What’s Making My Heat Pump Short Cycle in Richmond, VA?

Ordinarily, heat pumps should operate cyclically, working when the temperature in your Richmond, VA home is not at your ideal level and resting when it is. Unfortunately, your system may sometimes turn on and off before properly completing a cycle, and we call this behavior “short cycling.” Since short cycling can be so ruinous, we’d like to tell you about a few of its ultimate causes.

Poor Airflow

To function properly, your heat pump needs air to flow through it smoothly. If anything prevents this from happening, however, treated air will not reach your home. This, in turn, will force your system to work harder to push that air to its proper place, which may cause overheating.

This overheating may force your heat pump to shut off. If you do not address this problem, it will ultimately create short cycling. While you can improve airflow by regularly cleaning your filters, internal system blockages will require intervention from HVAC maintenance technicians.

A Faulty Compressor

The compressor’s job is to bring the refrigerant that your heat pump uses into a condensable state. If this part malfunctions, however, it may inadvertently devour massive amounts of energy, which can trigger overheating and short cycling.

Excessive Size

Finally, your heat pump may be short cycling because it’s simply too large for your home. Excessively large heat pumps may heat your home both quickly and unevenly. The former issue may result in cycles that end prematurely.

In the end, the only way to resolve this problem is to remove the old heat pump and install a new one that is of the proper size. Failure to do so will eventually inflict significant damage on the old heat pump.

Don’t allow your heat pump to continue short cycling. To restore its normal behavior, call Classic Comfort Heating & Air Conditioning and ask for the best heating repair services near Richmond, VA.

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