Rheem Furnace age

[Michael J. Ashburn]

Serial # 60D289RFN3F20G, I can not locate it anywhere. Older unit, in 1963 home.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

[Jae Williams]

Since the early 80's Rheem has used a 4 digit code for the date of Mfg.

There may be a misread digit in this number--I don't recall a serial # like that...doesn't mean there wasn't one like that, though.

Best guess would be 1989 or 1982--don't ask why.

[Michael J. Ashburn]

Thanks Jae, I would believe that it would fall closer to the 82' mark judging by the condition.

[Blaine Wiley]

Jae, on a Rheem wouldn't you think as I do that the Serial Number is "0289" rather than D289, indicating 02/89?

Rheem has put the four digit date in the serial number as far back as I can remember, but then, I'm young....

[Jae Williams]

Originally Posted by bwiley

Jae, on a Rheem wouldn't you think as I do that the Serial Number is "0289" rather than D289, indicating 02/89?

Rheem has put the four digit date in the serial number as far back as I can remember, but then, I'm young....

No, that would make the # 600289xxx making the mfg date 2002 and the month would be...60?? I rather believe a number is missing anywhere in the 3 digits.

Mike said it was an older unit.

For Mike--just write that the unit is reaching its end--be prepared to budget for replacement someday. (Of course, that would apply to a brand new unit, wouldn't it?. Twenty years from now is "someday".)

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by mashburn

Serial # 60D289RFN3F20G

I believe you have a "combo" serial number there. They can be difficult to work with but were somewhat common from the late 1950s through the late 1970s.

A "combo" serial number was used in three circumstances:
(1) Company B, a manufacturer, built the unit for Company A, a reseller;
(2) Company A, a manufacturer, was in the midst of a strike (or expecting one momentarily since negotiations had broken down) and outsourced their manufacturing to Company B, also a manufacturer;
(3) the unit was remanufactured, refurbished, or resold.

It's "combo" nature is evident to me based on my research by the "R" and the two letters "F" in the serial number. The "R" indicates (1), (2), or (3) above, with the first "F" indicating the manufacture date. The "N" is the month and the "3" is the year. Those who are counting out the alphabet on their fingers right now (skipping the letter I) will find that "N" is the thirteenth month. (Perhaps something to do with The Earth Chronicles? No.) The "thirteenth month" in manufacturing, at that time, typically indicated that no one needed to know in what month it was built because it was being manufactured/remanufactured under (1), (2), or (3). Company B in (1) or (2) would be adding additional date codes to correspond with their selling date and, coincidentally, the start of their warranty period. Company A took no responsibility for warranty directly to the public in those scenarios. Contracts between two companies in any of (1), (2), or (3) typically absolved the manufacturing company of all warranty issues. In (3), Company B that did the remanufacturing/refurbishing also did not take any responsibility for warranty issues to the public, leaving that to the company that hired them to do the remanufacturing. In all three scenarios, Company B guaranteed their work only to Company A. However, if there were too many problems that caused Company A to have to honor too many warranties, then the contract with Company B would be canceled or not renewed because of poor quality.

The "3" in the first manufacture date could be 1963, 1973, or 1983, but based on what you have said about the 1963 home, it's most likely 1963. 1983 can be dismissed since it's outside our range of late 1950s to late 1970s.

With that said, I believe you have a remanfactured/refurbished unit, with the remanufacturing being done sometime between June 1975 and June 1979. At that time, there were many companies that specialized in remanufacturing and renovating older units because of the various shortages, including gas shortages, that existed in the mid- to late 1970s.

So my educated guess is a 1963 unit that was remanufactured between June 1975 and June 1979.

[Eric Smith, #2]

As you are likely aware by now RHEEM is currently recalling a chunk of old heaters. I had mine sent back, got reimbursed and then bought a Takagi TK3 from Houseneeds.com.

Check out the following for more info:

http://www.houseneeds.com/shop/Heati...agitk3main.asp

Best!

Eric Smith

Originally Posted by rray

I believe you have a "combo" serial number there. They can be difficult to work with but were somewhat common from the late 1950s through the late 1970s.

A "combo" serial number was used in three circumstances:
(1) Company B, a manufacturer, built the unit for Company A, a reseller;
(2) Company A, a manufacturer, was in the midst of a strike (or expecting one momentarily since negotiations had broken down) and outsourced their manufacturing to Company B, also a manufacturer;
(3) the unit was remanufactured, refurbished, or resold.

It's "combo" nature is evident to me based on my research by the "R" and the two letters "F" in the serial number. The "R" indicates (1), (2), or (3) above, with the first "F" indicating the manufacture date. The "N" is the month and the "3" is the year. Those who are counting out the alphabet on their fingers right now (skipping the letter I) will find that "N" is the thirteenth month. (Perhaps something to do with The Earth Chronicles? No.) The "thirteenth month" in manufacturing, at that time, typically indicated that no one needed to know in what month it was built because it was being manufactured/remanufactured under (1), (2), or (3). Company B in (1) or (2) would be adding additional date codes to correspond with their selling date and, coincidentally, the start of their warranty period. Company A took no responsibility for warranty directly to the public in those scenarios. Contracts between two companies in any of (1), (2), or (3) typically absolved the manufacturing company of all warranty issues. In (3), Company B that did the remanufacturing/refurbishing also did not take any responsibility for warranty issues to the public, leaving that to the company that hired them to do the remanufacturing. In all three scenarios, Company B guaranteed their work only to Company A. However, if there were too many problems that caused Company A to have to honor too many warranties, then the contract with Company B would be canceled or not renewed because of poor quality.

The "3" in the first manufacture date could be 1963, 1973, or 1983, but based on what you have said about the 1963 home, it's most likely 1963. 1983 can be dismissed since it's outside our range of late 1950s to late 1970s.

With that said, I believe you have a remanfactured/refurbished unit, with the remanufacturing being done sometime between June 1975 and June 1979. At that time, there were many companies that specialized in remanufacturing and renovating older units because of the various shortages, including gas shortages, that existed in the mid- to late 1970s.

So my educated guess is a 1963 unit that was remanufactured between June 1975 and June 1979.

[Mark A. Timpani]

Just go online. Call rheem and they will tell you in 3 minutes...

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by mtimpani

Just go online. Call rheem and they will tell you in 3 minutes...

If they know.

They were not able to tell me. I got an "It's an older unit. We have new units with higher efficiency."

[Michael J. Ashburn]

Thank you All fior your help. I appreciate it.

Michael

[mwriston]

Originally Posted by mashburn

Serial # 60D289RFN3F20G, I can not locate it anywhere. Older unit, in 1963 home.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

If you can get me the model number, I have a Preston Guide. They list the age of the unit by model number.

Even though the software is a little ungainly, I thought it was a good idea to purchase the Preston Guide. You can get the manufacture date and efficiency rating for just about every furnace and AC unit made for the past 30 years. The CD Rom version is about $175.

[jbreazeale]

If it's a Rheem, recommend that it be put out of its misery forthwith, regardless of the year of manufacture.

[Russel Ray]

Looks like someone doesn't like Rheem.

Maybe it's a San Diego thing, or a lack of Mississippi H&H, but they are quite good appliances here.

[Michael J. Ashburn]

Originally Posted by mwriston

If you can get me the model number, I have a Preston Guide. They list the age of the unit by model number.

Even though the software is a little ungainly, I thought it was a good idea to purchase the Preston Guide. You can get the manufacture date and efficiency rating for just about every furnace and AC unit made for the past 30 years. The CD Rom version is about $175.

The Model # is 3204-120B