Do you have that one room in the house that you never want to be in during the winter because it’s too cold? This is a problem we hear about a lot from homeowners. It’s usually a bedroom, or a home office. Some sort of room that is off to the sides of the house, further away from the source of heat.
We want to tell you about why you may have these rooms in your home, how you can fix these cold rooms, and how to avoid it in the future.
There are more than four reasons you have a cold room in your home, but we want to go over four of the most common reasons. Some of these you may be able to assess on your home, and others you’ll need a professional to come take a look at.
Your insulation is a key factor in your home comfort, and your energy use. Insulation is designed to keep the warm air inside your home in the winter, and keep the cold air outside. It prevents your home from air leaks and wasting energy. If you have a room in your house with poor insulation, it could result in drafts, air leaks, and it always feeling cooler in this room. This poor insulation could be in the walls, which is tougher for you to figure out, or it could be your windows.
Sealing your windows is important. A bit of weather stripping for windows and doors in your home helps prevent small amounts of warm air from leaking out, and creating drafts.
A professional can perform an energy assessment and tell you if you have spaces in your home that are poorly insulated, and how you can fix these rooms.
Blocked heating vents will prevent warm air from flowing through the system and properly into your rooms. This is an easy problem to assess, but sometimes can be trickier to fix.
If you have a cold room, locate all the vents in the room. First of all, make sure no furniture is blocking them. Couches, dressers, and larger furniture of this kind can get in the way of a vent if you don’t place it properly.
If all your vents are clear of furniture, hold your hand up to the vent. Is there warm air coming out of it? How does it compare to the airflow coming from the vents of the other, warmer rooms?
If you can’t feel any warm air coming out of the vents, it could be a blockage somewhere within your system. You may need a pro to come clean your vents, and see if anything is preventing the air from moving.
There are lots of homes where one floor may be warmer than the other, and this temperature imbalance is normal, but something that shouldn’t be overwhelming or too vast. This can be due to thermostat readings, poor insulation like we mentioned above, or being in a room that has an outdoor facing wall.
Weak airflow is a common problem in older heating systems. Over the years the system could be losing efficiency, and simply having trouble blowing the air with as much power as it did before. You could also have a few other issues, which may be easier to solve.
First off, check your air filter. If it’s dirty and clogged it could be preventing the air from your heating system from properly flowing. Next thing to check if that doesn’t fix your problem is the ducts. You may have air leaking from the ducts, preventing it from reaching every space in your home.
Once those 2 issues are resolved, if your system is still not blowing enough air, call a professional. It could be an issue with your heating system.
Now that you know a little more about why the room may be cold, here are some tips to fixing it, and avoiding the problem down the road.
You could always use a space heater to heat a problem area. If it’s going to take a while for a contractor to come check out your situation, a small space heater is inexpensive, and will help you in that room for the time being. The problem with those is that they are a fire hazard, they use too much energy, and they don’t heat very evenly. It’s not a bad temporary solution, but not what you want for the long run.
You could also rent a portable heater. Once again, not something we consider a permanent fix, but this is a way to keep the space warm until you have it fixed for good!
HVAC maintenance is essential to getting the most out of your heating system. When you have your system serviced by a professional every year, you are making sure it stays energy efficient, lasts as long as it should, and also heats properly! If you leave your system uncared for, it’s going to run into more breakdowns, repairs needed, and eventually will die early.
HVAC maintenance is a great way to avoid uncomfortable rooms with cold spots.
Zoning the heating and cooling in your home means that you have your home broken down into different spaces independently. You can heat and cool each one to a different temperature, depending on how warm and cool you want that zone to be.
This helps in larger homes, especially ones with one thermostat. The thermostat reads the temperature around it, and doesn’t always account for the temperature in every room.
If you zone your HVAC system, you can warm up the zone that never seems to stay warm, without putting any strain on the HVAC system and the other zones.
Installing a ductless mini split is a perfect way to zone your heating and cooling, and fix that cold room in your home. A ductless mini split uses heat pump technology to heat your home in the winter, and cool it in the summer. This is a perfect solution to use as a supplement to your current system. A mini split requires no ductwork, and doesn’t have to replace your current heating system.
Mini splits are extremely energy efficient, whisper quiet, and can be used year round. This is one of the best solutions if you don’t have an easy fix available for heating that problem room.
Synergy3 is an expert when it comes to mini split installation in Chalfont, PA. We specialize in repairing mini splits, servicing them, and installing them. We can help you assess your home comfort situation, and make the right decision on how to heat and cool your home!
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