Elderly Parent Moving Into Your Home? Consider Multi-Zoning Your HVAC Systems
If you are welcoming an elderly parent to live with you and your family in your home, you've probably prepared a bedroom and, perhaps, a bathroom for them. However, have you considered the heating and air conditioning? Here's what you need to know.
The elderly are unable to regulate their body temperature
It is well-known in the medical community that elderly men and women have a difficult time regulating their body temperatures. The inability to properly regulate their body temperatures increases their risks of temperature-related health problems, such as hypothermia and hyperthermia. Also, being too overheated can result in severe dehydration, which could lead to organs shutting down, coma, or death.
Certain medical conditions can be worsened in extreme temperatures
Additionally, certain medical conditions can become worse when the body is unable to regulate temperatures, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, multiple sclerosis, coronary heart disease, and hypertension, just to name a few. Therefore, it's important to help your parent regulate their body temperature by providing them with adjustable heating and air conditioning, particularly in their bedroom.
Multi-zone heating and air conditioning will help your parent
Retrofitting your existing heating and air conditioning systems will allow your parent to have control over the temperature, particularly in their bedroom, while keeping the rest of the household comfortable as well. This type of retrofit system essentially splits your home into various zones, with each zone being controlled by a separate thermostat.
The system also includes electronic baffles at each vent that will open and close as necessary to control the flow of heated or cooled air from the duct work. That way, when your parent's bedroom or other room they occupy at any given time needs to be warmer or cooler, the rest of the house will not be affected.
Multi-zone HVAC can help you save on energy costs
In addition to helping to keep your parent's body temperature regulated and to prevent their health from the adverse affects of temperatures that are too extreme for them, this type of system can help you save on energy costs. For example, the baffles in bedrooms that are not occupied during the day can be closed by adjusting or programming the thermostats in those rooms. This will reduce the amount of stress on the heating and air conditioning system, which can also reduce the risks of malfunctions and, therefore, repair costs. Contact your HVAC contractor for more information about zoning your home's heating and air conditioning systems.
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