Good luck! Lol

 

A little known truth about heating and air equipment:

Of the 54 or 55 brand names, all are made by 8 manufacturers.
Of those 8 manufacturers, the large majority of units have the SAME Copeland Scroll compressor.
The fan and blower motors come from Mexico or China.
The electrical and electronic components also come from Mexico or China (a few come from other countries, and a VERY few come from the USA).
The coils are made in a multi-step manufacturing process... mostly with the same equipment, and the same design.
And how much quality or lack there-of can the sheet metal cabinet have?

What is important is the installation quality of the system after it is done.

Choose your contractor carefully... it is better to have average equipment installed by someone who is dedicated to quality procedures... than a top name (and high priced) box installed sloppily.

 

Thank you to the above two responders, "Syndicated" and "GA-HVAC-Tech."

About two or three years ago, I was burned so badly with my $950 Maytag Washing Machine.
It went out in less than 30 days. In waiting for the parts and having the wrong parts sent
to my home, I learned that the main control (the part that failed) was made in China, and
the washing machine itself was assembled in Mexico.

I miss the lonely Maytag man!

 

Bryant and Carrier are the same thing, and I believe they make some of their control boards in the USA, as well as most of their equipment. I believe the other companies you listed also make most of their units here, although as GA Tech has mentioned, they all pretty much use the same mix of outsourced components.

By the way, I can kind of relate to your washing machine story. I bought my front loader about 5 years ago. Before doing so I visited all of the big box and appliance stores in my area trying to find which ones were made in the USA. I opened all of the doors and/or looked behind them to find the label that says where it was manufactured. To my amazement, none of the "domestic" models such as Whirlpool, Maytag, GE, Fridgidare, etc, were made here. The ONLY brand that I could find that said it was Made in the USA was Bosch. It was a little more expensive than the others, but I brought it home and have been happy. Since then, I have read that GE has started manufacturing them here again. I don't know if there are any others.

 

In the later 1980's, I was a design/sales/project manager for a large Kitchen and Bath and additions co in N VA. At that time... appliances were more or less let for bid: Whomever manufacturing plant (worldwide) who came along with the cheapest price... got the bid for that year's model lines. Names like Maytag, Whirlpool, GE, etc... meant literally NOTHING... other than the image the marketing folks so carefully groomed. AT that time... the exception was VERY expensive cooking appliances from elite names (Thermador, Dacor, etc).

I do miss the Whirlpool washers and driers from days gone by... they were tuff as they could be... and easy to work on.

Here is a suggestion as to how to choose a quality appliance: Visit a place that sells appliance repair parts to the appliance repair trade; Ask them which model they sell the LEAST parts for... as in which units never need parts.
I have done that many a time... and had good results.

 

Here is a suggestion as to how to choose a quality appliance: Visit a place that sells appliance repair parts to the appliance repair trade; Ask them which model they sell the LEAST parts for... as in which units never need parts.
I have done that many a time... and had good results.

That might not work well if one particular brand has a very large market share. For example in my town, the only appliance sotre is a Sears store. SO Kenmore may be overrepresented even though they also sell GE, Whirlpool, Maytag and Bosch.

For mroe reliability data I tend to use COnsumers Reports. Its' not perfect, but it's uses customer surveys and hasn't steered me wrong. The last Car I bought was a Nissan Versa in the first model year before there was any data on it (won't ever make that mistake again). It was a POS. witin 2 years, the surveys backed up my own expereinces. Its' one of the lowest rated campact cars, but I gues you GWYPF... its' also the cheapest. I traded it in on a Honda CR-V which is their top rated SUV for quality and probably one of the highest rated high volume cars on the market. NO issues for me, other than some very minor assembly issues that were easily fixed under warranty (squaeky window when rolled up) First car I've owned without a rattle or squeak even over pretty major potholes and it's a beast in the snow with descent tires.

 

Lennox often uses Chinese motors. It's that or Mexico. The builder Lennox A/Cs are made in Mexico. Recently Carrier announced that they will use a Korean compressor in their builder A/Cs. Their coils are made in Mexico but equipment (except Payne A/Cs) are assembled here. Trane is Irish owned, other than recip compressors, assembled here.