How To Fix Hot And Cold Spots In Your Home

Many of us experience uneven household heating – an upper floor that’s too hot, a downstairs area that’s too cold, or a particular problem room that just won’t get comfortable.

Rather than dealing with the problem by adding or subtracting clothing layers, it’s best to try to get at the root of the issue. Let’s look at some common causes of temperature imbalance between floors or rooms in your home.

Reasons For Uneven Home Heating

Uneven heat in your home is typically caused by three factors (on its own or in tandem): inadequate airflow within your heating system, insufficient insulation, or air leaks in your home. More specifically, causes of hot and cold spots include:

• Poor airflow between the furnace and registers
• Leaky or poorly installed ductwork
• A mis-sized heating system
• Drafts around windows and doorways between conditioned and unconditioned spaces
• A thermostat giving inaccurate readings (often due to placement)

As you might imagine, these problems aren’t always easy to isolate without the right tools and training. A well-trained heating professional can help you identify the real cause of your heating issues and determine the best course of action to take to solve the problem.

Seven Solutions To Uneven Home Heating

If you’re experiencing uneven heating in your home, here are some possible solutions a pro might suggest, in order from the simplest to the most complex:

1. Close vents in under-used rooms – If you have a forced air system, redirect warm air to rooms you use most.
2. Check your air filter – In a forced air system, a blocked air filter will make it difficult for your blower to force air through your ductwork; inhibited air flow means less warm air reaches your living space. Try replacing your air filter before moving on to more substantial measures.
3. Bleed your radiators – If you have a boiler rather than a furnace, trapped air pockets can keep heated water or steam from reaching your radiators. If you have cold spots on your radiators or baseboards, your system probably needs to be bled.
4. Air seal your home – Caulk leaky window and door frames, install doorsweeps, and add weatherstripping to door jambs to reduce drafts.
5. Check and seal your ducts – As much as 15 percent of the air you paid to heat could be lost on the way to vents via leaks in your ductwork. Consider investing in a professional ductwork inspection – since many leaks are located behind walls and in hard to reach spaces, it’s not a DIY job.
6. Consider a zone controller – A zone controller allows you to independently manage temperatures in different sections of your home by assigning each its own thermostat. If your heating system can accommodate a zone controller, it could solve an uneven heating problem (contact us to learn more).
7. Add a supplemental space heater – Want a stylish way to add heat to a problem room and take some of the burden off your central heating system? Install a direct vent propane hearth. A direct vent hearth is basically a powerful propane space heater wrapped in an attractive package – turn the flame up and you’ll solve your heating problem in just a few minutes!

Experiencing uneven heat in your home? Roach Energy’s expert technicians can help. Contact us today to learn more about heating system service in West Virginia and western MD!