What is a dual zone heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
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In this video I clarify the difference between a dual zone heating and air conditioning system, and an electronic zone system when you have just one furnace and condenser with multiple thermostats.
Great video. Explained perfectly giving all the information you need to know without taking 2 hours to do so. This is my go to video I refer my customers to. All the others tend to over explain and scare off customers. Great content brother.
Thanks for the compliment Blake, I appreciate it bud! 🤝
Thanks very much I learned something’s today which is contrary to what our ac repair guy been saying. Your more creditable in my opinion.
Thanks Dennis I appreciate the compliment!
Thanks for posting this. Great info and explanation. I live just outside of Houston. We don’t have basements here. Winter temps are usually warmer in the day and down to 30s at night. We have a zone downstairs and one up. I now think I know why it’s hot upstairs. Thank you!!
Great video - looking into getting a home where basement and upstairs can control their own temp - they called it a single furnace dual-zone but definitely an electronic system
I did just that. It was new system retrofit for a 2 story home. Went from just the upstairs being heated with one old furnace to a Single Dual Stage furnace with 2 zones. One zone for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. No AC, just heat since i live on the Southern West Coast. Works awesome!
Thanks for the great video! I was wondering how in my old house we only had one unit outside and my wife had heat on upstairs and I had the AC on the first floor! It was definitely an electronic system! Thanks again!
My pleasure thank you for the nice comment Sergio!
Very informative, better than some of the other videos
Thank you!
Great information and video. Now I get it! Thank you and thanks for explaining it thoroughly. 👍🏻👍🏻
Jennifer M My pleasure thank you for the compliment!
Thanks I believe 1 my closers isn't working cause air keeps coming out upstairs when downstairs is on. This confirmed how it worked for me and how I thought it worked
Yeah, and that’s a very common thing I see are the closures or dampers are not working or working correctly and distributing the air correctly.
You made that very clear. Thank you!
Great video. I always wondered how it works
You explained this very well.
Thank you!
Perfect content. Thank you for the information...very helpful...keep it up!
Thanks Miguel!
Great video
Thank you!
@@BJPoznecki 😁
@@BJPozneckimy elderly mother in law has a brand new system that has been having problems. HVAC companies have come out 4 times, charged her, and not fixed the problem. This video really helped me get a handle on how the system works and I think we know what needs to be done to fix it now. Thank you so much!!!
@@Andrew-Paulo My pleasure, happy to help!
Good information, thank you
You got it Tony D!!
Great info in your video thank you very much
Hello, so I have a Dual Stage Heat pump with this zone board. Its system is all new. For some reason my installers cannot get the wiring right. But anyway, they had it set up to when heat comes on the zone board is on heat 1. This is for the downstairs. I do not use the upstairs at all. So when zone 1 down stairs turns on, heat 1 light comes on. Then after 15 mins exactly, heat 2 light comes on an the air handler blows much faster. If my nest stat does not reach its temp in another 15 mins on heat 2, then the light for heat 3 comes on. and I think... thats when the heat coils./strips are turned on or at least some of them. The vent temps are 110* at heat 3. Then when my system goes into Defrost mode and blast the house with 40 degree vent temps for 10 -12 mins, bring the temp of house way down. So they had to come back out and re wire it again. Now. Heat 1 light comes on and tends to run for about 20 -25 mins. Ive only seen heat 2 light come in with the 2nd stage kicks. I have asked but they do not seem to have a clear answer, what does heat 1, 2 and 3 lights actually indicate when they are on? They tested and forced- defrost mode and wired it to wear some of the heat strips come on to supplement during defrost mode. Thanks
If you have one unit outside & thermostat on 1st & 2nd flow. Zone 2 is red and not blowing. Zone 1 is green and blowing hot
Hi Amber- I’m sorry I don’t know. You would have to Google the exact system you have and try to find a troubleshooting manual, or call your local heating and air-conditioning contractor.
I know what a dual zone HVAC is, but you confused it so much - First, who's going to crawl up in the attic to see the 'lights' on the control panel? Nobody. All people care about is "Am I comfortable both up and downstairs?" If not, they call their friendly AC guy, that drains your pockets dry. Have been dealing with a dual zone system that just isn't right. One compressor and condenser outside, furnace and air handler in the attic with a thermostat downstair, and the other upstairs. It's a 4 ton Carrier new home install. The AC is so humid, mold is on the walls downstairs. 3 different HVAC guys have been here at the tune of over $1,000 each call. My primary HVAC guys doesn't typically do repairs or work around. He says, DUMP the dual zone (they are all a pain in the ass) and put in 2 ton down and 1 1/2 ton upstairs- problem solved.
Awesome thanks
The heat light was red. How did you fix that
Excellent Video Sir. I have a 2 zone (electronic). I want to upgrade to wifi thermostats. I'm assuming you need specialized thermostats with this setup? Any recommendations? I have a honeywell system.
Thank you!
Nope, you don’t need a special thermostat. Whatever brand you decide to go with nest, ecobee, etc. that connect to the Wi-Fi will work, you just need to identify the location of each thermostat on the app.
But do you need to have two thermostats? A Nest is capable of multi zone and you can connect sensors to multiple rooms.@@BJPoznecki
@@Laidlaw444 I’m not 100% sure with the nest and the multiple sensors, but I think you do need to have individual thermostats hardwired to the furnace and the control panel.
Hey BJ Great Video. I am just learning things. I bought a home two years before and now my first floor not heating and when i switch on first floor heat using thermostat my second floor getting heated. I dont want to bring morris-jenkins as they charge unncessarily. any inputs may help me
It sounds like there’s an issue with the control board or they wired it incorrectly. In a situation like this, you’ll need to get an HVAC technician to look at it.
hi, I enjoyed your video it was enlightening. I didn't walk through of our new home in framing status and was told we had a dual system. there's only one condenser compressor but two thermostats. so after viewing a video I believe it's an electronic system. Can you tell me which one is better in your expert opinion? There's nothing I can do with this point is all the duct work is in. I look forward to your response. Thanks!
Well it depends on the application. If you have a large home then it’s more efficient to have two separate systems, a true dual zone system.
If it’s your average size house that only needs one system it’s nice to have the electronic zone where you can direct airflow to that area by having multiple thermostats.
@@BJPoznecki Thanks. We are in Phoenix and the home is 2300 sf. The second thermostat is in the master suite, so at bed time we can kick the rest of the home up to say, 80, and the bedroom at 74. This is a programmable system, so I assume I can have the rest of the house kick down at a certain time when we are up for the day!
@@spongiejensen178
My pleasure!
Yeah for that size house one system with electronic zones is perfect!
what about shared heating and cooling in an apartment! some think that there cooling the hallway but it's both sides of the building
Well, it’s hard to see how the building is set up because I inspect a lot of condo and apartment buildings and I’ve seen a lot of different HVAC systems. If one side is cooling and the other is not, it sounds like there may be a problem with the electronic damper that directs the airflow to different areas of the building as needed.
@@BJPoznecki it's because they don't have a furnace along side with the hot water tank in the utility closest, I used to manage his apartments and I would have to store supplies under the stairs, most tenants never figure out why the builder put a vent on each floor & if they did I'd tell them it's a universal heating and cooling system but lately some tenants have figured it out & have been shutting off the vent in the hallway causing my system too over work and not cooling properly she was told she can't do that after I removed duct tape first then she put cardboard over the vent to the hallway finally she gave up and my unit and the hallway was comfortable but a few days later it got hot in my unit and the 3rd floor which is going to be hot anyway so I figured she has closed off a couple of vent's in her apartment and her her cat's dog and husband are staying in the bedroom and unfortunately that won't work and she thinks she's screwing over the landlord but he could care less! But he forbid me from telling any tenants who asked, sadly comed gives the owner certain amount of time too fix the wiring but the fix would be to put central air and heating in and I know he's not going to have duct work done ect. If he put a window unit in the bottom and the 3rd floor that would correct the hallway cooling and the heating is not really a issue
Thank you, i just installed a T9 thermostat. The AC doesnt seem to be working as well as it used to. Would both thermostats be wired the same? TY
You know, I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask heating and air conditioning technician.
@@BJPoznecki TY
I'm in a 2 story house with asyou described an electronic zone system that has a thermostat on both floors. when the thermostat is cooling upstairs, it also cools downstairs. Any thoughts? suggestions?
obtw, yes, the thermostat on the 1st floor is off except for auto fan.
@@samuelhoepner Yeah something’s not wired correctly or the electronic damper is not working correctly. You’ll need to call an HVAC contractor.
@BJPoznecki thanks for the reply, I said something to the installer and they said it's from the fan, and that it was normal
@@samuelhoepner That doesn’t sound right. When the damper for the first floor closes because you’re using the second floor there should be a little to no airflow out of the vents on the first floor and basement.
@@BJPoznecki thanks for the info, I'm gonna press the issue forward
Good video. I found it searching for why my damper on the 3rd floor wouldn’t open when the thermostat there kicked on - it shares a compressor for the 2nd floor. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Thank you for the compliment! I’m not a heating and air conditioning expert, however it sounds like there may be an issue with the dampner or the wiring. I would have a heating and air-conditioning contractor come in and take a look at it because if that damper is not opening, especially in the summer when the air conditioning is on, it’s going to get pretty toasty up on that third floor.
@@BJPoznecki thanks for the response and advise!
If you have ac on for both floors, would the the zone 1 and 2 lights be red or would one be red and one be green depending on which floor was turned on first?
It doesn’t matter which one is turned on first. The green light means the zone is on and the damper is open. Red means the zone is off/closed.
I ask because my light dont coincide with the zone thats on or off. If I turn zone one off the zone 1 light turns red. If I turn zone two off, zone 1 light still turns red. I’m thinking it was installed wrong.
@@aleqbey8675 Yeah, I agree with you. I would call the HVAC contractor that installed it to come back and look at it.
My zone 1 is red but the damper for it is open. Cooling it set for just zone 2 and it is green with its damper open. Does this mean the zone 1 damper is broken? Could it be the DAT sensor?
I’m sorry, I don’t know, you’ll have to reach out to an HVAC technician on that one.
Thank you for the great explanation. If I have the upper zone on and the lower zone off, should there be any airflow in the lower zone?
It’s possible you may experience a little bit of airflow depending on your systems design.
However, I have seen many situations where the HVAC contractor accidentally connected a supply duct on the wrong trunk line that is from a different zone.
Depending on your house if the ductwork is in an unfinished basement or in an attic space this problem is usually easy to correct by connecting that supply to the correct zone.
Thank you for the quick reply. I also have an oscillating airflow which is not smooth but increases and decreases every few seconds. Is this normal or is there a problem?
@@tommylee8909 My pleasure Tommy!
Sorry, that one I don’t know.
@@BJPoznecki The airflow rate is not consistent coming out of the vent. The airflow increases a little then decreases a little then increases a little and continues this way. Would this be abnormal?
@@tommylee8909 It’s possible your system may have a weighted damper that helps balance the air pressure when one of the zones are not being used.
So how do we troubleshoot a damper. Upstairs Isn’t turning on but downstairs is working.
I’m sorry that I don’t know. You might be able to find something on UA-cam, otherwise I would contact your local heating and air conditioning contractor.
How do you know when the unit is using Emergency Heat?
Emergency heat is only for heating and air-conditioning systems that work off of a heat pump. If you have a furnace like in this video, it doesn’t apply, you don’t have emergency heat.
Heat pumps are energy-efficient alternatives to standard gas furnaces. They work by using electricity to extract heat from the air outside and move it into your home. This works great down to a specific outdoor temperature, but when it gets severely cold outside heat pumps begin to lose their efficiency and effectiveness. That’s when a backup heating source is used to heat your home until the temperature warms back up.
The backup heating source in heat pumps can come in a few different forms. Some heat pumps use electric resistance heating as their backup, which can quickly consume a whole lot of energy. More energy-efficient systems, known as hybrid heating systems, use a much more efficient gas furnace as their backup heating source.
No matter what kind of heat pump you have, the switch between using the heat pump and using the backup heating source is done completely automatically by the system.
@BJPoznecki thanks for this, really helpful.
So my thermostat should tell me if I am using em heat? I have a McCool system
@@perryfrancis8733 I believe so. However, you’d have to do a Google search on your specific brand. I don’t know much about heat pumps because we don’t have them here in the Midwest we have furnaces.
I have the Honeywell hz322 electric zone, I have two nests one downstairs one upstairs. Im constantly heating the downstairs up to 69f and then the upstairs heats up to 80f. I have the upstairs thermostat to keep the temperature around 72. So I’m constantly heating downstairs which never seems to actually warm up and heating upstairs, then having to cool down the upstairs. What can I do to balance this out better.
This one is a little more complex so I would contact your local heating and air conditioning contractor to look at it.
It could be a number of things the zone dampers not working properly, the zone control panel, possibly a supply duct on the wrong trunk line, etc.
Hi there we have a thermostat in the main level that's supposed to control the main and second floor. We have a thermostat in the basement that supposed to control the basement. We have a dual zone. When we turn the heat on in the basement, we can feel the heat from a register in our second floor bedroom even if we have the heat turned off on the main floor thermostat. Is that supposed to happen? Isn't it only supposed to blow heat into the basement?
Shouldn't it not blow any heat to the second floor?
@@infernowafer121 You are correct! The HVAC contractor when installing the ductwork must have accidentally put that bedroom supply on the wrong zone / main trunk line.
You’ll will need to contact an HVAC contractor preferably the one that did the installation and have them come back and correct that bedroom supply duct.
@@BJPoznecki is that a big job? We just moved into a newly built house. This should be covered I'm assuming? Usually?
@@infernowafer121 If the basement is still unfinished or if they put in an acoustical drop ceiling then it’s an easy job.
However, if you have a finished basement with drywall it will be more involved.
Typically most states require builders and contractors to offer a one year warranty on workmanship and defects.
Either way go back to the builder and have them correct it as it was never installed properly from day one.
Thanks for clarifying, I have HZ311 board with 2 zones and was always curious what happened if upstairs and downstairs had heat and AC on simultaneously, was never sure what t-stat took priority. Also, my board doesn’t have the sensor DATS terminals hooked up, what does that do and is it needed?
Thank you!
My apologies I don’t know what the DATS terminal does. It may not be needed depending on the system that you have. I would ask the HVAC contractor that installed your system I think they would know.
@@BJPoznecki I guess it is for hooking up a Discharge Air Temperature Sensor? This is the system that came with house recently purchased.
@@jhamm15 Thank you.
I just read a couple articles and don’t fully understand it, so I’ll have to talk to my HVAC guy for a deeper explanation.
With that being said I don’t want to accidentally mid-guide you if it’s needed or not, so the best advice I could give you is to ask your local HVAC contractor.
Sorry I wasn’t very helpful on this one, I just don’t want to give you incorrect information.
@@BJPoznecki haha, fair enough! Lemme know what they say about it! 😀
, My heater stopped working at my house and I see my Honeywell HZ322 device , all 3 zone has orange blinking light in the attic. What does this mean? Can you please advise
The only thing I can recommend is to try turning the furnace off at the service switch or circuit breaker for a couple minutes and see if everything resets and works.
If that doesn’t work you’ll have to call your local HVAC Contractor.
My zone are flashing orange. What does that mean? I took out my nest thermostats and replaced them with ace thermostats now the heat doesn’t work
Hi Jasmyne- I think a flashing orange light is some type of error code. At this point I would call your local heating and air conditioning contractor to come out and see what’s going on.
I have a HZ322 system. One thermostat downstairs and one upstairs in the bonus room. Recently the bonus room wont cool down. I turn it on to cool and i get no air to blow out. Downstairs works just fine. Cant figure out whats wrong with it for the life of me
I’m sorry I don’t know enough about the system to help guide you what the issue would be. I would reach out to your local heating and air-conditioning contractor to have them come in and help.
@@BJPoznecki ok thanks. Im assuming something is wrong with damper and its not pushing air out
@@SAVAGEoLIFE Yeah, hopefully it’s just something minor. You’ll have to process of eliminate what it could be, is it the damper, something with the control panel, etc.
He's kind of hot 😳