1. As far as cycling, normally the unit is on and then off when it gets too hot where it resets till then next day. I have the controller set a 10 degree difference window. A lot of times when I go to bed and the water heater temp is 140, it may loose 5 degrees overnight. The only time it cycle a couple times a day is when laundry is being done. Even then, once the unit turns back on, it normally stays on the rest of the afternoon till evening. And since we are talking about a 600 watt element it takes a couple of hours to get back up to temp again so the solenoid does not activate a great number of times daily.