Do Some Rooms in Your Home Feel Chillier Than Others? Here’s How to Fix it
It happens every winter. Some rooms in your home are toasty and comfortable while others seem perpetually cold and uninviting, no matter how high you set the thermostat. Don’t buy another throw blanket. Try one of these suggestions first to make your home a consistently cozy one. It may be a simple and inexpensive fix.
First, check the vents. All of them should be open throughout the house to ensure even distribution of heat. When some vents are closed up and others left open, unbalanced airflow can create pockets of cold throughout the house. Leaky or damaged ductwork can also interrupt the flow of warmer air to each room. This means your thermostat has to work harder, putting stress on equipment and costing you more as a result of inefficient system performance.
Where is your thermostat, anyway? Cold air in certain parts of your home could be a result of an incorrectly placed thermostat. If this temperature sensing device is placed in an area that’s always warm, it may not “read” the rest of the house correctly, resulting in consistently lower temperatures everywhere else. A thermostat placed on a sunny wall, near a stove or by a heating vent may not be letting your HVAC system know it’s time to turn up the heat.
Drafts matter. Have you evaluated your home for air leaks and cracks? Colder rooms may just have more spaces open to the outside, whether through an unsealed window, cracks along the baseboards or at the joint where wall and ceiling meet. Don’t be afraid to add weather stripping to the windows, or fill in spaces with simple caulking. Consider even hanging a large tapestry or wall hanging to further insulate a chilly wall from the cold outside air. You’ll notice a difference in the room’s ability to retain heat almost immediately.
Consider a room-to-room ventilator. If all else fails and one room remains cooler while an adjacent room is warm, you may consider a room-to-room ventilator to solve the problem. Relatively inexpensive, these quiet, motorized fans are installed between rooms in the wall, moving heat from the hotter area to the colder one. Controlled by a thermostat, they may provide a measure of extra warmth that nothing else can provide.
These simple evaluations and fixes can make the difference between a crazy heating bill and a consistently comfortable, warm home during the colder months here in Southern California. Take a moment to investigate, and in doing so you may find some easy solutions to the problem. Don’t let a drafty or cold room detract from your indoor comfort at home.
Having problems with your heating and cooling system? Get the company Southern California relies upon for their indoor comfort. Call Air-Tro today at (626) 357-3535.