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A zone damper having a first portion responsive to the static pressure in a HVAC system to open and bleed an amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above a selected level, a second portion controlled by a actuator to move between an open and a clos

A zone damper having a first portion responsive to the static pressure in a HVAC system to open and bleed an amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above a selected level, a second portion controlled by a actuator to move between an open and a closed position in response to a zone thermostat, and a coupling mechanism coupling the first and second portions to limit the relative movements of the two portions with respect to each other, and a biasing mechanism exerting a torque against the system static pressure differential. The first portion can be a single one-piece undivided blade pivotally mounted with a shell surrounding the zone damper.

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1. A zone damper responsive to a zone thermostat, the damper comprising: a shell, an actuator, a coupling mechanism, and a mechanical blade portion responsive to a static pressure differential in a HVAC system to open and bleed an amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of

1. A zone damper responsive to a zone thermostat, the damper comprising: a shell, an actuator, a coupling mechanism, and a mechanical blade portion responsive to a static pressure differential in a HVAC system to open and bleed an amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above a selected level, said mechanical blade portion also selectively driveable to an open position by the actuator, operation of the actuator to drive the mechanical blade portion being controlled by a temperature signal received by the actuator from the zone thermostat, and the coupling mechanism coupled to the mechanical blade portion, wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a shaft coupled to one of the mechanical blade portion and the actuator, and a cylinder surrounding the shaft, wherein the cylinder is coupled to the other of the mechanical blade portion and the actuator, one of the shaft and cylinder including a slot and the other of the shaft and the cylinder including a projection which freely travels in the slot from a first end to a second end, allowing relative rotational motion between the shaft and the cylinder, the slot positionable by the actuator in a first position to allow the relative rotational motion between the shaft and cylinder to open and close the mechanical blade portion to bleed the amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above the selected level, and the slot positionable by the actuator in a second position to allow the relative rotational motion between the shaft and cylinder to always maintain the mechanical blade portion in the open position. 2. The zone damper of claim 1, further comprising a biasing member coupled to the mechanical blade portion to bias the projection toward the first end of the slot so that a relative position of the mechanical blade portion is biased toward a closed position when the slot is positioned by the actuator in the first position. 3. The zone damper of claim 1, wherein movement of the slot to the second position by the actuator causes the mechanical blade portion to open so that the mechanical blade portion is not responsive to a static pressure differential within the HVAC system. 4. A zone damper comprising an actuator and a shell containing a damper blade controlled by the actuator via a coupling mechanism to move between an open and a closed position in response to receipt by the actuator of an electrical signal from a zone thermostat, the damper blade, while in the closed position, being movable relative to the shell and responsive to the static pressure in a HVAC system to open and bleed an amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above a selected level, the coupling mechanism coupling the damper blade and the actuator to limit the relative movement of the damper blade to a predetermined range of movement with respect to the shell to enable the damper blade, only while in the closed position, to be responsive to the static pressure in the HVAC system to open and bleed the amount of conditioned air past the damper when the static pressure of the system increases above the selected level, and also to always maintain the damper blade open while in the open position, wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a shaft coupled to one of the damper blade and the actuator, and a cylinder surrounding the shaft, wherein the cylinder is coupled to the other of damper blade and the actuator, one of the shaft and cylinder including a slot and the other of the shaft and cylinder including a projection which travels in the slot between a first end and a second end allowing rotational relative movement between the shaft and the cylinder to limit the relative movement of the damper blade to the predetermined range of movement. 5. The zone damper of claim 4, further comprising a biasing member coupled to the damper blade to bias the damper blade to remain closed while in the closed position and not be moveable relative to the shell. 6. The zone damper of claim 5, wherein the biasing member comprises at least one weight situated on the damper blade so that gravity acting on the at least one weight biases the damper blade to remain closed while in the closed position and not be moveable relative to the shell. 7. The zone damper of claim 4, wherein movement of the actuator from a first position to a second position causes the damper blade to move from the closed position to the open position so that the damper blade is no longer responsive to a static pressure differential within the HVAC system. 8. A zone damper comprising: an actuator, a shell, a damper blade mounted within the shell and controlled by the actuator to move between an open and a closed position in response to receipt of signal from a zone thermostat, a coupling mechanism coupling the damper blade to the actuator such that the damper blade, while in the closed position, is movable relative to the shell and is responsive to the static pressure differential in a HVAC system to bleed an amount of conditioned air past the zone damper when the static pressure differential of the system increases, and a biasing element coupled to the damper blade to resist movement of the damper blade until the static pressure differential reaches a selected level, and wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a shaft directly coupled to one of the damper blade or the actuator and a cylinder surrounding the shaft, wherein the cylinder is directly coupled to the other of the damper blade or the actuator, one of the shaft and cylinder including a slot and the other of the shaft and cylinder including a projection which travels in the slot between a first end and a second end, allowing the damper blade, while in the closed position, to be movable relative to the shell and responsive to the static pressure differential in the HVAC system to bleed the amount of conditioned air past the zone damper when the static pressure differential of the system increases, wherein rotation of one of the shaft and the cylinder by the actuator to move the damper blade to the open position causes travel of the projection in the slot into contact with the second end of the slot, and the damper blade is moved to the open position. 9. The zone damper of claim 8, further comprising an adjustment feature for adjusting a bias exerted by the biasing element against the system static pressure differential to adjust said selected level. 10. The zone damper of claim 9, wherein the biasing element comprises a weight coupled to the damper blade. 11. The zone damper of claim 10, wherein the adjustment feature comprises an opening in the shell permitting access to the weight for changing the size and/or location of the weight. 12. The zone damper of claim 8, wherein the biasing element comprises a spring coupled to the damper blade. 13. The zone damper of claim 8, wherein the shaft is coupled to the damper blade, the cylinder is coupled to the actuator, the shaft includes the slot, and the cylinder includes the projection that projects into the slot. 14. The zone damper of claim 8, wherein the damper blade comprises a single one-piece undivided blade pivotally mounted within the shell. 15. The zone damper of claim 1, wherein travel of the projection in the slot between the first end and the second end, while the slot is in the first position, represents relative movement of the mechanical blade portion between a closed position that allows substantially no conditioned air past the damper, and a maximum open position of the mechanical blade portion responsive to the static pressure differential in the HVAC system to bleed the amount of conditioned air past the damper. 16. The zone damper of claim 1, where the projection being positioned nearer the first end of the slot in response to a first amount of the static pressure differential in the HVAC system, and the projection being positioned nearer the second end of the slot in responses to a second amount of static pressure differential in the HVAC system, the second amount be higher than the first amount. 17. The zone damper of claim 8, wherein the shaft is coupled to the actuator, the cylinder is coupled to the damper blade, the cylinder includes the slot, and the shaft includes the projection that projects into the slot.