TRANE CleanEffects(TM) Leaves Other Air Cleaners in the Dust

TRANE CleanEffects Laps the Field in Independent, Competitive Air Cleaning Tests Reviewed by Harvard School of Public Health Professors 


NEW YORK, Feb. 8  /PRNewswire/ -- TRANE CleanEffects has roared past the competition when it comes to cleaning the air inside a home.

In head-to-head independent testing of home air cleaners, researchers found that TRANE CleanEffects(TM) cleaned indoor air several hundred times more effectively than not only the 1-inch disposable filter found in most American homes, but also the "in-room" type air cleaners that consumers have bought by the tens of thousands.

The tests also showed TRANE CleanEffects cleaned the air throughout the home about eight to 10 times as effectively as even the best in-room High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters and posted about two times the effectiveness of a standard whole-house electronic air cleaner.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates the indoor air may be four to five times more polluted than outdoor air. The findings make the TRANE CleanEffects test results an important new benchmark for consumers looking for the most effective way to clear the air of particles and allergens such as dust, pollen and pet dander. Studies show these particles and allergens can raise health risks for millions of Americans, especially those with respiratory conditions such as asthma and allergies.

"When evaluating the best ways to clean your indoor air, there's no substitute for rigorous testing under real-world conditions," said Steve Arnholt, indoor air quality systems leader for TRANE. "These new tests show that TRANE CleanEffects not only does the best job of removing indoor airborne particles throughout the home that can aggravate health conditions, it also does so by a huge margin."

The battery of tests by Environmental Health and Engineering Inc. (EH&E) of Newton, Mass., was conducted in a 1,350-square foot test home designed to resemble a "real-world" home. Testers used standard air test measuring methods to determine how well each device cleaned a variety of airborne particles common to American households, including fine road dust, particles from cooking and tobacco smoke, as well as biological particles such as pollen, mold spores and pet dander.

The tests pitted TRANE CleanEffects against five other air cleaning devices representing the most common filtering methods. These included a 1-inch disposable filter, which is used in 85 percent of American homes; a 5-inch pleated filter; a standard whole-house electronic air cleaner, typically installed in the ducts of a forced air furnace or air handler; a plug-in HEPA-type room air cleaner; and an in-room-type air cleaner.

Based on the results of hundreds of separate tests, TRANE CleanEffects did significantly better than any of the other devices at removing airborne particles and spores from the filtered air. TRANE CleanEffects also was the fastest at removing various particles that not only are generated indoors but also may penetrate a home from outdoors. It also had, by far, the highest "whole-house clean air delivery rate," meaning it cleaned more air faster than any other tested device, delivering more than seven "house volumes" of clean air per hour. (Detailed test results and methodology are available on request).

Most critically, TRANE CleanEffects did a better job at removing particles in the 0.3 to 0.5 micron range than other air cleaners. These small particles and allergens are associated with a variety of health risks, including a heightened risk of asthma attacks or other pulmonary disorders.

Indoor air authority John Spengler, Ph.D., professor of environmental health and human habitation at Harvard's School of Public Health and co-founder of EH&E was part of a team that developed the testing regimen and evaluated the results. Dr. Spengler concluded that the performance of TRANE CleanEffects marks a significant improvement over alternative home air filtering devices.

"The introduction of a product like TRANE CleanEffects, which treats all the air inside a home, will fundamentally alter the quality of air because it is substantially more effective in removing respirable size air particles," Spengler said.

TRANE CleanEffects uses a patented technology that enables it to remove up to 99.98 percent of airborne particles down to 0.3 microns in size, according to performance tests administered by LMS Technologies in the laboratory in addition to the tests that EH&E conducted. This technology also allows TRANE CleanEffects to clean more air at a faster rate than other home air cleaning devices. TRANE CleanEffects uses a patented process, which produces an electronic field that places an electric charge into even the tiniest of airborne particles. These charged particles are then pulled toward collection cells that remove them from the air.

"And because a large number of medical studies associate indoor concentrations of particles such as mold spores and animal allergens with increased risks of health effects that include ... bronchitis and asthma attacks," the report stated, "the demonstrated ability of the TRANE CleanEffects to remove particles rapidly from indoors and to achieve low steady-state levels of particles indoors is anticipated to have a health benefit."

The testing organization, EH&E, is one of the nation's leading environmental consulting and engineering firms specializing in indoor air quality. EH&E designed the air cleaner testing and measurement based on standard, established protocols by organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

TRANE CleanEffects will be widely available this spring as part of a new TRANE central heating or cooling system or as an accessory to existing central systems. The cost will vary depending on the type of system you have in your home. However, the accessory typically costs about $1,400 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.

Find out about your indoor air quality knowledge and learn more about TRANE CleanEffects by visiting http://www.trane.com/.

About TRANE

TRANE, the climate control and home comfort business of American Standard Companies, is a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems. It designs its systems to meet the specific needs of customers who want heating, cooling, dehumidifying and air cleaning systems for residential, commercial, institutional and industrial applications. TRANE'S offerings include energy- efficient heating, cooling, ventilating, and air cleaning and filtration systems, service and parts support, advanced building controls and financing solutions. In 2005, TRANE contributed about $6.0 billion to American Standard's total sales of $10.3 billion. For more information, visit the TRANE Web site at http://www.trane.com/. 

DATASOURCE: TRANE



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