Changing a three zone system to one zone

[Inspectorslg]

I presently have a Bryant Four (4) zone system heat pump system in my home. I would like to keep one (1) zone for my garage. The other three (3) zones all have their own thermostates.
I would like to wire the three zone thermostates to one central thermostate.
Can this be done? The system has a Bryant zone perfect control unit. The way I see it THE ONE THERMOSTATE WILL CALL FOR HEAT OR AIR AND OPEN ALL THE DAMPERS.
Not to happy with the zones system. I think my electric bills are more with the zones. By the way it's a heat pump system here in Florida.
Thanks,
Steve

By the way I just had a new 4 ton 15 seer unit installed. The zones are original to the home when I built it 15 years ago.

[skippedover]

That's a 4-wire, ABCD zone control system. You should be able to control the whole system from the main User Interface. You can have our installing company wire all the zone dampers to one zone and just leave the garage as the second zone. I'm surprised at your disappointment with the zoned system. Properly installed and set-up, they're usually bullet proof and quite energy efficient. Is there a chance something isn't operating properly? I think a call to your HVAC technical advisor is warranted.

[Inspectorslg]

Thanks for the fast reply.
I can wire the thermostates, that's no problem. I kind of figured it would work.
When they put the system in they wired my master bedroom as one zone with the other two bedrooms. Only thing the other two bedrooms are on the other side of the house. The two rooms on the other side are either way too hot or not cold enough.

[408-COUPE]

So you want 2 thermostats total. One for your garage, then the other to control the rest of the house where the 3 used to be? Either way it is doable.

[Inspectorslg]

Yes 408. I'm going to by a new thermostate (Carrier Edge for Heat Pumps) and install it somewhere in the middle of the house. Then run all the wiring to that unit.

[Inspectorslg]

Yes, leaving the garage all by itself.

[Inspectorslg]

By the way this forum is unbelievable. I never saw such a fast reply and I belong to other forums.
Great job guys.

[Danimal535]

Are you actually using the same system that heats and cool a living space to heat and cool your garage?

[totalcomfort]

Are you actually using the same system that heats and cool a living space to heat and cool your garage?
I have the same question?? This is a big safety issue if it is done this way!!!
It is against code in my state. Car exhaust and other stuff can be pulled into the ducting and spread around the whole house.

[Inspectorslg]

I do not store my vehicles in the garage so that's not an issue. If I want to do something with a vehicle I turn the air on, pull the vehicle in and turn the engine off.
I'm a retired law enforcement officer and have seen way to many carbon dioxide poisioning deaths.

[firecontrol]

If my memory serves me right the Bryant zone perfect system uses smart sensor style thermostats and modulating zone dampers. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. :whistle: You will need to use a thermostat/sensor that is listed for that system or it won't work.

Reducing the system to a single zone is not necessarily going to solve your problem and could potentially make it worse. The way it sounds now the bedrooms connected to the master bedroom stat are the problem areas. Going to a single control will only move the point of reference for controlling the temperature in the entire house. The base problem is the rooms in question are loosing or gaining heat at a different rate than other areas of the home and because of this are not being conditioned at the needed rate. You can solve this problem sometimes by setting the system to constant ventilation when there isn't a zone calling for either heating or cooling. This will run the fan and open all the dampers which might hopefully even out the temperatures more when there isn't a call from any zone.

Another way of potentially solving the problem is to have someone with the proper testing equipment measure the air flow from the bedroom(s) vents. Once this information is acquired and a heat loss and cooling load calculation is done on the rooms they possibly can adjust (balance) the system's duct work and the dampers for the respective rooms to get them to be closer in temperature.

As far as the garage being on the same system as the house, it's against the code/law here as well due to cross contamination reasons. The fact that you don't store vehicles in there is mute. If there is an overhead door or any other way to get a vehicle in that space it's a garage. It's one of those things like if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck.......... it's a duck according to the code. That installation should never have passed inspection when it was installed, or there's always the other option, that is no building permit or inspection was ever done.