Have you ever noticed areas in your house that are hotter than others? This is a common complaint and frequently asked question amongst homeowners in the Georgetown, TX area. In the HVAC profession, we refer to these areas in your house as hot spots. Hot spots are a frustrating occurrence because other rooms in the home feel perfectly comfortable.
Here’s the good news: hot spots are not something you have to live with!
In fact, calling in a trustworthy HVAC expert to diagnose and resolve a hot spot is really common. Some of our customers will deal with a sweltering space in their home for months – even years – thinking it doesn’t warrant a professional’s attention. In reality, we troubleshoot jobs like this frequently. So if you are frustrated with a room that’s unreasonably warm, give us a call.
Common Reasons for Hot Spots in Georgetown, TX Homes
You might be surprised to learn a broken air conditioner is usually not the reason for a hot spot. Your AC could work just fine, but there is much more to your home comfort system than the machine that produces cool air. Here are some common culprits for hot spots:
- Blocked Return Air Vents – It may seem logical that blocking the return air vent will help contain cool air in the space, but this is a myth. Cool air from your AC absorbs the heat in the space from windows, equipment, and people. So by blocking the return air grille, warm air gets trapped inside and makes it hotter than necessary. Keep your return grille unblocked to ensure free-flowing air in your spaces. Check that furniture and other items are not covering or blocking any air vents.
- Blocked Supply Vents – Many residential air conditioning vents have adjustable vanes, which can help direct or reduce airflow. Some homeowners try shutting off airflow in one room to increase airflow to the hot spot area. However, this can have the opposite effect. Restricting airflow to one area in your home can change the air distribution pattern – and in some cases it can make things worse. Experiment with opening all the vents in your home to the full position and see if this makes any difference.
- New or Changed Spaces – If your home has been renovated since your HVAC was installed, or if you have repurposed a room for a new use, that can definitely be a reason for a hot spot to develop. If new spaces have been added to your home, the air conditioning system should have been evaluated to see if it can cool the entire home adequately. Swapping a space from a bedroom to a home gym (complete with equipment that generates heat, like a treadmill or TV screen) can make a space feel much hotter than before. If you suspect this might be the case, call an HVAC professional to re-calculate your home’s cooling needs.
- Ductwork Problems – This issue can be stealthy because your ductwork is not the first thing that comes to mind as a source of your hot spot problems. One possibility is that the seal or insulation on your ductwork has deteriorated. That can allow cool air from your AC to escape to your attic. Maybe there are too many twists and turns in your ductwork, making them less effective at dispersing air evenly throughout your home. We’ve also seen physical obstructions, like the family’s Halloween decorations stored on top of a main duct run. DTC can help evaluate your ductwork to see if this could be the cause.
- It’s Just Hot – we’ve definitely encountered some homes where there is one space that’s just hotter than the others for a combination of reasons: south-facing windows, a lack of shade, poor wall insulation – it all adds up. Don’t worry – there IS a solution for this scenario!
How To Fix a Hot Spot In Your House
DTC has many solutions to resolve this issue. Because there are so many potential reasons for a hot spot, there’s no single fix to recommend. If you’ve already tried some of our DIY tips above, some solutions we might recommend for your home:
- Adjusting interior ductwork dampers, especially if you have a zoning system
- Ductwork repair or re-routing
- Installing a ductless mini-split in the space with a hot spot
- Replacing your air conditioner with a correctly sized unit
Our trained technicians can visit your home to pinpoint the source of the problem. It could be one or more of the things we explored above, or something else entirely, like a faulty thermostat or a Freon leak. We won’t know for sure until we check it out.
Call DTC at 512-887-5091 and we’ll schedule an appointment to visit your house. We’ve been fixing hot spots in Georgetown, Cedar Park, Hutto, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Leander, and all the surrounding areas for years – and we’re confident we can fix yours!