Our house hunt has turned up some duds.

The newest maybe we're going to try to see Saturday.

The listing says it has zoned AC, which is new to me.

Pros/cons?

Thanks!

2-story?

Zoned is likely central. Being Zoned means different parts of the house are on different thermostats and can be at different temperatures.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Zoned is likely central. Being Zoned means different parts of the house are on different thermostats and can be at different temperatures.

This.

That’s what I have. Our upstairs has it’s only thermostat and then the main floor and finished basement operate on a separate thermostat. So we can maintain individual temps.

Zoned is good

1 story, 1800 Sq ft

If central there would be electric dampers in the duct work to control different parts of the house unequally - to get an equal temperature. South side sunny, or upstairs where heat rises, then damper them and feed to the colder lower parts of the house.

It could also mean split units mounted to the walls, usually above 6 feet, with individual freon lines to each with it's own thermostat. Same result. Either way, it's technologically newer than one fan and a bunch of flex hose.

We have a zoned AC, so one outside unit and two zones, one upstairs, and one down.

Weve had problems in the heart of Summer on the hottest days but those are so much fewer than TX (moved here from The Woodlands back in 2018).

When both thermostats call for air there can be resource issues.

On the hottest days we set the downstairs t-stat lower than upstairs, as we are likely to be there during the day, and then reverse it at night. But lots of chilled air ends up downstairs overnight.

Also the dampers have motors and those can go bad (weve replaced one).

We had a good AC tech come out last time and he found that the builders had an outside air feed that basically mixed hot air into the chilled air, so on the hottest days that was causing us issues and he sealed that off.

Hopefully we wont have issues this Summer, as we have had something happen every year since we moved in (compressor condenser, damper motor, etc).

I prefer the setup I had in TX with separate systems for upstairs and downstairs, but that comes at higher cost obviously.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
1 story, 1800 Sq ft

Considering the above info, it's likely a mini-split system.
Cleaning the indoor units is a PITA. Depending on conditions, every couple yrs.

Otherwise, pretty elaborate for such a normal size home too have a zoned duct system.

We're going to look at it tomorrow morning.
Will see how it all looks then.

If interested in the home, grab some photos of the equipment.

Simply put:

Zoned means you aren't paying to heat or cool rooms you aren't actually living in. In the summer this means your bedroom isn't getting cooled (or not as much) during the day but will be at night.

Update

Ductless system with 2 external units on each end of the house.

80ish degrees today & the house was quite comfortable.

So depending on the layout of the house;
your concern will be temperature swings from the ends of the house to the center.

Of course, this all depends on your body and responses to temperature swings.
Everybodies sensitivity is differnet, so it may be a concern to some while not others.

One thing about twin systems is redundancy. One quits, you can get by more comfortably.

Do these terms also apply to mini-split AC installations?

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Do these terms also apply to mini-split AC installations?

Formally, I don't think so. Zoned AC brings to mind a central AC system with multiple thermostats to regulate multiple separate zones throughout the house.

But I do know that homes with mini-splits are commonly listed as having "zoned AC" (as the OP discovered here), so even if it's not formally correct, it does seem to be used informally that way a lot.

If used informally that way, a house with a window AC unit in each room could also be listed as having "zoned AC".

My current house is 'zoned' with 2 large traditional ac units outside & 2 furnaces/fans in the attic with all the associated ducting.

The house looked at yesterday had 2 much smaller units outside & about 1.5in hoses going to the 'unit'/register in each room, each has its own remote & setting.

Ductless=Mini-Split?

My one-story home has two central units, one for the bedrooms and the second for the living area. So, you might say it is "zoned".

However, it is important to maintain the same thermostat temp in both areas and to fully cool/heat each room.

Think of a warm room as a heat sump in an otherwise cool house. Example, you can differentiate real granite, or marble countertops from artificial marble by touch - real marble will be colder than the ambient temperature. The marble is a cold sump in the room.

Your a/c does not just provide cool air but has to cool everything in that room.
.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Ductless=Mini-Split?

Yes

A normal HVAC system is a split system. Outside unit connected to an indoor unit.

Mini-split is just a smaller, ductless system. Still split between indoor/outdoor units.

Then you have a package system, everything sits outside and is ducted to the structure. Like commercial rooftop units.

Each system may or may not be zoned. All of these are permanently installed, which is the reason behind the wording for the listing.

A home with more than one thermostat, will either have two systems or one zoned system.
In either case, both homes can be referred to having a zoned HVAC system. Allowing for different temps for different areas.