payne vs. rheem

[mary33]

greetings!

we are about to replace our air handler (oops - thought it was the heat pump!) and had a recommendation to go with payne vs. rheem. the company told us that payne is a comparable unit. is this true?
thanks!
mary

[Edited by mary33 on 03-17-2005 at 12:41 PM]

[Hroper]

If your just replacing an airhandler, I'd use a rheem if thats what the outdoor unit is. A mismatch on a heat pump will give poor results, you need a summer charge an a winter charge most of the time. If your past 12 to 15 years old look into replacing both. I would say that rheem is above a Payne.

[mary33]

yes, that's what was recommended - that we connect a payne air handler to our rheem outdoor unit. they are then charging us for a lot of "upfitting" to make that work. is there a substantial cost difference between the payne and rheem air handlers?

[beenthere]

The Rheem should cost more.

The Payne is a bottom line unit, owned by carrier.

[BaldLoonie]

You shouldn't mismatch. Put the Rheem coil & air handler on the Rheem outdoor unit. And find a dealer who doesn't encourage you to do it improperly.

[dash]

How old is the heat pump,ooutdoor unit?

A current model Rheem ,may or may not be a good match ,even though the brand is the same.

Actually best to replace both pieces,at the same time.

[docholiday]

Mary,

The advice given so far to match a unit is good advice. Mismatching , expecially heat pumps, will result in problems and most likely the guy who does it will bad mouth the equipment when he cant get it right and accept no responsibility for his own ignorance.

Then he'll call the distributor who cant help him and then the factory for either who will offer no assistance other than advising you to match the equipment. So unless you want to have issues for a few years before finally someone gives in and replaces one or the other correctly at your expense, I would do it now.

[mary33]

thank you - confirms what we thought, and since our outdoor unit is only about 5 years old (replaced before we bought the house) we're going with the rheem air handler to match. it's an AHS situation and they agreed for a small price to match our unit.....after we gave them the info you guys gave to us and made a few calls. saved us some headaches in the future, for sure! so thanks again.

[Special Ed]

Originally posted by mary33
it's an AHS situation

Oooooh! That explains a lot.

[AllTemp]

Originally posted by special ed

Originally posted by mary33
it's an AHS situation

Oooooh! That explains a lot.

And they paid the upgrade... AHS or Mary ?

Did a servie for AHS last summer n a Bryant 2 Spd outdoor condenser, previosu techs did not know what they were dealing with and managed to distroy the compressor.

AHS would not cover the changeout wanted HO to pay difference of 10 seer Goodman vs Bryant Compressor replacement. AHS stated the paln excluded special equipment and HO needed to have notified and upgraded planm, Geeez

We walked don't know what happened, collect our $72.00 and said "adios"

[petec]

I was in a similar situation last year when my Rheem Compressor unit (13 years old) went out 1 month after we bought the house. Had an AHS warranty. They said they would only install the Payne, unless we wanted a "buyout". It was cold and I didn't have time to get someone else to install a Rheem so I went ahead with the Payne.

Fortunately the system has worked great both heating and cooling for a year now. I hope it lasts.

[docholiday]

Thats sorta like your insurace company forcing you to use aftermarket parts when your car is wrecked.