Does splitting heat zones save fuel $

STEVEN MARKS

If a heating system were split from 1 zone to several zones and all zones kept at the same constant temperature there would be little to no savings but greater comfort. The real savings is generated by lowering the temperature in unused parts of the housethat are on different zones and setback at night.

Joe_8

Saving fuel $$

Does anyone know where I can find literature that will prove or disprove that splitting a house's heating system from single zone to multi-zone will save fuel $. Obviously it has to, but has anyone done a study on it so that I can show my client that it is not only worth doing, but what the payback time may be. Obviously, as fuel (oil in this case) keeps going up, the payback period will be shorter. Thanks everyone.

jp_2

not straight forwad

a good heatloss calculation is the first step. see where you stand on the structure itself.

properly design single zone would be most efficient. many zones can lead to boiler short cycling.

insulating and sealing air leaks could lead to much higher savings. second would e properly sized heating system.

seems closing rooms off just leads to higher heat lost in adjacent rooms. lots of variable to figure out. estimating saving is a tricky thing, best not to try it, customer could come back to haunt you if your estimates do not come true.

it can save money if you have areas that are over heating, but i think the better solution is to figure out why the areas are over heating,a TRV could be a better solution.