Pnuematic vs. Electric motors for zoning of house

[sbraderd]

I have a 2-stroy house that I want to zone, upstairs & downstairs, because currently the whole house is one zone. I have quotes to have dampers put into each supply line (16 total, 8 on each floor, all 6" lines) from 2 different contractors. One guy wants to use Arzel pnuematic dampers and another wants to use EWC electric motor dampers. Which way is better? Pneumatic vs. electric motors? Arzel vs. EWC?

Any thoughts or experiences would be great.

Thanks,
Kelly

[jramunni]

I can share with you the reasoning behind our (Arzel's) choice of "Air Actuated" dampers.

No mechanical parts (gears, motors, switches) to fail or wear out.

No mechanical parts (gears, motors, switches) to generate noise.

No mechanical parts (gears, motors, switches) to generate heat.

Installation is simpler and quicker and without the hassle of wires to
each damper motor/switch

These reasons allow us to offer a 10 year warranty on our dampers

We have been using press/vac (<2 psi) to actuate our dampers for over 15 years and have no plans to move away from air.

jcr

[Jettinvr6sc]

your not saving any money with dampers, either way your still using the same size unit to heat or cool your house

[Todd S 2]

your not saving any money with dampers, either way your still using the same size unit to heat or cool your house

What did you mean by this statement?

[Todd S 2]

I have a 2-stroy house that I want to zone, upstairs & downstairs, because currently the whole house is one zone. I have quotes to have dampers put into each supply line (16 total, 8 on each floor, all 6" lines) from 2 different contractors. One guy wants to use Arzel pnuematic dampers and another wants to use EWC electric motor dampers. Which way is better? Pneumatic vs. electric motors? Arzel vs. EWC?

Any thoughts or experiences would be great.

Thanks,
Kelly

We use Arzel. I would recommend the Heat Pump Pro II zone panel.
I have it in my home and think it's the bomb.
Just sold another zone system today.
You'll love it.

[jramunni]

your not saving any money with dampers, either way your still using the same size unit to heat or cool your house

Zoning is more about comfort not energy savings, although if programmable stats are used in each zone and some area(s) (zone) of the house is in an occupied (set-back) period 24 hrs of the day, energy savings is very much possible. Bedrooms set-back during daytime hrs and living areas set-back at night.

The dynamics of zoning provide quicker temperature changes which allow for set-back periods to extend into peak load times without the concern of sluggish recovery times due to a lack of capacity. For instance you can set back the living area during the day and still recover occupied comfort setting during the late afternoon since the system will be recovering only a small percentage of the structure (living rm, dinning rm and kitchen. The bedrooms we can bring back to occupied set-points an hour before bedtime.

Most zoned homes serve less than 100% of the structure the majority of the time. If the system is set-up properly it will operate at lower capacities most of the cycle time saving energy. Keep in mind that a 3 ton unit can and will operate at a lower load capacity when the load is reduced at the coil. This lowers the current draw at the compressor thus saving energy. Install 2 stg variable equipment and the savings only increase with zoning.

jcr