Rheem Heat Pump

I had a new Rheem heat pump system with the variable-speed air handler installed 2 years ago. 14 SEER. The thing works great in the summer and winter as long as the temperature stays above freezing. When it's 20 degrees out, the thing keeps doing it's defrost thing ever so often and when it does that, it blows COLD air on us. As a result, we are not comfortable. To get some heat, I have to put it on emergency heat mode and bump the thermostat up about 6 deg. to get it into the second stage so we can get warm. IN emergency mode, the blower never shuts off, even though it reaches temperature. There must be a better way. Does anyone have a suggestion? We're in Fort Worth, Texas, so we don't get that many days of below freezing. But when we do......

Reply to
Injun Ear
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Chances are that it was not installed correctly... The installer needs to be called back to correct the control wiring issues so the strips are energized when the system goes into defrost mode. Second, you should not have to turn the stat up that many degrees to get the strips to come on in emergency heat. Third, the blower should cycle on and off with the rest of the system unless the "circ" function is enabled on the controls. and finally, the refrigerant charge is probably not correct either as the 14 seer heat pump systems, when correctly sized and installed will only lose about 20 - 25% of its rated capacity at 17F, so it will still make reasonable heat. Go here and type in you zip code to find a Rheem Team Top Contractor to correct the problems with your system.

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Reply to
Noon-Air

Thank you very much for that good information. I appreciate a straight answer like that. So many others on here are responding to a question with flames or smart remarks. You are the man! If you were local I would get you to fix it. I already found a local Rheem guy through the URL you gave. I'll be calling him.

The guy that installed my system was not really that familiar with Rheem He's a Coleman dealer. I wanted one with the Copeland Scroll compressor, so we got the Rheem.

Reply to
Injun Ear

In fairness to your installer, the wiring diagram on Rheem heat pumps used to (though not positive if they still do) say something to the effect of "for more economical operation, do not connect this wire" referring to the wire to turn on the heat strips during defrost. I personally don't know many/any people who would want the thing blowing out ice cubes during defrost to save a couple of bucks a month. Heck, for even more economical operation, set your thermostat to 50 deg. For the most economical, set it to "off" Noon Air is right on the mark-- when everything is correct on that unit, it should heat your house w/o aux heat on all but the few coldest days a year, and then the strips should cycle on and off as needed to keep the temperature at the setting desired. If it is sized to cool your house in Fort Worth, it certainly should heat it OK. Good luck and Happy Holidays Larry

Reply to
Lp1331 1p1331

Your welcome... If you would please, post all of the problems that the Rheem tech found and corrected. BTW... folks that have bonified problems do get help here as long as they don['t get ugly because they are told something they don't want to hear. As a rule the ones that get given a hard time are the ones that want us to dianose their systems over the computer, site unseen, so they can DIY when they obviously don't know a hammer from a screwdriver, or they are landlords trying to fix it for free at the expense of the tenants comfort, or a home owner that used the cheapest price and now are not happy because they didn't get what they didn't pay for.

There is something to be said for using a *competent*, licensed, insured, professionally trained, Master HVAC Tech to install and/or service your comfort system. Its a whole lot cheaper and easier to get it done right the first time, than it is to have it done over.

Reply to
Noon-Air

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