioner. Think of the impact on your gas milage when you drive your car in stop-and-go traffic versus cruising along on the highway. For maximum efficiency, you want your A/C to cruise, not crawl. It can also be noisy. Many homeowners find it irritating it is to hear their system constantly turning on and off.

So, should you run your A/C at the same temperature, all summer long?

We recommend the “cruise control” option. Run your A/C when you need it, and let your programmable thermostat handle it when you don’t. Ultimately, you will save energy—and money—by running your system fewer hours per year.

Image credit: Jeremy Levine/Flickr. CC license.

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Zoned Out: 4 Reasons Why Most HVAC Systems Will Never Make Your Home Comfortable

More than 60 million U.S. single-family homeowners use central air conditioning, and more than 70 million single-family homeowners heat their homes during the winter. The trouble is, the vast majority of these systems will never make your home comfortable.

Why’s that? Most heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are designed to serve different areas or “zones” in your home, but for the majority of installations, there’s only one zone. That means that your whole home is treated the same, from your basement to your attic.

If that doesn’t sound crazy to you, here are four more reasons why most single-zone systems won’t keep you comfortable:

1. Single zone systems only care about the room your thermostat’s in.

Ever wonder why when you set the A/C to 68 degrees it feels great in the living room but it’s still way too hot in the kitchen? That’s probably because your thermostat’s in the living room. Single zone systems use the temperature reading on your thermostat to adjust your A/C, and that’s bound to create large temperature differences between rooms. What if your thermostat is hidden away in a hallway somewhere? Well, that’s going to be one comfortable hallway. Everywhere else, you’re out of luck.

2. They can’t adjust to changing conditions.

Let’s say 68 degrees is the perfect setting in the morning, but by the afternoon, you’re roasting. Or every time you host a party, you find yourself running to the thermostat. That’s because your single-zone system can’t dynamically adjust to changes in the time of day, number of people in a room, or seasons. It just keeps pushing air.

3. They heat and cool rooms that aren’t being used.

When your family’s visiting, you might expect to heat and cool your whole home. But when they leave, that’s a lot of extra energy (and money) wasted on conditioning empty rooms. Too bad. To your single-zone HVAC system, every room’s the same.

4. Once they’re installed, they’re hard to fix.

How often do you plan to replace your HVAC system? You’ve probably never even considered that question. In most homes, the system you’ve got is the one you’ll have until it breaks. And if your system was poorly installed in the first place (and we’ve seen some real horror shows), it’s difficult to adjust it.

HVAC systems are hard to get right, but we’re trying to make the whole process easier. ecovent can turn your single-zoned system into a multi-zoned home in a single afternoon. It lets you control the temperature in each room of your home, adapts to changing conditions, and can save you money by only heating and cooling the rooms you use.

If that sounds good to you, sign up to find out when you can bring your zoned out HVAC system back to reality.

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