I’m brand new to this so please be gentle… I have a home probably like many where the bedrooms are upstairs while the living space is mostly on ground level. It occurs to me that heating and cooling the ground level of the home at night and the upstairs during the day is a waste of money. Are there devices that will open/close individual vents or ducts that are programmable? Can a secondary thermostat be placed in the upstairs that controls the temp for the night hours? Can these items be wireless and is there a solution via Smart Things?
I know very little about these things, but I think you need a two stage system for something like that. Separate upstairs, and downstairs cooling & heating systems.
From the research I did awhile back simply closing vents can be bad on the system, and cause excess wear on it. It can also cause a vacuum in which can be counter productive.
Yes, they are available. They are called zone dampers. I am having them put into my new house. I am running two unit but the zone dampers will further control the heating and cooling. There will be 4 thermostats that will control the zones. Most large buildings use these because their systems run 24/7 but only direct air where it is needed.