Stay away from Trane, Carrier, Lennox.

My 1st choice is Rheem.

Goodman would be good for a flipper house.

I've had them all in my rentals. They all fail too early, but Rheem seems to hold up better.

Installation is important, but your idea that they are all same is wrong. They are not. An A/C unit is only as good as its parts. There are OK parts, and there are excellent parts.

Goodman

easy to work on. generic parts list -- which means there are other vendors to buy from if work needed. Top of th eline for my own place-- not rental.

I'm having the same dilemma as you, Nancy. It seems Consumer Reports consistently ranks American Standard and Trane at the top of the heap. But my HVAC guy who broke off from a Trane dealer a few years ago to start his own business installs Rheem. He said Trane's quality has gone down hill recently after they were purchased by Ingersoll-Rand.

One article I saw in Consumer Reports specifically singled out Rheem as being NOT as reliable. So I'm glad Fred likes them because I went ahead and let my HCAC guy install both a Rheem furnace and AC at one of my rentals.

From a 30 plus year HVAC tech:

The installation is much more important than the brand. Some of the big names USED to be much higher quality than the others, but today, they are all pretty much the same. They all use the same compressors, reversing valves, contactors, fan motors, capacitors, etc.

I used to highly recommend Lennox, but now I pretty much install only Goodman.

myth of HVAC. Just because an outside unit is expensive doesn't mean it costs alot. your HVAC guy charges 2800.00 for a 2 ton condenser (the outside part of an AC unit) to install. 1st why would u put an expensive unit in a rental?

2 ton unit cost 765.00-- brand new. Warrenty usually 5 years. Heres a break down of parts-- folks there just aren't many moving parts to fix on these units.

Contactor(AKA relay): where wires come into unit $16.00

Capacitor: helps the motors start to turn the silver cylinder or rectangle metal size of cigerette pack that has 3 wires coming out the top. kick starts the fan and compressor $12.50.. Fan motor yes it looks like a big box fan but made of metal $87.00 compressor motor if out of warrenty $500.00. Except for the compressor motor parts are cheap. should the unit compressor go and it's out of warrenty-- its cheaper in the long run to replace the whole unit. Keep the old parts. New units are precharged with freon so only a little is needed to service a replacement.

Myob, I don't think that HVAC companies are "robbing us". When I look at their business model, I see lots of expensive labor and equipment that is underutilized (drive time, diagnostics are just two).

They simply have high costs associated with their business and charge accordingly on the sale of equipment.

Nancy,

Google "complaints about Trane a/c" and read what consumers say.

Most talk about compressors and coils.

Same with Carrier and Lennox. Carrier units require Carrier parts and they are priced high. I've had a Carrier, needed a main circuit after only 2 years.

Brands build up a good name for 30 years, then they get bought by other mfgs and their quality dips. Expensive units used to last 25 years...now they last 15 years or even less.

sisco MO expensive equipment? Freon gages cost about 80.00 for a good set. The Red line hooks to high pressure side on ac unit-- (that's the small line) blue line hook to low pressure AKA suction side. But wait-- you only usually need to hook onto the low side-- so hook on--- hint during normal temp days it should read 72 to 82 on the gage if it doesn't the system is low put some in it. If pressure is high-- clean the outside coils with coil cleaner.

Sisco you could shotgun the unit (that means just keep replacing parts until you change the broken one if your not savey on troubleshooting. There is no "expertise special equipment" for that. 9 out of 10 times its the Capacitor thats bad.

Sisco,

I'm sure Myob was referring to HVAC labor, not materials.

A few thoughts. I had Trane in my home and was never happy with it. I switched to Goodman and from day 1 the Goodman has been far better than the Trane ever was.

The quality of the installation coupled with a tech who provides proper sizing specs is more important than the brand.

Almost every tech I work with here (Charlotte) prefer Goodman due to their warranty and the ease of repairs/replacing parts.