Amid the sea of smog alerts and pollen counts that keeps outdoor air quality in the news, a growing population is waking up to a new reality: The air inside is worse. In general, indoor air is four to five times more polluted than outdoor air, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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This reality has led consumers to spend more than an estimated $500 million a year on plug-in room air cleaners. But to paraphrase Churchill, never have so many spent so much to get so little.
To combat this problem, Trane, a leading maker of home heating and cooling systems, has introduced Trane CleanEffects™, which delivers vastly more clean air throughout your home than any other residential air cleaner technology.
Trane CleanEffects™ is 100 times more effective than the standard 1-inch filter found in most home central systems, removing up to 99.98 percent of airborne particles from the filtered air. It would take eight typical room High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) cleaners to match the cleaning capacity of one Trane CleanEffects™ .
Scientists from Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc. (EH&E), along with the Harvard School of Public Health, conducted research that shows Trane CleanEffects, a whole-house air cleaner, removes up to 99.98 percent of all the particles and allergens from the filtered air.
Trane CleanEffects™ utilizes patented breakthrough air cleaning technology to eliminate allergens and particles you don’t want in your home, such as dust, smoke, bacteria, pollen, mold spores and pet dander. It even removes particles as small as .1 microns – 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair – the size that eludes most air cleaners. This means Trane CleanEffects™ will eliminate the vast majority of the allergens and particles that flow through a home’s central air system, so occupants can breathe more easily and feel better about their indoor air quality.
“Indoor air quality is, first and foremost, a health issue,” says Mark Hagan, product manager for Trane Residential Solutions. “By removing up to 99.98 percent of airborne particles from the filtered air, we are making the home a better place for asthma and allergy sufferers and homeowners who simply don’t want to inhale things like bacteria, pollen and pet dander. People are looking for more ways to make their homes better environments, and Trane CleanEffects™ provides a great solution.”
Proven Performance
Trane subjected Trane CleanEffects™ to a variety of performance tests, including performance-testing by LMS Technologies in the laboratory and EH&E, under real-world operating conditions
All studies yielded one clear result: Trane CleanEffects™ is substantially more effective than competing home air cleaning products.
The reason, in part, is Trane CleanEffects™ ‘ superior clean air delivery rate – a comprehensive measure of air cleaner effectiveness. In this measure, Trane CleanEffects™ laps the competing products. A typical Trane CleanEffects™ system has a clean air delivery rate of 1,200, compared to 660 for the best whole-house electronic air cleaners. By comparison, a typical in-room device has a clean air delivery rate of 10, meaning that it successfully cleans only 10 cubic feet of air per minute – making it just slightly more effective than gravity.
Reducing the Triggers for Asthma and Allergies
More than 28 million Americans suffer from hay fever and other allergies, and more than 15 million Americans are estimated to have asthma. In the past 30 years, the number of people with asthma has increased by almost 60 percent.
Pollen or mold spores can cause allergies and asthma to act up, but there are other causes as well. In fact, up to 72 trillion allergens find their way into your home every day. In many homes, mold spores can irritate respiratory passages; the dander from pets can float in the air and cause reactions in sensitive family members; and dust mites can lurk in bedding, upholstery and almost any other soft material, generating irritating waste particles that can become airborne.
With that much allergic material around, and with homes built more airtight than ever trapping the irritants indoors, it takes a powerful solution to remove the trapped indoor irritants and provide your family with the cleanest air possible.
The Nuts and Bolts of Cleaner Air
Like other electronic cleaners, Trane CleanEffects™ electrically charges airborne particles. These charged particles are then pulled toward collection cells where they are removed from the air. That’s where the similarities end. Trane CleanEffects™ uses an exclusive patented technology that intensifies the power of the charge so that more and smaller particles can be charged and subsequently removed.
Trane CleanEffects™ is an advanced system that provides both unparalleled filtration and unmatched cleanability. Trane CleanEffects™ has significant operating and maintenance cost benefits. This includes decreased energy consumption for the amount of air cleaned and a simple cleaning process rather than regular filter replacement. In most cases, the amount of electricity Trane CleanEffects™ uses is comparable to the amount of electricity a 75-watt light bulb uses. And, the filter never needs to be replaced – unlike the 1-inch filters found in most homes that have to be replaced regularly. Indicators on the unit tell you when it needs cleaning, which is as easy as vacuuming or rinsing every 3 to 9 months.
Trane CleanEffects™ is widely available as part of a new Trane central system or as an accessory to any existing central heating or cooling systems. The cost will vary depending on the type of system you have in your home. However, the accessory typically costs about $1,200 installed. Installing the system as an accessory to an existing central system is a quick process that can be done easily by any independent Trane dealer. To find a dealer near you, go to trane.com
I purchased the Trane Clean Effects system when I purchased my new AC for my home and was completely ripped off. It didnt even fit correctly to be effectvie and is now inoperable. The dealer went out of buisness. Out $1800.
Do not bother.
I don’t know when the above comments were written, but I have had a lot of success with ours. both of my kids grew up with juvenile asthma, then about the time it was getting worse (unit was 20 and 21) we needed to replace 2 of our 3 central units, great service life out of both of them. the third unit is now 25 years old and working good. But back to the filters, I had the Clean Effects installed . My kids saw a vastly improvement within a week, both started running Cross Country and did for 6 years and grew out of the asthmas conditions by there senior years. So today, and so fortunate to have an A/C units sales and service that does a great job for me every 6 months, these 2 newer units about 8 to 11 years old with the air filter system are still running like new. My Trane tech and his dad, also is the owner of the Trane Sales/service place, left me some new Trane info a new and much improved air filtering system which look amazingly effective. I will look into it more and see.
I had my Trane Clean Effects removed after 2 years of use. I replaced it with a 20 X 25 X 4 using a 3M 1550 filter which works a lot better for me. The Trane Clean Effects was professionally installed but it did not do much as far as cleaning dirt out of ambient air and our home is pretty clean. The pre-filter is the only thing that actually removes any dirt and it's cleaning effectiveness is equivalent to a $1 one inch filter. The honey comb filter of Trane Clean Effects does little to nothing. Oh and by the way I clean both the prefilter and honeycomb filter every monty, which is another major headache. We have no pets and we do not smoke. The dust, pollen, etc just blows right through the Trane Clean effects filteration system, so you will be vacuming your home more often. After two years I started feeling chest congestion a lot. Now that I have replaced the filter with a 3M Filterete 1550 20 X 25 X 4, I am starting to feel better again and the air in our home feels a lot cleaner. I felt cheated out of $1,000. The only thing Trane clean effects cleaned is my wallet!!
Micky,
You are spot on! I had the same experience and found the collection cells little more than barrier to air movement and a load on the blower fan. I have the 200 series collector cells, which can be rinsed. Even with that capability they don’t seem to ever get clean enough and the idea that one can vacuum out the dust etc. from them is a joke. They are exceedingly expensive to replace and will gum up within a few months. No one smokes in our home either, and we have a separate powered venting over our cooktop and 75% of our home has no carpets. In attempts to minimize any allergens I find that changing to 4″ filter, of the kind you’ve mentioned, to be much more cost effective and certainly a breeze to change out.
Yep, you are exactly right. No amount of maintenance will help. Even once a month cleanings. House has been a dusty mess, constantly, for the last 11 years. What a waste of money. I’m poking around to find pleated 5″ filters to replace the Trane crap. The OEM Trane filter housing has a couple guide tracks riveted in. My idea is to grind those out and have a nice clean 5″ chute to run in a proper filter Merv 11 or 13 filter. My HVAC guy said just make sure it is rated for 1000cfm or better. If I want to get real fancy. Also considering to slide in a cheap large-ish-micron 1″ filter in front of the 5″ filter. Something maybe to catch the large stuff and be replaced more often. This would reduce the load on the 5″ a bit. Must watch the CFM though. Anyway… stay away from the Trane Clean Effects. I liked the very mild ozone for air sanitation, but no amount of maintenance will make this system pull plain old dust out of the air. Those recirculating particulates over a lifetime will kill your lungs. Should have done this long ago.
I have the Trane clean effects filter and want to replace it. It’s difficult to clean: I have to pull out the parts and vacuum them at least once monthly. It worked well for a few months then the electrode pins became badly corroded (cleaning the pins with a styrofoam block doesn’t help). The prefilter is the only part that collects any significant dirt. The sodastraws have virtually nothing on them. I want to replace it with a 5 inch pleated filter.