Lennox, Armstrong, or Trane furnace and a/c

[chewbacca]

Looking to replace our 23 yr old furnace and a/c unit. What are your thoughts on each of these brands? Our house is a 1800 sq ft 2 story. We are going to go with a 2 stage furnace bent are confused about the different brands.

Thanks!!

 

[wiigirl]

I am not sure on the differences, but we had a Lennox furnace put in 5-6 years ago and haven't had a single issue with it.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

Looking to replace our 23 yr old furnace and a/c unit. What are your thoughts on each of these brands? Our house is a 1800 sq ft 2 story. We are going to go with a 2 stage furnace bent are confused about the different brands.

Thanks!!

I do not know the Armstrong brand but have both the others installed at the office with no issues.

The most important part is a good installer and a correctly sized system.

 

[tvguy]

Never heard of Armstrong. What brand do you have now and do you like it?

My Trane is 22 years old and going strong, my parents Lennox is 53 years old and going strong. Either are good brands in my book.

 

[momz]

From what I understand (and I may be wrong...not an expert). The various brands use the same parts. So basically, it's a box with the same parts but a different name stamped on the side. The box itself may have a unique color or configuration, but other than that, the guts are the same.

Maybe someone who knows can elaborate or correct me?

 

[bcla]

Are you limited to these brands by a particular installer?

There are lots more than three brands. A few I've considered include Day and Night, York, Luxaire, Carrier, Rheem, etc. There are others like Goodman, Bryant, American Standard, and Amana. It can get confusing because some brands are merely licensed and have little to do with the name.

For the most part they contain commodity parts but in a custom cabinet.

 

[TB'sWidow]

I have a trane its only 7yrs old but no problems yet

 

[DisneyBill]

The quality of the install is at least as important as the brand of equipment you choose. Spend some time reading at www.hvactalk.com. Tons of good information over there.

 

[toystory1130]

Our guy recommended Bryant, it was much cheaper than the Trane and he said it was a quality unit. We have had it for 4 years and have had no problems.

 

[tvguy]

From what I understand (and I may be wrong...not an expert). The various brands use the same parts. So basically, it's a box with the same parts but a different name stamped on the side. The box itself may have a unique color or configuration, but other than that, the guts are the same.

Maybe someone who knows can elaborate or correct me?

Trane bought American Standard, which is a cheaper brand. My Trane dealer said the two brands are identical inside, but the Trane is more expensive.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I do not know the Armstrong brand
.

Never heard of Armstrong.

Armstrong is Lennox.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Just an FYI. There are a lot more considerations than just the brand, size and burner staging. We faced a lot of considerations when buying our system. Until you make a lot of up front decisions, it's tough to compare estimates.
Number of speeds on the fan.
Furnace efficiency. Will your choice leave you with an orphan hot water heater?
Do you reline the chimney if code doesn't require.
AC SEER rating.
Compressor staging.
Type of control system.
Environmental options . . . Whether to get a humidifier and an air cleaner . . . what type filtration.

 

[manning]

I'm in the Chicago area. I put n a carrier air and furnace. I was going to put in the high efficiency air. He said the area we live in it would be better to put my money to the high efficiency furnace over the air. The payback would be faster there. If you lived in the south it would be different. Years back a regular air had a seer of around 8-10. Several years ago when I put it in it was seer 14. I never tracked the cost that closely. Electricity in the summer isn't huge, but the gas usage in winter definitely is a big difference. Much lower than the old furnace. The furnace is a high efficient furnace.

I talked to a neighbor who did the same and he claimed he wouldn't recover the difference in price within the lifetime of the unit.

It would be the reverse in the south as the air would be running a lot more in the summer.

 

[bcla]

Trane bought American Standard, which is a cheaper brand. My Trane dealer said the two brands are identical inside, but the Trane is more expensive.

It was the other way around. American Standard bought out Trane in the 80s.

It's actually quite complicated, as American Standard broke up in 2007 into three divisions including a vehicle control company, the better known plumbing company, and the HVAC group. Then Ingersoll Rand bought the HVAC company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Standard_Companies

 

[rwdavis2]

Our guy recommended Bryant, it was much cheaper than the Trane and he said it was a quality unit. We have had it for 4 years and have had no problems.

You're lucky so far. Although our Bryant was installed in 1996 it went through 2 control modules (electronics) at $400+ a pop (past warranty) until they finally made one that didn't break down. The modules were obviously defective but Bryant would not do anything other than sell us another one.

Had this Bryant quality issue verified when we had an HVAC inspection done last spring. The guy said they had lots of trouble with those units back then. But no troubles since about 2000.

 

[KCmike]

Like another has said the QUALITY of the install is one of the most critical things to be done.

 

[bcla]

You're lucky so far. Although our Bryant was installed in 1996 it went through 2 control modules (electronics) at $400+ a pop (past warranty) until they finally made one that didn't break down. The modules were obviously defective but Bryant would not do anything other than sell us another one.

Had this Bryant quality issue verified when we had an HVAC inspection done last spring. The guy said they had lots of trouble with those units back then. But no troubles since about 2000.

You have something with a complex control system and not a simple thermostat?

I own a house built in the late 70s. I've had the A/C replaced but the furnace is original and functional. It's something like a 4 wire heating/cooling thermostat. I replaced the original dial thermostat with a battery-powered digital thermostat with a clock and programmable on-off settings. It think it only cost about $40 and was easy enough that I installed it myself.