# Rheem Criterion 2 efficiency



## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

Certainly great advice that has two edges, keeps your unit at its peak and makes money for him in return service call.

You may or may not have needed the stat, and if you are not very savoy, unscrupulous techs can sense this and will take advantage of you.

Other than making sure your filters are changed regularly and annual service calls from a trusted tech, sounds like you are on the right track, in my opinion.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

The stat was an old Hunter one, he said they are junk.

The new filter (Honeywell) he put in said I could get 6-9 months on it, wrote a date on it and everything. He installed it into the very top of the furnace, so I just get on a small ladder and pull it out.

What does the furnace need done to it annualy? (other than the filter)


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

*pics*

New Filter, inducer motor and Stat


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

Routine cleaning and if it is gas burners are checked for correct burning. They can even test the gas valve to make sure it is at correct pressure. They check to make sure that the gas chamber is not cracked, very important on older systems but I am sure it is one of those things that can even happen on a not so old system.



If you don't have one already in your home, in conjunction with smoke detector, you need a carbon monoxide detector.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

Yes I do need a carbon monoxide detector. I forgot about that till just now.

I'm going to have to call around and see about getting all that routine stuff checked out just to make sure. Do you know what the average cost of a routine check of the system costs?


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

No I am sure that varies all around the US. Ask neighbors and BBB for references. Call and ask various companies to email you their cost and what they do, to compare.

If I am not mistaken, even from pros here price talk is taboo!


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## sammy37 (Dec 9, 2008)

I see they used galvanized pipe for the gas line, should be black pipe.


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## beenthere (Oct 11, 2008)

That price varies greatly in each area, and across the country. Some companies don't do much, others check everything.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

sammy37 said:


> I see they used galvanized pipe for the gas line, should be black pipe.


Does that matter? Seems to be fine.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

I have outside the A/C unit, it's a Rheem Central Air Conditioner Model# RAKA-030JAZ and from what I can tell from online specs it's 30,000 BTU unit for this 1440sq feet 1 story home. That's the correct size for this home right?

It runs great, I've had no problems with it either. I'm going to clean out the leaves and what not from inside the fan area this weekend and just clean the area around it (make it look better)

My question is, does this unit also heat the house or is just A/C? If it does heat the house in anyway and I don't want to use it for heating but just A/C is that ok? 

I just need some clarification here.

Thanks!


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

mwpaulson said:


> I have outside the A/C unit, it's a Rheem Central Air Conditioner Model# RAKA-030JAZ and from what I can tell from online specs it's 30,000 BTU unit for this 1440sq feet 1 story home. That's the correct size for this home right?
> 
> It runs great, I've had no problems with it either. I'm going to clean out the leaves and what not from inside the fan area this weekend and just clean the area around it (make it look better)
> 
> ...


You said in your original post that you have a gas furnace, so no the outside unit does not operate during heat operation.

When cleaning, turn off the electrical breakers and rinse down the coil itself. Do not use excessive pressure.


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

As far as the size, there are programs that ac folks use that determine heating and cooling sizes. They have to enter square footage, windows, insulation,number of occupants, direction of home and the list goes on.

It's a science!


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

I was just wondering because they had a blue wire in the thermostat area when I took the old Hunter therostat off labeled "O/B" but when I went to the gas furnace and looked at the wire board it only had W/Y/G/R/C with the White wire to W, Yellow and Red wire to Y, Green wire to G, Red wire to R and the Blue wire to C. I'll include a pic.

Also there is already alittle bit of that white stuff comming back after 2 weeks, is that normal?


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

mwpaulson said:


> I was just wondering because they had a blue wire in the thermostat area when I took the old Hunter therostat off labeled "O/B" but when I went to the gas furnace and looked at the wire board it only had W/Y/G/R/C with the White wire to W, Yellow and Red wire to Y, Green wire to G, Red wire to R and the Blue wire to C. I'll include a pic.
> 
> Also there is already alittle bit of that white stuff comming back after 2 weeks, is that normal?


Can't help you with the wiring question. 

As far as the dust is it soft or hard?


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

It builds up in little white chunks as you can see from the post. I can squish it very easy.. it's soft


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

digitalplumber said:


> Can't help you with the wiring question.
> 
> As far as the dust is it soft or hard?


That's ok I started a different thead here so maybe someone can look at it and the new pic and tell me if I'm right in using a 1heat/1cool thermostat that I first got.

http://www.diychatroom.com/f17/thermostat-wiring-o-b-w-together-160680/#post1040782


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

Well yes, if you have a single speed furnace and ac, then the one heat and one cool would be all you would need.

A second is needed, like in mine, when you have dual stage furnace. Furnace comes on at say 75% heating capacity (just estimate) then remains there until it determines if additional heat is needed. If no, it heats and thens shuts off normally. If it needs more heating capacity, it goes into 100% or High heat, warms home then shuts down.

or

In a dual stage furnace, if you want it to just blow 100% high all of the time you can connect just the high heat.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

digitalplumber said:


> Well yes, if you have a single speed furnace and ac, then the one heat and one cool would be all you would need.
> 
> A second is needed, like in mine, when you have dual stage furnace. Furnace comes on at say 75% heating capacity (just estimate) then remains there until it determines if additional heat is needed. If no, it heats and thens shuts off normally. If it needs more heating capacity, it goes into 100% or High heat, warms home then shuts down.
> 
> ...


From what I can tell and reading online specs about the Furnace it seems like it is single speed. 

It keeps the house nice a warm at 70F without turning on but a few times throughout the night, fan stays on for like a few mins after the burners go off to blow the rest of the heat out witch is nice, the whole process from start to finish is only like maybe 4-5 mins and last night I only heard it come on a few times. My house is well insulated


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## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

mwpaulson said:


> From what I can tell and reading online specs about the Furnace it seems like it is single speed.
> 
> It keeps the house nice a warm at 70F without turning on but a few times throughout the night, fan stays on for like a few mins after the burners go off to blow the rest of the heat out witch is nice, the whole process from start to finish is only like maybe 4-5 mins and last night I only heard it come on a few times. My house is well insulated


 
Sounds like you have a great setup!


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

digitalplumber said:


> Sounds like you have a great setup!


I hope so, for an older system it seems to work great. 

I'm having a different HVAC company come out and do the annual Maintenance, this is what they said they are going to do.

On a gas furnace they clean the burners, check the heat exchanger for any cracks, do a complete inspection on the switches/limits and clean those as need of soot etc. Outdoor unit the outdoor coil is checked, refrigerant levels and condensate lines cleared. It generally takes about an hour for the visit.

Price was not bad and they get the best reviews in my area.

The first HVAC guy that replaced the motor and put the filter in just gave me too high of a quote to do the same as this company.


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## yuri (Nov 29, 2008)

mwpaulson said:


> Does that matter? Seems to be fine.


 galvanized can be used but is highly frowned on by most inspectors.


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## mwpaulson (Oct 21, 2012)

yuri said:


> galvanized can be used but is highly frowned on by most inspectors.


Oh good, don't want to replace anything if I don't have to.


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## yuri (Nov 29, 2008)

galvanized is always a pain to seal even when doing water piping so it can be more prone to leaks but nat gas is supplied at .5psi on the supply so I would not worry. in the future use black iron.


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## Chris Goodman (10 mo ago)

mwpaulson said:


> Does that matter? Seems to be fine.


I know this is extremely old, but yes it does matter. Galvanized pipe is prone to flaking. Those flakes will end up in the burners, generally leads to clogging and a non functional burner. In some cases, it causes a diversion (temporary blockage). In this case your burner will still operate, poorly but will operate, the rest of the gas is pushed outside of the burner and can be extremely dangerous.


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## supers05 (May 23, 2015)

Chris Goodman said:


> I know this is extremely old, but yes it does matter. Galvanized pipe is prone to flaking. Those flakes will end up in the burners, generally leads to clogging and a non functional burner. In some cases, it causes a diversion (temporary blockage). In this case your burner will still operate, poorly but will operate, the rest of the gas is pushed outside of the burner and can be extremely dangerous.


It isn't against code here, and we have incredibly strict codes. I have never seen or even heard it that happen around here. I'm sure if there was a real issue with it, it would pop into our local codes real fast.

Aside from that, those flakes would get caught in the strainer in the gas valve. And if, hypothetically, you didn't have a strainer, i would be more worried about the flakes getting stuck in the gas valve seat and allowing gas to leak by. Any flakes small enough to make it through an orifice, won't stop at the burner face. A blocked orifice would cause the appliance to shutoff as the flame wouldn't propagate across to the sensor.


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