The Best Furnace Brands, Ranked by the People Who Install Them

Updated October 2026 with this year’s furnace model names, efficiency ratings, heat exchanger warranties and our installed prices.

Our first pick for a gas furnace is Trane. Carrier and Rheem are right behind it, and those are the three we install. A new furnace from any of them runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed in our Northern Virginia price book, depending on the size of the house and how efficient you go. From about $71 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.

The ranked list is right below. After it: what actually makes one furnace better than another (the badge matters less than the ads say), who makes which brand, what a new one costs, and the brand against brand questions people ask us. If you’re replacing the air conditioner or thinking about a heat pump too, our guide to the best HVAC brands covers the whole system.

The top 10 furnace brands, ranked

The ratings are each maker’s own “up to” figure for its best model, and some sizes rate a little lower. The furnace on your quote has its own number on its EnergyGuide label.

What makes one furnace better than another

Every big brand sells a plain furnace and a top-shelf one. Inside any brand, these are the things you’re really choosing between.

Efficiency: 80% or 95% and up

AFUE is the share of the gas that turns into heat in your house over a year. An 80% furnace sends about a fifth of it out the exhaust. A furnace rated 90% or better is almost always a condensing furnace: a second heat exchanger pulls so much heat out of the exhaust that the water in it condenses, so it vents through PVC pipe and needs a drain. The federal minimum for a gas furnace today is 80%. A federal rule on the books says gas furnaces built from December 18, 2028 on must hit 95%, but the Department of Energy has said it’s reconsidering that rule, so the date could change. Either way, if your house can vent one, a 95% furnace is usually the better buy here: lower gas bills every winter, and money back from Washington Gas (more on that below).

How it runs: single-stage, two-stage or modulating

A single-stage furnace is either on full blast or off. A two-stage furnace has a low setting, about 65% on Carrier’s, and runs on it most of the time, which is quieter and evens out the hot and cold spots. A modulating furnace turns its flame up and down in small steps, from 40% to 100% on Trane’s and Carrier’s top models, so on a mild day it runs long and low instead of blasting and quitting. For most houses two-stage is the sweet spot. Modulating earns its price in a big or two-story house, or for someone who feels every degree.

The blower

The blower moves every bit of air in the house, for the heat and the air conditioning both. A variable-speed blower ramps up and down instead of slamming on, so it’s quieter and the air comes out steadier, and Carrier points out it helps the air conditioner pull humidity out in summer. Not every “high-efficiency” furnace has one: Trane’s 96 Two-Stage, for example, is two-stage heat with a simpler constant-torque blower. Look for the words “variable speed” on the spec sheet.

The heat exchanger, and what “lifetime” means

The heat exchanger is the metal wall between the flame and the air you breathe, and it’s the part that decides when a furnace is done. A cracked one is a safety problem, and on an older furnace it usually means a new furnace. Trane, Carrier, Rheem, Lennox and York give their better furnaces a lifetime limited warranty on it. Read the fine print, though: it’s usually for the original owner only, at Trane, Carrier and York it depends on registering the furnace within 60 or 90 days (otherwise it’s 20 years), and it covers the part, not the labor to swap it. Goodman, Amana and Daikin changed their 2026 warranty papers to 20 years, so an older brochure that says lifetime is out of date. The basic 80% furnaces often get 20 years no matter what.

Natural gas or propane

Most gas furnaces on this list can run on propane with the maker’s conversion kit, put in by the installer, though not every model converts, so check the one on your quote. We install and service natural gas and propane furnaces. We don’t work on oil furnaces, so if you heat with oil and want off it, a heat pump or a propane furnace is the switch, and that we can price.

1. Trane: our first pick

Ask us what we’d put in our own house and you’ll hear Trane. Not because the badge is magic. Here’s why, and you can check every one of these.

There’s a Trane for every house. Trane sells nine gas furnaces outside California, from a plain 80% single-stage up to the 96 Modulating Variable Speed, its most efficient, rated up to 97.3% AFUE. So we can fit the furnace to the house and the budget without switching brands.

Trane tests it hard. Trane says every product it makes goes through rigorous testing in its own SEET labs. Its 97 Two-Stage furnace is built to run on low “as often as possible,” in Trane’s words, which keeps it quieter and evens out the hot and cold spots.

Trane’s rebates come through us. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, Trane’s own dealer program. Trane runs its instant rebates through participating independent Comfort Specialists, so they come off your quote through us, and you can look us up on Trane’s dealer locator before you ever call. We buy our Trane equipment through Ferguson, Trane’s distributor for our area.

The warranty, plainly. Register a Trane within 60 days and you get ten years on parts, plus a lifetime limited warranty on the heat exchanger on every Trane rated 92% or better and on the 80 Two-Stage Variable Speed. Without registration it’s five years on parts and twenty on the heat exchanger. Trane’s other 80% furnaces get twenty years on the heat exchanger either way. That’s parts, not labor, so ask every company that quotes you who pays the labor. On a furnace we install, two years of our labor is included, and you can extend it to five or ten. Carrier’s best furnaces carry the same kind of lifetime coverage, so don’t let the warranty alone decide it.

The honest part: a Trane costs more than a builder-grade furnace from a value brand. If you’re staying ten years or more, that premium spreads thin. If you’re selling next spring, it might not be worth it.

Trane’s gas furnaces, in plain English

Trane also sells builder-grade versions at 92.1% and 80%. The ratings are Trane’s published “up to” figures. Our heating page goes deeper on Trane furnaces and heat pumps.

2. Carrier: the most efficient one we install

Carrier’s top furnace is the most efficient of the three brands we install. The Infinity 98 is rated up to 98.5% AFUE, and its gas valve adjusts in 1% steps anywhere from 40% to 100%, so it can match the heat to the weather almost exactly. Below it, Carrier sells two more tiers, Performance in the middle and Comfort as the budget line, so there’s a real Carrier answer at several prices, from 80% up.

Register a Carrier furnace within 90 days and the heat exchanger carries a lifetime limited warranty on the Infinity models, the 96 and 97 Performance models and the Comfort 96. That’s for the original owner; whoever buys the house after you gets 20 years. You also choose between ten years on parts, or five years on parts plus three on labor if your installer takes part in Carrier’s program. Miss the 90 days and it’s five years on parts and 20 on the heat exchanger.

We’re Carrier experts. We install Carrier furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps, we service every Carrier we’re called to, whoever put it in, and you can find us on Carrier’s dealer locator.

3. Rheem: the value pick

The value pick of the big names, and not a step down on paper. Rheem’s top furnace, the Prestige R98MV, is rated 98% AFUE and modulates between 40% and 100%, and the two-stage Classic Plus R972V rates 97%. Rheem sells its furnaces in three tiers, Prestige, Classic Plus and Classic, its parts are easy to find, and repairs tend to stay simple, which keeps the cost of owning one down.

Rheem is the one brand of our three where the heat exchanger warranty doesn’t hinge on registration. On its furnaces rated 90% and up, Rheem warrants the heat exchanger for the original owner’s lifetime, as long as the furnace is in their main home, and for 20 years for anyone after them. Register within 90 days and the Prestige models add a conditional lifetime unit replacement (ten years on the R972V and R962V), which needs Rheem’s pre-approval. Parts run ten years registered, and five on the basic models if you don’t register.

We’re a Rheem Pro Partner. Ruud is Rheem’s sister brand, on the same warranty card, and Rheem makes water heaters too, which we also install.

4 to 10: the other furnace brands you’ll see on quotes

We service all of these, whoever installed them.

4. Lennox

Lennox has the highest-rated furnace on this list: the SLP99V from its Dave Lennox Signature Collection is rated up to 99% AFUE, with modulating heat and a variable-speed blower. Lennox sells three lines, Merit, Elite and the Signature Collection, and it sells straight to its dealers through its own Lennox Stores rather than through outside distributors. On its Signature and Elite furnaces rated 90% and up, the heat exchanger carries a limited lifetime warranty for the original owner with no registration needed, and 20 years for the next owner. Merit furnaces get 20 years. Register within 60 days for the longer parts warranty.

5. American Standard

American Standard belongs to Trane Technologies, the same company as Trane, and its furnace warranty is the same document as Trane’s, word for word, written by Trane U.S. Its lines run Platinum, Gold and Silver, and its top furnace, the Platinum 95, matches Trane’s best on paper: up to 97.3% AFUE, modulating from 40% to 100%, with a variable-speed blower. If you’re quoted one, you’re looking at Trane’s sibling under a different badge, so compare the installers.

6. Goodman, Amana and Daikin

All three come from one company, Daikin, which bought Goodman in 2012; the Amana heating and air name (not the appliances) is made under license by Daikin. Goodman is the budget workhorse, but its best furnaces aren’t bare-bones: the modulating GRVM97 is rated up to 97% AFUE and the two-stage GRVT96 up to 97.5%, both with variable-speed blowers. One thing changed this year. Their 2026 warranty papers give the heat exchanger 20 years when the furnace is registered within 60 days, not the lifetime you’ll still see in older brochures, and only while the original owner lives in the house. Skip registration and it’s ten. Goodman’s premium furnaces add a one-time replacement of the whole furnace if the heat exchanger fails in the first five years, and Amana’s premium models stretch that to ten if a licensed contractor services it every year and you keep the records. Daikin-badged furnaces get twelve years on parts, registered.

7. Bryant

Bryant is a Carrier company, with its own three tiers: Evolution, Preferred and Legacy. Its top furnace, the Evolution 98, is rated up to 98.5% AFUE and modulates from 40% to 100% in 1% steps, the same numbers as Carrier’s Infinity 98. Bryant adds Red Shield on its top Evolution models: if the heat exchanger fails in the first ten years, Bryant replaces the whole furnace once, for the original owner, when it was registered on time. Payne, the other old Carrier name, is now sold as WeatherMaker by Carrier, and its furnaces top out at a two-stage 97% with 20 years on the heat exchanger.

8. Ruud

Ruud is Rheem’s sister brand: the same furnaces and model numbers on the same Rheem warranty card, sold under Ruud’s own tier names, Ultra, Achiever Plus and Achiever. Its top furnace, the Ultra U98MV, is rated 98% AFUE and modulates. If you’re comparing a Ruud quote with a Rheem one, line up the model numbers.

9. York

York has belonged to Bosch since July 31, 2025, when Bosch bought Johnson Controls’ home heating and cooling business. Johnson Controls still owns the York name and licenses it to Bosch, which also sells Coleman and Luxaire. York’s top furnace, the Affinity YP9C, adjusts its flame in 1% steps and is rated up to 98% AFUE. Most York furnaces carry a lifetime limited heat exchanger warranty and ten years on parts if they’re registered within 90 days. Miss that and it’s 20 years and five.

10. RunTru by Trane

RunTru is Trane’s budget line, built by Trane and warrantied by Trane U.S. Its best furnace is the A952V: 96% AFUE, two-stage, variable-speed blower. Register it within 60 days and you get ten years on parts and 20 on the heat exchanger. There’s no lifetime option, and if you sell the house, the next owner drops back to five years on parts. For a rental or a tight budget, it’s a fair buy.

Who makes which furnace brand

A lot of furnace brands are sister brands, built by the same company under a different name. If two quotes name brands from the same family, you’re mostly comparing installers.

Which furnace brands are the most reliable?

Here’s the straight answer: we don’t know of any public, independent study of furnace failures by brand that we’d stake your money on, and the “most reliable” lists you’ll find online don’t show their data. What we can tell you from installing and fixing them: the furnaces we see fail early mostly failed for reasons that had nothing to do with the brand.

• Too big for the house. It short-cycles, on and off all day, and wears out its ignition parts and heat exchanger early.
• Starved for air. A clogged filter or undersized ductwork makes it run hot.
• Never looked at. A dirty flame sensor or a cracked drain line stops a furnace on the coldest night of the year.

So pick a brand with a strong warranty and parts you can get locally, then put your real attention on who installs it and whether it gets a check every fall.

What a new furnace costs installed in Northern Virginia

Straight from our price book, the same one our free estimator runs on. The spread is size and efficiency: a small house with a basic furnace at the bottom, a big house with a high-efficiency one at the top.

Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms.

These ranges cover every brand, size and efficiency we carry, not one model. Your price comes in writing, for your house, before anything is decided. Get the price for your house size in a couple of minutes with our furnace estimator, or price a furnace and air conditioner together. Financing is on approved credit (how it works). Already holding someone else’s quote? We’ll give you a free second opinion on it.

Money back from the gas company. If Washington Gas is your gas company, it pays $500 back on a new ENERGY STAR furnace rated 95.1% to 96.9% AFUE and $700 on one rated 97% or better, installed by one of its participating contractors. Put in a heat pump with a new 95% furnace in place of your central air conditioner and the dual fuel rebate is $2,000 instead, or $1,400 if you keep a furnace that’s 90% or better. Where a dual fuel system should hand off to gas, and what a heat pump and a gas furnace each cost to run here. Some homes in Chantilly and Herndon get their gas from Columbia Gas of Virginia instead, which pays $300 to $500 on a furnace rated 90% or better installed by December 31, 2026. A furnace installed in 2026 gets no federal tax credit (what is left). Manufacturer rebates come and go with the seasons; whatever we’re running right now is on our offers page.

What decides whether you love the furnace

The badge decides less than you’d think. A furnace is a burner, a heat exchanger, a blower, a vent and whatever ductwork the house came with, and most of what goes wrong with a new one goes wrong in the install. Here’s what to look for in whoever puts it in:

• A real sizing. The right size comes from your house’s actual heat loss, not the number on the old furnace’s sticker. An oversized furnace short-cycles, runs loud and wears out early. How to tell what size you need.
• The right venting. A high-efficiency furnace vents through PVC pipe and drains water, so it needs a route outside and a drain. An 80% furnace uses a metal flue or the chimney. Going from one to the other changes the job, and it can leave an old gas water heater alone in a chimney that’s now too big for it, so ask what the quote assumes.
• Gas pressure and temperature rise, set at your house. Measured with gauges and thermometers once it’s running, then adjusted to the maker’s numbers. Skip that and a good furnace can run too hot or never hit its rating.
• A blower set for your ducts. A variable-speed blower only helps if it’s set up for the ductwork it pushes through. If you have central air, the coil above the furnace has to be a rated match for the outdoor unit, too.
• Warranty registration. Trane, Carrier and most of the others cut the parts warranty in half if nobody registers the furnace, and the window is 60 days at some brands and 90 at others. Your installer should do it and hand you the proof.

Here’s what actually happens on installation day, start to finish. Once it’s in, a yearly check keeps it that way: what a furnace tune-up covers and costs.

Furnace brand questions people ask us

What’s the best furnace brand?

For most houses, Trane, which is why it’s our first pick. Carrier is right there with it and has the most efficient top model of the brands we install, and Rheem is the value pick. Any of the three, sized and installed right, will outlast a pricier furnace that was put in badly.

Which furnace brand is the most reliable?

We don’t know of any public, independent study that ranks furnace brands by failure rate, so be wary of anyone who says they know. The furnaces we see die young mostly died of the wrong size, a choked filter or no maintenance.

Is a Trane furnace better than a Carrier furnace?

They’re the two we’d put at the top, and the gap is smaller than the ads make it sound. Carrier’s Infinity 98 rates a little higher on paper, up to 98.5% AFUE against Trane’s 97.3%, and both modulate from 40% to 100%. We lean Trane for how it holds up. We install both.

Should I get a Trane or a Lennox furnace?

Lennox’s SLP99V rates higher on paper, up to 99% AFUE against Trane’s 97.3%, and both give their better furnaces a lifetime limited heat exchanger warranty for the original owner. Both make good furnaces. The bigger difference is who installs it and services it later. We install Trane and service Lennox.

Goodman or Trane for a furnace?

Goodman costs less up front, and its best furnaces rate up to 97% or better, so it’s a fair pick for a rental or a house you’re selling soon. Know two things: Goodman’s 2026 heat exchanger warranty is 20 years registered, where Trane’s furnaces rated 92% and up carry a lifetime limited warranty when registered, and Goodman is a Daikin brand we service but don’t install. If you’re staying, Trane is the one we trust most for the long haul.

Is Rheem a good furnace brand?

Yes. It’s the value pick of the brands we install: its top Prestige furnace rates 98% AFUE and modulates, its parts are easy to get, and on its 90%-and-up furnaces the heat exchanger is warranted for the original owner’s lifetime, registered or not. We install Rheem furnaces as a Rheem Pro Partner.

Carrier or Lennox?

Both make top-tier furnaces. Lennox’s best rates a little higher, up to 99% AFUE against Carrier’s 98.5%, and both give their better furnaces a lifetime limited heat exchanger warranty for the original owner. Carrier’s needs registration within 90 days for that; Lennox’s doesn’t. Pick on the exact model and the installer.

Bryant or Carrier?

Same company. Bryant is a Carrier brand, and its top Evolution 98 matches Carrier’s Infinity 98 on the numbers: up to 98.5% AFUE, modulating in 1% steps. Bryant adds a one-time furnace replacement if the heat exchanger fails in the first ten years on its top models. Pick the installer you trust more.

Is American Standard the same as Trane?

Same parent company, Trane Technologies, and the very same furnace warranty document, written by Trane U.S. American Standard’s Platinum 95 matches Trane’s 96 Modulating on the numbers. The badge is different. Compare the exact models and the installers.

Is RunTru as good as Trane?

It’s built and warrantied by Trane, so it isn’t a knockoff. What you give up: RunTru tops out at 96% and two stages, and its heat exchanger warranty is 20 years with no lifetime option, where Trane’s better furnaces carry a lifetime warranty when registered. Fine for a rental. For a house you’ll live in for years, we’d point you at a Trane.

Is a lifetime heat exchanger warranty worth it?

It’s worth having, but don’t pay extra for it alone. It’s limited, it’s usually for the original owner only, it often needs registration on time, and it covers the part, not the labor to replace it. At Carrier, Bryant, Rheem and Lennox, the next owner of the house gets 20 years.

Two-stage or modulating?

Two-stage for most houses. It runs on a low setting most of the time, which handles a Northern Virginia winter quietly. Modulating is worth the extra in a big or two-story house, or if you notice every degree.

Should I get an 80% or a 95% furnace?

If the house can vent it, 95% or better. It burns less gas every winter, and Washington Gas pays $500 or $700 back on qualifying models. An 80% furnace still makes sense when there’s no good way to run PVC pipe and a drain from where the furnace sits.

Can a furnace run on propane? Do you work on oil?

Yes to propane: most gas furnaces convert with the maker’s kit, and we install and service propane furnaces. No to oil: we don’t work on oil furnaces, but we can price the switch to a heat pump or a propane furnace.

How long does a gas furnace last?

Carrier says 15 to 20 years, and that matches what we see when a furnace gets looked at every fall. The ones that quit early usually died of a sizing mistake or a filter nobody changed, not the brand.

Do you service furnace brands you didn’t install?

Yes, every major brand, whoever put it in. The diagnostic visit is $99, and you get the problem and the price in writing before any work starts. If the furnace is still under its parts warranty, the part may be covered; the labor usually isn’t.

Holding a furnace quote, or ready for one?

Pick from the top shelf, then put your real scrutiny on the installer. Did they size the house? Is the venting in the quote? Will they register the warranty? Here’s how to read a replacement quote, line by line.

When you’re ready to talk furnaces for your house, call (703) 997-9757 or book online. We also offer 24/7 emergency service, so a no-heat night doesn’t have to wait for Monday.

More brand rankings from our installers: the best HVAC brands, heat pump brands, mini split brands, water heater brands and tankless water heater brands.

SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a family owned company that installs Trane, Carrier and Rheem furnaces across Northern Virginia, out of Chantilly and Ashburn. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, Carrier experts and a Rheem Pro Partner, BBB Accredited with an A rating, with Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276, rated 5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. Read the reviews.