TRANE CleanEffects(TM) Leaves Other Air Cleaners in the Dust
February 08 2006 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
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 CONTACT: David Kargas of
Carmichael Lynch Spong for TRANE, +1-720-946-6342, Web site:
http://www.trane.com/ http://www.americanstandard.com/
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