The Manufactured Housing Forums

It seems most MH's we look at all carry the Coleman furnaces. I have tried to find online info about them but so far no luck. Can't even find a BBB on them. Do most of you have Colemans in your MH's? Have you had problems with them, or do they seem to be a pretty good unit? Anyone (rmurray? lol) know why colemans are the furnace of choice in the industry with so many other manufacturers out there. We have a Heil in our stick built home. Works wonderfully. We had another furnace in our last home (stick built) that use to sound like it was going to blow up on occasion. Would shut down somehow then keep trying to relight itself, then we'd get a loud 'BOOM" when it finally relit. Was quite frightening, yet no one could find anything wrong with it? Odd. I'm not sure what type it was. Not a Coleman, that I do know.

Can all of you MH owners who have Colemans tell me how you like them. The good, the bad, and the ugly? Would greatly appreciate it!

Melissa

We have a Miller gas furnace in our double wide.We have only been in our house since Dec. but we were real pleased with the way the furnace heated.

Hi Melissa,

We have a Skyline with the Coleman Furnace and air. Works just fine. No problems. Coleman is made by Evcon Inc. You may find something under that name.
Bill W.

Thanks Bill,

I found Evcon Industries in the BBB website. Unfortunately it didn't say much... just that they had one or more complaints and that all complaints had been taken care of. No company history or anything of that nature. But it's more than I had before, so thank you!

Anyone else out there want to share their furnace stories, struggles, or satisfactions??...

Melissa

Here is their web sites...Maybe this will help..

http://www.colemanac.com

http://www.york.com
HISTORY
From the beginning, The Coleman Company, Inc., founded by W.C. Coleman, grew and prospered as a manufacturer of lamps and lanterns from 1900 through World War 1. In 1925, after receiving a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, Sheldon Coleman (son of W.C.), joined the Canadian division of the company. In 1928, he returned to the United States and was placed in charge of the design section of the company. Sheldon Coleman understood the technology for creating light through combustion and decided to transfer that knowledge to home heating. He recognized the potential for non-solid fuel heating and, as General Manager of The Coleman Company, Inc. decided to break the traditional product line to include automatic heating.

The company was growing and heating equipment was leading the way. In the early 1950’s, the business was divided into four main parts. Thirty percent of sales by this time were coming from the gas floor furnace business.

In 1958, the newly formed heating division of The Coleman Company, Evcon, began supplying heating and air conditioning equipment to the rapidly growing manufactured housing segment of the new home market. This segment required unique product designs and distribution channels that differed from the larger site-built home market. The company recognized an opportunity to create a market niche for itself in the less competition yet rapidly expanding manufactured housing market. Evcon, the heating division for The Coleman Company soon became the dominant HVAC manufacturer in the manufactured housing market.

In the early 1980’s the company recognized that to continue its growth it would have to target the much larger Residential HVAC market. The first step toward entry into this segment was the construction of a state-of-the-art design and test laboratory, built in 1981. This facility provided the foundation for the development of the division’s new product lines for the site-built market.

In 1989, the Coleman family attempted to take The Coleman Company private; however, a stock purchase in April of that year was made by MacAndrews and Forbes Group, Inc. of New York that gave this group controlling interest. On February 2, 1990, Evcon Industries, Inc. was created by Beacon Capital Corporation, a private company located in Toronto, Canada, to purchase the heating and air conditioning division from the MacAndrews and Forbes Group.

In 1994, York International acquired Evcon Industries. Today York International is the largest independent manufacturer of heating and air conditioning equipment. York is a $4 Billion manufacturer with four divisions. One of the four is the Unitary Products Division that sells residential and light commercial heating and air conditioning equipment. York continues to market products for manufactured house and is your “ Indoor Outfitter” for residential and light commercial products ranging from 1 ton to 25 ton of cooling and 24 BTU’s to 320 BTU’s for heating.

Coleman® products are manufactured in three different plants, Wichita, KS, Norman, OK and Monterey Mexico. The Unitary Products group head quarters is located in Norman, OK. York distributes its products through independent distributors and a network of HVAC dealers. Please look for more information by searching our distributor and dealer site for your nearest supplier of quality Coleman® products.


If you are bored and have a little time you might want to peek at this list of funace company brand names and who owns them now..Seems heating and AC companies change hands regularly...

http://www.toad.net/~jsmeenen/history.html

A coleman dealer I have done buisness with for twenty years phone # is480-832-3330.
They can tell you whatever you you want to know including your local dealers

For 25 months - nothing but problems. Two companies have been in and can't figure out what the problem is. The operation of my Coleman Furnace in my Skyline MH was written up by the State agency, and Skyline did recieve a citation for that . I've told the reps at Coleman that my only concern is my family and my pets. If the darn thing would blow up while we are away with our pets, I could not be happier.The problem: The circulation fan will shut down while the gas jet is still pumping out the heat. Most of the time when the temperature is satisfied, the gas jet shuts down and so does the fan. The fan is supposed to continue running until the fire box cools down. Then all of a sudden the blower kicks back on, making a loud noise. No one has been able to fix it in over 2 years. I am looking around at many other manufacturers, and the most of them are using Miller, and Intertherm. Find a manufacturer that uses something other than Coleman. Other people in my developement have also had major problems. They ended up replacing parts at their own expense. Good Luck

Had one for 15 years, not a bit of trouble, but now I have another one, very same with the heat pump and can't find the soft sponge type filter that drapes across the top, Any help???

Skyline and Fleetwood use Coleman. I do not know any others. Nine service calls for the same problem, never repaired - last service they installed an additional control box - now I have the same old problem AND We have NO GAS HEAT. Six Coleman/Evcon reps, six stories, no repairs. We had to go out and buy a pellot stove for heat.

I own a1995 Crest manufactured home that came with a Coleman Evcon furnace on the main floor of my ranch style home. We have had some problems with it and had to call other heating contractors in because there are no Coleman dealers in my area. I am getting an outdoor wood furnace. The only problem is that my furnace has reverse flow because the duct system runs through my crawl space and the furnace is on the main floor. Hence the heat has to be forced downward through the duct system. Can the coleman evcon furnace be put in the crawl space and laid down??? Some furnaces can work standing or laid on the side. If I could get an answer to this I would be most appreciative.