Air Conditioner Condenser Short Cycling - 10 Possible Causes

Air conditioner condenser unit short cycling. Is your central air turning on and off and not cooling the house? In this video I go over 10 things that could be causing that. Here are the 10 short cycling causes that I go over in the video:

1. Thermostat
- Loose wire
- Batteries weak
- Close to a vent
- Bad thermostat
2. Bad Airflow
- Dirty filter tripping LPC
- Plugged A-coil tripping LPC
3. Low refrigerant or restriction
- Refrigerant leak
- Restriction in metering device
4. Over-sized air conditioner
5. Defective contactor
- Contactor coil failing
- Chattering contacts
6. Compressor failing
7. Bad condenser fan motor
8. Bad control board
9. Plugged condensate drain
10. Power supply fluctuating
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#wordofadvicetv #furnace #heating #hvac #airconditioner #airconditioning

[emmaa]

Thx for sharing your vast knowledge and experience!! God bless!!

[petem]

Watched this Video, checked my drain. It was plugged up, blew air and pushed water through the drain pipe - cleared it up, restarted the unit and BAM - back in business. YOU ROCK!

[StarGazer_]

Thank you!
I went through the most things you described. Batteries, thermostat, loose wires, control board, tested a capacitor, was going to open the duct to check coils thinking it's either compressor, fan motor or leak. $$$$.
Then I checked a contactor plunger and there was a fried bug or a cockaroach, preventing plunger from making a contact. I pulled it out, and my ac finally started working! I was going to sleep in my basement this night, the temperature went to almost 30 degrees.
You saved me a few hundred bucks, thanks a lot!

[John-dlht]

Jay, thanks for the information. I tested the capacitor and found it was about 20% below rated capacity. Replaced it and no more short cycling. You’re the man Jay!

[stevencagle]

I noticed my condenser short cycling last night while I was putting out my debris fire. It was so cold, I had to break ice out of the hose to get water flow. I found your video last night and took notes this evening. This is a great resource and I now have a decent checklist to start troubleshooting in the next few days. For now, I'm burning fuel running our gas logs and keeping the downstairs unit turned down to avoid potential damage to the unit. For anyone who hasn't yet watched, be sure to catch his joke at the end.

[TheMargo]

I opened my thermostat and it was very dusty/dirty. I cleaned it but that didn't stop the short cycling.I am going outside now to stare at the unit and hope it speaks to me because I have no knowledge at all about HVAC. I figure I'll be a pro after I watch all of your videos! What a great service you provide! Thank you!

[valkyrie]

A technician came to my house said it was the fan engine and quote me $395, so I don’t know anything about ac units so I assumed that it was a fan, so he supposed to come tomorrow to install the new fan, well guess what I changed the batteries on my thermostat and all of the sudden the broken fan started to work, and it’s been working for the last 6 hours, on off, on off, I canceled the tech work order and you saved me some bucks and I appreciate it!!!

[toddinthemiddle]

just by sifting through the comments, i was able to resolve my a/c's short cycling issue, by rigging my thermostat batteries with some tin foil, since it was showing a "replace batteries" message, and i have no AA's.

the unit is running better than it has in weeks.

bravo to this channel and its commenters.

[katerendon]

Omg solved it in the first 2 minutes. Jiggled the wires in the thermostat and it fixed. You just saved me the $75 payment on my home warranty plus a half day of missed work. Bless you

[tomrueff]

Excellent, this 74 year old Tech. was reminded what he forgot...
Great advice..Blessings TR

[slider]

Great video Jay! My problem was a clogged condensation drain. You saved me a service call and most likely a huge bill. You are the man! I was able to fix it without breaking a sweat!!!!

[ydabble]

I cannot say thank you enough. Being a woman trying to take care of her home and not get ripped off, you have been so helpful.

[bahbee]

Dude, you are so cool!
My wife kept here in the short cycle but I never could catch it.
I listened to your video and immediately change the batteries which reseated the thermostat and I haven’t had a short cycle since !

Thank you!!

[stevekim]

I feel grateful every time I hear about the knowledge accumulated from many experiences.

[samsonandarige]

Men, you are the best. Am new tech. Today we went out PM job, one of the condenser unit has short cycling issue, sure enough, after I heard you, we checked the thermostat, change the battery, the problem solved.
Thanks 🙏 V M

[jenniferhightower]

Thank you so much. I went outside with some cleaning spray. Sprayed thru the vents, got a water hose and spared behind the cleaner and BAM FIXED👏👏👏👏👏

[lasellepigford]

Thanks!!! Mine was my thermostat. The battery was corroded and the terminal on the circuit board had allot of corrosion on it as well. Cleaned everything up and bam!! No more short cycling. Thanks man. You saved me a service call and who knows what they would’ve claimed was the issue and tried to over charge me in the process 😅.

[BartHennaut]

This guy is awesome, I have watched his videos regarding other HVAC and Hot Water Heater repairs. This morning I had to address an A/C Condenser with short cycle symptoms his insight got me through it again. Thank you for your help video

[luislujan]

Rewatching the video and taking notes as I would like to enroll in HVAC next semester and I hear about a lot of bad professors. Learning on your own is the best.

[proto]

I had a commercial tenant that had a short cycling issue, then a few days later, I noticed that it was running normally. But I knew she didn't call a tech to repair it because she is cheap as hell. I took the panel off the condensing unit and saw that some Einstein wedged the contact down . Problem solved until I took the wedge out. I told her " Your not going to burn my building down to stay cool." You never know. Greetings from NYC. Keep up the good work!!