Of all the HVAC brands out there, there are only a dozen or so that are really good in North America. The rest of them are lower quality or just plain suck! In this video, we go through an overview of some of the brands out there that are good, some that are lower quality, and some that just plain suck!
Parts availability, finding a good contractor to work on that brand, and having a good warranty that the company will honor are all good criteria to use when deciding if an HVAC brand sucks!
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Parts availability, finding a good contractor to work on that brand, and having a good warranty that the company will honor are all good criteria to use when deciding if an HVAC brand sucks!
For more information on Griffin Air, visit https://www.griffinair.net/
For more information on New HVAC Guide, visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/overview
Need Financing for your HVAC? Visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/financing
Own a Service Biz and want to grow? Visit https://www.newhvacguide.com/mastermindgroup
Our favorite products?
Joshua's favorite thermostat click here: https://amzn.to/3wt3Vwh
Pure UV Whole House Air Cleaner here: https://amzn.to/3Nfxw27
Smart vent here: https://amzn.to/3JDfGDX
Griffin Air LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports our cause at no additional cost to you.
Hey guys, someone asked me to do this. Video and i'm gon na tread somewhat lightly with it, but basically the video is all about heating and air brands that suck. I think that there is definitely a common thread in the industry where most of us have our favorites. So if you talk to any heating and air technician or company out there, they're, probably you know they'll have their favorite they'll have their.
You know the couple that they like the most or maybe even one single brand - that they will only install, but i think across the board uh the industry itself. There are some common brands that have decent reputations, even if one company likes them and one company don't and then there are other brands in the industry that do simply suck, and so we're going to talk more about that. But let's talk real quick about some criteria. So what makes a brand suck versus another brand - and i thought about you - know saying something to the effect of well.
If you've never heard of them, then they're, probably no good right. You know if you've heard of a brand, that's great and you've heard of them. A hundred times, then they're probably way better than someone else right, but i think if everyone applied that kind of thinking across the board, let's say in cars, then no one would have bought a tesla a few years ago. So speaking of the heating and air industry in north america, the big three in residential are dike and amana, train american standard and carrier bryant and i'm sure i'll get guys.
Commenting on this and they'll say: oh well, i think train sucks and i think carrier sucks and i think dyken sucks whatever, but whether they want to dispute it or not. The bottom line is they are the big three and all signs point to that. You know they're the big three when it comes to sales, they're, the big three. When it comes to contractors in certain markets, i would say in most markets you're going to be able to find a decent contractor that installs each of those brands in most markets.
Now, if you live in a small town, where there's only two contractors, then maybe not but moving outside of the big three, i think you can make an argument that there are other brands out there that are decent. I have friends that love the riemann rude lines. I have friends that love linux and, of course, there are other brands that, even though they're imported they bring something to the table and brands like bosh, for example. So now that we've talked about a lot of the brands that you've probably heard of let's go ahead and set up our criteria and knock this out for the brands that do suck, and so i think, there's some basic criteria.
I think there there is something to be said for the availability of that brand in a particular market and that's why, in a lot of my videos, i'll i'll, say a lot, there's no one brand that is best in every market, so the brand i sell. I think is the best in my market. That's why i sell it, but if you were to go into you know an area of the united states that they don't even have a good supplier there. Well, i would be naive to say well, they're still the best brand there. You can't even get a good supplier. You can't even get a part, so i think that would be the first thing. The next thing, i would say, is across the board. They should be offering at least a 10-year parts warranty, and i know that there are a lot of brands that go far beyond that, but i would just say bare minimum: they should have some furnaces.
They have lifetime warranties on the heat exchangers. They should have some systems on the market that have at least 10-year parts warranties and they should honor those warranties without giving you a big hard time. So if you're doing your part as the homeowner and you have hired a pro to install it, you have either had the pro register it or you registered the warranty yourself and then finally, you have done your part on doing maintenance and making sure the system is Maintained through the years and as long as you've done all that and the brand or the manufacturer honors their warranty. I think there's something to be said for that.
We're going to get more into that in just a moment, because there are some brands that do not honor their warranties very well. In my experience, i've tiptoed around that long enough and now. Finally, i'm just going to air it out and tell you what brands are not honoring their warranties and which ones suck and then. Finally, when we're talking about criteria, if we're talking about who sucks and who don't? What's the last bit of criteria that we'll use for this video and last one, i would say, is who are your selected contractors selling right? So, in other words, if you have a friend of yours who says hey, you know, i think this brand is best on the market or you read on some website on the internet.
Oh, this brand is best, and then you can't find any reputable contractors in your area that even sell that brand there's a good chance that it's probably not the best brand, i'm not saying they're horrible, but a good chance that they're not one of the top brands, Especially if you live in a more metropolitan area where there should be a contractor in the area that offers that brand, if they're a half decent brand, i did a video not long ago on ductless brands that suck and that video was pretty easy to do. I just basically said: hey here's everyone, that's good! Everyone else, sucks right, i would say, with heating and air brands, you can kind of use that same sort of criteria, in that here's all the brands that your local contractors are selling and then there's everyone else right. There's probably a reason why they are not selling those brands. So that's our criteria, starting out.
There is a such thing as builder grade brands. There are manufacturers out there that have even come out with brands with the specific goal of marketing that brand as an economical option or a builder grade option versus other brands or themselves okay. So, for example, when you say, carrier has pain as their builder grade or you have train and they've got run true, ameristar and even oxbox as their builder grade brands, and you, of course, you've got daikin with goodman and we could go on days and days for All of these brands that are you know, lower grade less than premium brands seems like linux has more than a handful when you consider all their subsidiaries, so do, i think, all of those brands suck no, but you should filter a builder grade brand through the lens Of hey, i should be getting a good deal here on this builder grade brand, so if i'm comparing say a payne or ameristar or goodman versus a train carrier or daikin, i should be getting a little bit better of a deal. I should be making more of a short-term decision, maybe you're selling the house, maybe you're, building the house and you're gon na sell it or flip it or for whatever reason, you're not looking at a long-term solution and investing in more of a premium piece of equipment That you should get plenty of life out of and zero problems out of, and so that's where you're at you're, making more of a short-term decision when you're selecting those brands. Does that mean all those brands suck? No i'm just saying when you're comparing apples to apples, you should be seeing some savings there. If you're going to select someone, that's a little bit lower grade. That's why, when you see a lot of these guys, you know a chuck in a truck or a stand in a van doing it on the side or doing it on the weekend. You know just making some extra beer money they're, usually installing one of those side brands one of those builder grade brands that they can get their hands on and make some extra money on moving on.
There are a lot of brands that are now being imported into north america that are lower grade they're, just lower grade brands and they're being marketed in different ways. There's i've done multiple videos lately on diy brands and just all these brands that that just about any joe can get and you're kidding yourself. If you think that those are just as high of a quality as your premium contractor down the street, you know so a lot of folks will be like well. You know i can get this system over here and you know i got my contractor over here.
Charging me this and you know what's going on and the bottom line is: there's imported, diy or retail open to retail, like if you could go to say home depot or somewhere like that and buy that system. It's just not the same quality as a lot of the brands that premium contractors are installing and you might say well yeah. But what do you mean there's way too much for me to get into, but just the systems themselves. I mean i've laid hands on systems where i've said i can tell that this is just. This is just a lower quality piece of equipment, it's sort of like if you ride in a luxury premium vehicle, and then you go get into a more economical vehicle. Just sitting in the vehicle in a lot of cases, you haven't even turned the engine on and you can tell the difference. You know you can already sit in it and feel a difference. It's usually those people that say no, no, there's no difference they've, usually if they say that they've usually never said in a vehicle, that's more luxurious, so the same could be said with heating and air equipment.
A lot of those guys that are saying hey. You know, there's no difference, it's the same guts and different wrapping. They usually are guys that have only done it on the side or worked for companies that they've never actually laid hands on a piece of equipment. That's more premium quality and the other thing i'll say is a lot of these brands.
If you can't tell the difference, so you know, when you look at the big three, each one of them brings something to the table that no one else offers in a lot of cases, they're bringing something to the table. Uh more premium products and things that you can look at and say yeah. This is, this is different than just about anything else on the market. If you are laying hands on a piece of equipment - and you don't feel that way, it just looks like the same as everything else out there, but maybe paint a different color.
There might be a reason for that, and they might would make our list of brands that suck so i've thrown a lot of information out there, a lot of brands that i think will hopefully help you. I know a lot of this is vague, so we're about to wrap up. Let me go ahead and share the brand that has screwed me on warranties a few times and they always seem to be looking for a reason to not honor their warranties and the brand. I'm talking about is nortec they're, formerly known as nordon.
They make a whole bunch of different brands, and there have been times that i have called in warranty. Items tried to get something under warranty and they look for a reason to not honor their warranties and they make all kinds of different brands if you're not familiar, go to nortech's website and you'll be able to see some of the other brands that they make. They make maytag, they make brown and several other brands, but i've tiptoed around that long enough. It seems like every time i try to get something under warranty.
Something has failed. They look for reasons to not honor those warranties. I personally have eaten costs to make it right for my customers, because nordyne or nortec would not do their part and honor the warranties for their equipment, but i would just say: do your homework look around on some websites in our guide new hvac guide? I've got a whole chart of brands that are good and bad and why they are ranked where they're ranked i get into a little more detail on there. I would ask a neighbor: ask your family, who do they like who do they use, and i wouldn't just go with with a brand just because that's who they use, i would ask how long they've had the system, what kind of problems have they had? How good is their utility bills from using it, and the last thing i'll say, is something that i've said in other videos before, and that is ask your contractor why they sell what they sell. You know if they sell a particular brand. Ask them why if they sell that brand, just because you know they don't really have a reason, maybe it's what their family business has always sold and they don't really have a specific reason. That might be a little bit of a red flag. But if you find a really good contractor one that you really like and you give you the warm fuzzies and you ask them: why do you sell what you sell? They should be able to rattle off.
Oh well. I sell this brand because of this reason, and that reason - and this reason tell you why you should go with that particular brand. I can tell you that not every brand is perfect. There are some hiccups.
There are times that you know you might buy a system and you got to get a few things straight, but for the most part you want to find a good contractor that you really like and go with what they really like. I mean it's really as simple as that: go with the brand that they're drinking the kool-aid, if you will all that said, i hope that helps good luck in buying your next heating and air system. Thanks for watching hit that subscribe button, we'll see you next time. You.