Can you imagine how excited we’d be to tell you that we hold the secret to getting a 100% reliable performance from your home cooling system? We’d love to do so—but we’re not in the business of deceiving our customers! The fact remains that all air conditioning systems are subject to occasional operational issues. We’ll let you know as soon as that changes, but for now, the best we can do is to help you understand some potential problems that you may run into.
Today, we’ll specifically be looking at short cycling. We’ll get into what short cycling means, why short cycling may occur, and what you should do if your system develops this problem. (This is one instance in which professional air conditioning repairs in DFW metroplex may not always be necessary.) So read on, and be sure to reach out to a member of our team if it seems like your air conditioner is not running in its usual full cycles any longer.
An air conditioner is designed to run in complete cooling cycles. This is why it is so important to ensure that your whole-house cooling system is of the right size for your home—more on that in just a bit. If the system is starting up, running only very briefly, and then cycling back down, you’ve got a problem on your hand.
The umbrella term for this phenomenon is “short cycling.” One of the things that make short cycling both tricky and alarming is the fact that, like so many other problems that you may encounter with your AC, there are a number of different problems that may cause this larger symptom. Some are easy to resolve, while others can pose a threat to the system (and may not even be solvable!).
Short cycling, in the best case scenario, may simply be caused by a very dirty air filter. If the filter is too dirty, then the system will face an unmanageable amount of airflow resistance. It can start to overheat and may shut itself down to prevent damages. There is also a chance that your run capacitor is bad, and that will have to be replaced by a trained professional. Still, replacing a single component isn’t so bad.
However, you may also have a refrigerant leak. That refrigerant leak can definitely cause the system to overheat. It can also cause the evaporator coil to get too cold, in turn allowing for the condensation on that coil to freeze over. This exacerbates the problem, and a refrigerant leak could eventually do irrevocable damage to the system. A professional will need to repair the leak and recharge the AC.
Finally, it is possible that your system is just not of the right size for your home. While an AC that is too big and is cooling the home too quickly may not sound like a problem, it will cause short cycling and that will cause a lot of wear and tear on the system. An undersized system will struggle to keep up, overheating and short cycling as a result. Unfortunately, replacing the system with an appropriately sized one is really the only course of action here. That is why a great AC installation is the only way to start your system off!
Schedule your AC services with CityLine Air Conditioning.
Tags: AC, AC Repair, air conditioner, air conditioning repair