Category: Zoning Systems

Programmable Thermostats: How to Make the Smart Decision

Posted on | by Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical

Investing in a programmable thermostat will quickly pay you back, as the average energy savings you can expect from using these devices approaches 10 percent. By selecting a model with “smart” capabilities, you can lock in the highest savings possible while providing the ultimate in convenience.

Programming options

Standard and smart programmable thermostats generally allow homeowners to set their devices for up to four daily schedules. But weekly scheduling options differ from one model thermostat to another.

You can choose:

  • 7-day programming, with a separate schedule for every day of the week
  • 5-1-1 settings, with one schedule for Monday through Friday, and one schedule for each weekend day
  • 5-2 programming, with one schedule for the weekdays and one for weekends
  • 1-week settings, with programming that extends the entirety of the seven-day week

Programmable thermostat features

You can also select various features for added convenience, including:

  • Touch screen capabilities
  • Backlighting
  • Reminders to change your HVAC air filters and the thermostat’s batteries
  • Vacation override button

Smart capabilities

A standard programmable thermostat will give you all of the features listed above, but a smart device offers an additional perk: web-based access. Remote access to a programmable thermostat can give a homeowner a multitude of options, including the ability to:

  • Change temperature settings from another location using a phone or computer
  • Adjust temperatures remotely when your schedule changes, so that by the time you return home the temperature will be comfortable
  • Change the time period of an existing setting, allowing you to adjust any of the four daily settings
  • Set a 365-day schedule, a feature available on some smart programmable thermostats
  • Lock out manual adjustments, ideal when you don’t want home occupants, like children, to manipulate the thermostat and make changes to the temperature or time settings
  • Receive a text or email when your smart thermostat senses that the home’s temperature is above or below the setting, allowing you to remotely respond
  • Receive alerts when humidity sensors read levels that are too high or too low

Use the power of “smart” programmable thermostat technology, and boost your overall energy savings and convenience. For help, contact Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical — serving the Greater Charlotte area as a local, family-owned company since 1972.

The Ductless Mini Split: An Innovative Solution for a Unique Situation

Posted on | by Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical

A ductless mini split could be the solution to your home’s unique heating and cooling situation. One of its main advantages is that a mini split doesn’t require ductwork to operate, extending installation options beyond where ductwork is located and often minimizing costs, too.

There are several other distinct advantages to using a ductless mini split, including:

  • Flexible installation – You can install as many as four indoor air handlers, which gives you the ability to select four spaces to receive heating and cooling. A separate unit is installed outdoors, and a central conduit connects the indoor and outdoor units. The outdoor unit will need to accommodate drainage, but it can be located up to 50 feet away from the indoor units. To install the air handlers, your technician will need only to drill a small hole to run the conduit, requiring minimal adjustments and construction to your home.
  • Zoned heating and cooling – Each indoor air handler is controlled by its own thermostat, so you can effectively provide zoned heating and cooling to the spaces. With the ability to increase cooling, for instance, to a ductless mini split located in an enclosed porch, you can provide as much cooling as necessary to that space, without also increasing cooling to other spaces in your home—spaces that don’t need more cooling.
  • An efficient system – Heating and cooling systems that rely on forced air through ductwork are susceptible to high energy losses. Because ductless mini splits don’t rely on ductwork, you’ll get a more efficient heating and cooling process.
  • Lower installation costs – Extending and retrofitting ductwork is a costly endeavor, and mini splits bypass that cost. However, to ensure optimal results, you’ll want to hire an expert who’s familiar with mini splits, as their location and size will dictate efficiency and performance.

A ductless mini split is an efficient, flexible solution to your home heating and cooling needs. For more information, contact Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical, serving the Greater Charlotte area as a local, family-owned company since 1972.

Uneven Heating? A Zoning System Can Address That Problem

Posted on | by Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical

It’s common for homes to experience uneven levels of heating and cooling for a variety of reasons, including poor installation of HVAC equipment, or home design elements. But a zoning system can help to improve home comfort, and provide consistent, comprehensive heating throughout the winter, while maximizing energy savings, too.

A factor that contributes to uneven heating is the single thermostat. Most homes have just one thermostat, located generally on the first floor in a central area, and that lone thermostat “reads” the temperature in its immediate vicinity, and then adjusts the heat as necessary. This type of system is extremely limiting, particularly for homes with multiple levels, or homes that have rooms that call for more or less conditioned air than other spaces. For instance, if your home has a large room with high ceilings and huge window expanses, it will require more heat to create a comfortable space.

Zoning systems help to solve these comfort problems. Here’s how they work:

  • First, the home is divided up into zones, depending on heating needs, or how you use the spaces.
  • Next, the contractor will install motorized dampers in the ductwork system in the main conduit that leads to each zone.
  • Finally, a thermostat will be installed in each zone.

Once the system is in place, you will be able to set a specific temperature in each zone, and once that space has reached the desired level, the dampers to that zone will close. In that way, your furnace system doesn’t send heat to a space that doesn’t need it, or to a space that’s not in use.

Energy savings and improved comfort is possible with a zoning system. For HVAC help in the Greater Charlotte area, contact Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical – a local family-owned company since 1972.

How a Zoning System Keeps Everyone Happy and Your Whole Home Comfy

Posted on | by Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical

Zoning systems are a great way to keep everyone in your house comfortable and happy with no arguments about what the temperature is set at. That’s because with zoning, different people choose what different parts of the house get set to.

In your average home’s forced-air system, the ideal temperature is set and controlled by a single thermostat. The advantage that zoning delivers is the use of multiple thermostats with each one controlling a different part of your house. Someone in one zone can change the temperature of the zone they are in without disturbing someone in another part of the house. This means that there is no need for arguments over what the one thermostat should be set to.

This makes for a more efficient method of keeping your home comfortable that can result in saving you money by reducing the amount of energy you use each month. This is because with areas of your home that are less frequently occupied, you can set them to an energy-efficient setting so they don’t receive as much air. This helps you avoid having to pay to keep an empty area comfortable, while also lowering the amount of wear and tear your HVAC system has to go through each day.

Zoning systems are ideal because the idea of trying to maintain one steady temperature through an entire house is unrealistic. There’s already the problem that not everyone will agree on what that temperature should be, but there are other faults in that plan as well. Commonly found constructional features like large glass windows allow heat to transfer in and out and will often create warm or cool patches throughout your house. Zoning eliminates having to worry about these problems.

If you have been trying to create better comfort conditions for everyone in your home, zoning systems may be the solution you are looking for.  Contact Acosta Heating, Cooling & Electrical today to learn more about the benefits of zoning systems, and how our HVAC professionals can perform the simple installation. We have proudly served the Charlotte Metro area since 1972.