Short Cycling – Why Air Conditioner is Turning On and Off Rapidly

Short Cycling – Why Air Conditioner is Turning On and Off Rapidly

Many customers experience a problem where they notice their unit is frequently turning on and off rapidly, this problem in the HVAC world is known as

. We can start off by saying that you should be concerned because it is bad for the air conditioner, as it can cause a

. There are a few reasons why this happens; we’ll cover them below.

Your unit is short cycling due to

Your air conditioner may be short cycling because it is repeatedly starting up then overheating (and shutting down) due to a bad compressor, dirty filters, dirty coils, low refrigerant, or frozen coils. An overcharged system will cause liquid Freon to get into your compressor and cause it to

. A malfunctioning compressor will overheat. Dirty filters will prevent adequate

and cause motors to overheat. Dirty coils, low refrigerant, and a frozen coil will prevent the system from

which will also cause motors to work harder than necessary and overheat. Overheating may be your short cycling problem.

Your system can be experiencing electrical problems from the thermostat, electrical connections, circuit boards, and run capacitor. The thermostat is the brain of the

can be causing your system to cycle on and off rapidly. Electrical connections send signals between the thermostat, circuit boards, and relays;

can lose signal, causing your unit to shut off early and short cycle. Circuit boards may also have gone bad or there are bad connections to them. Start capacitors help the unit

and a bad run capacitor will prevent the unit from

, so the unit may be starting up but if there is a bad run capacitor then it won’t continue to

. Short cycling can occur from the thermostat, electrical connections, circuit boards, and run capacitors.