How to Install Room-By-Room Zoning in an HVAC System | Ask This Old House



Ask This Old House plumbing expert Richard Trethewey learns about an HVAC system that allows each room to be zoned out using smartphone technology.

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41 thoughts on “How to Install Room-By-Room Zoning in an HVAC System | Ask This Old House”

  1. Seems cool if all hvac units were actually properly sized 98% of old and new construction aren't, with supply and return ducts, also static pressure would be through the roof overheating issues and icing up coils, pressure switches tripped. But really honestly a good idea just alot of hack jobs out there.

  2. This concept was debunked. This won't work with a conventional single stage furnace blower motor. By closing the vent registers your essentially changing the air balance of the system and causing back pressure on the supply side on the HVAC system. With high enough pressure the ducting can fail structurally.

  3. 1) idk if most homes come with an ECM motor (probably not) so what if one room needs air and the rest are satisfied? Then you’re pushing the same fan speed, over pressurizing your system, and using way more energy than needed (causing this to be a counter productive system)
    2) who calibrates your flow stations? These are essentially useless unless they can guarantee +/- 10% accuracy.
    3) a very similar product currently exists in the commercial world. They have basically gone extinct because they are GARBAGE
    4) how is a home owner gonna know if your damper fails? (Unless your system sends an alarm to the app) No home owner wants to run point to point on every register periodically

    This product is fancy, expensive, and way too much of a hassle in the long run

  4. Love the idea and the ingenuity. However, this seems like a bandaid. If you have drafty areas of the home or areas that are colder and hotter, your house isn’t performing properly. I feel like if you fix the root of the problem, there is no upkeep to that (replacing batteries, etc.), no daily monitoring on an app, and your home would be much more energy efficient.

  5. Just a scam! The master room is 72 at my house, but my son's room is 79. This device did not solve my problem. In my case, it is obvious that the air ducts are huge in my room and smaller in my son's. This device may work if you have almost same room temp in your house but only if your window faces westside.

  6. I did a couple of hours of research into HVAC because my HVAC isn't working well, and concluded that a product like this probably can work but there are certainly some technical issues that might make it not work well for some people. One of the biggest negatives for me is that they aren't fairly upfront with the fact that they have a monthly fee you pay them for their "cloud services" (and I couldn't even find the price of these services.) And they don't mention why you need their cloud services. What possible valid reason could there be for them to need to communicate with my HVAC system? Maybe there is a legit reason, but it strikes me as dishonesty at best, and a money grab at worst. This company may have a nice product, which could help many people, but the lack of explanations to these questions scares me off. Why can't a company with a great product also have great honesty and openness?

  7. it sounds like the engineer forgot one thing, most people are saying they need a bypass and that is correct for a non variable Hvac. In order to do it without the bypass you need a designed hvac for variable speeds to not over-pressure the flow. You need a max capacity btu but a variable fan speed. There will still be disadvantages, cost is one of them. size of the evaporator is another. A bypass could also be a good thing if they integrate a water heater into the loop instead of being a separate unit. I don't think current systems will not manage unless major deterioration happens. Plus modifying a hvac system vs designing one from the ground up will be better.

  8. After reading all of the comments from the so-called experts on HVAC I have just one question. If closing the supply vents will destroy the blower motor hit the limits in the furnace/ac unit etc., etc, why do I have manual controls on the all the vents in my home that allow me to do that very thing. With the room zoning controls, I can now centrally control programmatically via wi-fi what I was able to control manually.

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