Cleaneffects Uninstall...

[jbelliajr]

Our contractor just uninstalled our Trane CleanEffects air cleaner after trying four times to fix it, the red lights kept coming on and flashing. Anyhow, he replaced it with a Trane Perfect Fit 5" pleated media filter along with an Abatement Tech. UV light. Dollar wise he claims it is a "wash" Is it? Have I left some money on the table and, if so, how much?

[beenthere]

From above.

Questions and discussions pertaining to HVAC for the home. No pricing, no DIY, please read Site Rules

We can't tell you if you left money on the table or not.

[BURL-REF]

seems the 5 year warranty should cover any problems as far as replacement parts. Thats 5 years from the day the dealer installed it. Why couldnt it be fixed ?There is also a 10 year section of the warranty that needs to be read carefully.

If it is in warranty, and he couldnt fix it, he needs technical help.

Of course shipping and labor would not be included , thats your reponsibility.

[super_tech_1]

all three items are pretty expensive so yeah probably and if it was my house i would rather have a media filter with a uv over a clean effects.

[jbelliajr]

Our HVAC contractor sent out four different techs to troubleshoot the CleanEffects, the last fellow being their senior tech. After spending two hours checking the unit out per Trane, he finally gave up and told me that he just couldn't fix the unit. That's when the wife & I asked for something that would work and they recommended the Perfect Fit media unit.

Later I found out that Trane claimed the CleanEffects was "misapplied" since the furnace, etc. is located in my basement workshop more or less blaming the problem on the salesman who first recommend it. This should be a "heads up" for all you contractors out there who sell the CleanEffects units.

All of the techs who came out also agreed that Trane probably bought the CleanEffects to market without adequate testing for different levels of dust loading, etc.

Having sold Industrial Electronic Air Cleaners for over ten years, with single, double, and even triple passes of cleaning, I learned that it's critical to assess the dust loading for a given application. Good luck with this one!

[wraujr]

To be totally clear as there is a major difference:

You say furnace/air cleaner were "located in basement, near/in workshop with high dust". Fine thats not a problem as CleanEffects and return air ducts should have been properly sealed and you should not have been drawing return air from your workshop. So the amount of dust in workshop is mostly irrelevent.. If you are not sealed well, the dust and chemicals will do damage to more than the EAC.....

But, if you were drawing sawdust laden air from your workshop intentionally, then its easy to imagine any filter, especially EAC, will have problems. Pros are welcome to correct me but I can't imagine home HVAC systems are inteneded to draw return air from a workshop.

Did they replace the front door of EAC as this is essentially the complete unit and contains all the electronics???

Did it work on initial install and for how long??

In the back of the install guide their is a diagnostic mode that tests various parts of the electronics. Was this ever run??

I keep hearing about mfgrs reps.. Was a Trane rep involved???

With all due respect, its hard to believe that a CleanEffects and a simple Media Box are equivalent in price (of course, the UV cost needs to be added). OP should use Google and search for places that sell these products such as Bel-Aire to see basically what these systems cost.

Remember, OP should not be responsible for any labor for re-install, etc.

[jbelliajr]

You're correct in that there was no return air from workshop, besides, my tools are hooked up to a strong vac. All of the furnace ducting in the workshop has been sealed. No workshop dust was introduced intentionally.

The Power Door was replaced three times. The Ionizer Assy. was replaced three times. The collector cells were replaced during the Trane recall. We kept a trouble log on the CE, three pages long, single spaced.

The unit worked initially for approx. three months, then the red lights started flashing and it was all down hill from there.

The last tech that came out was a senior tech, he spent two hrs using the official Trane troubleshooting manual, finally gave up.

Two Trane reps visited about this.

I'm still trying to find the pricing for the different components.

[wraujr]

I love a mystery....

Do you know if they replaced the 24VAC transformer inside the air-handler?? The install instructions require a more powerful transformer to handle additional load on 24VAC... I believe the airhandler has a 50VA standard and instructions call for 75VA which should hav been included with EAC. My installer did not install, but luckily left transformer as extra part for me to keep. After reading install guide, had them come back and install proper xfrmr. When old one removed it was certainly hot from overload.

Could be that with 3 months of overheating output voltage dropped enough to produce fault code in EAC, but still have airhandler run.... Now that EAC is removed, transformer voltage is back up although wonder about damage to transformer... Just a thought...

The probability of three bad doors from factory is nearly impossible. That narrows it down to the wiring cable (grey cable with black connector) or transformer. Something was missed in your case (not your fault).

[jbelliajr]

Funny you should ask! Yes, one of the techs replaced a 35VA with a 50VA, I believe Ive got that right. This was after the unit had been installed for about 16 months. This same tech put silicone over all the screw heads on the Ionizer frame, apparently Trane is advising their dealers to do this to prevent shorting.

It's crazy, but this CE had all of the internal components replaced several times and they could still not get this thing to stay online! The only part not replaced was the housing!

[wraujr]

Well might have to remain as an "Unsolved Mystery"...

Just to clarify prior post
If furnace, transformer goes from 35VA to 50VA (as you stated).
If air handler, transformer goes from 50VA to 75VA (i'm fairly certain).

In any case, the correct transformer is delivered with EAC and should be swapped out by tech....

Do you still have original cabinet that was convert to media, or did you get new cabinet?? Reason I ask, is inside cabinet on the back side there is a big white insulating pad to keep the farthest collector cell contacts from touch cabinet (I beleive).

One thing I should note is that my unit was installed 9/3/08, so there may have been mechanical/electrical changes in the unit production, since yours was installed, that we aren't aware of