Consumer Reviews of Rheem central air conditioners

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Date created: 2011-11-27 Location: Gainesville, Fl

Satisfaction Rating:
Review:
"It's an alright unit."
Runs perfectly during the winter months when its responsible for heating the house. There also have been little to no issues with cooling during months of lighter cooling usage, such as May and June. But in the months of July and August, when the temperature often soars to 100 degrees, I feel like the unit struggles to keep up with the cooling needs of our condo. During these times it'll take a bit longer to recognize how hot it is, meaning that for a while we'll be sweating it out while we wait for the unit to kick back on again (we have it set to automatic). Either way it's not that serious a problem, just felt it was worth mentioning. We've never had to make any repairs to it, which is great! I would have no problems recommending this model to a friend.

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Date created: 2010-12-27 Name: P. Casogna
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Satisfaction Rating:
Review:
"Unit was solid, got poor quality replacement capacitors"
Got a 5 ton Rheem AC in 2004 to replace a 4 ton Trane AC in 2004 that was freezing up (evaporator) due to Freon leaks in the copper lines connecting the inside and outside sections. Nonetheless, the AC company REALLY wanted to reuse the leaky, undersized, copper lines on a "new" system. I said NO and got new, proper sized lines with a site glass so I would know if the Freon leaked again (you get bubbles in the site glass when Freon leaks out, I wanted to be able to call them right if it started leaking before the oil in the refrigerant escapes and then you burn up the compressor). The Freon (R22) never did leak and the compressor worked fine the whole time, although it was noisy getting started. I will believe the compressor problems the others are reporting (all brands) if they say they never had any refrigerant and refrigerant OIL leaks, and the sight glass is the only way to know because techs will sometimes put tons of Freon/oil in and then write it up as an "electrical problem". The capacitor went out about 4 times (2008-2010). Sometimes the part that controls the outside fan would go bad and other times the part that controls the compressor would go out. When I figured out how this works and that a tech had bypassed the "bad" part of the capacitor to get the fan running (for $300) I was enraged, because then the "good part" of that same capacitor that was running the compressor went out (another $200). And the tech did it right under my nose! The next tech (driving a van made by Mercedes!) showed me what the previous one had done, and then proceeded to replace the capacitor with a $20 "Made in China" special that lasted 3 weeks. Then I called the authorized Rheem dealer to get the "original" capacitor and they told me Rheem didn't make it anymore. They brought out a "Made in USA" capacitor that retails for about $55 and it sort of fit. It ran fine until I moved out. In all, over $1000 labor in 4 service calls to replace a $50 part over and over. The techs were claiming that the reason these capacitors were going out is that the EPA won't let them use toxic PCB oil in them anymore but the final (USA) one did have oil in it. The system was never comfortable but that's because the ductwork in the attic was a disaster, trying to cool a huge house with a single unit, and the quote to have a two zone system was $14K. I see all the brands get very negative reviews. I a now renting a house and the landlord is an AC tech, and I notice my heat pump is working just fine, despite its terrible review here. Probably a forum where AC techs talk about the system they install in their own homes would be better because any system will mess up if it is deliberately installed wrong to provide a continuous stream of income to the installer over many years.

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Date created: 2008-07-20 Name: J. Johnson
Location: Vinegrove, KY
Years owned: 20

Satisfaction Rating:
Review:
"rpfa-030jas"
Great air conditioner but freezes up a lot

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