You are looking to replace your home furnace and want to know what brands to look for. Or which to avoid!
Or does it matter at all what brand you select?
We’ll tackle this question and more in this article. What to search for if you value a quiet furnace, an efficient one, a reliable one, and why choice of contractor matters just as much.
Does Furnace Brand Matter?
Yes, furnace brand matters, but it’s not the most important aspect of your decision when purchasing a new furnace.
The fact is, many of the top brands make reliable and efficient furnaces. There won’t be a huge dropoff in quality between any top 10 furnace brand.
Issues you might not be considering include warranty length, service and support infrastructure, and general availability of parts. This is why using an established brand can be important instead of cutting corners with a budget brand that may end up costing you more in the long-run.
Where there can also be a difference is in the installation itself, which has nothing to do with brand. This is why the furnace brand only sort of matters, because the difference between a top-quality installation and a poor installation is much bigger than the difference in quality between brands.
This is why your choice of HVAC company is arguably more important than the equipment you install. But let’s look at some reasons you might want to choose a specific brand, and what those brands are.
The Importance of HVAC Equipment Matching
Let’s say you have an old furnace but a new air conditioner, and the air conditioner is a Carrier brand.
Does this matter? It can, because there are parts of your HVAC system that function during both cooling and heating processes. The two aren’t entirely separate.
Sometimes it doesn’t matter if the brands you pick for heating and cooling are different. A lot of HVAC technology and equipment is compatible between brands. But occasionally it does matter.
This becomes most apparent with higher-end systems that have variable-speed technology (which necessitates a compatible blower fan), and integration with a smart-home thermostat.
To get the most from your system in these situations, it’s often advisable to have thermostats and matching equipment from the same manufacturer.
Ask your HVAC installer about equipment matching and if it’s something you should consider before deciding on a brand.
Top Residential Furnace Brands
Here’s an alphabetical list of the top furnace brands.
Amana
Founded in 1943, the company was originally known for their refrigerators and later expanded into other home systems and appliances.
American Standard
American Standard has the same parent as Trane, also on this list, and is considered an alternative brand to Trane. Many of the same equipment features run through both, though occasionally luxury features will only be available in the Trane line.
Bryant
Founded in 1904, Bryant is a well-known heating and cooling manufacturer with an international footprint.
Carrier
Carrier boasts the invention of the air conditioner itself, and has over 75 product lines within its large HVAC business.
Daikin
Daikin is not originally a US manufacturer, but has since developed a large presence here. They have over 20,000 global employees and 25 manufacturing centers globally.
Frigidaire
Probably better known as a kitchen appliance company, Frigidaire also has a robust HVAC department with a furnace line.
Goodman
A comparatively new operation at around 40 years of existence, Goodman is nevertheless a nationally-recognized HVAC brand based in Texas.
Heil
Heil specializes in heating and cooling products. What they lack in diversification compared to some on this list, they make up for in focus.
Lennox
Also Texas-based, Lennox was founded way back in 1895 and has a variety of residential and commercial HVAC solutions.
Rheem
Rheem is probably best known for its water heaters, but this naturally overlaps with home HVAC systems, and many HVAC installers (such as us here at CABS) are also licensed to work with and install HVAC systems, making Rheem a natural fit for many companies.
Ruud
While specializing in HVAC, Ruud also has a range of other commercial products, including those for pools and spas.
Trane
With their well-known tagline, “It’s hard to stop a Trane,” Trane is one of the largest and most well-known residential and commercial HVAC brands in the country.
York
Considered by some to be a high-end dealer, York is owned by Johnson Controls, a multinational corporation with resources in a wide range of industries.
Is One of These Brands the Best?
This is too subjective to give an accurate answer. Some contractors or homeowners will swear by a specific brand, or they’ll tell you to use any brand except one specific one.
Any major brand is capable of creating bad or amazing experiences for its customers, and the goal is to find one that’s generally reliable to minimize the risk of a bad experience.
Here at CABS Heating and Air Conditioning, we work primarily with Lennox because we’ve found them to be an easy manufacturer to work with and have been pleased with the results for our customers. This doesn’t mean Lennox is always the best brand, but it’s the one we’ve personally come to trust.
What Other Factors Affect Furnace Quality
Brand is what a lot of homeowners focus on, but here are some other factors to consider when selecting a furnace brand and between HVAC companies:
- Noise Levels. What’s the average decibels of the furance unit being installed? Most models should have this information.
- Gas vs. Electric. An electric furnace or gas furnace might be more cost-effective for you depending on local energy costs.
- Efficiency Rating. Every brand sells multiple models and some are better than others. Ask about the AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) if you’re buying a gas furnace, which is a direct measurement of furnace efficiency. High-efficiency furnaces can often be better for your home regardless of brand.
- Furnace Staging. A variable-speed motor will allow for multi-stage heating, which often brings with it a lot more comfort. The furnace’s install cost will be higher, but it can be a great long-term decision for many homes that struggle to stay properly heated.
Furnace Brand FAQs
Here are some of the most asked questions about best furnace brands, both by our customers and across the internet.
What’s the Quietest Furnace?
Anecdotally, many believe Lennox’s high-end furnaces to be the quietest.
More broadly, two-stage or variable-speed furnaces will tend to operate more quietly than single-stage furnaces, since the additional stages are operating at less than 100% power. This is good for both energy efficiency and overall noise.
If you’re experiencing very loud noises from your system and it’s not attributable to normal operations, this may indicate problems with the system that need to be repaired.
What’s the Most Efficient Furnace You Can Buy?
The most efficient gas furnaces run at or around 98% efficient. Meaning that only 2% of the energy used is vented through an exhaust. These are higher-end models with a secondary heat exchanger, and most major furnace brands will offer models that are between 96% to 98% efficient.
Technically, electrical furnaces are 100% efficient, so this is also a valid answer. Though depending on the cost of electricity where you live, this won’t necessarily translate to being the cheapest option.
What’s the Most Reliable Furnace Brand?
This is a question without a definite answer. Architectural Digest ranks furnace brands, for instance, and Lennox rates out slightly higher than others, but it’s mainly on the strength of its efficiency.
Exact data on repairs and breakdowns isn’t easy to find, and companies aren’t incentivized to share it. Long-term brand trust is built through reliability, though, and word-of-mouth can eventually hurt a brand. So any that are generally considered to be reliable such as Lennox, Carrier, Trane or others will be a safe bet.
Why Don’t Companies Install All Furnace Brands?
The answer relates to the economics of HVAC. Installing 10 different brands means working with 10 different manufacturers and logistics networks, which is time-consuming and labor intensive.
Additionally, being able to make large orders of equipment allows companies to leverage economies of scale, so they don’t have to charge the customer as much for installation.
Most HVAC contractors focus on installing 1-2 brands that they trust. The best companies, though, can repair and tune up any brand, not just those they install.
Choosing a Home Furnace and HVAC Company
Scour the internet and the names we mentioned above will continually rise to the top. As we mentioned near the start, many major brands are usually going to be reliable for your home.
That said, avoiding sketchier brands and being aware of equipment matching can help push you toward or away from certain brands, and working with a trusted HVAC company is the most important step of all.
When you’re ready to choose an HVAC partner for your furnace installation, we hope you’ll consider CABS. We’re just a call away, and offer free, no-obligation quotes on new systems. We can’t wait to hear from you, and good luck in selecting your next furnace!
