Furnace Brands and Models

Modulating parts are more expensive more failure prone and less easily understood by the average run-of-the-mill Tech. As someone who does this for a living I can strongly suggest a two stage and avoid York products. The only way I would suggest modulating is if we are doing a full variable AC and a zone system; and that situation you could avoid bypasses or not allowing zones to fully close and things of that nature.
If you're on natural gas or propane I highly recommend the trane S9 V2 variable speed blower two-stage gas valve furnace. They are I believe the only residential manufactured that still produces a stainless steel heat exchanger primary and secondary. Everything is easy to access circuit wire shielded against water leaking from above Down the Road and squared off tubing to prevent Kinks and issues with the vacuum circuits. Trane has some very nice features that you do pay for but are probably worth it unless you're selling a house tomorrow.
I'm trying to find Trane dealers now. Their website is awful. I called two places and they said they did not service my area.
 
I am still running a 2000 Lennox G20 Whisper Heat. It has its momments. I like it because it is a very quiet furnace. I keep it clean inside and it works well. However, every few years something fails. I have had a service contract on this for about ten years now which a small charge is included with my gas bill. The contract over the years has more than paid for itself. Everything is covered except the heat exchanger. About everything has been replaced now except the blower motor. I won't buy another Lennox however. They are over engineered.
 
There are only a handful of major HVAC manufacturers in the industry, but that is changing as the Asian made influences infiltrate the market.

The "American" companies are corporate holders of many sub-brands. For example:

Carrier owns and makes
- Carrier
- Bryant
- Payne
but they also own and make the ICP brands:
- Tempstar
- Air Quest
- Keep Rite
- Comfortmaker
- Heil
- ArcoAire
- Day and Night
- private labeled brands like some Kenmore, Watsco, etc

The same can be said for Trane; they own and make their sub-brands like American Stanard and Ameristar.
As does Rheem; it also makes Rudd.


I think the thing I find most laughably interesting is that many folks will swear by one brand, and dis another, and yet those brands are nearly always made in the same plants by the same people using the same parts.

When I worked at Ford, I once had a conversation with a person that swore his Mercury Sable was a better built car than my Ford Taurus. I can attest that is total garbage, mainly because I had walked down the assembly line in the Chicago assembly plant and saw Sables and Tasrus' (Tauruses? Taurii? LOL) coming down the line in succession, one right after the other. Also, at the Ford plant where I worked, we made the steering components for those cars, and there was zero distinction between a Ford and Mercury steering gear; they were the same part number! I never worked at GM, but I've had the same conversations with guys and gals who worked at GM; they laughed with me. People would swear a GMC truck is better than a Chevy; they both use the same major parts and go down the same line in Ft. Wayne, IN !!!

Same could be said when I worked in the HVAC manufacturing industry. I had someone once tell me that a Carrier was far better than a Bryant. I can attest with 100% certainty that those two brands went down the exact same assembly line, using the same parts (for equal BOM'd units), and were put together by the same people. Though I never worked at Trane, I know folks who did, and they say the same thing.

You can thank a combination of brand marketing and anecdotal (good or bad) experiences for most all of the bias in many product opinions today.

I would agree that much of the success or failure of your HVAC system is a function of the quality/skills of the installer. He/she has a lot of influence over how well the system is sized, and installed. And ducts are a very big influence which go completely ignored in system performance. A poor duct job can make the best HVAC system seem like junk, and vice versa.

Is a Carrier built product better than a Trane built product? I'm not convinced yes or no. They are both good makes of OEM stuff. In terms of engineering, Carrier and Trane pretty much lead the industry development and bring new tech to market. Other makers simply fall in line once the path is already cleared. I once had a conversation with a sub-component supplier that told me when he was at a competitors facility, their engineers simply asked him "Does Carrier use this part?" ... "Yes they do." ... "Well then it's good enough for us; we're not going to reinvent the wheel if they've already tested and approved the design." This is common in the industry; Carrier and Trane spend a lot of time designing and proving out components, and then other OEMs simply sit and wait. That drives up the costs at Carrier and Trane, and then saves their competitors the investment costs. So when you wonder why some brands (for example, Goodman) are cheaper, it's because they don't put as much investment into their products. I'm not saying they don't engineer their own units, but they do ride the coattails of other brands at times.

I've also seen Consumer Reports over many years say "this brand has better reliability than that brand", for units that come down the same assembly lines. So take that source with a grain of salt.

I always recommend folks who are shopping for HVAC systems pick a few competing brands from well established local dealer/installer companies. You want a brand name you recognize supported by a long-standing local group who can help service/maintain your system should something go wrong. Then cross your fingers and hope for the best.


Oh, and by the way, ALL the HVAC manufacturers use parts sourced from over seas; pretty much impossible to get away from that. China, Korea, etc all compete in the markets for capacitors, compressors, TXVs, ignitors, blower motors, wire harnesses, .... this list is nearly endless. About the only stuff in a major HVAC unit which is "American made" is often the steel and the insulation blankets and a few odds/ends. All the major sub-components are made elsewhere. Some units are made (assembled) in the US; many are Hencho in Mexico.
 
Just had a new Williamson oil fired furnace installed. 24 year old model had a cracked heat exchanger (verified w Co in the output 7 PPM).
Williamson is one of the two best oil furnaces on the market. (Other one being thermopride). I prefer the Williamson over the thermo Pride because the clb series units have a great heat exchanger design and they're the only ones that don't have a circuit board on the unit just a terminal strip relay Transformer.

If the previous one that cracked was a Williamson that would probably be in the Metzger machine era which was not their best time. When weil-mclain Bought them I think around the early 2000s they made a number of improvements.
 
The Trane unit I was looking at, does not have a fully variable blower. A Carrier 59TP6 looks to be my best bet.

I have three old (1998) Bryant Plus 90s. I am thinking of replacing all three, even two that are still working, as they are already quite old.
 
Williamson is one of the two best oil furnaces on the market. (Other one being thermopride). I prefer the Williamson over the thermo Pride because the clb series units have a great heat exchanger design and they're the only ones that don't have a circuit board on the unit just a terminal strip relay Transformer.

If the previous one that cracked was a Williamson that would probably be in the Metzger machine era which was not their best time. When weil-mclain Bought them I think around the early 2000s they made a number of improvements.
I had a williamson in the house i bought in 97; H.E. finally burned thru and i was getting exhaust smell in the house, no parts i was told; i definitely let that go WAY too long before replacing it with a thermopride OM6? lowboy; that was probably 16-18 years ago; i've had (1) B/F service call on it.
 
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