Climate Zones

What the same house needs in zone 2 against zone 6, and why.

5 articles

• Humid and Dry Climates Need Different Machines, Not Just Different Sizes

  Two systems of identical tonnage behave completely differently depending on how much of that tonnage is available for cooling air.

• Balance Point — Where the Heat Pump Stops Being Enough

  Two lines on a chart decide the winter electricity bill of every heat pump in a cold climate.

• The Same House Needs Different Tonnage in Different Places

  A 2,000 sq ft house is a 5-ton job in Phoenix and a 2.5-ton job in Portland, and the reason is two numbers.

• Design Temperature — Why Systems Are Not Sized for the Record High

  Two numbers from a weather table decide the size of the equipment, and neither of them is the hottest or coldest it has ever been.

• AC Cannot Keep Up on the Hottest Days — By Design, Usually

  A system that keeps up on every day of the year is oversized for all the others. The question is how many days it should lose, not whether it should.