Those Rheem rectangles are the last men standing around my area. Every now and then I’ll come up on an old Trane but hands down the Rheem square boy is the most common unit from the 80s-90s I encounter still.

Great topic Zack. I smiled when you discussed York. I still have my 1985 York 3 ton “tabletop” unit I purchased when my house was built. Still have the Heil 80% furnace I selected as well. The only repair I’ve made to the York was a new contractor proactively about 8 years ago. I managed to find a NOS American made replacement. The Copeland compressor still sounds good to this day. The Smith fan motor has oil tubes, but I have to take it out to actually get oil into them successfully. Both oil filled (?) capacitors are original. The housing is galvanized so still solid. I will not change the unit out until the compressor fails, or rusts though unfortunately. See you at the next livestream.

I have the Janitrol (or Goodman) unit in the picture and is still running fine. Delta T of about 16 in a poorly insulated home in the Chicago area.(1955 build) Have never replaced condenser fan. Did replace the general purpose contactor and the cap (twice). Have also replace spade connectors which were showing corrosion. (one blew the wire off of the connector preventing the compressor from starting. The sun bleached away the label years ago so I can't see the make, model, serial numbers and other specs that may have been on it.

Have only R22 Ruud unit still ticking after 31 years From install date. Only issues were shrader Valves leaks. And she still rockin every summer in Texas Heat

Anyone remember the really old Carrier R12 or R22 outdoor units with 06D compressors in them? Rusted out before they’d fail. Heavy bastards too. Ok I’m super old too.

Oldest unit I ever worked on was a residential hvac Ammonia unit with a gas burner in the condenser to heat the ammonia. Scary equipment. Must have been 60 years old. The lady in the house was close to 90 years old and the equipment was original equipment to the house. This lady bought the house in her 30's. Unit still cooled. Not great, but still ran.

I agree. Those old Rheem and Trane units are my picks. I ran across an old Armstrong that was still kicking at 30.

78 Carrier 3 Ton 10 SEER Heat Pump.....3 fan motors only in 28 years in a Town where it is 120+ in Summer and lasts 4 months a year. Condenser on the roof in full Sun so it was so HOT you couldn't touch it but it stayed clean!

I should wait until winter to post this but I have a 1993 Lennox that has needed nothing since it was installed in July of 93. Runs all summer here in DFW. Evaporator unit and blower is Lennox and is original to the 1976 house. Blower motor was rebuilt / rewound in December of 93 at a motor shop here locally. Blower bearings get oiled once a year like the guy said and it’s still trucking nice and quiet. Also have a Maytag washer / dryer set that was bought new in 1990 still trucking as well.

I have a newer Goodman (I don't know the model number) from 2011, and it still works good. It replaced a 1992 Tempstar 5000 (that previous unit was nothing but trouble), but I've had good luck with my current unit. Nevertheless, I love watching your videos and hearing your words, I've learned a lot from your knowledge of HVAC.

Yep, the old rheem and York units from 30ish years ago were absolute monsters

I’m still using a Janitrol a/c that is almost 40 years old. Bought and installed by an old personal friend, when money was tight. The condensate pan did rust out about 10 years ago, so I rolled the dice and replaced the entire a-coil assembly. About 3 years ago a small gas leak started and the service guy refused to honor the maintenance contract and fix it because he would go to jail if caught. 😮 I did find a way to gas&go for a little while anyhow. 🙂 I am now looking for a new company that lies all the time, and will promise to sell me the cheapest junk equipment at the very highest possible price, with the guarantee that the company owner mandates his techs sell new units to all customers every 5 years. 🤣

I love seeing the condensers just bolted to a bracket on the wall, no mulch, no lawn mowers whacking them. The drain holes aren't clogged.

I had one that was approximately 10-15 years old when I moved in my home. I’ve lived here 10 years and finally had to replace it due to a leak. It used to-R-22 so it was getting expensive to refill on a yearly basis. I never saw any marking on it, it was. 3-1/2 ton unit about 3-4 feet tall, nothing but fins wrapped with a few bars around it. Rusted to hell but still going. Just had a Brand new Bryant unit put in (did not use Bryant to install!)

I replaced an old GE unit, 1977 vintage, at the beginning of 2022. This unit ran in full sun on top of a flat roof in west central Florida near the Gulf. I took care of that building since '92 and never touched that unit. I mean nothing, no parts no cleaning. Ok, filter replacement on a regular basis. That's it.

In regards to the trane.. the predecessor would have been the “GE executive” and then into the xl1200 probably.. the York ‘tombstone’ units and ‘tabletop’ units were a beast. I saw an operable tombstone unit last week. Probably 40yrs old and humming along. Customer asked about maintenance and I told them don’t touch the friggin thing,, whisper sweet nothings to it occasionally and don’t make eye contact with it

Great topic! My mother in law had a Bryant self contained unit installed in 92 which was way before I was part of the family and when she sold the house the only thing I did to it was replace the contactor and the installing company replaced the condenser fan motor 2 days after it was installed. That was a tough ole bird. One of those Janitrols you mentioned I installed at my trailer and forgot to install the piston😅 funny thing is it tried to cool before I wised up and remembered what I didn’t do. Happy Independence Day

Thank you for all the informative videos..

My old middle school was full of GE heat pump mini splits from 1982 and they never quit on us, and the oldest example of the large gray trane unit was an old XE 800 unit from 1986. Pretty much all the ones i worked on had all original parts and only needed a schrader valve and some R22

Those old school Round One Carriers, they lasted forever.

Love this type of content. Very original made by the OG of HVAC.

My rheem..installed 1983/84. Still running great..

Our TRANE is from 1994. Turned 30 in April. Looking for an uncased coil just in case to see how long we can keep it going.

My mothers 43 year old split system Fedders unit. Original compressor, fan motor, contactor and run cap. Added refrigerant every other year. About 2 pounds, Heat exchanger finally gave out, so I changed the entire system. .

Those Janitrols were a beast but when they got set 6 inches from the house with the service panel facing the house and you had to replace the contactor or capacitor, it would piss me off.

old 2.5 ton whirlpool r-22 running Copeland reciprocal compressor with old school 2 blade fan still runs well. bought the house in 1997 and the unit was 20 years old at the time. Still runs great, but not efficient and A- coils freeze up if too much traffic in and out during summer.

I recently had to replace a 2016 York 15 ton. My only requirement was the new units doesn’t have all the fancy crap and doesn’t ball down when it’s 105 degree heat index out. Features is worthless to me if I’m sweating my balls off.

I’ve been wondering, will the Supreme Court decision on Chevron affect the EPA mandate on refrigerants?

They must have installed a Craftsman air compressor in that thing 😅

I literally just replaced a York tombstone last month, I set it in the corner of my shop and haven’t had the desire to put it in the scrap trailer, it really is a cool looking machine, I’m thinking of using it for a display of old and new units. Surprisingly enough the coil looks decent still, maybe I’ll rebuild it and turn it into some sort of Frankenfridge beer cooler… 😂 For those of you who have never seen one of these units before, the coil travels up one side, across the top, and down the other side of the unit, and there are two opposing condenser fans on either side run from a dual shaft motor mounted horizontally above the compressor.

Trane XL 1200 , Some ore still around after 30 years. Also GE Weathertons, 40 years old. I cut my teeth on these. They were old when I worked on them, but I still see some around. Original compressors and contactors. .

York diamond series lowkey some beast

For got the name, but we called them GE coffin boxes. 3 feet wide, 6 foot long. super heavy. Some were 40 years old.

What units being produced today are good??

Those are the 3 I always see too. Lennox, Carrier and Goodman can be good. But it’s rare to see them go past 15-20 years

I just replaced an old york 10 seer from 1995 in my parent's house last week, compressor finally died. That thing is older than i am.

the trane on my home is older than I am.. and it hasnt had service in 10 years... its dirty but it still cools to the best of its ability, unfortunately some moron who redid the floors deleted many vents in the living room, so its been put aside for an SOS system and now we have a 15k btu LG in the living room. thing runs r22 and blows ice cold

I think the oldest brand i seen was either a Mint Green "RHEEM" rectangle unit, or a sears brand unit... I think the Sears was 40 or 50yr old.... But i have also seen (2) of those Trane Packaged setups that were 30yr old, the ones with the fan turned upside down, weird deal... To look at them, their designs are beat by todays "DESIGNS" and overall quality, but something was a difference in these units lasting so long, maybe the material of the metals? Used during those decades? But i really think the "RHEEM/RUUD" brand now is going to be the overall longest lasting design of the past 5-10yr stuff, but only time will tell i suppose... The composite bases wont rust, which is a "UPGRADE" and they're built really solid, easy to clean, good space.. Not happy about the 8mm or small tube change now... I think if they would come out with a single component refrigerant with R-22 like pressures and slopes that these units would do well with and last like yesteryear's units.. Anytime you make a smaller tube thinner wall setup with higher pressures, it's a (RECIPE FOR DISASTER) common sense tells you that and heck, looking at the video i made last year or so with changing out 6 or 7 Goodman small tube condensers that was 10yr old range in a matter of a month will tell ya something isn't right there! Hope you guys had a great 4th of July.. Love ya bro's! Adam aka ICONALAGABAGATAGA :)

York was the first units I installed. They were decent compared to janitrol or first company

Just replaced q0 year old loud obnoxious single stage york, just recharged it it every other year.

old Rheem and Trane units were best ones IMHO.

I remember when York and Lennox and carrier wasn’t completely disposable

What brand is reliable nowadays?

Did you have any experience with the old keeprite systems, or spine fin GEs pre-trane buyout? Still run into those running perfectly to this day

I'm still using a York AC unit

Rheem/Ruud is the brand I count on for reliability.

Anything made by GE 40 years ago. Units are still running out there. Original compressor in some.

The green rheems

I thought Janitrol was Johnson Controls, not Goodman?

Almost missed this one

Good stories about days of old! Lol 👍

Nice 👍🏼 😅😊

I don’t care about the tools

JCI ruined York

👍