Here are the six common sense rules that people should know to make designing systems a breeze. These guidelines should be followed while grouping rooms together to form a zone.
Different Floors Should Never Be Combined On The Same Zone: The fact that hot air rises and cold air falls is terrible in the sense of comfort. It is an universal fact that there is nothing worse than a customer with a hot head or cold feet!
Rooms of Different Construction Types Should Never Be Zoned In The Same Zone: A new addition will generally have its own thermostat and better insulation than the rest of the home. Hence, it will act differently than the older sections of the home.
Rooms That Have Perimeter Walls Areas Should Never Be Zoned With Rooms That Are Entirely Internal To The Structure: As outside temperature changes do not affect them, it is better to group all internal rooms together whenever possible.
All Thermostats Should Be Located In The Room Used The Most In Any Area: Similar to non-zoned systems, never install thermostats in hallways. You can do so if you plan to do most of your work in the hallways.
Rooms With Conflicting Solar or Mechanically Generated Heat Loads Should Not Be Put On The Same Zone: For example, a east facing room that receives a heavy morning sun load should not be put on the same zone as a western facing room.
Always Try To Maintain Minimum Two Registers For Any One Zone: This leads to better stability of the air flow and, you get a guarantee that air will flow when your dog decides to nap on top of one.
It may not be possible to follow every rule, but at least taking them into consideration while designing a system will get you away from a lot of trouble.
