When the colder winter weather sets in, you and your family are likely spending a lot more time indoors. You may start to notice that some of the rooms in your home feel a lot colder than others. There are many different reasons that can explain why different rooms of your house are not all at the same temperature.
Aging HVAC System
If you’ve never experienced uneven heating in your home before, it could simply be due to an aging HVAC system. Most furnaces are built to last between 15 and 20 years. If your furnace is reaching the end of its lifespan, you’ll start to notice that its heat output decreases. This will cause the rooms closest to your furnace to be heated adequately, while the ones farthest away from it don’t receive much heat at all. Unfortunately, the only solution to this problem is to upgrade to a newer system.
Leaky Ductwork
If you have a forced-air heating system, then you have ductwork that runs throughout the wall cavities and floors of your house. This ductwork is made out of metal that naturally expands and contracts with different temperatures. Over time, this natural expansion and contraction, along with unintentional bumping and movement, can result in gaps between different segments of your ducting.
As the warm air travels from your furnace through your ducting, some of it leaks out of these gaps. By the time the heat makes its way to the last rooms in your home, it’s likely that there’s not going to be a whole lot of heat left to warm up those rooms. To remedy this problem, you’ll need to invest in getting your ductwork sealed.
Undersized HVAC System
Another reason that you may be experiencing uneven temperature throughout your house is that your existing heating system is undersized for the demands that your property requires. You’re most likely to notice this after installing a new system or during your first winter in a new home.
To determine if this is the problem with your existing heating system, you’ll want to do a quick calculation to determine what BTU heating capacity your house needs. To do this, you’ll want to take the total square footage of your residence and multiply it by 30. This will give you the minimum number of BTUs that your heating system needs to output in your Texas home. Take a look at your furnace and see if it’s meeting that minimum BTU requirement. If it’s not, then you need to upgrade your existing system to one that has the right heating capacity for your house.
Clogged Air Filter
A common reason that you may start experiencing uneven heating in your home is that the air filter has become clogged. When this happens, your furnace has to work much harder to try to force air through the dirty filter. This will cause less of the warm air to make it throughout all the rooms of your house in an even fashion. Fortunately, this problem is very easy to remedy. All you need to do is get a new filter for your furnace and replace it. As soon as you do that, the heat for each room should go back to being around the same temperature.
Poor Home Design Features
Far too often, houses are designed without any concept of an efficient heating and cooling system. There are many different architectural features that can reduce the capacity of a heating system. Some of the most common include wall-to-wall windows and vaulted ceilings. If you have some unusual design features in your house, it’s best to speak with an HVAC professional to see if those features are the cause of your uneven heating.
Closed or Obstructed Vents
Probably the most common reason that homeowners experience uneven heating is that they have closed or obstructed vents in the rooms that are significantly colder than others. It is very easy to unintentionally put a piece of furniture in front of one of your air vents. When you do this, it will restrict the airflow in and out of the vent, which can make it more difficult for warm air to reach that room. Take a look at the vents in the rooms of your house that are considered cold spots to see if they’re obstructed or closed. Most times, all it takes is moving a piece of furniture out of the way to help bring that room back up to the same temperature as the rest of your home.
Improperly Maintained Furnace
As a homeowner, it’s important to note that your furnace needs to have professional maintenance performed every single year. If you’ve skipped professional maintenance, your heating system can be working less efficiently. This means that it could be producing less heat, so the most distant rooms don’t receive much heat at all. If you’ve definitely skipped over your annual maintenance, it’s best to call in one of our HVAC service technicians to service your heating system and check it over for any potential issues.
Air Drafts Around Windows and Doors
Your uneven heating issue may have nothing to do with your heating system. Rather, it may be due to air drafts that are around windows and doors. It’s a good idea when you first notice that there are cold spots in your house to evaluate the area. Feel around to see if there are any are drafts coming in. Cold air drafts most commonly develop around windows and doors.
If you notice that there are drafts in that room, then you’ll need to cover them up with insulation or weather-stripping. As soon as you do so, you’ll notice that the room will heat back up to the same temperature as the rest of your residence. There’s only so much that your heating system can handle when it comes to every room in your home. When there are individual factors like air drafts or poor insulation in a specific room, it’s going to be harder for your heating system to keep that room at a constant temperature.
Short Cycling
Another cause of uneven household heating is system short cycling. This is an action where your furnace will kick on and turn off before it completes a full heating cycle. This constant on and off motion makes it difficult for your furnace to generate enough heat to completely travel throughout all the rooms of your house. Short cycling can be caused by a number of different internal issues with your heating system. It’s typically best to contact one of our service technicians to evaluate your heating system and get to the root of your short-cycling issue. Once a short-cycling issue is remedied, your home should go back to being heated evenly.
Quality Heating Services
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