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Zone boundaries should follow the room loads
Separate thermostats sound appealing when rooms have different sun exposure or schedules, but I’m not sure they solve those differences by themselves. How do HVAC designers use room-by-room load calculations and the home’s layout to decide whether a group of rooms should be its own zone, rather than relying on careful duct design and balancing?
I’d also like to understand how they check that each zone can handle the airflow the system needs when only some zones are calling. What added controls, dampers, and maintenance should a homeowner expect with zoning, and when does that complexity meaningfully improve comfort?
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The “only some zones calling” case is the one I’d want checked explicitly. With every other zone closed, the open ducts may not carry the equipment’s minimum required airflow. The designer should compare that worst-case airflow with the equipment’s limits; if it doesn’t pencil out, the zoning design needs a suitable way to manage the airflow or a different zone arrangement.