HVAC Brands of the Past. Where are they now?

[a440]

Bill,

 

Did you keep your old thermostat?  I have thermostats from homes that I grew up in when the furnace or a/c was replaced.  Some of them were truly ancient in the homes  growing up on New Orleans. 

 

Your new Thermostat sounds very cool. 

 

Brent

 

[philr]

Brent, any of these thermostats are yours?!  I really enjoyed seeing these pics! 

 

Here's one that I have. 

 

[a440]

Phil your "Weather Station" is so darn cool! 

Some of the t-stats are pictures of ones I own.  (the very old HW)  I have two boxes of them SOMEWHERE!  Hopefully I will come across them soon.

I have tons of pictures of vintage HVAC units that were taken out of homes.  Replaced.  I did not know if there was an interest here to see them. 

B

 

[DADoES]

 
New lobby HVAC unit at work (after 30 years!).  With an Emerson (White Rogers) Sensi 'stat.  The trick about it is that the WiFi app is the only way to set a schedule, and is the only way to enable Auto-switching heat/cool mode.  The Mode selector on the unit has only Heat/Off/Cool (which does indicate which mode is active in Auto).  If it's on Auto mode and the mode is manually changed on the 'stat, there's no way to get it back on Auto except via the app.

 

[sambootoo]

Brent, YES, someone (me) would love to see your pictures of vintage hvac units!

 

[askolover]

My parents (and most other houses in the subdivision built at the same time) had Lennox gas horizontal furnaces...a few are still running and they were installed in 1968...my dad replaced ours with a Trane package unit in 1992 but that Lennox was still working, just inefficient. We had a York central AC unit connected to that Lennox furnace that was installed the year I was born 1971. They replaced their Trane a couple years ago due to heat exchanger failure, the new one is I think a Goodman product. I used to have a WeatherKing pkg unit...also heat exchanger failure (could have killed me) and I replaced it with an Amana (stainless heat exchanger lifetime warranty) that was built near here in Fayetteville, TN. My Aunt in Indiana had a Philco window unit with the Ford logo on it. Everyone I know who had a Carrier gas unit had big problems with it. Heil-Quaker had a plant near here also in Lewisburg, TN and Fedders had a plant here in Columbia, TN til it closed and they started using Chinese junk, and GE had a compressor plant here until sometime in the '80s I think.

 

[a440]

I will load some pictures tomorrow. 

They are on an external hard drive that I can't get to tonight.

B

 

[a440]

Reznor

Here are a few pictures of Reznor Unit Heaters.  You may still see these still in use running in top shape like they did first installed 50+ years ago.  Many were installed in schools, businesses and the like where automatic heating and cooling was something new.  They were built like tanks and were meant to last virtually forever. 

I will post these different units at random as I find them in files.

Brent

 

 

 

[a440]

Janitrol

Beautiful Original Janitrol Units.  So many of these are still in use.  Janitrol had the "Dura Tube" heat exchanger.  They were also built like tanks! 

 

 

 

[a440]

Lennox

Beautiful Lennox Furnaces!  I see so many of these still in use in homes in my neighborhood. 

 

 

 

[a440]

Western Thinboy

I don't know much about this unit besides it was built in California which is odd enough.

Cute unit though and over 50+ years when it was removed.

 

 

 

[a440]

Old Bryant Unit Heater

This was a monster!

 

 

 

[a440]

Beautiful Modine Unit Heater

Love the colors and lines of this unit heater.

 

 

 

[philcobendixduo]

Reznor Unit Heater

I can remember when we lived in Billings Montana having a Reznor unit heater in the garage of the house we were renting on Parkhill Drive. The washer and dryer were located in the garage so it was essential to have the garage heated during the cold winter months.

Yes, Brent - I do still have my 1980's Sears 7 day programmable thermostat (made by White-Rogers, I think...). The original thermostat was one of those "generic looking" square ones with the sliding temperature control on top and a round thermometer with company logo (F/J) in the center.

I was tempted to keep using the old Sears thermostat with my new system (it was equipped for heat and a/c) but being able to control temps and schedules via iPhone app was just too tempting for me (think of those cold mornings when you decide to get up sooner than the thermostat schedule is set for!).

 

[sambootoo]

Thanks for posting these Brent. Very beautiful.

 

[lordkenmore]

I just stumbled across a ca. 1939 brochure talking about Williams Oil-O-Matic. It's old enough to talk about converting existing furnaces (one assumes coal) to oil heat.

https://archive.org/details/YourGuideToOilHeatingAtItsBest

My favorite part is the claim that you "never have to visit the basement" once you have Oil-O-Matic heat. Funny thing...but I've never had any totally zero maintenance heating system. Although I suppose oil heat required quite a bit less effort than coal did.

 

[askolover]

Those Modine heaters were used in the Murray Bicycle and Lawnmower plant in Lawrenceburg, TN when I worked there 23 years ago before I became an RN. I remember they heated well

 

[norgeway]

Re Williams Oil O Matic

They, like GEs oil burner,were low pressure burners,these used a adjustable nozzle that rarely ever needed any attention,and could burn less expensive heavier oils cleanly and efficiently...they were more expensive to build than the standard high pressure oil burners,this and the fact most service men did not bother to learn how to correctly work on them,led to their demise, as well as the Wall Flame Rotary burners which also were very clean burning trouble free units,many of these units were giving 80 plus efficiency ratings in the 50s when the standard oil burner units were giving 60 to 75 percent efficiency...especially the GE units, they were complicated in that their control system was totally different than any other furnace,safer and better built also, but were way ahead of their time.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

The 1st Modine heater that I've seen was a wall-mounted vent-type system, near the floor, in the entrance way at my city library...

 

Wonder if it got replaced before the whole library had been remodeled or if it got kept there until its "whatever last day"...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[a440]

Davey7

Thanks for posting the brochure of the "Iron Fireman Selectemp"! 

So interesting.  I wonder if any homes are still running this system?

No electricity needed.  Every room had it's own unit with thermostat and built in fan that was run from a steam turbine!  I would love to see this type of system!

Brent