HVAC Unit Won't Stop Running

Hey Derek, my unit is running all the time. Is this normal in this hot weather for the unit to run all the time? Well, yes. Yeah, it is most efficient when it is running, not when it's coming on, coming off, coming on, coming off, coming on, coming off. I can relate this to your car and traffic and Obviously, it's— you know, this is better on gas if you go from point A all the way to point B, and that's where you're going. You're interstate, you're not stopping at traffic. It's a lot better than going from stop to stop, stop sign, stop light, stop, stop, stop, go, go, go, stop, go, stop, go. That's what you don't want for your car, and that's what you don't want for your equipment at home. You want to run efficiently, not cycling on and off, on and off. The most power the system pulls is when it turns on. So just like your car, the most energy it pulls is, you know, cranking up in the morning. That's why on like really cold mornings your battery might die, or it might have trouble, because that's the most energy it's pulling at that one point. Your HVAC system is the same way. The most energy it's pulling is at the start. It's not at the run. Uh, if you look on your HVAC equipment, you'll see a sticker. It's got starting amps, running amps. Starting amps is always higher than the running amp. So your unit running to keep you satisfied and keep you comfortable in the home is not a problem. The lady comes to see me, we installed a newer system in her home, and she was worried about the unit running too much. She said the unit's constantly running. I said, well, what do you have to sit on? It's pretty hot out. She said like, you know, 75. I said, was it 75 in the house? Yes, it is, but the unit's still running. I said, well, it's kind of like you got in the car, you drove to the office, right? It's hot, it's 97 degrees outside. So how many times did you turn the air conditioning on in your car? Yes. How many times Did you turn it off? He said, I didn't turn it off. I said, why didn't you turn it off? It would have gotten hot in the car. I said, your home is the same way. When you have a properly sized system, it wants to maintain temperature. It don't want to get behind, catch up, get behind, catch up, get behind, catch up. That's not going to be— it's not going to leave you comfortable. It's not going to be efficient for the unit. It wants to maintain that temperature. So when the system runs a lot this time of year when it's warm, it's normal, it's fine. Uh, as long as it's getting to temperature, maintaining that temperature, you're good to go. But the system running constantly, it's actually a good thing and not a bad thing because the more it runs, the more it's dehumidifying. The slowing down that fan, getting that air across that coil, having to sit there longer and then bringing it into the house. It's kind of like, uh, if you're going on a long drive, uh, this, you know, hot weather outside. Of course, you get in the car, it's hot, got the AC blasting, right? Well, 30 minutes, 40 minutes into the trip, you're probably good to go, so you turn the fan down. What happens? It actually gets colder, and you're like, me turn the temperature up because I'm actually getting colder as the fan slows down. Your system is the same way. If it's a multi-speed or two-stage system, it wants to slow down. It wants to, you know, run and then leave that air over the coil a long time, as long as possible, to extract that heat out. To better dehumidify before it sends it back in the home. So unit running all the time or constantly, um, it's normal.