When it comes to your air conditioning system, many things come into play that determine how well your home is cooled. One of the factors that have the biggest influence on your home’s comfort levels is whether or not you have balanced airflow. Today we’re going to talk about what it means to have balanced airflow and what you can do to help ensure air flows evenly throughout your home!
What does it mean to have balanced airflow?
Balanced airflow can take on a couple of different meanings. The one that immediately comes to mind for most people is how well air is distributed throughout a home. Everyone has been to a house where one room might be perfectly comfortable while another room, perhaps one floor up, is way too warm. If there are any rooms in your home that are difficult to keep comfortable, or if temperature levels vary significantly in different parts of your home, unbalanced airflow is likely to blame. In a home with balanced airflow, temperature levels are consistent no matter what room you’re in.
Another meaning of balanced airflow is the amount of pressure inside a room. Rooms with balanced airflow have an equal amount of supply and return air. If a room has unbalanced airflow, the pressure inside it can become either too high or too low. This leads to some significant issues, which we’ll cover below.
What kinds of issues come up when airflow is not balanced?
- High pressure in rooms. If a room receives a larger amount of supply air than the amount of return air it pushes out, the pressure in the room will be too high. This can cause the conditioned air to get pushed out of your home through leaks in doors, windows, walls, and ceilings, which is a waste of energy and can make other rooms less comfortable.
- Inconsistent temperatures in your home. As we mentioned above, unbalanced airflow can lead to inconsistent temperature levels throughout your home. This makes it difficult to program the right thermostat temperature because some rooms will always be less comfortable than others no matter what setting you choose.
Low pressure in rooms. If a room pushes out more return air than the amount of supply air that it receives, the pressure in the room will be too low. This can cause outside and unconditioned air to get sucked into the room, which leads to issues with efficiency, comfort, and air quality.
How can you ensure your home has balanced airflow?
Some of the best ways to ensure your home has balanced airflow include:
- Keeping all of your air vents completely open and free of obstructions.
- Keeping all of your interior doors open.
- Changing your air filter every single month.
- Getting a furnace and air conditioner tune-up every year to have your air handler inspected.
- Adding a zoning system to have complete control over your home’s airflow and temperature levels.
If you have any questions about balanced airflow, or if you’d like a cooling system serviced or installed in your home, contact Jerry Kelly Heating & Air Conditioning, your St. Louis air conditioning contractor. We provide service all over the St. Louis area, including towns like Ladue, Lake St. Louis, and Manchester, MO.
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