[Greenbuilding] best energy-efficient setup? - thermostat on unused floor

Ewanski, Patricia Patricia.Ewanski at dnvkema.com
Thu Aug 22 21:12:40 CDT 2013


Ok, one of my friends has this setup and asked me for my 2 cents. I was unsure of a few things and thought I'd ask you all for your 2 cents as well. Here goes:
She lives in Tucson, AZ. Her house is 3 floors but has split levels as noted below:

First Floor: Enclosed garage. no cooling needs here.

(+ four stairs =) Kitchen, Dining Space and Living Room. She spends the most time here during waking hours when at home. It's also the coldest floor when the AC is running.

(+ six stairs =) Second Floor: Two bedrooms and a guest bathroom. She spends almost no time on this floor and it will remain unoccupied until she decides if she's going to rent out a room. One of the rooms will be a guest room eventually and she'll need cooling. Vents to both of these bedrooms are currently shut off to conserve cool air for 1st and 3rd floor.

(+ six stairs =) Open Loft. She currently spends no time here, but would like to create an office space here someday soon. It overlooks the lower level living room and the ceiling rises up to top floor bedroom height.

(+ six stairs =) Third Floor: Master Bedroom + bath. She sleeps here but is usually not up here at other times.

The thermostat is on the 2nd floor and she has asked me if she should close the vents there. If she closes the vents, then the thermostat will read a higher temperature and keep attempting to cool it down. But she doesn't use the rooms on the second floor. Any suggestions? Should she get someone to move her thermostat? If so, where to?

She shares two walls with other townhomes. Most of her windows face south.

Thanks in advance!
Patricia
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20130823/c6aba19f/attachment.html>


More information about the Greenbuilding mailing list