How does My HVAC System Work?The primary function of the HVAC system in your home – or the heating, ventilation and air condition system – is to provide thermal comfort (control the temperature) and produce acceptable indoor air quality (by controling humidity and filtering the air). But, how does it work? Understanding the basic functions of an HVAC system and how it works is important to maintaining your current system in good condition. Whether you are looking for a completely new system or hoping to maintain or repair your current unit, we at Howard Air are here to help, and we want you to understand how your system works. Here are the three main functions of your HVAC system and how they work. The heating function of your HVAC system does just that – it heats your home. In most cases, this is done via a central heating system. The surrounding air enters the unit and is warmed by a heat pump furnace system. With a heat pump or warm air system, heat is distributed through a system of air ducts in the home.

The ventilation function of your HVAC system works to maintain the highest possible air quality inside your home. High air quality is achieved by ventilating air through a series of ducts and circulating the air back into the home. The air can be exchanged with outdoor air and/or circulated from air within the building. Your system will work on either forced/mechanical ventilation system or a natural ventilation system. highest efficiency ac unitForced (mechanical) systems use an air handler to remove humidity and impurities from the air. air handling unit componentsNatural systems use the natural flow of the air pressure inside a room (moving from warm to cold or inside to outside) to ventilate the air.air conditioning units small apartment

Air conditioning systems are often misunderstood, as many believe they “cool” the air inside your home. In reality, the air conditioning function of your HVAC system works by removing humidity from the air, and then using a refrigeration system to remove heat from the air. This removal of moisture and heat creates a “cooling” effect. Air conditioning systems come in many different varieties, including a split air system (with indoor and outdoor parts and a series of ducts throughout your home) or a ductless system (which has indoor and outdoor parts, but no ducts throughout the home). It may seem like a complicated system, but the basic three functions of your HVAC system are easy to understand when you break it down. The system works by drawing in outside air or circulating inside air, then ventilating that air, heating it (or removing heat and moisture from it) and then distributing that air back into the house. There are many types of HVAC systems, and we at Howard Air are here to answer any questions you may have about them.

Please contact us today to learn more about your HVAC system! A zoning system for your HVAC system is a way to control the temperature for each area, or “zone” in your home, rather than have to heat or cool the whole house to the same temperature.  With a zoning system, you can set temperatures differently for either individual rooms or sections of your home. Typically, with forced air systems there is only one thermostat to control the heating and cooling for the entire home.  Once that thermostat calls for heating or cooling there is virtually no way to control the temperature in each room of the house except by manually closing off the outlets in each room. This manual method is time-consuming and can cause harm to the HVAC unit, as closing off too many outlets can reduce the airflow.  This could shorten the life of the furnace, air conditioner or heat pump. Zoning solves this problem.  It also allows you to save energy (and therefore money) by not heating or cooling rooms when they don’t need it. 

If, for example, you live in a two-story home and don’t use the upstairs very much, you can set the thermostat upstairs so that it doesn’t call for heat or cool air very often. A zoning system is a professionally installed control system consisting of a damper and thermostat for each room or zone of the house.  This control system is wired into a central control panel that sequences each thermostat’s call with the zone dampers in the ducts and the HVAC system. Zoning is a simple product and concept.  Zoning provides the ability to only condition those rooms that need heating or cooling and does not allow conditioned air into those zones not requiring it.  Zoning does this through a series of components, the first being motorized dampers that open and close based on the demands of the zone thermostats.  These dampers insert into the ducts or can be installed at the air outlet for each room or zone.  Multiple dampers can be controlled together for a single zone if multiple ducts serve a single room or zone.

The next key components are the zone thermostats.  In existing homes, the existing thermostat can be used as a zone thermostat.  As each zone is divided, each zone uses a thermostat to control the heating, cooling and fan operation for its individual zone. The zone thermostats and dampers are wired into a central control panel.  The panel then also connects to the thermostat connections on the HVAC Unit. Instead of using one central thermostat, the control panel allows the unit to be controlled by multiple thermostats. As each thermostat calls for heating or cooling, the panel takes the first call from any zone.  If it’s heating, for example, it will keep open the damper to the calling zone, close the dampers to satisfied zones not calling for heating, activate the furnace or heat pump and begin supplying air only to that zone.  If during this call other zones call for heating, those zone dampers would open and heated air would be supplied to those zones as well.  Once all heating calls are satisfied the panel will shut off the furnace or heat pump.