Balancing the Airflow in Your Tampa Bay Home
If you’ve been having problems with uncomfortable differences in the temperatures between different rooms in your home this summer, you may be able to improve the situation by balancing AC airflow. Balancing airflow is simple enough for any homeowner to do, but it may take some trial and error before you get the airflow to match up to each room’s cooling load and achieve even temperatures throughout your home.
Start the AC airflow balancing process by adjusting your thermostat to keep the air conditioner running and open all vents and doors. After you’ve given the home a chance to cool a bit, but before the air conditioner stops running, walk through the home and take note of any temperature differences that exist. In areas that are cooler, you’ll want to decrease the cooling by partially closing the vents. Be careful not to start with too big of an adjustment—little changes can have a big effect on airflow, especially as the vent gets closer to being fully closed.
Decreasing vent openings not only means less cooling will be entering that area, it also means more cooling will be provided to other areas. This means you can save energy when you lighten the load on your air conditioner by partially closing vents in areas of the home you don’t use. It also means you will need to walk through your home again after partially closing vents in some areas to see the effect the increased cooling is having in other areas.
When the heating season comes around, you’ll likely need to re-balance the AC airflow since heating loads are usually different. During the heating season you may be able to completely close vents in areas of the home you don’t use, but this needs to be avoided in the cooling season due to the possibility that it will cause the air conditioner to freeze up.
If you want to know more about balancing airflow or other home comfort issues, you can visit our website or contact us at Gulf Coast Air Systems, Inc. Our technicians are NATE-certified and ready to perform emergency repairs 24/7. We serve the Tampa Bay area.
