Derek ColeGM, Simmons One Hour Heating & Air · AI HVAC Answers

Upstairs is Hotter than Downstairs

16 Nov 2016 · 1 min

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1:19

In this brief monologue, Derek Cole explains why the upper floor of a house is often warmer than the lower floor—heat naturally rises. He points out that many homes have a single thermostat located downstairs, which forces the HVAC system to over‑cool the lower level in order to make the upstairs comfortable. Cole argues that installing a second, separate HVAC unit is unnecessary; instead, he recommends converting the existing system into a two‑zone setup with separate thermostats for upstairs and downstairs. This zoning approach lets each floor be maintained at its desired temperature without sacrificing comfort on the other level.

Chapters

You have different demands upstairs than you have downstairs. So when you look at a house and think about it, heat rises obviously, right? So when heat rises upstairs, typically will be warmer than downstairs, right? So chances are, I've seen this before, the thermostat is downstairs. You have a unit that runs the whole house up and down. So to get upstairs comfortable, you then have to make downstairs freezing. How you solve that problem is either two units units, or what we've done quite a few times, which is zoning. You make downstairs one zone, you make upstairs one zone. It's very simple. If you have a unit that covers up and downstairs right now, you can very simply make it a two-zone system. That way you have a thermostat downstairs, you have a thermostat upstairs. You can keep it that temperature you want, you keep it that temperature you want, and they can make it work that way. I wouldn't get two units, I would just zone it upstairs downstairs, and that will solve the problem. But until you do that, it is what it is. I mean, the thermostat downstairs— upstairs is warmer in the summertime, it's going to be. So you're just going to have to freeze it out downstairs and get upstairs as comfortable as possible.