Who Makes Rheem Air Conditioners And Where Are They Manufactured?

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Few things can cause more hand-wringing for homeowners than shopping for a new air-conditioning unit. And when scouring the A/C market, Rheem is almost certain to be a name you come across, as it's one of the larger manufacturers of commercial and residential air conditioning units in the United States. 

The company has been a significant name in the A/C arena for decades now, and its presence only seems to grow every year. However, the company has changed quite a bit since its founding. For starters, it's no longer family owned, since it wasacquired by Paloma Industries in 1988, a multinational Japanese holding company that largely trades in air, water, and gas appliances. That outfit began transitioning into the Paloma Rheem holding company in 2023, with Rheem still operating as an independent subsidiary. While Rheem is essentially still making its own A/C units, that makes Paloma Rheem the current manufacturer of note.

The Rheem Manufacturing Company has actually been around since the mid-1920s, when brothers Richard and Donald Rheem founded it in San Francisco, California. It started out primarily focusing on the manufacture of water heaters, and it is still a major presence in that market today. In fact, Rheem is generally regarded among the best brands in the game. The company has obviously expanded over the years, but it didn't make a splash in the air conditioning sector until the mid-1950s, when the American-made Rheemaire debuted. 

Despite the fact that Rheem is now a subsidiary of a Japanese company, the outfit has not moved production of its air conditioning units to Asia. It's even still headquartered in the States, calling Atlanta, Georgia home since 2007.

Many Rheem-branded air conditioners utilized by U.S. homeowners and businesses are still made in America as well, with the company cranking them off of the assembly line in its Fort Smith, Arkansas production facility. That facility has been up and running since 1970, and is likely to be producing Rheem air conditioners for many years to come. 

Rheem also makes air-conditioners and parts in several other U.S. facilities located in Montgomery, Alabama and Eagan, Minnesota, as well as Oxnard, California. Outside of the United States, Rheem does make some of its air conditioning units in Mexico, including a 215,000-square-foot facility located in Mexicali, Mexico. Along with the Mexicali plant, Rheem also makes air conditioners in a sprawling 290,400-square-foot plant in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. If you're curious where, exactly, your Rheem A/C unit was made, you can verify that information via code designations found in the device's serial number. And with proper maintenance, a new Rheem HVAC unit could last you anywhere between 15 to 20 years.