Residential heater issue

[jheine]

I have a 2 story house that has one ac/heating unit with a thermostat for upstairs and a separate thermostat downstairs with a damper. Just noticed that when the heater is activated downstairs it's also blowing out upstairs. It also blows upstairs only when that thermostat is activated. Any ideas???

[pwg11386]

sounds like you need a zoning system installed instead of that silly slave damper setup.

[jheine]

By zoning system are you talking about two separate systems? If so, that's not an option at least at this point. Been in the house for 8 years with no problems. Just trying to figure out what may be causing this issue? Trying to get an idea so I can see if it's something I can fix or at least not get taken to the cleaners by a repairman.

[captube]

It could be damper is adjusted to flow some upstairs to keep unit from hitting limit or it could be damper is adjusted so some air goes up when in cooling to help upstairs, hard to tell.
Or if it was not doing this before maybe the damper is not shutting all the way.

[egads]

You do not get taken to the cleaners by hiring a repairman. You get taken by hiring a hack. A true professional will solve your problems competently. This place is made up of professional repairmen. You don't want to come on here asking for help and insulting them.
Zoning can mean two things when discussed here. One way does mean two (or more) separate systems serving different areas. Zoning can also mean a dampers controlled by a board and thermostats directing air from a single unit to different parts of the house. That needs to be designed from the get go, because the ducts need to be at least 25% larger or you will have excessive static pressure and will cause issues with the main unit.

Depending on the age and brand of your system, it could be real zoning and it is automatically directing air upstairs when only the downstairs is calling because the system is monitoring static pressure and uses the other zone to "dump" excess air. If this is new behavior, then having a tech that is familiar with you brand and set up should be called. But you have not really posted enough information for anyone to help you. These guys need to know the model numbers of all your equipment, the square footage of your house and where you live (for starters)
Remember, it's the stingy man who pays the most.