How often should a gas furnace cycle?

[Tony]

I just had a new furnace and AC installed. The job was done very well. The new furnace is a two stage that puts out 84,000 BTU at the high stage. I live in a two story home that's 22 years old in the Mid-Atlantic area. Home is reasonably well constructed: basement, no noticeable drafts, well insulated, approx 2300 sq.ft. With the thermostat set to 67F and the current temp outside of ~40F, the furnace is cycling about 3-4 times per hour to maintain the inside temp. What I can't tell yet is whether it's cycling entirely in first stage only, or going to the second stage. Having said that does it seem like this is a correct rate for cycling?

[Bob]

It's really a comfort vs. economy thing. The more a system cycles on and off, the less the temperature will fluctuate. A lot of thermostats are adjustable. On some of the new electronic thermostats, you need to go into the 'installer setup'. If you do, and get something wrong, you could be looking at a service call.

[m Ransley]

My Lennox goes to second only on a 2 degree drop, some do it over a time period, are you comfortable, the literature should explain your unit. If it cycles to much adjust the thermostat anticipator or swing, less cycles is easier on equipment and better for efficiency but harder on comfort as temp varies more between on and off temp. Experiment.

[Bubba]

Yes. Bubba

[Bubba]

No, Bubba

[CJT]

Sounds ok to me, as long as they're normal cycles (as opposed to e.g. shutting down due to the furnace limit switch). What's _really_ bothering you?

[scott21230]

I think the original poster wants some sort of verification that 3-4 times an hour is OK. They want to see if maybe it's oversized, or something. Mine does 3-4 times and hour but I'd prefer maybe once every hour or two (I don't see any thermostat doing that though).