Short cycling is the tendency of your home furnace to turn on and off rapidly numerous times throughout the day, often without adequately cooling your home first. It’s a big problem because furnaces use far more energy starting up than they do simply running. A short cycling furnace is wasting energy – costing you more in monthly heating bills – as well as elevating the chances of a serious breakdown occurring in the near future. Hammond, LA features mild winters, but our nights can still get pretty cold and the last thing you want is your heater suffering a repair call just when you need it the most. The good news is that a repair technician can usually solve the problem. But what causes your furnace to short cycle in the first place?
Not a Bad Thing?
In some cases, short cycling can be caused by problems with your thermostat, which misread the temperature in your home and turns the system on or off at inappropriate times. In most cases, however, the cause is the system’s limit switch, which detects heated air in the furnace and shuts the system down before it can overheat and damage key components. The heated air needs to flow through the system properly in order to prevent this. Otherwise, it just sits in the furnace and can cause damage without the limit switch shutting the system down.
Lack of Flow?
The limit switch most often responds to lack of air flow, which can be caused by anything from a clogged air filter to problems in the ducts to an issue with the blower fan or fan motor. Regardless, the air needs to move through the system more smoothly if the short cycling is going to stop.
The trained technicians at A Professional can pinpoint the causes of short cycling and put a stop to it, so call us today!