Preventing Short Cycling for Your A/C Unit
It’s fairly easy to determine if your home’s A/C unit is short cycling. You’ll notice that the equipment repeatedly comes on, runs for just a short period of time, then shuts off again. These too-short cycles make it impossible to properly cool or dehumidify your home, and they can also adversely affect your A/C’s energy efficiency and life expectancy.
Why Proper Cycle Length Matters
When an air conditioner is operating normally, it starts up, runs until it reaches the thermostat temperature setting, then shuts off. Whenever the room temperature rises again the cycle repeats, typically two to three times per hour. If your A/C runs for too short a time instead, it won’t cool your home to a comfortable level. Repeated brief cycling also wastes energy and puts unnecessary strain on the cooling system’s components, making them more likely to break down and wear out prematurely.
Ways to Deal With Short Cycling
To prevent cycling problems, it’s good to know some of the possible causes, and whether you can fix the issue yourself or you need the help of an experienced HVAC pro to diagnose and correct the underlying problem, which may be:
- Clogged air filter. A badly-clogged air filter can cause severe airflow restrictions that lead to cycling problems. In this case, putting in a fresh filter regularly should be a long-term solution.
- Dirty evaporator coil. If there’s a coating of debris on the coil that’s interfering with the heat transfer process, it can affect the cycle length. Having the coils cleaned during annual preventive maintenance should be the cure.
- Low refrigerant. If the refrigerant level is too low, the system’s airflow will drop, resulting in short cycling. To solve this, a technician will need to check for and fix any leaks, then top up the refrigerant.
- Oversized equipment. Too much capacity can cause brief cycling and ineffective cooling. To correct this, your HVAC pro can do a load calculation and offer you properly-sized new equipment options.
We have extensive experience in the home comfort field and we are prepared to provide you with any assistance you may require.
Reach out to a Team Member Today!
We Can Help Simplify Your Home's Maintenance!
When you join the VIP Comfort Club at Sherlock Plumbing, Heating & Air, our Carlsbad home service experts will take care of maintaining your home’s most important systems so you can relax and enjoy not having to stress about problems with your heating, cooling, or plumbing!
Top Rated Customer Reviews
See What Your Neighbors Are Saying
Top Rated Customer Reviews
See What Your Neighbors Are Saying
Outstanding experience from start to finish. Neil was on time, professional, and very personable when he came the same day to assess my needs and provide an on-the-spot estimate. He didn't try and pre...
Extremely pleased with the quick and professional service we received today! Our 14-year-old AC unit went out last night, i called this morning and a technician came out this afternoon. The fix was re...
Sherlock continues to be there for my family when we need them the most. I had a new HVAC system installed May of 2019, since then the service techs have come in for their seasonal inspections and I c...
Anthony, came to inspect the plumbing in my house as well as to drain and refill the water heater. I found him to be very informative and helpful, as well as professional and friendly. I was really ve...
Our water heater started leaking and a call to Sherlock was met with a same day response. Neil came out to explain our options of tank/tankless, gas/electric. He walked us through the pros and cons of...
This has been the best experience with a company we have ever had in our 50 plus years of marriage. From Vincent to Eric and his whole crew this was a very difficult project for everyone. They handled...
Hands down, these guys are the best. I had bids from three other highly rated HVAC companies in North County and none of them came close to the technical knowledge and professionalism of Sherlock. My ...
Sherlock is the coolest! As always, Yelpers are right on. Basing my picks on high stars and number of reviews, I called four companies. Right off the bat, I knew one company wasn't even an option due ...
This is a review not so much for Sherlock, but for Fred Radtke - the young man that came and got my heater working. He not only installed a new thermostat on the spot that is easier to read - and repl...
Eric came out to fix my non-working air conditioner. He was professional, very nice, honest, knew his stuff. He had to over to Escondido to get the proper part, and returned on same afternoon, put the...
Justin the sales agent, was great, very patient and responsive. The gentlemen who came in to work on the installation were great, explained everything and very respectful and clean. I had the unfortun...
Jared was our inspector and he showed up on time with a 30 min courtesy call. He was efficient and gave us an honest opinion of what was working and what needed to be repaired or replaced or serviced ...
Ahhh! Cool and comfortable in our house now. Thank you to the awesome guys who installed this high quality equipment. Good to have Costco stand behind them, too.
There is a reason this place has nothing but five stars. They earn it! I have had no AC in the house and was procrastinating on getting it fixed due to the cost and lack of need most of the year. I wa...
JR, JoJo, and Eric came to my condo yesterday to install my HVAC system and Heat Pump. They were very meticulous and on task for the whole installation, and kept me informed as to what they were doing...
I had a great experience with Sherlock, from start to finish! Justin met with me and spent a few hours walking me through the current condition of my system and what Sherlock can offer. I had budget l...
My experience with Sherlock Heating & Air has been amazing from the start when I first got my new heating & air conditioning system!!! They know how to deliver customer service!! They are hone...
The tagline for Yelp's 5 star rating of "Woohoo! As good as it gets!" is 100% fitting for the work and professionalism of Jared and Enoch. They were courteous and upfront with the entire job. I found ...
Just had an ACHP service done yesterday on the two units in my home. Their service rep was Jared Pratt. This guy was great! He took the time to do it right and to explain to me (every step of the way)...
I came to Sherlock by way of the Nest website--checked out the Yelp reviews and then made the call. Eric M., the technician who installed my 3rd gen Nest Learning Thermostat was courteous, knowledgeab...
Buying HVAC for an entire house is not an investment to be undertaken without some research. It's probably going to cost more than $15K and will require a crew of techs working in your house for sever...
FINALLY an AC & heating business I can trust!!! Woo-Hoo!!!! If Sherlock Heating and Air Conditioning isn't a small family business, you would think they are! They are so kind, meticulous, honest, ...
If my wife and I could give 6 stars we would! Carlos, Jojo and Joe installed our new HVAC system today, 31st October 2016. Started the day at 8AM and ending roughly around 615PM. I was impressed by th...
Called Sherlock based on reviews here, as we've had less than stellar experiences with other local area HVAC companies. They scheduled an appointment within a couple days, the guy who came out could n...
Been using Sherlock for a couple years. Jared and Eric came out for the yearly check/tune-up. Both were super friendly, informative, timely, and put on shoe protectors whenever they came in the house!...