Air balancing is a simple enough HVAC concept to understand, even if the implementation requires a technician’s attention. The air in any building has a natural tendency to equalize in terms of temperature and pressure. Each room has its levels, but the overall building tries to reach stasis. If a house is poorly insulated, the inside air will also try to reach a balance with the outside air.
Why Does Air Balance Matter?
Whether the current conditions call for heating or cooling your home, you likely have a target temperature. The same applies to targeting your preferred humidity level. If one part of your house is too cool or hot, the natural process of reaching stasis is going to make your home less comfortable.
Suppose you have a couple of rooms in your house that are rarely used. Perhaps your family owns a three-bedroom house but only uses two of them. The unused bedroom might get hotter in the summer, especially if it’s on the sunward side of the house. As your HVAC unit tries to cool the house, it always has to overcome some of the heat from that unused room.
People tend to notice this problem more in the winter. If you’ve ever felt a draft coming from one part of the house, that is an air-balancing issue. The air wants to balance, and the cooler and warmer areas of air are converging. As the cool air hits the warm area, you feel a draft.
What Is Air Balancing?
At Childers Air Plumbing & Electric, air balancing is our HVAC technicians’ collection of methods for solving these issues. Generally, air balancing comes after fixing more basic problems like insulating and sealing the vents. The goal of air balancing is to ensure that the distribution of heating, cooling and dehumidification throughout the house is as balanced as possible. Our technicians have plenty of ways to balance the air in a home, including mechanical solutions, system design changes and electronic controls.
Note that the available air-balancing solutions vary from house to house. No two structures are the same, even if they were built with the same blueprints. Our technicians will assess the unique issues in your home and then implement an appropriate set of solutions.
When Should You Balance the Air in a House?
In an ideal world, air balancing would be a one-time process for a newly constructed house. Once the builders have tightened up all the insulated parts of the house, our HVAC technicians can balance the air for the new structure.
The world is far from ideal, though. Over the life of a house, it will likely require air balancing several times. Sometimes the problem is as simple as identifying and replacing worn-out parts. After all, the fans and dampers in a house will eventually fail. Some houses may need upgrades to take advantage of newer techniques. For example, many older homes don’t have the electronic controls needed to maximize efficiency in air balancing. Our technicians can install control units and run wiring to create a more balanced HVAC system.
Taking Measurements
Knowing the full extent of the problem is critical before applying any solutions. We employ trained technicians who have the right tools needed to properly test the air balance in any house. By taking measurements at the vents, near the thermostats and around other critical parts of the home, our technicians will quickly assess the current state of the air balance. Using these measurements, they also can determine where the problems are and what the solutions ought to be.
Mechanical Solutions
Mechanically controlling the airflow in a house is often the simplest approach. Dampers are common in many houses, even ones that don’t have advanced systems. A damper is a device that controls the airflow through a vent.
For example, a backflow damper prevents air from one part of the HVAC system from pushing into another. Many basement air ducts have backflow dampers. This prevents the generally cooler air in the basement from feeding back into the system. Without the damper, cold basement air could get into the heater and make it work harder during each system.
There are also control dampers with actuators. Using an electronic control unit, the dampers can effectively turn the airflow to a room on or off. Especially if you don’t use certain rooms regularly, control dampers make a major difference. Volume dampers permit a certain amount of airflow, too, and they’re ideal if one room is getting too much air.
Fans also factor into the air balancing system. A fan can provide more air if a room isn’t getting enough airflow. If you have a big house with a room far away from the HVAC unit, a fan can push more air into it.
System Design Changes
Eliminating system design inefficiencies can make a notable difference, too. A house may have more air ducting than it needs. This is common in older houses because many older HVAC systems don’t have the benefit of flexible ducting materials. These systems often have longer and straighter runs of ducting. Replacing these ducts with newer solutions can significantly reduce system inefficiencies.
Also, the current household’s needs may differ from the design’s strengths. The folks who designed the last version of the ducting may have had a different lifestyle or different priorities. What is a craft room in your house now might have once been a kid’s bedroom. Consequently, you might find a different balance preferable.
Electronic Controls
The advent of electronic controls in HVAC systems is a fairly modern thing. Even if the HVAC system is new enough to have full computerization, it may still be too old to take advantage of all today’s innovations. Installing a control unit or replacing an existing one can often make the overall design more efficient.
For example, a house might not currently have HVAC zones. This is a system that allows you to specify different settings for different parts of the house. Maybe you want your bedroom to be in one zone because you sleep better in a cool space. Perhaps a household member needs their own zone because they have respiratory issues and need a cooler and drier environment than everyone else does. You can configure electronically controlled zones to precisely control each desired environment in the house.
Electronic controls also multiply the value of mechanical solutions. Putting the fans and dampers under electronic control provides finer tuning of the airflow and balance at each vent. This can provide long-term cost savings because the overall system will more efficiently balance the air.
Many folks in Beckley, WV and the surrounding areas turn to Childers Air Plumbing & Electric for help. We handle a host of heating and air conditioning projects as well as electrical, plumbing, and air quality needs. Financing is available to qualified customers, and we often offer specials.
Contact Childers Air Plumbing & Electric today to find out more about our air balancing and other services.
