Addressing Uneven Heating and Cooling

There are many reasons your HVAC system may not be heating and cooling your home evenly. If you’re suffering from too little heating or cooling in certain areas of your home, taking steps to address the issue will improve comfort and reduce the strain on your furnace or air conditioner. While some of these solutions can be implemented on your own, your Columbus-area HVAC expert can also offer more advanced solutions for whole-home comfort.

Check Your Vents

Vents play an essential role in the amount of heating and cooling received throughout your home. You can easily control the amount of warm or cool air that enters a room by adjusting the vents. If certain areas of your home aren’t receiving enough air, check that the vents are open and clear for at least three feet in all directions. Furniture or even curtains could be blocking your vents and affecting the amount of airflow into certain rooms. If you want less heating or cooling in a given room, close the vent partway—this will allow some airflow while helping to redirect the majority of heated and cooled air to other areas in your home. Dirty air vents can also restrict airflow; removing the vent covers and cleaning out the vent with the hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner can also improve airflow.

Repair Your Ducts

In order to reach your vents, air is pushed from your furnace or air conditioner through ductwork behind the walls, floors, and ceilings of your home. Dirty or damaged ducts can thus affect airflow through your home by blocking air or leaking air through cracks and holes. If you are able to see portions of your ducts, such as in a basement, crawlspace, or attic, check for areas that are damaged, poorly-insulated, or kinked. You can call your professional HVAC company to inspect, clean, and repair your ducts if they need attention. In most cases, leaky ducts are more detrimental to airflow throughout your home than dirty ducts.

Upgrade Your HVAC System

When uneven heating and cooling is not caused by your vents or ducts, the most likely culprit is your furnace or air conditioner. If your HVAC system is reaching the end of its lifetime, it won’t be able to produce enough warmed or cooled air to keep your entire home comfortable. Alternatively, a furnace or air conditioner that is too small doesn’t possess the heating or cooling capacity to address your entire home. Your HVAC service can inspect your furnace and air conditioner to tell you whether your problem is caused by an improperly-sized or aging system. You can also upgrade your HVAC system by adding zoning, which breaks your home into smaller areas for heating and cooling, each controlled by an individual thermostat. Zoning can be used to create two or more heating and cooling zones to provide you with finer control over the temperature in any given area of your home.

Uneven heating and cooling may be a common problem, but your Columbus HVAC service has the right solution to help you enjoy greater comfort regardless of the weather. Visit our website to find out more about our heating and cooling solutions, or read through the articles in our blog to stay abreast of the latest HVAC news and information.