Rheem R802V Furnace Review: Benefits and Cost

You want your furnace to be trouble-free for 15-20 years to provide heat when you most need it.

When your existing unit is more than 15 years old (or younger and hasn’t gotten yearly maintenance), you walk a fine line between the number of repairs you’ll have to make versus replacing it.

A constant parade of HVAC contractors performing emergency fixes to keep it running is not ideal - and some of the repairs might be in the thousands of dollars. A better investment might be a replacement.

Other signs that it might be the right time to buy a new furnace include:

• Your energy bills are going up
• There’s a big temperature swing, with some rooms being too cold while others are too warm
• Your home has humidity problems in the summer
• Your heating system is becoming noisier

 At Fire & Ice, we’ve helped thousands of Columbus homeowners find the HVAC system that best meets their individual needs. When considering furnaces, we’re often asked if there’s a reliable model that will lower your energy bills and help make you more comfortable. Rheem’s R802V might be perfect for you.

 In this article, we’ll cover the following: What are the features of the Rheem R802V?

• How efficient is the Rheem R802V
• What are the benefits of a two-stage furnace?
• What are the benefits of a variable-speed fan?
• What equipment can I pair with the Rheem R802V?
• Who’s the right fit for this Rheem furnace?
• What is the cost of the Rheem R802V?
• And finally, what are the next steps?

After reading this article, you will have a better understanding of whether this model is right for you.

What Are the Features of the R802V?

This is an 80% efficient, two-stage natural gas furnace (more about this soon) that offers two stages of heat, so it can produce optimal comfort while conserving energy.

It has a variable-speed blower that offers quieter sound levels than other models in its price range. It also provides superb humidity control in the summer along with year-round energy savings.

This gas-powered furnace also offers solid doors, an insulated blower compartment, and sound insulation, which, coupled with its two-stage operation, means you’ll hear less operational noise when the furnace kicks on.

This furnace can be controlled by Bluetooth or by a free app known as EcoNet, which offers: 

• Timely maintenance and care alerts
• Precision comfort from across the room or across the country
• Energy innovation that saves energy and money
• Streamlined service calls: Professional help is a click away

How Efficient Is the R802V?

This furnace is considered a standard-efficiency model at 80% AFUE. AFUE stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency, which is a fancy way of saying that it measures the amount of energy put into it that is converted to heat. In other words, if you put a dollar’s worth of energy into this unit, it will convert 80 cents of that dollar into heat. The other 20 cents is vented away from the home as waste.

Thus, the higher the AFUE rating, the more energy-efficient the system. As a homeowner, you may want a high AFUE-rated furnace because it’s a good thing for the environment, your home, and your wallet.

Furnaces that are 20 years old will probably have an AFUE of anywhere from 56% to 70%. This can equate to hundreds or even thousands of dollars lost each year! Switching to a more efficient furnace now will give your energy bill a needed break.

What Are the Benefits of a Two-Stage Furnace?

As mentioned before, the Rheem R802V gas furnace has two heating stages.

A classic furnace turns on at 100% of its heating capacity. This is called a single-stage furnace because it has only one heat setting.

The R802V has two stages. One is at 100%, and the second stage is at 50% of its maximum heating output.

What is the purpose of this? Will one additional setting make a difference in terms of heat and energy savings? Yes, it will.

This furnace starts up at its 50% stage while it tries to satisfy the thermostat’s setting. Furnaces are sized so that they can provide enough warmth on the coldest days of winter. And if it’s not one of the coldest days? Say you need only a fraction of that heat. Then that 50% will provide greater comfort for your home.

And it will save energy. And money.

Having that second stage also reduces the number of times your furnace has to start and stop. This action creates wear and tear on various parts. Over many years, this can add up and can result in needing more repairs and even a shorter-than-expected lifespan.

What Are the Benefits of a Variable-Speed Fan?

Picture your house as a mix of hot and cold air. If you were able to stir it, you could create a mixture of the two throughout - warm air everywhere.

That’s what’s happening when your furnace kicks on. Hot air gets mixed with the cold.

But when you stop stirring, the air separates. It doesn’t take long for the cold air to sink to the bottom, while the hot air goes to the ceiling and attic.

This is what we mean when we talk about hot and cold spots in your home. In some rooms, the air is comfortable. In others, the air hasn’t had the chance to mix well. It’s cool in the winter, warm in the summer.

Now picture a constant stirring, slow and steady. The air stays mixed. You don’t have to blast the furnace at full speed for this to occur.

That’s what a variable-speed fan does for your home. The blower can run at a slow speed once the desired temperature is reached. Your optimal comfort stays constant.

Read more: What Are the Benefits of a Variable-Speed HVAC Motor?

A variable-speed blower starts at a slower rate than a single-speed one, which always comes on at 100%.  It’s a soft start. If more heat is needed, it will ramp up to whatever speed is required.

An additional bonus to a variable-speed fan is that it can run longer in the summer. And as it runs, it removes humidity. That won’t lower the indoor temperature, but it will feel cooler with less humidity. That means you can increase the temperature by a couple of degrees and be just as comfortable.

And the longer the blower runs, the more chance the air gets to be cleaned by the furnace filter. That improves your indoor air quality year-round.

Read more: Indoor Air Quality: HVAC Humidity Problems & Solutions

What Equipment Can I Pair with This Rheem Furnace?

Furnaces will work best with similar brands. This is true across the board. A Rheem might work well with a Carrier, but you won’t know how well unless the two different brands are connected and trying to communicate with the thermostat.

If you’re replacing both your furnace and air conditioner at the same time, a Rheem will work great paired with a Rheem AC and thermostat.

One word of caution: new technology might not play well with the old. If you spring for a top-of-the-line AC that has communicating technology, spending money on this furnace, which doesn’t have that capability, is a waste of money. The communication capability will be nullified. The two units may not work at all.

Who’s the Right Fit for This Furnace?

The key features of this unit are the variable speed blower and the two-stage gas valve. The furnace should run at 50% most of the time and will be able to offer an optimal comfort level during that time. That can help with energy costs. And it will run longer, which will give the warm air a better chance to mix with the cold air in the home. That will even out hot and cold spots, creating even heat.

The variable-speed fan will distribute the air better than a single-speed fan, which will be especially obvious if the home is two-story. A single-speed fan will distribute the warmth and cool fine if the house is an open floor plan, such as a ranch. But a variable-speed fan will do a better job of getting even heat to the end of a large home or conditioning upstairs air.

This is also an excellent choice for homeowners who face sweltering indoor humidity in the summer. The longer the fan runs, the more humidity it will eliminate.

Who’s Not the Right Fit for This Furnace?

One of the questions we ask homeowners during the initial consultation is, “How long do you expect to be in your home? A few years? Or longer?”

If you’re planning on being in your home for the foreseeable future and have no plans to move out, you can reap the benefits of this energy-saving model for years and years. Some furnaces are cheaper, but the money you invest in an R802V will be recouped in the long run.

You’ll also get the benefit of comfort for as long as you live in your home.

But if you’re planning on moving out in a couple of years, the purchase price might not be worth it. You will not recoup the energy savings (though you will enjoy the comfort for a time). It might be too expensive for some customers to go up to a 90% efficiency furnace (called “high efficiency”).