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RTU-01 · Packaged RTU / DX

Compressor short-cycling

The compressor is starting far more often than a healthy unit should.

Capacity-basedBAS trendsMedium effort

What does RTU-01 mean?

The compressor is starting far more often than a healthy unit should.

Why does it matter?

Every start is inrush current, poor oil return and no cooling delivered; it is the fastest way to kill a compressor.

What should you do?

Check the anti-short-cycle timer, the thermostat/setpoint deadband, low-charge and high-head trips, and whether the unit is grossly oversized for the zone.

How Energy Agent prices a finding

Written by Pelorus Engineering · Brent Waluzak, P.E. (FL), President, Pelorus EngineeringLast updated
Estimate it

What is short cycling costing?

Estimate the energy wasted on starts, and remember the wear is the bigger bill.

Enter a repair or controls-change cost to see the simple payback.
Avoidable cost per year—Energy —Simple payback Enter a cost to fix to see the payback.

    Each start costs roughly a couple of minutes of full-load energy before the unit is doing useful work. Extra starts above a sane rate, times that penalty, times the unit size and the affected hours. Energy Agent counts the starts from status trends.

    Screening estimate. Energy Agent measures the real fault hours and load from your trends and prices them at your tariff.

    Request a demoSee how Energy Agent prices a finding

    Screening-level estimates; confirm with measurement and verification before capital commitment.

    More packaged rtu / dx faults

    All 7 packaged rtu / dx rules →

    See these rules run on your building.

    Send twelve months of interval data and a BAS trend export. Energy Agent returns a ranked list of what is wasting money, what each item is worth per year at your tariff, and what to do about it.

    Request a demoBenchmark your building