Home Temperature Inconsistency: A Troubleshooting Guide

7 August 2017
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When you're finding that the heating and cooling system in your home leaves your living space uneven in temperature, it's important that you have the whole system inspected to determine why. Your climate control system shouldn't leave areas of your home more than a few degrees apart in temperature. Here's a look at a couple of things that could be causing the inconsistent temperatures and what you can do about them.

Insufficient And Poor Ductwork Installation

Since the ductwork is responsible for carrying the heated and cooled air throughout your home, when it's insufficient or installed against uninsulated walls, that leads to a lot of inconsistency in the volume of air reaching the rooms as well as the temperature of that air. Not only will the air not circulate as well with insufficient, narrow ductwork, but heated air will cool if it's running along uninsulated walls. The same is true for cooled air gaining heat.

If you find that the temperature inconsistency is basically following the path of your home, so the rooms furthest from your HVAC system are the ones most affected, this is likely the culprit. You can fix this by having your HVAC contractor install larger, insulated heating ducts throughout your home.

Lack Of Controls In More Exposed Areas

If the bulk of your temperature control problem is in your partially-finished basement, the problem could simply be that your HVAC system is producing too much heated or cooled air in that area. This is actually a pretty simple fix.

Your HVAC contractor can install additional dampers in the basement area so that you have more control over closing the vents, which helps to minimize the air production in that space. That, paired with better insulation in the basement, can help you maintain a more consistent temperature down there as well.

Leaking Windows Or Seams

Sometimes the temperature problems aren't related to your HVAC system at all. If the problem is in seemingly unrelated areas, such as two specific rooms in different parts of the house, the issue may be due to air leaks around the windows or the wall seams. You can troubleshoot this easily on your own.

Light a candle, and hold it close to the window frame, moving it around the entire perimeter of the frame. If the flame flickers, that means you've got air flowing in around that area. Do the same around the wall seams, being careful not to get the flame too close to the wall so you don't risk a fire hazard.

The more you understand about inconsistent climate control, the easier it will be to keep your home comfortable. Talk with your HVAC contractor about your concerns today.