American Standard

[mecabman]

Does American Standard make a good unit? I read that they are owned by the same company as Trane. The contactor seemed pretty confident in the American Standard units and said they would be somewhat cheaper than a Trane or Carrier.
* I have been quoted a Carrier, Trane, Amana, Bryant, and American Standard*
If you have any opinions or have any "hands on" experience with this brand, please advise.

Thanks

[Edited by mecabman on 05-29-2006 at 09:41 PM]

[seatonheating]

They are the best thing goin in my opinion.

[fixitmanmc]

If you want something cheap it's the cream of the cheapo's.

[duelfuel]

They are good units.
Yes American standard owns Trane. Same thing.

[mark beiser]

American Standard and Trane are basicly the same equipment. The indoor units are identical, but there are some differences between the two when it comes to the higher end outdoor units.

As far as cost, in some markets, Trane costs a little more, and in some American Standard costs a bit more. Usually Trane will be a bit more though.

In my area Trane has fantastic product availability and dealer support, but American Standard is distributed by an independant supply house that has spotty product availability and little dealer support.
In some areas, it is the other way around.

[RoBoTeq]

Good equipment from a solid, experienced company. Just make certain the company doing the installation is competent.

[elkhvac]

American Standard is what I put in my home. They make a very solid system. With a properly designed and installed system you will be very happy.

[seatonheating]

Originally posted by fixitmanmc
If you want something cheap it's the cream of the cheapo's.

You base that on what?

[ikey]

I was told, don't persecute me, that american standard is where it is to catch the second tier dealers that can't qualify as a trane dealer.

and realistically, why sell am stand over trane?

two markets their going after, marketing madness. wheres the omnipotent John LLoyd when we need him?

he better not be on that other site!!

[RoBoTeq]

Originally posted by seatonheating

Originally posted by fixitmanmc
If you want something cheap it's the cream of the cheapo's.

You base that on what?

Exactly! Brand bashers never seem to have specifics.

[kevinmac]

fixitmanmc - AS cheapo--- where did that come from?????? You sure you know your products????

[trane]

Originally posted by ikey
I was told, don't persecute me, that american standard is where it is to catch the second tier dealers that can't qualify as a trane dealer.

and realistically, why sell am stand over trane?

two markets their going after, marketing madness. wheres the omnipotent John LLoyd when we need him?

he better not be on that other site!!

I don't believe there is any truth in that. The distributor has more to do with why one is picked over the other. What have you heard it takes to qualify to be a Trane dealer?

[the dangling wrangler]

A-S can sell "cheaper " than Trane beacause Trane dumps more money into advertising. According to my salesman.

[ikey]

I know the trane dist. here is pickier who it will let sell their line. the a/s dealer here is almost on the goodman level, anyone anytime. comparing the trane and a/s distr. here is like comparing a chevy dealer with a cadillac dealer.

from what I've heard, trane and a/s have a heated rivalry in tyler. they don't like each other nor talk to each other much. a heated sibling rivalry.

is being cheaper the only reason one would sell the a/s line? personally here, i think our trane dist. is top notch. the best in s. texas bar none. and i deal with carrier, ruud, and used to deal with goodman.

a/s units are trane units, w/o the weatherguard top though.

[xv80satisfiedcust]

ikey,

Do you think the Weatherguard top is a good idea ?

Visually, it looks sturdier than the AS outdoor unit, but I have read (on HVAC Talk) that Trane / AS are the same climatuff (recip or scroll depending on model) compressor.

(I got the XL14i installed last month).

[ikey]

Originally posted by xv80satisfiedcust
ikey,

Do you think the Weatherguard top is a good idea ?

Visually, it looks sturdier than the AS outdoor unit, but I have read (on HVAC Talk) that Trane / AS are the same climatuff (recip or scroll depending on model) compressor.

(I got the XL14i installed last month).



a good idea? hell i'm no engineer, but do make more money than some, but that keeps crap out of the unit. does ruud, goodman, carrier, any other brand keep crap from the inside of the unit? not that it'll make a big difference, but how often have you gone on a simple service and have the old wrinkled ho come out with a vacuum to get the leaves out of the unit? like you have nothing better to do. i clean them out with my hand, but vaccum it?

my statement was only to express a difference of the two brands. of course they use the same compressors, but put a 19i next to an allegiance. which looks better?

and customers care about stupid crap like that. give em what they want, not what YOU THINK they want or need.

imop, a/s dealers are afraid to try and explain the price, cheaper is better, in their minds. they get calls about trane and say, hey i've got something just as good but cheaper, never will they say better.

[seatonheating]

Must be cheaper in your part of the country but here they are "the" unit.

It is true that in some parts of the country they are cheaper than Trane, but that is only true because Trane dumps millions into advertising. Us AS dealers will just keep sitting back while Trane does our advertising for us!

[ikey]

and opt out of this thread.

continue in pros if necessary.

[xv80satisfiedcust]

I got a Trane because of personal experience (homeowner) with the early 1980s GE units. Yes, I like the way the Weatherguard looks.

But, then I look on the Wall of Pride and see a nice install of an smaller market share brand like Armstrong or something and think maybe I should have gotten an American Standard.

But, like Mark said, it really depends on the distributor/dealer. I had done some reasearch on HVAC Talk before talking to 2 Trane dealers. If I had talked to AS dealers, I would have seriously considered it. It was getting into April and I knew the market was going to heat up just like it did last summer.

Talk about stupid customer misconceptions - I always assumed that AS was MORE expensive than Trane because they are the "parent company" and builder grade Trane in some areas is VERY common.

I will laugh if I ever see a post titled "Builder Grade Trane or High End American Standard".

I hadn't seen a post from elkhvac until AFTER I had the system installed. Well, there's always humidifier and maybe air filtration later .......

[the dangling wrangler]

You say tomato, I say tomato. But I still don't care for the pretty cover.Just more bells & whistles.

[RoBoTeq]

Originally posted by ikey
and opt out of this thread.

continue in pros if necessary.

You are correct; I do think this is a good call on your part.