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Hi, I'm in contract to buy a new construction home. It's a 4 bed, with both a finished attic and finished basement (the attic was an option which we decided to go with). The builder spec provides for two HVAC zones, one would control the first floor and basement, the second would control the second floor and attic.
We have the option of being able to have 'electronic dampener' installed. We can choose to have one or two installed, each one will give us an extra zone. i.e. if we get both, we'll have distinct zones for basement, first, second, attic.
The price is pretty steep, so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it or not. I gather that they basically intersect the HVAC pipe and allow independent control of the air flowing into the zone.
Does anyone have experience of using them? Are they effective? Our builder has said he thinks it would be most useful for the attic, but he's not really pushing us either way, but he needs to know soon. Any advice if they are worth it?
Well, first of all they're "dampers" not "dampeners" unless you're trying to increase humidity.
Second, using complicated control systems and dampers in the ducts is a low cost way to try (probably usually unsuccessfully) to do what is done effectively and reliably with two systems.
I think zoning basement to 1st floor is unwise and I think zoning 2nd floor to attic is also unwise.
If this is a large house I'd probably have one central system for the 1st floor, a second central system for the 2nd floor, a split system for the basement and a window unit for AC in the attic (probably little if any heat needed up there). Could certainly be modified based on your climate (you haven't told us where) or house design. But trying to make one compressor unit and one evaporator serve the four different areas purely by diverting air flow differently strikes me as sacrificing quite a lot of performance for the dubious economy of having only one instead of two compressors and evaporators.
Hi, I'm in contract to buy a new construction home. It's a 4 bed, with both a finished attic and finished basement (the attic was an option which we decided to go with). The builder spec provides for two HVAC zones, one would control the first floor and basement, the second would control the second floor and attic.
We have the option of being able to have 'electronic dampener' installed. We can choose to have one or two installed, each one will give us an extra zone. i.e. if we get both, we'll have distinct zones for basement, first, second, attic.
The price is pretty steep, so I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it or not. I gather that they basically intersect the HVAC pipe and allow independent control of the air flowing into the zone.
Does anyone have experience of using them? Are they effective? Our builder has said he thinks it would be most useful for the attic, but he's not really pushing us either way, but he needs to know soon. Any advice if they are worth it?
With two systems in the configuration you describe- you don't need to "zone" the systems. As previously mentioned- if you had ONE system to heat and cool all four levels, then you would definitely need a zone system. Also, your geographic region can also play an important roll in your choice of systems and accessories.
Well, first of all they're "dampers" not "dampeners" unless you're trying to increase humidity.
Second, using complicated control systems and dampers in the ducts is a low cost way to try (probably usually unsuccessfully) to do what is done effectively and reliably with two systems.
I think zoning basement to 1st floor is unwise and I think zoning 2nd floor to attic is also unwise.
If this is a large house I'd probably have one central system for the 1st floor, a second central system for the 2nd floor, a split system for the basement and a window unit for AC in the attic (probably little if any heat needed up there). Could certainly be modified based on your climate (you haven't told us where) or house design. But trying to make one compressor unit and one evaporator serve the four different areas purely by diverting air flow differently strikes me as sacrificing quite a lot of performance for the dubious economy of having only one instead of two compressors and evaporators.
I think we do have two systems. One for basement/first, and another for second/attic. The question is do we want the ability to independently control each floor, and if we do that, the damper effectively splits each system into two zones. I could be wrong on that, I'll find out, but I'm pretty sure it's two systems.
We're in NJ, so very cold in the winter, horribly humid in the summer!
If you're not routinely using the finished basement in the winter, then the damper would allow to set it independently so you're not heating all winter just because you have the heat turned up on the first floor.
So you'd have a bit of efficiency (savings on bills, and also faster results because the system is conditioning less total space), but tough to say this justifies the price tag.
I think we do have two systems. One for basement/first, and another for second/attic. The question is do we want the ability to independently control each floor, and if we do that, the damper effectively splits each system into two zones. I could be wrong on that, I'll find out, but I'm pretty sure it's two systems.
We're in NJ, so very cold in the winter, horribly humid in the summer!
“Splitting” a system that is designed to cover TWO floors would surely tax the system as it’s designed. In other words, if one system is designed to have 8–10 registers, 3 returns, and runs at peak performance, why would you cut that supply in half? You can only push just so-much air through a specific line/register. Trying to squeeze more air through half the system can have a detrimental effect on the system.
You don’t need dampers for this house as you described the layout.
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