Have you ever experienced your AC shutting down randomly? This crazy phenomenon is referred to as short-cycling. Unfortunately short-cycling can damage your AC system, as it burdens it with wear and tear that it is not designed to withstand. This starts to creates a double blow for you the homeowner.

First, the wear and tear can quickly reduce the lifespan of your unit, which will require more repairs than it normally would. Secondly, the additional load on the system will make it inefficient, which will also increase your energy bill. You will probably want to prevent either of these things from happening, so this is the time to reach out to Duncklee.

Short-Cycling Causes

You are dealing with this issue and likely want to know what is the main cause, well there are four common sources:

Thermostat Location

So you might not be aware but your thermostat functions by tracking the temperature in the room. When the thermostat notices that the room is too warm or too cold, then it takes the required action. So if your thermostat is placed in a location that has a different temperature than the rest of the room, then it won’t be able to take an accurate reading which leads to mixed signals being sent to the AC Unit. This would explain why the AC keeps shutting off early.

Here are some examples of inappropriate locations for your thermostat:

• are under a vent
• near a window
• close to a door that leads outside.

So take a look at where you have your thermostat and see if the location is causing your system to short cycle.

Blocked Air Filter

The air filter on your system takes in warm air from the room, sends it through the evaporator coils, and then releases it back into the room. So if there is excess dust blocking the filter, then this will restrict the air supply. If air isn’t getting in, then the coils will start to freeze over and this will eventually cause the system to create a short-cycling.

Leaking Refrigerant

Your compressor comes with a low-refrigerant pressure fail-safe. When the pressure in the system drops, the compressor detects this and switches off. Once it does so, the pressure in the system begins to build up once again. This prompts the compressor to switch on. So do you see where the problem is? Well the compressor can’t work with low pressure and so if your system is leaking refrigerant, the short-cycling will continue.

An Oversized AC

So it is actually possible to have an AC unit that is too large for the area that it’s supposed to be cooling. Now if this is the case, the AC will cool the room too quickly and then switch off until it detects the need to switch back on. This is actually bad because the constant switching on and off is inefficient, and will result in higher power bills as well as heavy wear and tear on the AC.

So what Can You Do?

For starters, always take preventive measures like arranging for regular maintenance for your AC. If you happen to spot a problem like this, do not attempt to handle it yourself. Only certified professionals know enough about the system to safely repair it.