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One thing that I still have yet to see in the United States is a house that is designed without central AC. An energy tip I see quite a bit is to program your t

One thing that I still have yet to see in the United States is a house that is designed without central AC. An energy tip I see quite a bit is to program your thermostat. But why can't I program my thermostat on a per room basis? [0] If I'm on my computer at night and just want to heat my room, why do I instead have to heat the entire house/apartment? What a waste! I think this is still achievable using existing systems. Keep the central unit, but modify the air ducts to have programmable valves. Then you can choose which rooms to have the ducts open/closed to. Sure, there will see some loss, but much better than maintaining temp for the entire building. [0] https://s26.postimg.org/6ewi90rk9/rooms-e1442847765216-1024x709.jpg https://s26.postimg.org/6ewi90rk9/rooms-e1442847765216-1024x...

dragonwriter 9y ago
> One thing that I still have yet to see in the United States is a house that is designed without central AC. Lots of houses in the US don't have central HVAC, and only non-central heating and non-central (or no) AC. > But why can't I program my thermostat on a per room basis? You can; system zoning [0] is a thing, even with central HVAC. > I think this is still achievable using existing systems. Keep the central unit, but modify the air ducts to have programmable valves. Yes, that's how the well-known and widely deployed (though not super-common in single-family homes, because of the up-front cost) technology works. [0] http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat4.htm http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat4.htm
sliverstorm 9y ago
Owning a better built house and having sealed it up and all, it turns out it doesn't seem like that would help terribly much. With good design, heat gain or loss is very limited in the first place. We get most of our heat from a few south windows, and body heat. Once I shade the windows, it will be just bodies, which heat the house the same no matter the room. Plus the building is usually designed as a unit- the envelope is sealed and insulated, room-to-room is not at all. So the heat or cool just one room strategy I think is only compelling in a poorly designed building.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> One thing that I still have yet to see in the United States is a house that is designed without central AC. Lots of houses in the US don't have central HVAC, and only non-central heating and non-central (or no) AC. > But why can't I program my thermostat on a per room basis? You can; system zoning [0] is a thing, even with central HVAC. > I think this is still achievable using existing systems. Keep the central unit, but modify the air ducts to have programmable valves. Yes, that's how the well-known and widely deployed (though not super-common in single-family homes, because of the up-front cost) technology works. [0] http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat4.htm http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-thermostat4.htm

sliverstorm 9y ago

Owning a better built house and having sealed it up and all, it turns out it doesn't seem like that would help terribly much. With good design, heat gain or loss is very limited in the first place. We get most of our heat from a few south windows, and body heat. Once I shade the windows, it will be just bodies, which heat the house the same no matter the room. Plus the building is usually designed as a unit- the envelope is sealed and insulated, room-to-room is not at all. So the heat or cool just one room strategy I think is only compelling in a poorly designed building.