Short cycling is when your air conditioning (or heater) turns on and off more frequently than usual. Its never a good sign when your AC is short cycling. Your air conditioner is meant to turn on, run 10 15 minutes to cool the home to the desired temperature and shut off. If you notice your unit starts to short cycle, call your air conditioning repair company.
Why Short Cycling is Bad
You may think that its not a big deal because your home may still feel cool, however, its bad for the entire unit. It indicates theres a problem and that you need a repair. If you neglect the AC short cycling, youll end up prematurely replacing your unit. Its also going to drive your electric bill up.
Why Does it Happen?
Were often asked this question and theres no one answer. Basically, something interrupts the cooling cycle which leads to the unit prematurely shutting off. Some issues we find in units experiencing short cycling include:
- Dirty air filters which overwork the unit.
- Multiple thermostat issues from dead batteries to miscalibration.
- Low refrigerant or a leak in the system.
- Power issues in the unit or the home that trip the circuit.
Although this rarely happens on a new unit, if it does, the unit is likely not large enough to properly cool your home and is overworking. The HVAC installers should have sized the unit to your home.
What to Do
If you check your thermostat batteries and theyre fine and your air filters are clean (or replacing them doesn’t solve the problem), you need an air conditioning repair company . Call Poormans Heating & Air and let us know your AC is short cycling. Well schedule an appointment with one of our experienced technicians who will work to find the problem and repair it. Reach us at (260) 422-3534 or fill out our contact form for your appointment.