Indoor Air Quality Quiz From TRANE Helps Homeowners Determine if They Have Air Quality Issues

Leading Air Quality Researchers Validate Effectiveness of Breakthrough Technology That Delivers More Clean Air Than Any Other Product

NEW YORK (Feb. 7, 2006) – 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.

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.

Now comes air cleaning’s finest hour. TRANE, a leading maker of home heating and cooling systems, introduces TRANE CleanEffects™, which delivers vastly more clean air throughout your home than any other residential air cleaner technology.

The Biggest Advance in Indoor Air Quality Since Central Air

“With the highest clean air delivery rate in the industry, the TRANE CleanEffects whole-house system promises to be the biggest advance in indoor air quality since the creation of central air,” says Steve Arnholt, indoor air quality systems leader for TRANE.

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.

“People are waking up to the reality of the sad state of their indoor air,” says John Spengler, Ph.D., professor of environmental health and human habitation at Harvard’s School of Public Health. “But at the same time, they are finding a dearth of viable indoor air cleaning solutions. The introduction of products like TRANE CleanEffects will fundamentally alter the quality of air because they remove airborne respirable particles far more efficiently than other currently available air cleaning devices.”

TRANE CleanEffects utilizes patented breakthrough air cleaning technology to eliminate allergens and particles you don’t want in your home, such as bacteria, pollen, mold spores and pet dander. It even removes particles as small as .3 microns – 1/300th 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 Arnholt. “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 Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc. (EH&E), under real-world operating conditions. Dr. Spengler, indoor air authority and co-founder of EH&E was part of a team that developed the testing regimen and evaluated the results.

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.

“Using a high-efficiency filtration system in a home is an effective way to help reduce triggers for allergies and asthma,” says Dr. Spengler.

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 will be widely available this spring as part of a new TRANE central system or as an accessory to 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 $1,400 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 the inside story on clean air and learn more about TRANE CleanEffects.