Hot and cold spots can make your home uncomfortable in the summer and winter, causing your energy bills to rise and damaging your property. Hot spots in the summer can increase the humidity in your home, corroding the sensitive electronics in your TVs and computers. Cold spots in the winter can cause condensation and frost. They can disfigure some surfaces by causing excessive expansion and contraction with the shifts in temperature.
Without professional attention, hot and cold spots can eventually lead to discolored, cracked walls and ceilings, reducing the value and attractiveness of your home. It’s important to address this issue as soon as possible.
The Risks of Hot and Cold Spots
When it comes to caring for your home and keeping it in excellent condition, your HVAC system plays an important role. Hot and cold spots can make it difficult to get a good night’s rest or to spend time with your family on the weekends.
When hot and cold spots become severe, they can impact your finances by drawing excessive power from the grid. During cold snaps and heat waves, when energy prices can surge, this excessive power draw can become costly. Not only will you and the members of your household feel uncomfortable, but in a worst-case scenario, you could be contributing to rolling blackouts in your area. With a well-maintained, efficient HVAC system and proper zoning, you could stay comfortable and safe during extreme weather events.
What Causes Uneven Heating and Cooling?
There are many possible causes of hot and cold spots in the home. Very uneven heating and cooling often has multiple causes. From poor insulation of ducts and attics to a lack of temperature zoning, the causes of uneven heating and cooling can become compounded over time. Addressing these issues often requires a thorough inspection of your HVAC system and home insulation.
The problem may be as simple as an undersized air conditioning unit or as challenging as a combination of factors. Uneven heating and cooling can make it impossible to relax in your home, leading to increased frustration and stress. When the members of your household can’t agree on whether it’s too hot or cold, the situation can become even more urgent.
Improper Insulation
Duct and attic insulation play two of the largest roles in regulating the temperature in your home. Unfortunately, they can deteriorate over time, causing uneven heating and cooling throughout your house.
Hot air in your attic is one of the top causes of inadequate cooling in the summer, and warm air escaping through holes in attic insulation is one of the main causes of indoor cold spots in the winter. With a professional inspection of your duct and attic insulation, you could eliminate many of the costly problems keeping the air in your home uncomfortable.
When the insulation in your ducts wears down, it allows conditioned air to leak out into the environment, creating hot and cold spots throughout your house. Catching this problem before it gets out of hand is a great way to reduce your energy bills and improve the heating and cooling in your home.
Undersized Air Conditioning Unit
If your AC unit is too small for your living space, it may be working too hard to cool the whole house. The unit may never produce enough cool air to send to all the rooms in your home. The result could be that some rooms are hot and humid in the summer while others are comfortable.
This problem can make parts of your home unbearable, reducing the value of your property and possibly decreasing its equity. To fix this problem, simply have a qualified professional install a new unit with enough power to cool your home.
Inadequate Zoning
A zoned HVAC system gives you control over how much or how little to condition the air in different rooms. If hot and cold spots are a problem in your home even after you repair the insulation, you could benefit from a zoned HVAC system with temperature controls for the various parts of your house.
At Rosenberg Plumbing & Air we offer heating, cooling, and ductwork services to homeowners in San Antonio and the surrounding areas. Our affordable HVAC services include inspections, maintenance, and repairs for all types of air conditioners and heaters. Our technicians are friendly and professional, and they have years of training and experience in the industry. Call us today to set up a convenient, hassle-free appointment.
Tags: AC Tips, Cold spots