Can a bad thermostat cause a furnace to short cycle?

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asked Mar 9, 2019 in Maintenance/Repairs by Joshburd (260 points)
Can a bad thermostat cause a furnace to short cycle?

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answered Mar 9, 2019 by MrMoonPie (10,690 points)
A furnace thermostat is basically just a switch that operates by the temperature and if the thermostat isn't reading the temperature correctly then yes it could cause the short cycling of the furnace.

If your furnace thermostat is older then you could try replacing the thermostat and see if it fixes the problem.

Other causes of short cycling of a furnace are clogged air filter, bad temperature switch on the furnace or just plain insufficient airflow around the heat exchanger.

The furnaces heat exchanger needs the air blowing over it or it overheats and shuts down for safety and it could also be that your furnace blower motor isn't starting up properly due to either needing lubricated or the capacitor on the furnace that starts and runs the blower motor could be bad.

If the furnace blower motor hums a bit before starting up then either the motor is bad or the capacitor is bad.

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