Heat Pump Reliability
We first look at a study conducted by Consumer Reports, based on feedback of 7,816 of their subscribers who reported that their heat pumps broke down by the third year of ownership. Consumer Reports notes that differences of fewer than five percentage points between brands is not meaningful. Also models within a brand may vary widely, and these are just averages for all models within a brand.
Breakdown Rate Within 3 Years of Installation of Major Heat Pump Brands
American Standard: 23%
Bryant: 24%
Trane: 25%
Carrier: 25%
Lennox: 27%
Goodman: 35%
Rheem: 39%
This website believes informed and educated consumers should make their own buying decisions, and we do not recommend or endorse or dissuade you from purchasing any brand or model of heat pump.
Breakdown Rate Within 3 Years of Installation of Major Heat Pump Brands
American Standard: 23%
Bryant: 24%
Trane: 25%
Carrier: 25%
Lennox: 27%
Goodman: 35%
Rheem: 39%
This website believes informed and educated consumers should make their own buying decisions, and we do not recommend or endorse or dissuade you from purchasing any brand or model of heat pump.
Consumer Reviews
Next we show some actual customer comments who've purchased heat pumps. These are culled from the website of Furnace Compare where you can literally find hundreds more reviews. These reviews are unedited, even showing typos and bad English. As with any public reviews, such as with restaurant or hotel reviews, reviewers tend to be customers who are either very happy or very unhappy with the product. The majority of customers are likely satisfied, and not motivated to send in a review.
AMANA
James Ewen, Louisville, KY
Amana Heat Pump Nightmare: Unfortunately my neighbors have an Amana heat pump. It is about 6 years old. It is really loud! It makes a high pitched noise like a saw mill! It is so loud I am constantly awakened and unable to sleep. I have to run a fan in my bedroom for a year to drown out the noise but now it is so loud I have to wear egg plugs also to sleep and I can still hear the darn thing! I am afraid to complain for fear of starting a neighborhood feud and have then have them harass me and vandalize my property. Two HVAC men have told me Amana heat pumps are junk! Amana nightmare.
R. Steeves:
Stand by your product: The condenser failed in the eighth year. The compressor failed just before the 10 year warranty expired. However, the warranty was not honored because apparently Goodman must receive the faulty part before the warranty expires. So lost over $1000 due to a technicality.
Glenn, Colorado
Love Amana: The actual Amana product has been great for us in 2 different homes for over 25 years, our modulating heat pump saves us $2,000 a year in LP gas and has never had an ounce of trouble and is the quietest, most comfortable system we have had. A bad install will ruin any brand and cause misery. Properly installed and sized, they are great products. Get referrals on the installers and make sure it isn't one with the Amana Distinctions label on it. They are not the same at all, even though your builder and an Amana Distinction dealer will tell you they are.
Rich, Fort Worth, TX
AMANA = UNRELIABLE: Bought a new Amana heat pump system in 2008. Work fine and kept the house cooled down to 74 deg effortlessly for the first three years. System failed on us (shutdown). Tech found a component had totally disintegrated (blown up. Had difficulty with Warranty took three days to get component in hand. Less than one year later same story with another electrical component. Again, after 1 1/2 years later same story with component failure and difficulty warranty. Now into my 8 1/2 years systems shuts down. System is depleted of freon. Both the evap coils and the the copper piston mechanism that switches from cooling to heats are leaking. I am now on my 10 day in near 100 deg temp without any ac. Now starting to look to see if there are any outstanding lemon laws or state action law suits against this company. Cannot recommend Amana (or Goodman an Amana subsidiary)
John Reynolds, Greer, SC
Stay away: Unit will be five {5} years old Jan. 31, 2017. Since the summer of 2016 it has broken down twice and cost us over $1000.00 Every repairman we have had agrees it is a piece of junk. One repair it had to be completely disassembled and put back together.
AMERICAN STANDARD
Lloyd Piercy, Hermiston, OR
Worst company in the world...North Korea would be better at this: I bought a 7.5 ton unit for a winery ball room..it is now 4 years old and has never worked even though it is off most of the year. Americana standard has not backed it in any way ..one component is on its fourth replacement..the compressor has failed twice I believe. .3 control boards..the remote thermostat hasn't worked so we hard wired one this week Cal me at 5415614642..so I can personally share my loathing for American standard
C. Mohr, Missouri
Don't buy! We bought the "top of the line" model heat pump 4 years ago. Disaster! Worked for 2 years before problems started. Have replaced ac condensers twice and now having nothing but trouble with heating unit! American Standard does not stand behind their product. Have requested replacement but no response. Never again!!!
Bill P., Shawnee, OK
Had American Standard for 11 years: We've had our American Standard for 11 years. Hasn't been any trouble until recently. Used it much in the summer in Oklahoma since the wife has to sleep at around 66 degrees. It has done a pretty good job at cooling to a low temperature. The A-coils in the blower have rusted out and won't hold Freon. Although it has had trouble only recently, I'm going to try a different brand since I would hope to get more than 11 years out of my heat pump.
Eric, Vinton, VA
System reliability: I have been in the commercial and residential HVAC field for 30 years. A majority of failures are due to installation practices by the technicians, especially refrigerant leaks and air flow issues. However, there are failures due to "cheap" equipment, and the American Standard line has proven to be a quality-built piece of equipment. I have installed American Standard equipment for eight years, and have not had a major failure or repair, such as leaks, compressors, coils, or motors. You truly get what you pay for...do your research on contractors, or work off referrals from friends.
CARRIER
Roger Davis, Lucedale, MS
Another Carrier catastrophe: Buy anything other than a Carrier, customer service is lousy/none. Will not last through warranty period. Example: blower motor quits, service tech says it could be the motor or the controller on the end of the motor, but cannot tell, have to send it to Carrier. In order to get your a/c working in over 90 degree weather, you have to get a motor and controller assembly that will take over a week. Then you have to wait for Carrier to determine which is bad, or both. And customer will have to pay the difference. We have had Goodman, Rheem and in my opinion, the best Trane. All lasted 10 years or better, with very few problems, not at all like Carrier.
Brian Sivell, British Columbia
Carrier heat pump: Very poor quality. Very poor service from Carrier. Would never waste my time and money again buying from Carrier. I have had 2 service recalls and it will now cost me near $1,000 to fix a service recall problem covered under warranty for a part poorly manufactured by Carrier.
Manheim, PA
Surprisingly Good: We have had a heat pump ever since we bought the house, and the house was two years old when we bought it. That makes 16 years with this heat pump. We have had no problems whatsoever that were caused by the heat pump itself. We had trouble with it the first winter, because we didn't know about clearing the snow away from it, but that was quickly remedied by the neighbor clueing us in, and certainly not the fault of the machine. It never failed to heat our home, and it has never failed to keep us as warm as we'd like to be. I had previous experience with another heat pump that did not work half as well, and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I would buy the same brand again, and I would most certainly recommend it to a friend.
Jim, Pittsburgh, PA
Carrier heat pump: Heat pump was purchased for $5330.00 in 10/13. The first complaint is the heat pump does not blow even warm air. The temperature at the register is 65 degrees, it creates a draft, no heat, and runs continuously till you manually turn on the emergency heat, which is my gas furnace, a Heil gas furnace that works very well. The service man, after 4 tries to fix it, called Carrier to help with the problem. Now it does not work at all. I called Carrier customer service. They said it was out of warranty, Carrier would not do anything. Carrier's customer service is as good as their product.
FUJITSU
Thomas Haffner, Gilgo Beach, NY
Unsatisfactory: Three times in five years, the pcb computer board has failed on both of my units with, no help from the manufacturer.
pneblett, Tennessee
Run don't walk from Fujitsu: When the system works it is quiet and efficient. I have had multiple leaks, replaced a fan motor, and had 3 inside coils leak and be replaced. Fujitsu customer service was of no help. They certify installers and then blame all the problems on them and then give you no help getting it repaired. Getting information about error codes and repairs is extremely difficult. I spent thousands of dollars on service on a unit in 4 1/2 years on an expensive system I thought would be good. I am very disappointed in this Fujitsu unit. I advise you to run from Fujitsu ac products.
Ward Porath, Stacy, MN
RUN from this manufacturer!!!!! Installed unit, turned on for heat and the compressor shorted out in less than 1 hour. Warranty replaced outdoor unit in spring, turned on ac and unit shorted out condenser fan and control board in less than 1 day. Complete junk!! Tech support takes hours to reach and then you're treated like a child. Highly recommend any other brand split system or else!!!!!
Dom D., Waterville, ME
Happy with split heat pump: We bought this unit just before the deep freeze Dec. 26th 2017 in Maine. Temps dropped to below -23 F. People told us it would provide heat up to and below -26 and down to -30. I must say it had no problem keep the heat at or around 70 degrees. Received our first electric bill it averaged along with the cost of the routine electricity approximately $6.00 a day. This is much less then what we would have paid for oil which most people I talked to burned 4 plus gallons a day at a cost from $2.70 to $3.00 a gallon. Since the temperature has moderated, the cost is 2/3 what it was the last period. I didn't mention my house is 1300 sq ft. Which was built in 1956, it is an open concept, the back bedrooms during the cold period were a few degrees lower. As the temperature moderated it was the same all over the house.
K. Imamura, Sequim, WA
Problems with Fujitsu Minisplit heat pump: We had three, wall-mounted units installed five years ago. One of them developed a fluttering noise that four visits by the installer have not been able to fix. Now, the installer says that the only options are to live with the increasingly loud flutter or to replace the unit. The installer offered to provide the labor but won't pay for the replacement unit. The installer claims that Fujitsu will not reimburse him for the cost of the unit. It seems that Fujitsu refuses to replace units with problems and will only reimburse the installer for parts. Our unit apparently cannot be fixed, yet the installer says that Fujitsu will not pay for a replacement.
KENMORE
TRI D Nguyen, Springfield, VA
Heating air conditioning: I ordered Sears to install the whole system, from compressor, furnace, wiring, thermostat, with extended warranty from Sears on 2010. It never worked right the 1st year. I then called Sears services and they tried to charge me $500, then waived it after some phones I had to make back to Sears to remind them that I have an extended warranty. One year later they sent me a collection letter of $250 and it had to be resolved after an appeal from me to the collection company. Other bad news was he told me the system had a "small leak " and he put some "stop leak " into the system. Can anybody believe this ? This is the whole new system, almost $7,000.00! Furthermore, when he removed the cover panel from the furnace I could see the evaporator inside already rusted out (it was 1 yr old) and until today whenever I adjust the A/C thermostat, it goes back to 75 f even after replacing the batteries. I trusted Sears products but not after this. It is so disappointing.
D. Jackson, Baltimore, MD
Awesome: I have owned my new Kenmore heat pump now for about 1 year. I bought an 18 seer 2 stage and the savings are what the sales person promised. I researched this unit for about 2 weeks and found out that it is the same unit as a Carrier Infinity unit. Both units are made by United Technology. All have the same parts. I saved a lot of money going with the Kenmore. I used Sears 24-month no interest to pay. From start to finish I give Sears a 10 rating. Their service has just been wonderful.
Jill Trident
Sears is great! They do a great job with new air condoning! Its so sad to read these reviews from people who only write to complain. The things I read that are marked as "unsatisfied" are obviously from the rude, impatient and ignorant of how the hvac process works. The company and warranty are wonderful! I love mine, maybe I also just have a good attitude and attract good things!
LG
Digger, Halifax, Nova Scotia
LG Heat Pumps are GARBAGE I bought an lg Heat Pump from Halifax Heating Residential 5 months ago. At a little under 4 months the motherboard and the indoor motor blew. Between the terrible service from Halifax Heating Residential, waiting for parts to arrive from Korea and the wrong parts being ordered, we are now 5 weeks with a non-operating lg Heat Pump. Totally unacceptable!!! And Halifax Heating Residential doesn't seem in any rush to get our Heat Pump back running. When the parts come in Halifax Heating Residential does nothing but schedule a regular appointment 2 days later. The technician has been to repair it 4 times and it is still not repaired!! Before we decided on what company in Halifax, N.S. to install our Heat Pump, we had over 12 companies come in and give us a quote. Based on their service they say they give on their website, with 24/7 emergency service and the salesperson said they have 4 service teams out doing repairs, we chose Halifax Heating Residential. Well the 24/7 service only exists if all that is wrong with the Heat Pump is a blown fuse. Otherwise good luck. When we called and complained, they said that this had happened to over 60 units. Based on that lg Heat Pumps are garbage. 5 weeks without a Heat Pump...that would never happen to a house with a furnace!!
vwood, Prince Edward Island, Canada
LG and source service: Bought 4 lg units in 2014. One blew the compressor board on December 4th. Nobody could figure problem for two weeks. Then it took one month to get parts that literally meant rebuilding unit. Source and lg refused to give me a new unit. They quoted me $500.00 to $1000.00 to put it back together. The biggest rip off I've ever dealt with. Over 7 weeks in winter without unit. Would never purchase lg or anything from Source pei.
Don Jones, Telluride, CO
"Dishonorable manufacturer: We are an HVAC contractor in Colorado with 12 employees. We purchased and installed an LG mini-split for a small business in April 2013. We leak tested our line sets repeatedly as we were adding refrigerant twice a year, and finally found the source of the leak in the indoor coil in September 2015. LG refused to replace the unit but provided only a new coil, costing us a huge amount of time to install. I complained about this to my supplier and they told me they are dropping LG because of this and other similar situations. So I write this review to warn others of poor quality and unfair warranty practices by LG.
Eagan, MN
My Good and Bad Experiences With My LG Heat Pump and How I Feel About It: I've owned this pump for about two years. In that time it's broken down once. It had to be repaired because there "was a problem with the power connection point" according to the handyman who fixed it. It cost $80 to fix, which I feel was too high to pay for half an hour of fiddling around. I like that it blends into the wall and doesn't take up too much space. I don't like that it had to be fixed and that it's performance seems to have slowed down after it had to be fixed. Otherwise, it's been fairly satisfactory. I was going to contact lb about the problem but I just never got around to it. Before the problem I would have recommended it to a friend, but I wouldn't anymore. As far I as I know my friend who bought it hasn't had any problems with it like I have.
MITSUBISHI
KC, North Carolina
Disappointed: We just had this installed and are unimpressed with the fact that this unit cannot even heat our house to 70 degrees. We are still having to supplement with space heaters. It runs constantly without getting to the temperature that it is set to. We live in North Carolina so fairly mild temperatures. The HVAC company does not seem to know what to do to fix it.
R. Sudama, Courtenay, British Columbia
Blissfully quiet: We had our unit installed about 4 years ago. The compressor is only about 15' away from our bedroom window. If it weren't for the blower kicking in on the furnace I wouldn't even know it was on. That's what we bought it for and we are totally satisfied. We generate most of our heat from a wood stove, so I can't really speak to the operating costs. I do know this had one of the highest energy efficiency ratings on the market at the time we got it.
Joshua Swamidas, St. John's, NL, Canada
Was impressed with it until it broke down: At the writing of this, I've been without a working heat pump for close to 6 months. I can't even get the emergency heat to work. The problem is that my coil has developed a leak, possibly as long as two years ago, but we can't tell and it is only anecdotal as it was having a hard time keeping ice from forming on the fins. Some of this is because I can't find someone who can service it locally. Note that I went with a reputable company to do the install, they do the majority of commercial installs around here but they were not licensed to install Mitsubishi products. This meant that the warranty I thought would be for 10 years only was for 5 years. This is more my fault for not realizing things. But, who loses the coil in 6 years. It seems that Mitsubishi heat pumps do. It is going to cost me almost $4000 to get the coil replaced, 6 years after I put the unit in. How do you recover that kind of loss? Something that doesn't come up when doing the calculation to see if you should switch to a heat pump. It maybe saves me about $100 of heat during the winter months, but then I used it in the summer months for AC which offsets my winter savings. It's gonna take me a long time to recoup this loss. Maybe a great product when it works but horribly expensive when things fail.
Jeff M., Maine
218% increase in electrical cost: They told me to expect about a $50 increase in my electric bill. I know that it's more in the winter, but I paid $110 in October and my December bill was $350. I live in Maine so it's cold and I supplement with pellets and oil.
wec, Bainbridge Island, WA
Warranty does NOT include repair labor: In October 2011 I had a Mitsubishi heat pump installed. In September 2012 it failed. The technician diagnosed a failed circuit board (one of three). The warranty covered only the part, not the labor. $380.10. That blows about 2 years of electrical savings.
Mik
Compressor failure: I had a msz-fe18na installed last August. The compressor just failed in it. Less than a year old. I have waited now for 3 days to have a new compressor sent from enertrac. They cost a lot of money. To have such a critical part fail so early doesn't seem right to me.
JB Potter, Hartford, CT
Worthless piece of equipment: I agree with L. Gentry. I've asked the Attorney General in CT to look into the legality of selling a heating system that does not work. I've been told by 2 other contractors that in our area of the country you have to have a secondary heat source for when it gets really cold when you have a heat pump. I asked the Mitsubishi rep about this and he denied it. I wrote to Mitsubishi to complain and they deny it. Why then when it was 7 degrees did I have only cool air coming out? I am so upset about this. I spent a lot of money on this heating system that does not work and now have to buy another one. Mitsubishi refuses to reimburse me any portion of what I spent on their worthless system.
RHEEM
Jeffrey Sublett, Lexington, KY
Terrible: Replaced the first unit in 2016 (5 years), and now the second unit (7 years), is having major issues! Do not purchase, nor would I purchase a house with Rheem units again, unless the seller agreed to replace them.
K. Scott, Land O Lakes, FL
Would not recommend this product to my worst enemy! I have had problems with air handler right off the start up. The a/c contractor did get that problem fixed after the third try. The condenser unit sounded like a diesel motor idling when shutting off. I was told that was alright, but being a electrical contractor for 35 years, I didn’t think that sounded right. This Labor Day weekend, I came home from work and my house was 83 degrees. Called my A/C contractor and he was out of town; couldn’t get a tech there until Sunday morning. Called and said my reversing valve had a major leak around one of solder joints and had leaked all of the Freon out. Contractor showed up Tuesday late afternoon. Took 3 hrs to repair, by 9:00 pm I had a/c and a $550 repair bill. I asked the a/c contractor about the compressor noise and he we might have to replace the compressor. It has a 10 year warranty, but I would have to pay for labor. This Rheem system is only 2 years old to have this many problems. It is sad that this product is this bad. My advice to other consumers, is don’t buy this brand only if you want early and constant problems. I rate this brand as F for failure.
SAMSUNG
Chisholm Mackinnon, Cape Breton
SAMSUNG WHISPER 18000 BTU: I find the Feb 2015 review by Norm Morine less than credible considering he sold me one in 2014. He had recommended it over other industry leading brands. My unit works very well over the past couple of years and it has so far lived up to his recomendation.
John Pettet, Kentville
Worst heat pump on the market: One problem after another. Took it out and replaced it with a Fujitsu 24k. What a difference - twice the heat and quiet, unlike the Samsung, which rattled and vibrated from day one. If you are considering a heat pump don't waste your money on a Samsung.
TAPPAN
Robert Wenz, Pennsylvania
My equipment is about 4 years old and seems to be working fine: I read if you have an installer that is crappy and doesn't know what they are doing you can expect a crap installation, so it might not always be the equipment's fault, but the installer's fault. My equipment is about 4 years old and seems to be working fine.
Joe Knust, Omaha, NE
Heat Pump Review: The unit looks very nice. It isn't an eye sore on the side of my house. It is very quiet, which I like, as the unit is near our back patio.
H. Hummell, Warren, OH
Awful: I bought a brand new house in 2008 and the coil is leaking badly enough that it can't be fixed. Very much the same problem as the other reviewer (luckily it is nice weather). Estimate cost of new coil and copper tubing $2,175! I contacted Tappen and they will replace the coil only. That will only drop it about $600. I am to still to pay for the remainder. Six of my Tappan Heat pump neighbors are probably going to be in the same boat soon since they were all built at the same time.
YORK
Kelly Smith, St. George, UT
Lots of repair: After 9 years the Compressor went out. It was covered under the 10 year warranty, but labor and Freon (r22) was $1,200. After that, the condenser fan motor went out. That was about $225. After that, the blower motor ecm went out. That was about $600. After that, the unit was blowing hot air, so I called a technician. Freon was low, charged me $300. After that, (about two months later) blowing hot air again. Called the technician to find leak and fix. Charged me $175 to find leak. Leak was in coil. Technician said I needed a new coil. Gave me a price of $1,700. From the compressor to the coil, this has happened to me in the last two years of 11 years of ownership. The heat-pump worked fine while it was working, but I’ve only owned the 5 ton heat-pump a little over 11 years and these are the problems that I’ve had. I am not satisfied with the unit. I will not buy another York.
Robert, Florida
York system: These units are very nice, quiet, efficient and made in America.
Lu Gaines, King William, VA
Will See: Have purchased a newly built house less than two years ago and had installed a york system Heat pump. Has not been working correctly, it's cold here and needs servicing. As this is the first time reading this post its a bit concerning. Once we have it serviced (as it should be under contract ) and running correctly will then revisit this posting and give more current update as to the finding and the end results. If not a happy camper will give it a full blast here, yelp and all the Social medias I belong to. If a happy camper will give it a blast of accolades as well. Hoping for the best!!
C. Tucker, Roy, WA
Don't buy a York. Our heat pump has broken down twice in less than a year: We had a heat pump/York installed in October 2016. January 2017 was the first break down. Second break down was in June 2017. There is no reason for a system costing this much to break down at all let alone twice in less than a year. I will request a replacement. Obvious a lemon. Winter breakdown we had to do w/out heat for two days. Second time we had to suffer in extreme heat for two days. That's it. Either they replace it or I get an attorney.
D. Curlin, Brook Park, OH
Wtf: There was no real sales pitch for the product. I didn't get product information. When your 40-year-old system dies and it's 90 degrees in your living room you tend to get a bit desperate. I didn't have time to shop around. So the contractor, HJacks, has done reliable service in the past. I needed something affordable and quiet and asap. So the brand wasn't the issue. I had an air handler installed as well. And they replaced my breaker box at no extra cost. But one aspect of these surveys isn't addressed: I've had this one week. The electronic thermostat is not as easy to use as it should be. And the air handler hums and can be heard through the vents. My old unit didn't hum. Almost used to it now though.
Seattle, WA
The York is the Best: We've owned this heat pump since we moved into our house 3 years ago. It's simple and works and gives us no problems. I don't know much about heat pumps but our home heating and cooing and refrigeration systems work great. We haven't had to get it repaired for 3 years now. It is not loud and it's efficient. With this experience, I have no dislikes about this heat pump. I'd buy it again or recommend it to a friend, even though I've read some negative reviews online from other owners.
AMANA
James Ewen, Louisville, KY
Amana Heat Pump Nightmare: Unfortunately my neighbors have an Amana heat pump. It is about 6 years old. It is really loud! It makes a high pitched noise like a saw mill! It is so loud I am constantly awakened and unable to sleep. I have to run a fan in my bedroom for a year to drown out the noise but now it is so loud I have to wear egg plugs also to sleep and I can still hear the darn thing! I am afraid to complain for fear of starting a neighborhood feud and have then have them harass me and vandalize my property. Two HVAC men have told me Amana heat pumps are junk! Amana nightmare.
R. Steeves:
Stand by your product: The condenser failed in the eighth year. The compressor failed just before the 10 year warranty expired. However, the warranty was not honored because apparently Goodman must receive the faulty part before the warranty expires. So lost over $1000 due to a technicality.
Glenn, Colorado
Love Amana: The actual Amana product has been great for us in 2 different homes for over 25 years, our modulating heat pump saves us $2,000 a year in LP gas and has never had an ounce of trouble and is the quietest, most comfortable system we have had. A bad install will ruin any brand and cause misery. Properly installed and sized, they are great products. Get referrals on the installers and make sure it isn't one with the Amana Distinctions label on it. They are not the same at all, even though your builder and an Amana Distinction dealer will tell you they are.
Rich, Fort Worth, TX
AMANA = UNRELIABLE: Bought a new Amana heat pump system in 2008. Work fine and kept the house cooled down to 74 deg effortlessly for the first three years. System failed on us (shutdown). Tech found a component had totally disintegrated (blown up. Had difficulty with Warranty took three days to get component in hand. Less than one year later same story with another electrical component. Again, after 1 1/2 years later same story with component failure and difficulty warranty. Now into my 8 1/2 years systems shuts down. System is depleted of freon. Both the evap coils and the the copper piston mechanism that switches from cooling to heats are leaking. I am now on my 10 day in near 100 deg temp without any ac. Now starting to look to see if there are any outstanding lemon laws or state action law suits against this company. Cannot recommend Amana (or Goodman an Amana subsidiary)
John Reynolds, Greer, SC
Stay away: Unit will be five {5} years old Jan. 31, 2017. Since the summer of 2016 it has broken down twice and cost us over $1000.00 Every repairman we have had agrees it is a piece of junk. One repair it had to be completely disassembled and put back together.
AMERICAN STANDARD
Lloyd Piercy, Hermiston, OR
Worst company in the world...North Korea would be better at this: I bought a 7.5 ton unit for a winery ball room..it is now 4 years old and has never worked even though it is off most of the year. Americana standard has not backed it in any way ..one component is on its fourth replacement..the compressor has failed twice I believe. .3 control boards..the remote thermostat hasn't worked so we hard wired one this week Cal me at 5415614642..so I can personally share my loathing for American standard
C. Mohr, Missouri
Don't buy! We bought the "top of the line" model heat pump 4 years ago. Disaster! Worked for 2 years before problems started. Have replaced ac condensers twice and now having nothing but trouble with heating unit! American Standard does not stand behind their product. Have requested replacement but no response. Never again!!!
Bill P., Shawnee, OK
Had American Standard for 11 years: We've had our American Standard for 11 years. Hasn't been any trouble until recently. Used it much in the summer in Oklahoma since the wife has to sleep at around 66 degrees. It has done a pretty good job at cooling to a low temperature. The A-coils in the blower have rusted out and won't hold Freon. Although it has had trouble only recently, I'm going to try a different brand since I would hope to get more than 11 years out of my heat pump.
Eric, Vinton, VA
System reliability: I have been in the commercial and residential HVAC field for 30 years. A majority of failures are due to installation practices by the technicians, especially refrigerant leaks and air flow issues. However, there are failures due to "cheap" equipment, and the American Standard line has proven to be a quality-built piece of equipment. I have installed American Standard equipment for eight years, and have not had a major failure or repair, such as leaks, compressors, coils, or motors. You truly get what you pay for...do your research on contractors, or work off referrals from friends.
CARRIER
Roger Davis, Lucedale, MS
Another Carrier catastrophe: Buy anything other than a Carrier, customer service is lousy/none. Will not last through warranty period. Example: blower motor quits, service tech says it could be the motor or the controller on the end of the motor, but cannot tell, have to send it to Carrier. In order to get your a/c working in over 90 degree weather, you have to get a motor and controller assembly that will take over a week. Then you have to wait for Carrier to determine which is bad, or both. And customer will have to pay the difference. We have had Goodman, Rheem and in my opinion, the best Trane. All lasted 10 years or better, with very few problems, not at all like Carrier.
Brian Sivell, British Columbia
Carrier heat pump: Very poor quality. Very poor service from Carrier. Would never waste my time and money again buying from Carrier. I have had 2 service recalls and it will now cost me near $1,000 to fix a service recall problem covered under warranty for a part poorly manufactured by Carrier.
Manheim, PA
Surprisingly Good: We have had a heat pump ever since we bought the house, and the house was two years old when we bought it. That makes 16 years with this heat pump. We have had no problems whatsoever that were caused by the heat pump itself. We had trouble with it the first winter, because we didn't know about clearing the snow away from it, but that was quickly remedied by the neighbor clueing us in, and certainly not the fault of the machine. It never failed to heat our home, and it has never failed to keep us as warm as we'd like to be. I had previous experience with another heat pump that did not work half as well, and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I would buy the same brand again, and I would most certainly recommend it to a friend.
Jim, Pittsburgh, PA
Carrier heat pump: Heat pump was purchased for $5330.00 in 10/13. The first complaint is the heat pump does not blow even warm air. The temperature at the register is 65 degrees, it creates a draft, no heat, and runs continuously till you manually turn on the emergency heat, which is my gas furnace, a Heil gas furnace that works very well. The service man, after 4 tries to fix it, called Carrier to help with the problem. Now it does not work at all. I called Carrier customer service. They said it was out of warranty, Carrier would not do anything. Carrier's customer service is as good as their product.
FUJITSU
Thomas Haffner, Gilgo Beach, NY
Unsatisfactory: Three times in five years, the pcb computer board has failed on both of my units with, no help from the manufacturer.
pneblett, Tennessee
Run don't walk from Fujitsu: When the system works it is quiet and efficient. I have had multiple leaks, replaced a fan motor, and had 3 inside coils leak and be replaced. Fujitsu customer service was of no help. They certify installers and then blame all the problems on them and then give you no help getting it repaired. Getting information about error codes and repairs is extremely difficult. I spent thousands of dollars on service on a unit in 4 1/2 years on an expensive system I thought would be good. I am very disappointed in this Fujitsu unit. I advise you to run from Fujitsu ac products.
Ward Porath, Stacy, MN
RUN from this manufacturer!!!!! Installed unit, turned on for heat and the compressor shorted out in less than 1 hour. Warranty replaced outdoor unit in spring, turned on ac and unit shorted out condenser fan and control board in less than 1 day. Complete junk!! Tech support takes hours to reach and then you're treated like a child. Highly recommend any other brand split system or else!!!!!
Dom D., Waterville, ME
Happy with split heat pump: We bought this unit just before the deep freeze Dec. 26th 2017 in Maine. Temps dropped to below -23 F. People told us it would provide heat up to and below -26 and down to -30. I must say it had no problem keep the heat at or around 70 degrees. Received our first electric bill it averaged along with the cost of the routine electricity approximately $6.00 a day. This is much less then what we would have paid for oil which most people I talked to burned 4 plus gallons a day at a cost from $2.70 to $3.00 a gallon. Since the temperature has moderated, the cost is 2/3 what it was the last period. I didn't mention my house is 1300 sq ft. Which was built in 1956, it is an open concept, the back bedrooms during the cold period were a few degrees lower. As the temperature moderated it was the same all over the house.
K. Imamura, Sequim, WA
Problems with Fujitsu Minisplit heat pump: We had three, wall-mounted units installed five years ago. One of them developed a fluttering noise that four visits by the installer have not been able to fix. Now, the installer says that the only options are to live with the increasingly loud flutter or to replace the unit. The installer offered to provide the labor but won't pay for the replacement unit. The installer claims that Fujitsu will not reimburse him for the cost of the unit. It seems that Fujitsu refuses to replace units with problems and will only reimburse the installer for parts. Our unit apparently cannot be fixed, yet the installer says that Fujitsu will not pay for a replacement.
KENMORE
TRI D Nguyen, Springfield, VA
Heating air conditioning: I ordered Sears to install the whole system, from compressor, furnace, wiring, thermostat, with extended warranty from Sears on 2010. It never worked right the 1st year. I then called Sears services and they tried to charge me $500, then waived it after some phones I had to make back to Sears to remind them that I have an extended warranty. One year later they sent me a collection letter of $250 and it had to be resolved after an appeal from me to the collection company. Other bad news was he told me the system had a "small leak " and he put some "stop leak " into the system. Can anybody believe this ? This is the whole new system, almost $7,000.00! Furthermore, when he removed the cover panel from the furnace I could see the evaporator inside already rusted out (it was 1 yr old) and until today whenever I adjust the A/C thermostat, it goes back to 75 f even after replacing the batteries. I trusted Sears products but not after this. It is so disappointing.
D. Jackson, Baltimore, MD
Awesome: I have owned my new Kenmore heat pump now for about 1 year. I bought an 18 seer 2 stage and the savings are what the sales person promised. I researched this unit for about 2 weeks and found out that it is the same unit as a Carrier Infinity unit. Both units are made by United Technology. All have the same parts. I saved a lot of money going with the Kenmore. I used Sears 24-month no interest to pay. From start to finish I give Sears a 10 rating. Their service has just been wonderful.
Jill Trident
Sears is great! They do a great job with new air condoning! Its so sad to read these reviews from people who only write to complain. The things I read that are marked as "unsatisfied" are obviously from the rude, impatient and ignorant of how the hvac process works. The company and warranty are wonderful! I love mine, maybe I also just have a good attitude and attract good things!
LG
Digger, Halifax, Nova Scotia
LG Heat Pumps are GARBAGE I bought an lg Heat Pump from Halifax Heating Residential 5 months ago. At a little under 4 months the motherboard and the indoor motor blew. Between the terrible service from Halifax Heating Residential, waiting for parts to arrive from Korea and the wrong parts being ordered, we are now 5 weeks with a non-operating lg Heat Pump. Totally unacceptable!!! And Halifax Heating Residential doesn't seem in any rush to get our Heat Pump back running. When the parts come in Halifax Heating Residential does nothing but schedule a regular appointment 2 days later. The technician has been to repair it 4 times and it is still not repaired!! Before we decided on what company in Halifax, N.S. to install our Heat Pump, we had over 12 companies come in and give us a quote. Based on their service they say they give on their website, with 24/7 emergency service and the salesperson said they have 4 service teams out doing repairs, we chose Halifax Heating Residential. Well the 24/7 service only exists if all that is wrong with the Heat Pump is a blown fuse. Otherwise good luck. When we called and complained, they said that this had happened to over 60 units. Based on that lg Heat Pumps are garbage. 5 weeks without a Heat Pump...that would never happen to a house with a furnace!!
vwood, Prince Edward Island, Canada
LG and source service: Bought 4 lg units in 2014. One blew the compressor board on December 4th. Nobody could figure problem for two weeks. Then it took one month to get parts that literally meant rebuilding unit. Source and lg refused to give me a new unit. They quoted me $500.00 to $1000.00 to put it back together. The biggest rip off I've ever dealt with. Over 7 weeks in winter without unit. Would never purchase lg or anything from Source pei.
Don Jones, Telluride, CO
"Dishonorable manufacturer: We are an HVAC contractor in Colorado with 12 employees. We purchased and installed an LG mini-split for a small business in April 2013. We leak tested our line sets repeatedly as we were adding refrigerant twice a year, and finally found the source of the leak in the indoor coil in September 2015. LG refused to replace the unit but provided only a new coil, costing us a huge amount of time to install. I complained about this to my supplier and they told me they are dropping LG because of this and other similar situations. So I write this review to warn others of poor quality and unfair warranty practices by LG.
Eagan, MN
My Good and Bad Experiences With My LG Heat Pump and How I Feel About It: I've owned this pump for about two years. In that time it's broken down once. It had to be repaired because there "was a problem with the power connection point" according to the handyman who fixed it. It cost $80 to fix, which I feel was too high to pay for half an hour of fiddling around. I like that it blends into the wall and doesn't take up too much space. I don't like that it had to be fixed and that it's performance seems to have slowed down after it had to be fixed. Otherwise, it's been fairly satisfactory. I was going to contact lb about the problem but I just never got around to it. Before the problem I would have recommended it to a friend, but I wouldn't anymore. As far I as I know my friend who bought it hasn't had any problems with it like I have.
MITSUBISHI
KC, North Carolina
Disappointed: We just had this installed and are unimpressed with the fact that this unit cannot even heat our house to 70 degrees. We are still having to supplement with space heaters. It runs constantly without getting to the temperature that it is set to. We live in North Carolina so fairly mild temperatures. The HVAC company does not seem to know what to do to fix it.
R. Sudama, Courtenay, British Columbia
Blissfully quiet: We had our unit installed about 4 years ago. The compressor is only about 15' away from our bedroom window. If it weren't for the blower kicking in on the furnace I wouldn't even know it was on. That's what we bought it for and we are totally satisfied. We generate most of our heat from a wood stove, so I can't really speak to the operating costs. I do know this had one of the highest energy efficiency ratings on the market at the time we got it.
Joshua Swamidas, St. John's, NL, Canada
Was impressed with it until it broke down: At the writing of this, I've been without a working heat pump for close to 6 months. I can't even get the emergency heat to work. The problem is that my coil has developed a leak, possibly as long as two years ago, but we can't tell and it is only anecdotal as it was having a hard time keeping ice from forming on the fins. Some of this is because I can't find someone who can service it locally. Note that I went with a reputable company to do the install, they do the majority of commercial installs around here but they were not licensed to install Mitsubishi products. This meant that the warranty I thought would be for 10 years only was for 5 years. This is more my fault for not realizing things. But, who loses the coil in 6 years. It seems that Mitsubishi heat pumps do. It is going to cost me almost $4000 to get the coil replaced, 6 years after I put the unit in. How do you recover that kind of loss? Something that doesn't come up when doing the calculation to see if you should switch to a heat pump. It maybe saves me about $100 of heat during the winter months, but then I used it in the summer months for AC which offsets my winter savings. It's gonna take me a long time to recoup this loss. Maybe a great product when it works but horribly expensive when things fail.
Jeff M., Maine
218% increase in electrical cost: They told me to expect about a $50 increase in my electric bill. I know that it's more in the winter, but I paid $110 in October and my December bill was $350. I live in Maine so it's cold and I supplement with pellets and oil.
wec, Bainbridge Island, WA
Warranty does NOT include repair labor: In October 2011 I had a Mitsubishi heat pump installed. In September 2012 it failed. The technician diagnosed a failed circuit board (one of three). The warranty covered only the part, not the labor. $380.10. That blows about 2 years of electrical savings.
Mik
Compressor failure: I had a msz-fe18na installed last August. The compressor just failed in it. Less than a year old. I have waited now for 3 days to have a new compressor sent from enertrac. They cost a lot of money. To have such a critical part fail so early doesn't seem right to me.
JB Potter, Hartford, CT
Worthless piece of equipment: I agree with L. Gentry. I've asked the Attorney General in CT to look into the legality of selling a heating system that does not work. I've been told by 2 other contractors that in our area of the country you have to have a secondary heat source for when it gets really cold when you have a heat pump. I asked the Mitsubishi rep about this and he denied it. I wrote to Mitsubishi to complain and they deny it. Why then when it was 7 degrees did I have only cool air coming out? I am so upset about this. I spent a lot of money on this heating system that does not work and now have to buy another one. Mitsubishi refuses to reimburse me any portion of what I spent on their worthless system.
RHEEM
Jeffrey Sublett, Lexington, KY
Terrible: Replaced the first unit in 2016 (5 years), and now the second unit (7 years), is having major issues! Do not purchase, nor would I purchase a house with Rheem units again, unless the seller agreed to replace them.
K. Scott, Land O Lakes, FL
Would not recommend this product to my worst enemy! I have had problems with air handler right off the start up. The a/c contractor did get that problem fixed after the third try. The condenser unit sounded like a diesel motor idling when shutting off. I was told that was alright, but being a electrical contractor for 35 years, I didn’t think that sounded right. This Labor Day weekend, I came home from work and my house was 83 degrees. Called my A/C contractor and he was out of town; couldn’t get a tech there until Sunday morning. Called and said my reversing valve had a major leak around one of solder joints and had leaked all of the Freon out. Contractor showed up Tuesday late afternoon. Took 3 hrs to repair, by 9:00 pm I had a/c and a $550 repair bill. I asked the a/c contractor about the compressor noise and he we might have to replace the compressor. It has a 10 year warranty, but I would have to pay for labor. This Rheem system is only 2 years old to have this many problems. It is sad that this product is this bad. My advice to other consumers, is don’t buy this brand only if you want early and constant problems. I rate this brand as F for failure.
SAMSUNG
Chisholm Mackinnon, Cape Breton
SAMSUNG WHISPER 18000 BTU: I find the Feb 2015 review by Norm Morine less than credible considering he sold me one in 2014. He had recommended it over other industry leading brands. My unit works very well over the past couple of years and it has so far lived up to his recomendation.
John Pettet, Kentville
Worst heat pump on the market: One problem after another. Took it out and replaced it with a Fujitsu 24k. What a difference - twice the heat and quiet, unlike the Samsung, which rattled and vibrated from day one. If you are considering a heat pump don't waste your money on a Samsung.
TAPPAN
Robert Wenz, Pennsylvania
My equipment is about 4 years old and seems to be working fine: I read if you have an installer that is crappy and doesn't know what they are doing you can expect a crap installation, so it might not always be the equipment's fault, but the installer's fault. My equipment is about 4 years old and seems to be working fine.
Joe Knust, Omaha, NE
Heat Pump Review: The unit looks very nice. It isn't an eye sore on the side of my house. It is very quiet, which I like, as the unit is near our back patio.
H. Hummell, Warren, OH
Awful: I bought a brand new house in 2008 and the coil is leaking badly enough that it can't be fixed. Very much the same problem as the other reviewer (luckily it is nice weather). Estimate cost of new coil and copper tubing $2,175! I contacted Tappen and they will replace the coil only. That will only drop it about $600. I am to still to pay for the remainder. Six of my Tappan Heat pump neighbors are probably going to be in the same boat soon since they were all built at the same time.
YORK
Kelly Smith, St. George, UT
Lots of repair: After 9 years the Compressor went out. It was covered under the 10 year warranty, but labor and Freon (r22) was $1,200. After that, the condenser fan motor went out. That was about $225. After that, the blower motor ecm went out. That was about $600. After that, the unit was blowing hot air, so I called a technician. Freon was low, charged me $300. After that, (about two months later) blowing hot air again. Called the technician to find leak and fix. Charged me $175 to find leak. Leak was in coil. Technician said I needed a new coil. Gave me a price of $1,700. From the compressor to the coil, this has happened to me in the last two years of 11 years of ownership. The heat-pump worked fine while it was working, but I’ve only owned the 5 ton heat-pump a little over 11 years and these are the problems that I’ve had. I am not satisfied with the unit. I will not buy another York.
Robert, Florida
York system: These units are very nice, quiet, efficient and made in America.
Lu Gaines, King William, VA
Will See: Have purchased a newly built house less than two years ago and had installed a york system Heat pump. Has not been working correctly, it's cold here and needs servicing. As this is the first time reading this post its a bit concerning. Once we have it serviced (as it should be under contract ) and running correctly will then revisit this posting and give more current update as to the finding and the end results. If not a happy camper will give it a full blast here, yelp and all the Social medias I belong to. If a happy camper will give it a blast of accolades as well. Hoping for the best!!
C. Tucker, Roy, WA
Don't buy a York. Our heat pump has broken down twice in less than a year: We had a heat pump/York installed in October 2016. January 2017 was the first break down. Second break down was in June 2017. There is no reason for a system costing this much to break down at all let alone twice in less than a year. I will request a replacement. Obvious a lemon. Winter breakdown we had to do w/out heat for two days. Second time we had to suffer in extreme heat for two days. That's it. Either they replace it or I get an attorney.
D. Curlin, Brook Park, OH
Wtf: There was no real sales pitch for the product. I didn't get product information. When your 40-year-old system dies and it's 90 degrees in your living room you tend to get a bit desperate. I didn't have time to shop around. So the contractor, HJacks, has done reliable service in the past. I needed something affordable and quiet and asap. So the brand wasn't the issue. I had an air handler installed as well. And they replaced my breaker box at no extra cost. But one aspect of these surveys isn't addressed: I've had this one week. The electronic thermostat is not as easy to use as it should be. And the air handler hums and can be heard through the vents. My old unit didn't hum. Almost used to it now though.
Seattle, WA
The York is the Best: We've owned this heat pump since we moved into our house 3 years ago. It's simple and works and gives us no problems. I don't know much about heat pumps but our home heating and cooing and refrigeration systems work great. We haven't had to get it repaired for 3 years now. It is not loud and it's efficient. With this experience, I have no dislikes about this heat pump. I'd buy it again or recommend it to a friend, even though I've read some negative reviews online from other owners.
