HVAC Manufacturers Brand History
Ever wonder who owns whom? Or what happened to your favorite brand of yesterday? If you have a very old furnace or air conditioner you can look it up here and see who now owns this name and possibly makes HVAC parts for the old unit. HVAC Manufacturers are constantly changing as one large HVAC entity buys up the smaller HVAC entities or someone decides to change their name. Maybe this page will help.
AAON: Evolved from John Zink / Sunbeam, makes packaged rooftop equipment.
ADDISON PRODUCTS: Purchased by Heat Controller in 1995, by Fedders in 2005.
AIRE-FLO: Old Lennox tradename revived for use on economy line sold by Lennox dealers.
AIRQUEST: Name used by International Comfort Products.
AIRTEMP: Started by carmaker Walter P. Chrysler in 1934, became a subsidiary of Fedders Corp. in 1976. See Fedders.
ALLIED AIR: Division of Lennox containing Air Ease, Armstrong, Concord & Ducane.
AMANA: Formerly a division of Raytheon, now part of Goodman Manufacturing.
AMERICAN FURNACE [AFCO]: In 1968 became part of the climate control division of the Singer Co. In 1970 became Singer American Furnace. See Singer.
AMERICAN-STANDARD: Became Tappan Air Conditioning division in 1972. American-Standard purchased the Trane Company in 1984. American-Standard name revived in 1988. In 2007, American-Standard spun off WABCO, sold the plumbing division and changed the corporate name to Trane in November. See Trane.
ARCO: Acquired by SnyderGeneral in 1984 from Atlantic Richfield. Added to Climate Control unit as Arcoaire. In 1991 became part of Inter-City Products (now International Comfort Products) with brandmate Comfortmaker. In 1999, ICP was purchased by Carrier.
ARKLA: Division sold to Preway, Inc. Preway sold Servel gas air conditioning to the Dometic Corp. High efficiency furnace technology sold to Trane. Servel name now sold by Robur.
ARMSTRONG: Founded by Lennox in 1928, became division of the Johnson Corp. in 1976. See Magic Chef. Name revived in 1988 to Armstrong Air after Lennox purchased the climate control line from Magic Chef.
BARD: Bard Manufacturing.
BOHN: A subsidiary of Lennox International.
BRYANT: Founded by Charles Bryant in 1904, now division of Carrier Corp-United Technologies.
CARRIER: A wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies.
CENTURY: Century Engineering Corp, Cedar Rapids, purchased by Heat Controller in 1975. Century name still used by Heat Controller on products made by OEMs.
CLIMATEMASTER: Formed from the "marriage" of several brands, among them Friedrich ClimateMaster and California Heat pump.
COLEMAN: Heating division started in 1958. Bought by MacAndrews & Forbes Group in 1989, by Beacon International using the name Evcon Industries in 1990, by York International in 1994.
COMFORTAIRE: A tradename of Heat Controller.
COMFORTMAKER: Old AFCO name revived at founding of SnyderGeneral by former Singer HVAC boss. See Singer. Comfortmaker now owned by Inter-City Products. In 1999, ICP was purchased by Carrier.
COMMAND-AIRE: Water source heat pump maker now owned by American-Standard.
CONSOLIDATED: Out of business in late 1990s, remaining assets and furnace designs purchased by Texas Furnace Co. Was also sold as Premier
COOLERATOR, McGRAW-EDISON: Lasted shown as making HVAC products in 1978.
CRANE: Stopped making HVAC products in 1968. Furnace technology sold to Amana.
CUMBERLAND: A brand name used by American-Standard / Trane.
DAIKIN: Japanese manufacturer of commerical products and mini-splits. Now owns McQuay.
DAY & NIGHT: Started in 1909 as a solar water heater maker, later part of the BDP Co. division of Carrier Corp-United Technologies. Name being dropped as of late 1997. Name revived in 2007 and put on ICP residential products and Carrier light commercial products, sold by Ferguson's Air Cold Supply stores.
DELCO: Old GM appliance division last listed in 1964.
DUCANE: Purchased by Lennox in 1999.
DUNHAM-BUSH: Most divisions sold to Topgroup Holdings Berhad of Malaysia.
DUOMATIC-OLSEN: Canadian maker changed name to DMO Industries with Olsen & Airco as brand names.
ECR INTERNATIONAL: North American brands include Airco, Dunkirk, Hyundai, EMI, Olsen, Oneida Royal, Pennco, Retroaire, Utica.
ELECTRIC-FURNACE-MAN: Now known as EFM Company making boilers & furnaces
EUBANK: Purchased by Fedders
FANDAIRE: Last A/C units manufacturered in 1962.
FASCO: Stopped making HVAC products in 1983.
FRASER-JOHNSTON: Became part of Westinghouse. Name dropped in 1978 with end of Westinghouse HVAC products. Name now used by York International.
FEDDERS: Left the unitary market around 1980, returned in early 2000s with Chinese made outdoor units.
FRIEDRICH: Residential HVAC acquired by ARCO in early 80s. In 1985 became Friedrich Climate Master Inc. selling water source heat pumps. Friedrich name dropped from tradename in 1987. Friedrich HVAC products evolved into Arcoaire. Friedrich name still used on window units & mini splits after purchase of Zoneaire from ICP.
FRIGIDAIRE: GM appliance brand name now owned by Electrolux licensed by Nordyne.
GAFFERS & SATTLER: In 1969 became a subsidiary of Magic Chef. Name no longer used.
GENERAL ELECTRIC: HVAC division purchased by the Trane Company in 1982.
GIBSON: Name used by Nordyne under license.
GOETTL: Arizona manufacturer of residential & light commercial equipment & contractor; leaving the manufacturing aspect of the business.
GOODMAN MFG: Started by contractor Harold Goodman in 1982, purchased from the Goodman family in 2004 by Apollo Management, now owned by Goodman Global.
GREEN COLONIAL: Des Moines company stopped making HVAC products in 1975.
HALL-NEAL FURNACE: Indianapolis company last listed in 1966.
HASTINGS: Last listed in 1964, now manufacturers unit & duct heaters.
HEIL-QUAKER: Purchased by Inter City Gas, Toronto, from Whirlpool Corp. Tempstar name added to replace Whirlpool name. HVAC division now part of International Comfort Products. In 1999, ICP was purchased by Carrier.
HENRY FURNACE [MONCRIEF]: Purchased by Luxaire, Inc. Now part of York International.
HOME FURNACE: Became Home Furnace division, Lear-Siegler Inc. Became Miller Heating & Air Conditioning in 1986 after being acquired by Nortek Inc. Now listed as Nordyne. See Intertherm.
INTERNATIONAL COMFORT PRODUCTS: See Heil-Quaker.
INTERNATIONAL HEATER: In 1965 controlling interest acquired by Weil-McLain. Became International Heating & Air Conditioning division in 1973. Last listed in 1974. Weil-McLain now owned by United Dominion.
INTERNATIONAL OIL BURNER: Founded in St. Louis in 1919. Became Intertherm in 1969.
INTERTHERM: Became Nordyne company in 1987. Brandmate Miller. In 1998, Nordyne started marketing under Electrolux brands Frigidaire, Philco, Tappan, Kelvinator & Gibson. Also making Maytag brand under license. Parent company is Nortek.
IRON FIREMAN: Now owned by Vapor Power, making power burners.
ITT: Stopped making HVAC products in 1983.
JANITROL: Division of Surface Combustion Co. became division of Midland-Ross in 1960, division of Tappan in 1977. Janitrol name sold to Goodman Mfg. (see Goodman) in 1982 now dropped.
JOHNSON, AIR-EASE: Founded in 1958 by C.A. Olsen (who started Luxaire) and brother-in-law Johnson. Became part of Magic Chef in 1972. Now owned by Lennox. Air Ease brand now part of Allied Air division of Lennox.
KEEPRITE: One of the ICP brands
KELVINATOR: Name used by Nordyne under license
KOLDWAVE: Manufacturer of portable cooling equipment
LENNOX: Lennox Industries.
LUXAIRE: Founded in 1939, purchased by Westinghouse in 1955, was purchased by York in 1981.
MAGIC CHEF: In 1986, Magic Chef was acquired by the Maytag Co. Air conditioning division was sold to Lennox in 1988 and renamed Armstrong Air. See Johnson.
MAJESTIC: Ceased making HVAC equipment in 1966.
MAMMOTH: Formerly owned by Lear-Siegler, now owned by Nortek. Sister companies include Governaire, Broan-Nutone, Nordyne, Venmar.
MAYFLOWER: St. Paul furnace company last listed in 1962.
MAYTAG: Name used by Nordyne under license.
McQUAY: Formerly a division of SnyderGeneral, later owned by Hong Leong Group Malaysia. Now owned by Daikin.
MILLER: Was Miller the Home Furnace Company started in 1916. Now part of Nordyne.
MITCHELL: Last listed in 1958.
MONCRIEF: Division of York International. See Henry Furnace.
MUELLER CLIMATROL: In 1964 became Climatrol Div. Worthington Air Conditioning. Eventually bought out by Fedders. See Worthington and Fedders.
NATIONAL U.S. RADIATOR (Capitolaire): Acquired by Crane in 1960.
NESBITT: Acquired by ITT in 1963. Divested by ITT in 1979 and filed for bankrupcy in 1980. Now a tradename of Mechanical Specialties, Inc.
NIAGRA: Acquired by Rybolt in 1961.
OLSEN: In 1965 became Luxaire, Inc. with brand names Luxaire & Moncrief. Acquired by Westinghouse then sold to York Div. Borg-Warner in 1981. Olsen name no longer in use by York.
ONEIDA-ROYAL: Purchased by Utica Boilers Inc. in 1990, see ECR.
PAYNE: Started by D. W. Payne in 1914, later becoming part of BDP with Bryant and Day & Night. Now a Carrier brand name.
PEERLESS: In 1964 became Peerless Division, Space Conditioning Systems. Eventually acquired by Dunham-Bush with names dropped in mid 1970s.
PEERLESS HEATER: Boiler manufacturer since 1908.
PERFECTION: Became Perfection Division, Hupp Industries in 1964. In 1965, Perfection name dropped. Later known as Typhoon Div, Hupp Industries. Hupp in bankrupcy in 1991. Perfection Industries was purchased by Schwank in 1981, now operating as Schwank Inc. making radiant heaters.
PHILCO: Name used by Nordyne under license.
RHEEM: Rheem Manufacturing is owned by Japanese water heater manufacturer Paloma.
ROUND OAK: Last listed in 1963. See Peerless.
RUUD: Part of Rheem Manufacturing. See Rheem.
RYBOLT: Last listed in 1973.
SILENT AUTOMATIC: Last listed in 1961. See Iron Fireman.
SINGER: In 1982 became climate control unit of SnyderGeneral Corp. with name dropped. In 1984 SnyderGeneral operations included Arcoaire, Comfortmaker, McQuay. In 1988 SynderGeneral bought American Air Filter. In 1991, sold Arcoaire & Comfortmaker to Inter-City Products.
SOUTHWEST MFG: Became Heatwave International in 1984, later going bankrupt.
SPACE CONDITIONER: Became Dunham-Bush division in 1968.
SQUARE D: Production resumed as Sun Dial Manufacturing then stopped in the 1980s.
STEWART-WARNER: Last listed in 1976.
TAPPAN: Became SJC Corp. in 1979 with name Frigiking Tappan. In 1982, SJC sold Janitrol line to Goodman Mfg. Tappan name revived by Nordyne in 1998 under license from Electrolux.
TEMPSTAR: Name used to replace Whirlpool name when Inter City Gas purchased Heil-Quaker. See Heil
THERMOPRODUCTS: Indiana manufacturer of ThermoPride brand furnaces & air condtioners, now owned by Burnham Corporation.
TRANE: The Trane Company purchased GE's climate control division in 1982. Trane was purchased by American-Standard in 1984. In 2007 American Standard spun off non HVAC lines and will be changing the corporate name to Trane. Now owned by Bermuda based Ingersoll Rand.
TORRIDHEET: Last listed in 1972.
WATERBURY: Last listed in 1962.
WATERFURNACE: Fort Wayne Indiana manufacturer of water source heat pumps.
WEATHERKING: Former trade name of Addison Products, sold to Rheem in 1989.
WESTINGHOUSE: In 1981, sold to Borg-Warner [York]. Sale rights included names Moncrief, Luxaire, Fraser-Johnston all now used by York International. Name now used by Nordyne under license.
WHIRLPOOL: In 1972 became Whirlpool Div. of Heil-Quaker, a subsidiary of Whirlpool Corp. Tempstar name replaced Whirlpool after Inter-City Gas Co. bought Heil-Quaker in 1986. See Heil-Quaker. In 2002, Whirlpool name used by Tradewinds Distributing with line they designed based on and made by Armstrong.
WILLIAMS OIL-O-MATIC: Last listed in 1972.
WILLIAMSON: Purchased by Hupp Industries which went bankrupt in 1991. Williamson name was purchased by Metzger Machine (Milwaukee Thermoflo) and used on furnace line. Late 1999, purchased by United Dominion (Weil-McLain's parent).
WORTHINGTON: Became Mueller Climatrol in 1970 after being acquired by Fedders.
YORK: Formerly a dvision of Borg-Warner, York International is now spun off. York also makes Fraser-Johnson, Luxaire, Moncrief, Winchester, Coleman-Evcon, AirPro, Red T. Also known in the past as Central Environmenal Systems. York was purchased by Johnson Controls in 2005.