A short cycling air conditioner is never a good thing. We want to start this blog post by saying that if you’re AC is short cycling, or exhibiting any other signs of problems occurring inside the unit, then you should call our team for AC repair in Rio Rancho, NM. We can help you with fast repairs that can get your system back up and running so you can avoid the summer heat.
However, many people don’t know the intricacies behind a short cycling air conditioner, and we don’t want to exclude any potential customers or friends. So, we’d like to talk about short cycling and mainly why it’s such a huge issue.
For all those readers out there who might not even know what “short cycling” is, then we urge you to keep reading. We’re going to cover everything there is to know about a short cycling air conditioner and why it needs to be fixed.
What Is Short Cycling?
For anyone that hasn’t formally looked up the term “short cycling” before, what do you think it is? Luckily, it’s exactly as the name implies–when your air conditioner runs in short cycles!
A short cycling air conditioner is different from a normal one, because a normal cycle should last for at least 15 to 20 minutes to nominally cool down your home. If your air conditioner only runs for about 5 minutes before it abruptly shuts off, then it’s likely short cycling.
Remember, even if the AC is managing to cool off your entire home in 5 minutes, it’s not supposed to do this so quickly. There are some serious ramifications with an AC that short cycles.
Why Short Cycling Is a Bad Thing
Short cycling is bad for many different reasons, but one of the most important ones is that it can be damaging for the internal components of your system. The unit uses different amounts of energy and stresses different components out when it starts up, runs, and shuts down. Just because something runs for longer doesn’t mean it works harder.
When you use a car in stop-and-go traffic, it can wear the components of your vehicle down more than if you were traveling on the highway. Think of a short cycling air conditioner like a car that’s going through terrible, bumper-to-bumper traffic, wearing down certain components through starting and stopping over and over again.
3 Causes of Short Cycling
Here are just three causes of a short cycling air conditioner.
Refrigerant Leak
A low amount of refrigerant can cause an air conditioner to abruptly shut down due to its inability to run properly. A refrigerant leak can be exhibited in a number of different ways, but it always needs to be repaired by a pro.
An Overheating System
If your air conditioner starts overheating, it will abruptly shut down and thus be considered as a short cycling system. This is bad and can seriously stress out your AC unit.
An AC That’s Oversized
An AC that’s too large will cool down the air in your home too quickly, stressing out certain components and leading the system to short cycle.
Call First Rate Plumbing Heating and Cooling Inc for help with your short cycling AC. Quality work, exuberant service.