A short cycling heat pump is one of the most annoying things that you may encounter since it won’t allow you to truly stay warm this winter. Naturally, homeowners in Gulf Breeze, FL will find it useful to know why a mishap like this might happen. If your heat pump short cycles, you’re probably dealing with at least one of these three issues.
Clogged Air Filters
Clogged air filters can reduce your home’s indoor air quality and prevent air from flowing through your heat pump as it needs to. If this happens when the pump is in heating mode, it may overheat and shut down, triggering a short cycle.
A Refrigerant Leak
Refrigerant is essential to the heat transfer process because it is the vehicle that heat pumps use to pull heat out of the air in one area and deposit it into the air in another area. Without enough refrigerant, your system won’t be able to move enough heat around to warm your home. Instead, the thermostat registers that the closest rooms are heated and will turn off before rooms furthest from the heating system will still be cold.
It’s the Wrong Size
Finally, you may just have a much more fundamental problem on your hands. Before HVAC technicians install a heat pump or any other kind of HVAC system, they should perform a Manual J-Load calculation to determine the appropriate size system for that home. One of the consequences of either failing to do this or doing it incorrectly is short cycling.
A heat pump that is too large, for example, will be able to heat your home very quickly and may therefore turn off before heating all rooms. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this problem. You will just have to ask a team of professionals to properly install a new heat pump for you.
Always take action if you notice your heat pump short cycling. Call Lunsford Air Conditioning & Heating in Gulf Breeze, FL and ask for our HVAC services.
Image provided by iStock