Hey guys in this video we're going to talk about the hvac brand called oxbox and before we get to that, if you love chocolate, cake long, romantic walks on the beach or chubby guys that do heating and air videos, please click that subscribe button, alright guys. So i got this question recently on our youtube channel and i figured i would do a quick video on it and that is the brand oxbox and if you've never heard of them, that might be because of two reasons number one. They haven't been out very long. Trane launched that brand, i believe in 2019 and the other reason is, they may not be available in your market or just becoming available in your market.

So who are they? Where did they come from and what is their history and are they good or not? So real quick, the history would be a few years ago. Train had their train brand, their american standard brand, and they were both known as a premium brand in the industry and in a lot of cases they were the same exact product, same model numbers in some cases same products. I even went to the factory once and you would see on the conveyor belt in the factory train stuff, coming down it and american standard stuff coming down it and same stuff, just painted a different color in some cases and then to capture that builder grade market. The economy, you know, folks that are just looking for the cheapest thing out there uh to combat that train or ingersoll rand, who own train at the time now, they're, supposedly broken off and they're their own entity or corporation.

I don't know depends on what year uh, who owns, who sometimes, but they came out with this ameristar line and whether you were a train dealer or an american standard dealer. You could offer this ameristar line and it was their builder grade line to combat some of these other cheap brands. Builder grade is the term they like to use, but basically it's the cheap stuff. In most cases back then ameristar was manufactured by a company called madea they're out of china.

They were imported into the us and for all intents and purposes they were not actually manufactured by train. They were just a re-branded product that they distributed as their builder grade brand. So, just a few years ago, train pivoted and you know they they broke loose from ingersoll ran and they you know all this corporate stuff and now they're their own corporation, but they also launched basically two new brands, one being ameristar again and one being run true And if you've watched any of my videos, you've heard me talk about run true and the idea was they're no longer made in china. Ameristar and run true are both made in trane or american standard factories, and they are somewhat compatible.

As i understand it so run. True is trains builder grade brand and ameristar is american standards builder great brand and then what they did was they took that old ameristar line, but still medea, you know still made in china and they rebranded it as what you now know as oxbox. So that's the history: now you might have a contractor telling you about oxbox. What is my take on it? I have not personally laid hands on one of the products since they turned it into the oxbox brand, but it's essentially still the same stuff.

You can look at it and physically see it's the same stuff i mean even the little you know holes that they cut in the metal. I mean the units themselves, look exactly the same, but i think the ultimate thing here is for the longest time there were brands that basically fell into three categories and i'm gon na do a whole video on this. But basically there were brands that you know only certain contractors could sell. You know they were premium brands and you had to jump through hoops and maybe even have a little bit of an exclusivity agreement, etc, etc.

You know if you were a contractor, you had to sell a certain amount to sell that brand, and so you know train carrier linux. All the big dogs have always had some sort of exclusivity and that that that has grown. Now you got daikon as one of the premium brands, and you know just all these different brands. Then you had brands that just about anyone could buy.

You know that any contractor could buy, and so a lot of times that was builder grade brands. There were some premium brands, or at least they called themselves premium brands that fell into that category, but really anybody could buy them, and then there were products that it seemed like there for a while that anyone, not just any contractor but anyone any joe off the Street could just walk into the supply house and buy them, and i'm not going to go through all those brands and who they are and what the pros and cons of that are, but basically any joe could walk in off the street. I remember talking to builders, you know general contractors that could say. Oh well, i can buy this.

You know i can go, buy a heating and air system. Well yeah. You know, i know you can but anyway, so you basically had those three categories and i've been told that the whole idea is, even though that you know you've got run true and ameristar as their builder grade look, you know lower grade, but maybe a they say. It's a higher premium product than most builder grade products, which might be true because they do have that spine fin coil.

That train hangs their hat on, but then oxbox is that brand in their lineup that just about any schmoe can buy. So you know a lot of these brands. I want to caution you before you go and buy one of those brands. If you are just a you know, hairy homeowner off the street and you just want to go, buy something whether it's from a supply house or from a website.

I want to let you know that some brands are starting to crack down on that and what i mean by that is, even though they are not cracking down on you know you buying it. They want your money but they're starting to crack down on whether or not they're going to honor their warranties. You know if you can't prove that it was installed by a licensed contractor. Then they're not going to honor their warranties, so i've heard some of them threaten that over the years, but it seems like maybe they're starting to enforce that all that said back on topic, if you're looking at oxbox you've got a contractor, maybe that's offering it or You're considering it for your home, i can say again from my personal experiences before it was oxbox when it was a mere star and it was the chinese medea products.

I had some that we installed that we had good experiences with you know. We put them in, and you know, didn't hear back from the customers uh, but i did have a couple one in particular that it even to this day it seems like every now and then they seem to have an issue or two, and so it's it. You know i'm not the biggest fan of them to be completely honest, but that's just my personal experience, i think. Ultimately, when i'm asked about brands and i'll just i'll wrap up with this, i'm asked about brands every day you know, or at least every week, people will email me.

What do you think about this brand, or what do you think about this or that my whole take and if you've seen any of my other videos, the bottom line is find a contractor that you love a contractor. That's going to answer their phone one! That's not! Just going to install the system and become a stranger again, but someone that you know you're going to have them do proper maintenance to the system. Preventative maintenance, they're going to be someone that you might bump into in the grocery store and y'all can say hello right. You know just somebody that you, like you know if you do, are getting quotes, get someone that gives you the most warm fuzzies out of the out of the quotes, you're getting and then go with the brand they recommend.

I have brands that i love for certain reasons, but i don't personally believe that any one brand is the best in every market so find a good contractor. And if they're offering a particular brand go with what they're recommending, because they're probably recommending it for one reason or another, all that said thanks for watching hit that subscribe button, we'll see you next time.