Smart technology is useful when it makes life better. More benefits with control and comfort for you as the user. But there are other features of the AirTouch and ZoneMaster range that are clever ideas designed to keep your home’s ducted air conditioning system safe.
Spill Zone is a safety feature on our controllers that is designed to prevent damage to your installation from unwanted pressure building up in your duct in the roof space. Every zone management system theoretically has the ability to turn off outlets so no air can flow which can be a problem if the air conditioner is running. This can cause huge pressure to build up in your ducts which could cause a length of duct to disconnect from a fitting or split. This means conditioned air doesn’t then get delivered to where you want it in your home, and could be expensive to get fixed.
Think of the Spill Zone feature as a safety valve to prevent this: It is a designated zone that if you turn off too many zones or close them off too much, AirTouch or ZoneMaster will open the designated spill zone and send air to it, in order to prevent unwanted pressure building up that could cause damage.
You will know if Spill Zone is active on your touch screen controller because a little S will appear next to the designated zone name to indicate it is on. It is a normal safety feature. When you open up other zones, the S will disappear as Spill Zone will no longer be required.
The system software is always monitoring, and will turn Spill Zone on when required.
14 Responses
I like the idea of Spill as a safety feature, but I’m tempted to disable it because I observe in practice that it is always activated as the system nears its set point. This means a lot of conditioned air gets pumped into the spill zone, which may not be a zone worth cooling (eg if everyone is asleep).
What do you think?
Hi Andrew, it isn’t possible to disable the spill function. It is an important safety feature to protect your AC from unwanted pressure build up. A solution could be to change the zone used for the spill function in your system settings.
How can I change the spillover zone.
Also, does the airtouch 4 console have a temperature sensor itself?
Hi Marcus, the console does have a temperature sensor. Unless you have additional wireless temperature sensors, the default temp sensor is often the AC unit sensor which is in the return air for your system.
Spill Zone stays in forever until you power down the system
Hi Spencer, the Spill Zone will run only when it needs too. If you close off too many zones, the spill with run but will turn off if you open up a few more zones.
Can I change the spill zone to another room??
Hi Vicki, yes you can change the zone used for the spill function. Access through the Quick menu> Settings> Installer settings.
We have this system and what I don’t like is when we close off a room it still comes out of that vent into that room. Why does it do that when it shouldn’t.
Hi Tania, Spill Zone is an important safety feature and can’t be disabled. It is designed to protect your system from a build up of air pressure if too many zones are closed off and the AC unit is left on, outputting conditioned air.
Hi, we just got a new system yesterday. I have turned on two of our 5 zones this morning.
My question is, can I also turn it on to heat a zoned bedroom where the person chooses to sleep all night with their door closed or will it cause a pressure build up of some sort.
Hi Trish, with ducted reverse cycle systems the cooled/heated air from the outlets needs to find its way back to the return air, which is normally a large filtered grille in a common area like a hallway. That is why if you have a zone turned on, you should leave its door open for optimum airflow and for your system to work properly.
Hi there I find the spill zone room is always much colder than the others and never gets up to the temperature we set. Is there anything we can do about this?
Hi Lisa, that may happen if spill is active in that zone. Try opening other zones so spill doesn’t need to run, then you should have better control with the area.