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.