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There’s nothing worse than being uncomfortable in your own home. In a two story home, getting the temperature just right throughout your house can be a challenge, but it’s achievable. Regulating heat in a two story home is important for keeping your home comfortable, the occupants happy, and your energy bills manageable.
Understanding Indoor Climate Control and Air Movement in a 2 Story Home
Getting the temperature consistently comfortable throughout the house relies a lot on how the air in your home is distributed and mixed. Some common issues can be easy to fix while providing immediate improvements.
First Thing’s First: Check for Possible System Issues
Sometimes getting your system running more efficiently can be a quick fix. Checking your soffits, vents, and for any leaks, should be the first items you check.
Verify Soffit Vents Under Eaves Are Not Blocked
Soffit vents allow airflow into your attic. When these become blocked, air cannot properly flow through the attic which can lead to issues from condensation and other issues with temperature. Protect your home and keep the soffits clear.
Verify Indoor Vents Are Not Blocked
Check indoor return and supply vents. These pull and push the air in your home around your home and through the furnace. Make sure they are not covered up by furniture, drapes, or anything else. If anything is blocking these vents, air will not be able to move properly through your home’s HVAC system.
Check Air Ducts for Leakage
Air ducts in poor shape can leak 30% of their conditioned air which is the same as throwing money away. Make sure that any leaks in ductwork are repaired so that the conditioned air stays where it is supposed to, in your home.
Check Attic to Ensure Proper Insulation
Proper airflow in an attic is critical, and proper insulation is important too. If your ceiling joists are visible, you need to add more insulation. Properly insulating your attic prevents heat in your home from escaping into the cold attic air.
Best Options for Regulating Heat in a 2 Story House
Hot air rises and cold air sinks. This simple fact makes regulating heat in a two story house incredibly difficult. Many people who have lived in a two story house may be all too familiar with a freezing cold bottom floor during the summer and a scorching hot second floor in the winter. Luckily, you have options to keep both levels of your home comfortable all year round.
Offset Temperatures
Using offset temperatures is a great way to keep a home comfortable in the winter or summer. If one HVAC system controls the bottom floor and another controls the top floor, each should have their own thermostat. Since cold air sinks and hot air rises, in the summer you should set the bottom floor’s thermostat about 2°F higher than the thermostat upstairs. The cold air from upstairs will help keep the downstairs more comfortable and reduce wear on the equipment.
The same offset temperatures can be used in the winter too. For winter heating, set the thermostat downstairs 2°F degrees warmer than the thermostat upstairs. As heat rises from the first floor, it will help keep the second floor comfortable too without wasting energy.
Zoned Heating and Cooling System
Zoned systems help solve many of the issues with heat regulation in a two story home. Zoned systems use electrically actuated dampers in the ductwork to redirect hot or cold air where it is needed. With a zoned system, different rooms, bedrooms, or floors of a home can be zoned to have different temperatures. These systems let the HVAC do all of the hard work. All you have to do is set the temperature you want in each room and let the system do the rest.
Benefits of a Zoned HVAC System in a 2 Story House
In a two story home, zoned HVAC systems keep the entire home comfortable, regardless of the weather outside.
Custom Comfort
Being uncomfortable in your home is never a good thing. Zoned systems allow different rooms to have different temperatures throughout the year or even throughout the day. Some rooms get a great deal of sun during the summer and need more cooling than they do in the spring. With a zoned system, you do not have to do anything special since the dampers will make the adjustment for you.
Greater Control
Zoned systems, especially with programmable thermostats, put all the control in your hands. If rooms are not actively used, raise or lower the temperature setpoint in just those rooms to reduce your energy usage. Allowing only the rooms that need to be heated or cooled gives you control of your home’s comfort and energy bill too.
Energy Efficiency/Lower Electricity Bills
The majority of occupants in a home spend most of their time in certain rooms. Bedrooms, for example, are often empty during the day and maybe the upstairs does not get used much in the winter. With a zoned system you can take advantage of your home’s usage and tailor the heating and cooling to match. Since you are no longer heating and cooling rooms that do not really need it, your total energy bill will go down.
Take Zoned HVAC System to the Next Level with Radiant Floor Heating
Not much beats a zoned HVAC system, but a radiant floor heating system is one of the features that does. By distributing heat in a completely different way, radiant floor heating systems deliver a truly next level form of heating to your home.
Radiant Heat vs. Forced Air
Forced air heating works by running air through a furnace or electric heater to increase the air temperature. The hot air is then distributed throughout your home to whichever rooms need heat.
A radiant heating system works completely differently. Radiant heating is how the Sun warms the Earth. Radiant heating systems increase the temperature of a material, like a stone, tile, or other type of flooring, and then radiate that heat to people in the room.
Benefits of Radiant Floor Heating
Heating air is usually not the best way to keep a home warm. We want people to be warm and comfortable, not necessarily the air. Radiant floor heating systems allow people to lower the air temperature in their house because of how well the floor warms them. Radiant floor heaters warm a person from all around, wrapping them in a blanket of warmth. It changes the entire feel of a room.
6iE Smart Thermostat
The true pinnacle of heating comfort and efficiency in a two story home is a zoned HVAC system and underfloor radiant heating system with programmable thermostats for each. The 6iE Smart Thermostat is just what you need to maximize your radiant floor heater’s comfortability and efficiency. No more waking up to cold floors once you use your 6iE Smart Thermostat to program your floor’s heating system.
Regulate Heat in a 2 Story Home with Radiant Floor Heating from Warmup
Whether comfort or energy efficiency is your motivation, get both when you add a radiant floor heating system to your two story home. Warmup has been making homes more comfortable for more than 25 years.
Want to know more about how Warmup can help regulate the heat in your two story home? Reach out to their experts today and learn how Warmup can make a difference.