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Another hot afternoon in Pompano Beach. Your air conditioner hasn’t taken a break since this morning. That constant hum isn’t just annoying, it’s eating through your electric bill.
Here’s the thing: your AC should cycle on and off throughout the day, even in South Florida’s brutal heat. When it runs nonstop without ever shutting down, something’s broken. And if your house still feels warm despite all that running, you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
We’re going to walk through the most common reasons ACs run constantly in our coastal climate. Some fixes you can handle yourself in ten minutes. Others need a trained technician. Either way, you’ll know exactly what’s happening and what to do about it.
Let’s figure out why your system won’t give you a break.
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Five problems cause most nonstop AC issues around here. A clogged air filter blocks airflow and makes your system work overtime. Low refrigerant from a leak means your AC can’t actually cool anything. An undersized unit simply can’t handle your home’s cooling needs. A thermostat sending bad signals keeps your system running when it shouldn’t. Dirty condenser coils prevent heat from escaping.
Yes, Florida’s heat means your AC runs longer than it would up north. But it should still shut off for short breaks throughout the day. If yours never stops, or your home stays uncomfortable, or your power bill jumps way up, you need someone to take a look.
Most of these problems don’t happen if you keep up with basic maintenance. Change your filter regularly and get annual tune ups.
Need help today? Get AC repair in Pompano Beach.
Look, we live in South Florida. Summer temps hit the upper 80s and low 90s, and the humidity makes it feel even worse. Your AC definitely works harder here than it would in, say, North Carolina.
On a normal hot day, you’ll hear your system kick on, run for a bit, then shut off for a few minutes. This happens over and over. During the worst afternoon heat, that brutal stretch from 1 to 4 PM, the running cycles get longer. That’s totally normal.
Living near the Intracoastal adds another layer. Your AC has to pull moisture out of the air on top of cooling it. Coastal homes need a bit more runtime to stay comfortable.
Here’s what normal looks like versus what means trouble:
Your AC Is Working Fine:
Time to Call for Help:
See any of those warning signs? Don’t wait for it to die completely. Get it checked now.
This is the most common problem we see. And the easiest one to fix yourself.
Salt air, pollen, and humidity all hit your filter hard around here. Most people can get away with changing filters every few months. Not in Pompano Beach. You need fresh filters monthly, especially during summer when your AC runs constantly.
Over in Cresthaven and Pompano Highlands, dirty filters show up on probably half our service calls. Homeowners don’t realize how fast that salt air clogs things up.
What to Look For: Pull out your filter and hold it up to a light. A clean one looks white or light gray. You can see through the material. A dirty filter? Dark gray or brown. You can’t see through it at all. Sometimes you’ll see actual chunks of dust or even mold growing on it.
Changing Your Filter Takes Five Minutes:
Picking the Right Filter: MERV ratings tell you how much stuff the filter catches. Higher numbers catch more particles but can choke your airflow if they’re too high.
Around here, MERV 8-11 filters work well for most homes. They grab salt, pollen, and mold without strangling your system. Got allergies or asthma? MERV 13 handles that. Stay away from anything higher unless your system was specifically designed for it.
Check your filter every couple weeks during summer. Change it every month minimum.
Now, if you’ve already replaced your filter and your AC still won’t quit, we’re dealing with something bigger.
Still running nonstop? Our Pompano Beach technicians can diagnose it fast. Call us at (754) 714-4666 to schedule your repair.
Refrigerant is what actually makes your house cold. It absorbs heat inside and dumps it outside. When you’re low on refrigerant, your AC can run 24/7 and never cool a thing.
Here’s what people don’t realize: refrigerant doesn’t just “run low” over time. Your AC is a sealed system. If refrigerant levels drop, you’ve got a leak.
Signs You’re Leaking Refrigerant:
Why Just “Topping It Off” Is a Bad Idea: Some companies will charge you to add refrigerant without finding the leak. Two problems with that. One, it’ll leak right back out in a few weeks. Two, releasing refrigerants into the air violates EPA rules. That’s federal law, called the Clean Air Act.
A real repair means finding the leak, fixing it properly, evacuating the whole system, and then adding the right amount of refrigerant back in. You need special equipment and an EPA 608 certification to do this legally.
Where Leaks Usually Happen: That salt air we deal with? It eats away at outdoor units. The condenser coils sit there exposed to ocean breeze and constant moisture. We see corrosion-based leaks all the time in homes close to the beach.
Older systems also develop cracks from vibration. If your unit’s been running for 15+ years, stress cracks become a real possibility.
Only licensed techs should work on refrigerants. Don’t try this yourself. It’s dangerous.
Your filter’s clean and you’ve got plenty of refrigerant. What else could cause constant running?
An undersized air conditioner is like trying to cool a mansion with a window unit. It runs and runs and runs but never actually gets the job done.
This happens a lot in older Pompano Beach homes. We’ve got plenty of houses that are 25, 30, even 40 years old around here. Back then, contractors sometimes installed smaller units to save money. Or maybe you added a room without upgrading your AC.
The Right Way to Size an AC: There’s an actual science to this. The Air Conditioning Contractors of America created something called Manual J calculations. It factors in your square footage, insulation, window types, sun exposure, ceiling height, dozens of things.
Get the sizing wrong and you’re in trouble. Too small means constant running and sky high bills. Too big causes its own problems like short cycling and poor humidity control.
What Makes Pompano Beach Different:
Living near the beach means intense sun exposure. Homes with big west facing windows or not much shade need extra cooling power. The salt air even affects which window types work best, which changes our calculations.
Most homes built before 2000 have pretty minimal attic insulation. And whatever insulation they had has settled and lost effectiveness over the years. That means more heat getting in.
Those high cathedral ceilings everyone loves? Beautiful, but they create way more air volume to cool. Hot air rises and gets trapped up there too.
General Sizing Guide for Pompano Beach:
| Home Size | AC Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000-1,500 sq ft | 2-2.5 tons | Single story, normal ceilings |
| 1,500-2,000 sq ft | 2.5-3.5 tons | Add half a ton for high ceilings |
| 2,000-2,500 sq ft | 3.5-4 tons | Two stories or lots of west windows |
| 2,500-3,000 sq ft | 4-5 tons | Large homes or poor insulation |
These are ballpark numbers. Your actual house might need more or less.
How to Tell Your System Is Too Small: Your AC runs all day even when it’s only 80 degrees out. The thermostat never hits the temperature you set. Upstairs stays noticeably warmer than downstairs. Your electric bills keep climbing even though you maintain the system.
Replace or Keep Repairing? Undersized units burn out faster from overwork. You’ll be calling us for compressor failures, burnt-out motors, and a parade of other expensive fixes. Yeah, replacing it with the right size costs more up front. But you’ll save thousands in avoided repairs and lower power bills.
Sometimes your AC isn’t the problem at all. Sometimes it’s that little box on your wall.
Your thermostat tells your AC when to run and when to stop. When it malfunctions, you get constant operation even after your house is plenty cold.
The “ON” vs “AUTO” Mix-Up: This trips up more people than you’d think. Set your fan to “ON” and it runs nonstop, even when the AC isn’t actually cooling. You hear constant airflow and think your AC is always running.
“AUTO” only runs the fan when the system is actively cooling. Go check your thermostat right now. If it says “ON,” flip it to “AUTO.” The problem might be solved.
Dead Batteries: Older programmable thermostats run on batteries. When they die, the thermostat can’t talk to your AC properly. Some default to running constantly when they lose power.
Change those batteries once a year. Do it when you’re changing your smoke detector batteries and you’ll remember.
Bad Location: Your thermostat measures the air temperature right where it’s installed. Next to a sunny window? It thinks your house is hotter than it is. Near the kitchen or laundry room? Heat from your appliances throws off the reading.
It keeps telling your AC to run because it thinks you’re still too warm.
Dusty Sensors: Dust builds up on the temperature sensor inside your thermostat. Prevents accurate readings. Pop off the faceplate carefully and clean the sensor with a soft brush or compressed air.
Why Upgrade to Smart: Modern smart thermostats learn when you’re home and adjust automatically. They help cut cooling costs through smarter temperature management.
They also catch problems early. They track how often your system runs and alert you to weird patterns. Might save you from an expensive breakdown.
If your thermostat is more than ten years old and you’re having these issues, upgrading makes sense.
Living in Pompano Beach creates some unique AC challenges. That salt air accelerates wear on outdoor equipment faster than you’d believe. Maintenance matters even more here than it does inland.
Salt Air Destroys Condenser Coils: Your outdoor unit has coils that release heat from your house. Salt particles from the ocean coat these coils and trap moisture. Creates a corrosive mess that eats through metal fins.
When coils corrode, heat can’t escape properly. Your AC runs constantly trying to cool but has nowhere to dump that heat. Homes close to the beach need more frequent coil cleaning to deal with this.
Landscaping Gets Out of Control: Beach homes have gorgeous tropical landscaping. Shrubs, palms, flowering plants—they grow like crazy in our climate. One season and they can completely surround your outdoor unit.
Your AC needs breathing room on all sides. Block that airflow and the system works way harder than it should. Trim back vegetation regularly. Clear away fallen palm fronds and debris.
Old Ductwork Falls Apart: Palm-Aire and other established neighborhoods have homes from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The ductwork in these houses often has gaps, cracks, or sections that came apart.
Leaky ducts dump a huge amount of your cooled air into attics and wall cavities. Your AC runs constantly trying to compensate for all that lost cooling. Get the ducts sealed and you’ll see an immediate drop in runtime.
Frozen Coils Mean Big Problems: See ice on your indoor coil? That means restricted airflow or low refrigerant. The coil gets too cold and moisture freezes on it. Then the ice blocks even more airflow. It’s a nasty cycle.
Turn off your AC immediately if you see ice. Let it melt completely before restarting. Then call us to find what’s causing it. Running with frozen coils will destroy your compressor.
We had a call recently near Hillsboro Beach. The outdoor unit sat completely surrounded by bamboo. Choked off all the airflow. The system was running almost constantly. We cleared the bamboo, cleaned the coils, and runtime dropped right back to normal.
Maintenance Schedule for Coastal Living:
If your AC runs all day, it’s probably one of five things. Dirty filters choking airflow. Low refrigerant from a leak. An undersized system that can’t keep up. A thermostat sending wrong signals. Or dirty coils and blocked airflow.
Catching these problems early and keeping your energy costs down can save you from way more expensive repairs down the road. (1) Don’t wait until the hottest day of summer when your system quits completely.
Our coastal climate is tough on AC systems. Salt air, constant humidity, and relentless heat wear things down faster than they would inland. Whether you’re in Cresthaven, Pompano Highlands, or right by the Pompano Beach Pier, we understand what AC equipment goes through around here.
Come see us at Filterbuy HVAC Solutions, 2521 NE 4th Ave, Pompano Beach, FL 33064. Or just call (754) 714-4666 for same day service.
Our $1/month Care Club keeps your AC running efficiently year-round. Call or stop by our Pompano Beach location for more info!
(1) https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/when-to-turn-off-air-conditioner/
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