Hello All, First my apologies for posting this question as a response to an existing thread. I just could not figure out how to start a new thread and no matter what I tried, I was going in circles. Anyhow, I hope this question is relevant to this thread and will appreciate any answers. First the facts: I had a 5 Ton Rheem heat pump installed in our home to replace an 18-year old Lennox heat pump (Model HP22-461-2P) of about 3 or 3.5 Ton capacity which ran its course of life. The Air Handler is installed in the Attic and the external unit is outside. I bought the unit brand new and had it installed by a licensed HVAC contractor. The model of Rheem Air Handler Installed inside the Attic is RHPL-HM6024JC. The model of Rheem Heat Pump (External unit) is RPRL-060JEC. They are purchased as a packaged unit from a Rheem wholesaler through the web and I confirmed through Rheem officials that the units are compatible with each other and the seller is licensed to sell them. These are installed by a local contractor with a Honeywell FocusPRO TH6000 series thermostat which he, the contractor supplied on his own as per the agreement we signed.. The heat pump is advertised as 2-stage. Now, the problem: From the time it is installed on January 26, 2012, the outside fan is not blowing. I asked the contractor about it, and he seemed not sure, but told me not to worry about it and that it will come on when necessary. Then I read a little bit about heat pumps and also recalled that in the case of the earlier heat pump, the outside blower was running much of the time. Toward the end of its life (i.e., just before the installation of the new unit, however, the outside unit had ice formed all over it, and the fan was still struggling to run. A few contractors who came to look at it to give an estimate said that the old unit pretty much ran its life and that it needed to be replaced. One of them said with so much ice outside the heat pump is doing nothing but wasting electricity and disconnected the outside unit from the socket and asked us to put the inside thermostat to emergency heat because that is how we were getting the heat anyhow. This was the condition at the time of the new installation. The new contractor of course, threw out the old outside unit as well as the in-the-attic air handler and and replaced them with the new Rheem units and installed the Honeywell thermostat FocusPRO TH6000. Since the installation, I kept observing the outside unit and found that it was never running. I contacted the contractor after a couple of days and he said we could test it by turning off the circuit breaker for the outside unit off and wait for 5 minutes and then turn it on to see if it would come. When we did that, the outside unit fan did come on, but within a minute or two after picking up speed, it shut itself off. The home is getting heated, but I am concerned that the unit is running as an electric heater rather than as a heat pump because the outside fan is not running at all. This seems extremely unusual. I wrote to the supplier and he says the problem is most likely caused by wrong installation or wrong wiring. When I asked the contractor about it, he adamantly maintains that there is Zero Wrong with his wiring, but he does not have an explanation as to why the outside fan is not blowing. I wrote to the supplier again, and he says that in the most unlikely event that something is wrong with any of their components, they will replace them under warranty if I get a written estimate and a confirmation of the problem. My guess is that the contractor made some error in the wiring, perhaps a simple one, but am not sure what it is. According to the Owner's manual I downloaded, the Rheem heat pump is with serial communicating technology and it consists of Indoor Air handler, Outdoor air conditioning condensing unit/heat pump, and a touchscreen thermostat. The touchscreen thermostat is not supplied along with the heat pump and air handler. I asked the supplier about communicating technology and he responded that they could supply it for about $400 extra. They confirmed that "The heat pump system is definitely equipped with Rheem's Comfort Control System Serial Communicating Technology. Looking at the specs document you can see that the heat pump is equipped with this technology. The air handler you bought RHPLHM6024JC is also Communicating. This system was designed as a matched Communicating system. In order to achieve the benefits of the Communicating system you will need a Rheem 500 series thermostat. The thermostat is not included in in what you purchased. To keep prices low we sell matched split systems and let customers choose their own thermostats." I would like to know: a) How we can diagnose the reasons for the outside fan not running b) Whether the outside fan is supposed to spin when the unit is on Heat and the temperature is cold outside. c) How we can fix it to ensure that the unit is functioning as a heat pump d) Whether it is advisable to consider purchasing the thermostat recommended by Rheem have it installed. Thank you for any info or guidance you can provide.

Thanks Baldloonie and Tigerdunes for your responses. I live in the Orlando area of Central Florida and it does get hot here. From June thru September rarely a day under 90. The Model number of my Lennox is 12HPB6010P. As far as efficiency, I don't know what to compare it to. My electric bill is about $150 more per month in the summer months. i.e. $150 Winter, $300 Summer. The builder determined the original size of the HVAC system but I don't know how they did it. Doing a Manual J heat/gain loss calculation is beyond my capabilities. I don't even know what the difference in a 3 4 or 5 TON system is. After what I have learned by reading posts and the responses on this forum, I am realizing this is a complex subject. I hate to be hostage to what the salesman tells me and the way he states it I have no other alternative than what he recommends and still be able to get the Fed Tax Credit. The one alternative I have is to keep what I have. I still have 3 years left on the Parts and Service Warranty so that is a plus. Anyway, thanks again for all the help.

It just follows logic that heat pumps will have a shorter life than a regular A/C. While Angie's List isn't perfect, it does give you retribution against such a shady company. Sign up and write reviews for companies with bad practices and reward the good ones, of which there are plenty. Start doing your research and searching now for a reputable dealer. Because the average serviceable life is 15. You could go 20+, but don't take any chances. Although who truly determines the longevity of an AC or heatpump are two people: the installer and the customer with proper maintenance. Installation may not be a science, but it's certainly an art. If you an improperly positioned unit low on refrigerant with inadequate supplies/returns and long twisty uninsulated runs etc, it's going to die way sooner. Theoretically my Greenspeed with all DC brushless should outlast a conventional pump as long as it's kept adequately cooled, but ultimately who knows. Again the logic boards these days are way more expensive than the motors, which is why it's imperative nowadays to purchase an additional whole house surge protector. This post was edited by bsmith on Sat, May 31, 14 at 13:29

Hi Mike, thank you for your reply. The furnace is original from builder. It is the reason we have to upgrade. The heat exchanger has a crack such that when it first starts we get oil smell. The AC is working fine. The fan motor/blower was changed 3-4 years ago. Most of the installers said that just fixing the heat exchanger is not worth it and is better to go with an upgrade. Maybe they are upselling? We have independent electric hot water boiler at present. One installer gave us Manual J calculation of 72769BTU, but I am not clear if that is heating or cooling or both. I assumed that is heating. Am I supposed to check for cooling too? If I go with that as reference for heating, 20KW heat strip generate 62800BTU 24KW heat strip generate 75300BTU So I thought we would go with 24KW because we don't like to be cold. Additionally, the 24KW heat strip is staged for 8,16,24. So it would only use what was needed. Don't know what cooling we will need because we got quotes from 3 ton to 5 ton, and current is 5 ton. How can we find out that ton we need for cooling? I had done some research and one calculator showed: 1. For Oil at $4.00 per gallon $36.09 per Million BTU. 2. For Electric furnace/backup heat at $0.1139 per KWH $34.06 per Million BTU. 3. For Heat Pump with HSPF 13 (Bryant Extreme) at $0.1139 per KWH $8.76 per Million BTU. So from that the electric backup heat is slightly cheaper cost wise too, but it would also not have all the problems of oil delivery, maintenance, spill issues, having to shovel the path to the oil pipe for the delivery guy (because that is on the far side of the house), etc. Plus oil prices seems to go higher faster, while our utility (small one) sets the price once a year and is one of the lower rates one. Thank you again for your help.