New house and it’s our first time with multi-zone heat. Ducted forced hot air from a gas furnace. 3 zones.
It seems like if 2 or more zones need to heat at around the same time then the first one that calls for heat gets it and then when the temp in that zone reaches the set point then the other zone gets heat. So sequential not concurrent.
Is this normal?
I am following this closely. My builder suggested 4 zones. I am not sure if it is all that helpful. A contractor once told me air flow in the duck can be tricky. Opening up one end can disrupt the flow in the entire house. I think I’d rather have two entirely separate systems to turn on and off independently.
we have a very long house / 2 zones, 2 systems, so they work independently.
Got you beat. We have 3 separate systems. Our house was built so we could pretty much block off portions if needed. So we have one for upstairs bedrooms (usually turned up very high or just off unless we have guests), one for downstairs family area and one just for our master bedroom. I’m pretty sure one unit would never have worked in this house.
I should add that all three zones tie into one HVAC system. 1,900 sq ft house. 3 floors, 3 zones.
Anyone have experience with this scenario?
@“Iron Maiden” I have a 4 zone house with one furnace. I haven’t commented because it’s the craziest system and after 10 years I still can’t figure it out. We have 4 zones and within those 4 zones, there are 4 time zones to program and one for weekdays and another for weekends. The thermostat is a nightmare to program. My engineer husband still has to get out the directions to change the thermostat.
I resort to turning the system from the zone to vacation when I get too hot.
We wanted a new thermostat, can’t use a nest because of these zones and it was $1500. We decided to stay with what we have.
Long vent, lol.
My husband is in heating and air. He says all systems he is aware of are concurrent not sequential. He said its possible that you have some kind of system that is sequential but not likely.
If you are willing to share what kind of unit I can try to get you more information.
BHS1978, thanks for your help! Here is our setup:
We have 8 finely tuned zones and don’t run into that. I’m wondering if the zone getting heat first is closest to the furnace thereby getting “first dibs” on the heat. Or blower speed isn’t high enough?
@Iron Maiden He has looked up that particular model specifically. The sequence of operations is that all zones calling for heat would be heated simultaneously. Every model he has worked with would run concurrently. If all three zones are calling for heat then all dampers would open and would heat all three zones at the same time. If you are trying to heat 2 out of 3 zones then it will bypass the zone not needing heat but heat the other two concurrently.
bhs1878 - Thank you to both you and your husband!