An air conditioning system runs in cycles where the compressor turns on to provide cooling for the house, then shuts down until the thermostat registers it needs to turn back on. These cooling cycles should last at least fifteen minutes.
If you notice your AC shuts down after only a short time, then turns on again soon after, it’s short-cycling. This malfunction makes it hard for the air conditioner to fully cool a house. It also wastes energy (compressor start-up draws on large amounts of electricity) and wears down the AC components rapidly. Below we’ve listed five frequent causes of this problem.
There are different ways an air conditioning system can stop working. Sometimes the blower will turn on and send air to the room vents, but that air won’t be cool. Or the AC could keep shutting off after only running for a few minutes. But the most alarming problem for a homeowner—because it’s so immediately clear there’s trouble—is when the AC won’t blow out any air at all. Nothing comes out of the room vents, hot, cold, or otherwise.
We talk a lot about what you’re supposed to do as a homeowner for your air conditioner—but we rarely ever talk about what you shouldn’t do. These guides can be helpful because they steer the more DIY savvy homeowner from making a serious mistake that could cost them in expensive repairs. That’s exactly what could result from trying to work on your own air conditioner!
One of the most common signs of something wrong with a central air conditioning system is short-cycling. This is when an air conditioner fails to complete a full cooling cycle and instead shuts down early, only to turn back on again a short time later. Short-cycling is bad news for a few reasons:
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Whenever an air conditioning system abruptly shuts down—the fan won’t come on, the compressor won’t come on—one of the first things we recommend homeowners check is their electrical panel. A tripped circuit breaker might have caused the air conditioning system to lose power. Resetting the breaker may solve the problem.
Yes, you should be worried! But you can stop worrying quickly, because all you have to do is contact our HVAC specialists, any day of the week, and we’ll have technicians out to your home to find out what’s wrong with your air conditioning system. Then we’ll have the problem solved, fast.