Can I temporarily remove a CleanEffects and slap in a PerfectFit?

[stieglj]

I've had a Trane CleanEffects running continuously in my house for three months.

Every month, I crack open that sucker and expect to see lots of dirt and dog hair.

However, what I see is not very satisfying. A bug or two and some dust in the pre-filter, and then a very slight amount of dust on the needles. When I blow out the honeycomb collector filters I don't see a thing.

Makes me wonder if anything is really happening in there. I end up getting more dust stuck to the air return grating in my hallway than in the CleanEffects.

So, I've hear that the Trane CleanEffects electronic air cleaner and the Trane Perfect Fit media filter are compatible.

Curious if there are some Trane wizards out there in netland that know about the mechanical implications of this. Can I just remove the guts of my CleanEffects, which is what I do when I clean the thing anyways, and then just pop in a Perfect Fit filter?

I'd like to let a Perfect Fit media filter cook in there for awhile and see if it comes out with a really nice coating of dirt after a month.

Thanks!

Jeff

[mrfixinthangz]

I'm not a wizard but I see the same thing with mine so I stuck a 4" media filter in before it and left the plastic filter in also. I did get dust into my blower section and used caulking in the furnace cabinet at the front where there are two little triangles that can pull from the burner compartment to the blower section also where the control board hangs has cracks where the tabs are. Seal it!

[stieglj]

Thanks for your reply.

I bought some of the perfect fit media filters.

What I'm going to do is let the clean effects cook for two months, then remove it and take pictures of the results. Then, I'll put in one of the perfect fit filters and let it run for two months.

I'm already a month into it, so the perfect fit will be installed in early August.

Not sure what to make of those who say the Clean Effects filter burns up the dust. That would mean I am breathing microscoping combustion products.

...Not that I'm a germophobe, it's just that the burning hypothesis sounds implausible.

Jeff

[stieglj]

So, a year has gone by and I thought I would post an update, as this forum has been so helpful and informative.

I asked the furnace installer if Perfect Fit media would just swap out with the Clean Effects gear. They said it would, so I asked them to send me a filter.

What arrived was a box holding two Perfect Fit 17x27x5 media filters. They were actually 16 3/4 by 26 1/8. Cost $100

Bottom line: They would not fit in the CleanEffects housing. The Clean Effects housing has several rails on each side to hold up the pre-filter, "electric charger", and the big permanent filter modules. There is also a knob mounted on the side that serves as a key to ensure the filter modules are inserted the right way.

The rails and knob appear to be riveted in, and there is just no way the filter media will fit. There is even an extra thickness of cardboard that prevents the filter from sliding past the knob.

I did some surgery on the media and fut off the extra cardboard, then made a slit down the side so it would bypass the rail, but it made the cardboard frame too flimsy.

So, now I have ordered some 17.25x26x2 Accumulair Platinum Filters from Amaxon for $30. Some initial measuring shows that they should fit where the "electric charger" goes. Even though there is *room* for a 5 inch filter, the rails make it impossible.

Stay tuned!



company for some Perfect Fit media had the furnace company wh

[stieglj]

Here it is almost ten years later and I've reached the conclusion that the CleanEffects electronic air cleaner doesn't do much at all. Maybe they have just enough life in them to put in a good showing for reviewers.

I couldn't find a media filter that would fit in the cabinet, as the CE has special rails and a positioning key that protrudes within in the enclosure. I guess I'll need to drill out the rivets holding those in so I can go with regular media filters. One thing that I learned when I bought the proprietary PerfectFit filters is that they are really expensive and they aren't a drop-in replacement for the CE.

In my furnace, it the chassis included the CE; it wasn't an add-on box so I just can't rip it out and throw it away, as much as I want to. As always, if there is any kind of retrofit kit I would be delighted to hear about it. Or read about it.

At least the furnace is reliable, for what little I use it here on the west coast.

[IndoorAirNerd]

stieglj,

Thanks for the 10 year follow-up. Did you regularly clean the CleanEffects? Unlike media filters which generally have their efficiencies hold steady or improve over time, electrostatic precipitators' efficiency goes down over time as the collector plates load up. Electrostatic precipitors do well when they are clean but steadily drop in efficiency.

I personally don't recommend them due to concerns about ozone and other reactive oxygen species (ROS).

[SummerDays]

Not to hijack the thread, but are the removable metal bars which go across the CleanEffects collection cells supposed to be removed before you put the cells in the filter or do you leave them on?

[BW-Mark]

Any new update on the removal and replacement of the Collection Cells?