Furnace Short-Cycling: Causes and Solutions

With colder days ahead, fall is definitely not the best time of year for your heating and air conditioning system to start having issues, one of the most common of which is short-cycling.

What is short-cycling, and how can you prevent it from interfering with your system’s ability to keep you warm this season? Let our HVAC professionals at Reliable AC & Heat help you with this common, extremely inconvenient issue.

What Is Short-Cycling?

Have you ever called an AC and heating service company because you noticed your air conditioning system repeatedly turning off and on by itself? This usually happens over an extended period of time when the unit has been continuously running. This phenomenon is known as short-cycling, and while it’s most noticeable in air conditioners, your furnace can be prone to the same problem as well.

What Causes Short-Cycling in Furnaces?

Short-cycling is usually a symptom of an underlying problem. For example, if you’re experiencing short-cycling with a brand-new furnace, then you may have issues with load sizing. This means your furnace hasn’t been properly sized and is actually meant to heat a much larger space. Because HVAC systems consume high amounts of energy after powering on, frequent on-off cycles can actually drive up your bills pretty quickly.

Resolving Short-Cycling Issues

One of the best ways to deal with this common problem is to prevent it from happening in the first place. You can do this by signing up for seasonal tune-ups and maintenance (and perhaps indoor air quality testing as well) with your local HVAC contractor. A full inspection done by a professional should tell you the cause of the problem and the repairs needed to fix it.

Call our furnace repair specialists at Reliable AC & Heat at the first sign of short-cycling trouble. You may reach us at (818) 487-0671 or fill out our contact form to schedule an inspection today.