A Guide to Fixing Hot Spots in Your Home

For many in Palm Desert, CA, the point of heading indoors is to get away from the outdoor heat. You already know that the summer months hit triple digits. When you head inside, however, you may still experience hot spots. The good news is that there are several ways to get rid of them. Our team at Breeze Air Conditioning has been helping clients in your area do just that for several years. Here is some information about hot spots and how to overcome them.

What Causes Indoor Hot Spots?

Hot spots in a home are areas that the cool air cannot reach. In the winter, they are spots that cannot be reached by heated air. Whether it’s summer or winter, these problems may be due to:

  • Poor ventilation
  • High ceilings
  • Duct leaks
  • Room location
  • Poor insulation

Your home’s heating, cooling, and ventilation system have three jobs. It heats when it is cold, it cools when it is hot and it must be able to circulate that air to its intended destination. If the ventilation system is not operating well, you are not going to receive the majority of the output. Poor ventilation can be caused by leaks in the ducts if your HVAC system has them. This means that the ducts have to be inspected. Then, the ventilation has to be tested. Regular HVAC maintenance is a great way to prevent leaks in ducts and poor ventilation.

Homes that have high ceilings can be a challenge when it comes to heating and cooling the house. Heat rises, so the upstairs rooms will generally be warmer than the ground floors. Room location also plays a role in hot spot creation.

Solution: Check the Ducts

The best way to prevent hot spots from occurring in your home is to ensure the ventilation is working as intended. If your HVAC system consists of ductwork, they must be checked on a regular basis. Regular inspection of the ducts goes beyond preventing hot spots. It is also about ensuring that indoor air quality is healthy. Dust lands inside of the ducts. When you turn on the HVAC system after a pause, the first thing that gets blown into the rooms is the dust that has settled inside the air vents. When there is built-up dust, it will continually circulate in your home. Checking the ducts also allows an HVAC technician to see if there are any leaks occurring, too. Leaks mean that the HVAC unit is producing 100 percent air, but you are only receiving a portion of it. Industry professionals already believe that 25 percent of air is lost in the ducts. There is no reason to encourage further loss.

Solution: Zoning

Zoned HVAC is the process of using dampers in the ductwork to seal off some vents and not others. The goal is to improve airflow because it is only going into some rooms as opposed to all the rooms. By re-routing the air, HVAC professionals have found that it also improves energy efficiency and eliminates several hot spot problems. Essentially, you take a look at the rooms where you spend the most time in, including anyone else living in the household. You may ventilate those rooms a priority. This often works especially if the hot spots were forming in the spaces where you spend a lot of time.

Solution: Complementing Systems

Several factors are taken into consideration in trying to eliminate hot spots. The size of the house, the number of floors and the number of rooms. In some cases, one system is not able to eliminate hot spots altogether. If that is the case for you, an HVAC professional has the resources, knowledge, and equipment to put together a plan with complementing components. It begins with solid heating, cooling, and ventilation system. From there, maybe dampers are necessary. The goal is to achieve airflow balance.

If there are any obvious obstructions, they are addressed, too. Even though the air is usually flowing, it can rest in a space that is enclosed. Opening a window is great for getting air to re-circulate again. Plus, it allows fresh air in and the stale air out. You can need to complement opening the windows more often with an air purifier or air cleaner. Insulation is also helpful.

To fix the hots spots in your Palm Desert, CA, home, call us at Breeze Air Conditioning to schedule an appointment today. We also offer HVAC maintenance, repair, and installation services.

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