Adding second HVAC zone to house

[edvan22]

Greetings all,

Great Forum! Glad I found it. I think I will be spending lots of time here.

I just bought a new 3 story townhome. It is heated cooled by a heatpump/AC unit and the air handler has resistance backup. I am guessing this is what is referred to as a 2 stage?

Anyway, the handler is in the finished basement with a main duct to the bottom two floors and a duct to the third floor. I want to creat a dual zone system with electronic dampers controlled by 2 thermostats one on the middle floor and one on the upstairs floor. I have some knowledge of how to do this but have a few questions.

- Is there a specific type of digital thermostat I need to control each floor or is just any digital thermostat going to work?

- Is there any plans on the net to build a controler for this type of setup. I have seen it done with Relays but I am thinking more digital logic. (I majored in Electrical Engineering in college for a year until I changed my major and think I can muddle through it with a plan) Or is there a reccomended controller that can be bought?

-Can anyone reccomend a place to by the dampers for the main ducts online or should I hit a local plumbing supply store?

Any other information would be terrific!

Thanks all,

ED

[Kodiak]

The theory behind it is very simple to do put in control panel, couple of dampers , and some thermostats. But what isnt thaught about is your system is designed to move x amount of air, close off a duct and now you have problems. Bypass Dampers will more than likely be needed, but the question is if one zone is calling what % of the overall system is that one zone. If you have a 4 ton system but only the upstairs is calling this might only be a 1.5 ton load , if your not moving all that other air you got problems. I have done many on typical a/c and heat not heatpumps(just hit me u said h/p).

[Kodiak]

http://www.ewccontrols.com/ultrazone/ultrazone.htm