Smart Homes: How To Maintain Temperature In Floors And Rooms In Your Kansas City Home
Kansas City residents are used to experiencing the full spectrum of seasons. With cold temperatures during winters and hot summers, you need your home’s internal temperature to stay consistent year-round. However, maintaining a comfortable temperature is easier said than done. If you’re struggling to maintain the temperature in your Kansas City home, a smart thermostat could be just what you need.
In this informative article, our Kansas City insulation experts outline the main causes of a lack of consistent temperature in the home, ways in which smart thermostats can help maintain temperature and limitations of smart thermostats. After reading this article, you’ll be on your way to achieving a consistent, ideal temperature in your Kansas City, MO home!
Causes of Uneven Temperature In House
More often than not, homeowners are more likely to notice unwanted heat loss than unwanted air conditioned air loss. After stepping into your Kansas City, MO home following a snowy, blustery day, you’re likely to be sensitive to a lack of warm air in one room compared to another. Your thermostat is set to 70 degrees, so why is that one room so chilly?
- Leaky air ducts. If your ducts have holes, tears or loose joints, air will escape. This can cause a multitude of problems, one of which is uneven temperature in your house.
- Closed vents. Make sure all of your vents are open. Closed vents may force more air into another room, resulting in uneven temperatures.
- Dirty vent filters. If your filters are long overdue for replacement, air may not be able to get through the filter as efficiently.
- Thermostat issues. Traditional thermostats sense the temperature in the room they are located in. Thus, if another room is warmer or cooler, your thermostat settings won’t be able to sense this and won’t turn on and off accordingly.
- Lack of insulation. Did you know that your insulation deteriorates and loses its thermal resistance over time? It can also become less effective if damaged. This can result in uneven temperature pockets.
- Air leakage. Gaps around vents, electrical outlets, switch plates, door and window frames and more can result in unwanted air exchange, leading to cold spots.
Improvements in technology, namely smart home technology, have led to advancements in energy efficiency and comfort. Two types of smart home technology that you may want to consider include smart thermostats and smart vents.
Smart Homes: How Smart Technology Works To Maintain Temperature
Smart thermostats connect to your home’s WiFi and adapt according to your own usage patterns. This can help make your Kansas City, MO home more energy efficient, which also saves you money. Many smart thermostats come with remote sensors, which may be placed in each of your rooms. If some of your rooms are colder than others, you can program this thermostat to bring the temperature in that room up to your desired average.
Smart vents work even better than smart thermostats, with the best possible temperature control solution being a combination of both. Say the main room in your house is at 70 degrees, but another room is at 65. You can program your smart vents to close in the main room when 70 degrees is achieved and reroute the air to the cooler room to bring it up to 70 degrees as well. The same can be done with your air conditioner in colder months.
Where Smart Thermostats Fall Short
Smart technology like smart thermostats and smart vents are great tools for making sure that the production of heat and cooling is being optimally used. Instead of bumping up the heat—and your energy usage—to get that cooler room up to temperature, these systems work to maintain temperature across several rooms without using more energy.
The main drawback of this technology is that they don’t address the underlying causes of uneven temperatures in your house. You may be dealing with uninsulated ducts, air leaks and a lack of insulation in your walls, attics and floors. To fully improve your Kansas City, MO home’s energy efficiency, you’ll need to address these issues first.
One of the best ways to find out where you’re falling short of your energy efficiency goals is to get an energy audit done. Energy audits involve a series of specialized tests performed by an insulation and energy expert, the most well-known of which is the blower door test. This test involves hooking up a large blower to your door frame and running it to determine areas where air leakage is occurring. An air sealing service will be recommended to seal these gaps.
During this audit, your current insulation levels will also be assessed. If you need your attic insulation topped off, one or a combination of the following types of insulation may be used:
- Blown-in cellulose insulation
- Blown-in fiberglass insulation
- Fiberglass batts
- Mineral wool batts
- Denim cotton batts
- Closed-cell spray foam insulation
- Open-cell spray foam insulation
A consultation with an insulation specialist will allow you to identify areas where you could use more insulation. This specialist will also use their extensive knowledge to make recommendations on the appropriate insulation type for your home.
Maintain The Temperature In Your Home In Kansas City, MO
Are you struggling with uneven temperatures in your house in Kansas City, MO? Our expert team at Koala Insulation of South Kansas City can help you meet your temperature and energy efficiency goals. Since opening our doors, we’ve successfully served residents in areas such as Overland Park, Lee's Summit, Mission and Fairway with cutting-edge blown-in insulation, air sealing and ventilation solutions according to the latest energy-efficient building codes.
If you’re struggling to maintain the temperature in your Kansas City, MO home, our free on-site insulation evaluation is just what you need. Simply give us a call at 816-929-8255 or fill out our online estimate request form and we’ll send one of our professional, friendly and experienced insulation experts out to your property to conduct an assessment. Don’t put up with uneven temperatures and high energy bills—invest in future energy savings by working with Koala Insulation today!