Can My House Have 2 Thermostats?

If you have a two-story house, you've probably dealt personally with a basic physical science concept: Warm air rises. This means the rooms on your second story often have completely different ambient temperatures than those below. It could also mean some people are uncomfortably cold or some are too warm, even if you get the temperature perfectly cozy in one location.

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If your house has two thermostats, though, you may not face this common frustration.

Why Do I Have Two Thermostats in My House?

The reason a home has more than one thermostat is to control the temperature in various rooms or locations in the house. You might think this means you have multiple air conditioning units, but you can actually have two thermostats and only one unit. In fact, you can have more than two thermostats depending on how your HVAC zoning is set up.

How Do Two Thermostats Work Together?

If you have multiple thermostats in your home, they probably work in one of two basic ways. The first and most obvious mechanism is that you have a thermostat for every HVAC unit you have. This would be more likely in a very large home. It's obviously more expensive than working with a single overall HVAC unit, as you'll have to install an additional compressor and separate ductwork and other components.

However, with a multi-zone thermostat system, you use two or more thermostats to control the temperature in various locations, but the air conditioning itself comes from a single unit. This is usually achieved by building separate ducting or installing dampers in the ducts. Thermostats control how air flows through the system and whether dampers are open or shut in various locations. The result is that you can have cool or warm air flowing into one room or area of the home when it isn't flowing into other areas.

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How Do Dual Thermostats Work in a Two-Story House?

Dual thermostats in two-story houses work the same as they do in any other home. Usually, you want to have a thermostat located on each level of the house so they get accurate temperature readings that cause the HVAC system to power on or off as needed.

Many people recommend a 2-degree rule if your house has two thermostats and two stories. You choose the ideal temperature. In the winter, you set the thermostat on your main floor at that temperature.

You set the thermostat on the floor above 2 degrees cooler. For instance, you would set the thermostat on your main living floor at 74 degrees if you find that comfortable. You'd then set the thermostat on the floor above that at 72 degrees.

In the summer, you reverse the process. You'd set the upper floor at the desired temperature and the lower floor at 2 degrees cooler.

Because warmer and cooler air will cycle through your home according to physical science principles, having different temperature zones on each floor can help the temperature average out to where you want it to be.

Is It Worth Having Two Thermostats?

If there aren't already multiple thermostats in your home, you may wonder if it's worth getting a multi-zone system installed. It depends on how important the ideal temperature in every room is to you and your family and whether your home has definitively hotter or colder rooms. If people are regularly very uncomfortable in one or more rooms because of temperature issues, having two thermostats and dual-zone HVAC can be helpful.