Trane
Trane is a manufacturer of commercial and residential heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, along with building management systems and controls. The company is a subsidiary of Trane Technologies, a company focused on manufacturing HVAC and refrigeration systems. Trane employs more than 29,000 people at 104 manufacturing locations in 28 countries, and has annual sales of more than US$8 billion.
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![]() Former Trane Company headquarters in La Crosse, Wisconsin | |
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Equipment manufacturing |
Founded | 1913La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S. | as The Trane Company in
Founder | |
Headquarters | Swords, Dublin, Ireland |
Products | Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems |
Parent | Trane Technologies |
Website | trane |
History
![](../I/Patinoire%252C_Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire_07_-_Trane_AquaStream_3G_chiller.jpg.webp)
In 1885, James Trane, a Norwegian immigrant from Tromsø, opened his own plumbing and pipe-fitting shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He designed a new type of low-pressure steam heating system, Trane vapor heating. Reuben Trane, James' son, earned a mechanical engineering degree (B. S. 1910) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and joined his father's plumbing firm.[1]
In 1913, James and Reuben incorporated The Trane Company. By 1916, the Trane's were no longer in the plumbing business, but instead focused their attention on manufacturing heating products. Reuben's invention of the convector radiator in 1923, which replaced the heavy, bulky, cast-iron radiators that prevailed at the time, was a major success. Trane's first air conditioning unit was developed in 1931.
In 1982, Trane purchased General Electric's Central Air Conditioning Division.[2][3] With that purchase came many of the most recognizable traits of Trane's residential air conditioning products. Many of those traits, like the distinctive red "Climatuff" compressors, rotary compressors, the "Spine-Fin" all aluminum spiny outdoor coil and the all aluminum evaporator coil, are still found in Trane's residential equipment lines.[4]
In 1984, Trane was acquired by the American Standard Companies.
On February 1, 2007, American Standard Companies announced it would break up its three divisions. The company sold off its namesake kitchen and bath division and spun off WABCO, American Standard's vehicle controls division, while retaining Trane. American Standard then renamed itself Trane Inc. effective November 28, 2007.[5][6]
On December 17, 2007, Trane announced it had agreed to be acquired by Ireland-based Ingersoll Rand in a cash and stock transaction.[7][8][9][10] The sale was completed on June 5, 2008.[11][12]
In September 2017, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America and Allergy Standards Limited[13] announced that the Trane CleanEffects whole home air cleaner earned the Asthma and Allergy Friendly Certification, the first whole home air cleaner to receive this certification.[14]
In 2020, Ingersoll Rand spun off its non-refrigeration businesses and was rebranded as Trane Technologies.[15]
Gallery
![]() Trane building former headquarters Abandoned as of May 2023 |
![]() Trane buildings plant 7 |
![]() The Trane Company |
![]() Trane buildings La Crosse |
Europe's largest cooling system
![](../I/Course_Channeltunnel_en.svg.png.webp)
The Channel Tunnel is a 50.45-kilometre (31.35 mi) rail tunnel beneath the English Channel, linking the United Kingdom with France. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) below the sea bed and 115 m (380 ft) below sea level.[16][17][18] At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world.[19] During the design stage of the tunnel, engineers found that its aerodynamic properties and the heat generated by high-speed trains as they passed through it would raise the temperature inside the tunnel to 50 °C (122 °F).[20] As well as making the trains "unbearably warm" for passengers this also presented a risk of equipment failure and track distortion.[20] To cool the tunnel to 30 °C (86 °F), engineers installed 480 kilometres (300 mi) of 0.61 m (24 in) diameter cooling pipes carrying 84 million liters (18.5 million gallons) of water. The network—Europe's largest cooling system—was supplied by eight York Titan chillers running on R22, a Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant gas.[20][21]
Due to R22's ozone depletion potential (ODP) and high global warming potential (GWP), its use is being phased out in developed countries, and since 1 January 2015 it has been illegal in Europe to use HCFCs to service air-conditioning equipment—broken equipment that used HCFCs must instead be replaced with equipment that does not use it. In 2016, Trane was selected to provide replacement chillers for the tunnel's cooling network.[20] The York chillers were decommissioned and four "next generation" Trane Series E CenTraVac large-capacity (2600 kW to 14,000 kW) chillers were installed—two located in Sangatte, France, and two at Shakespeare Cliff, UK. The energy-efficient chillers, using Honeywell's non-flammable, ultra-low GWP R1233zd(E) refrigerant, maintain temperatures at 25 °C (77 °F), and in their first year of operation generated savings of 4.8 GWh—approximately 33%, equating to €500,000 ($585,000)—for tunnel operator Getlink.[19][21]
Notable Trane buildings
The list of buildings below use Trane systems.
- Channel Tunnel, between England and France[22]
- Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France[23]
- Warsaw Financial Center, Warsaw, Poland
- Australian Securities Exchange, Melbourne, Australia[24]
- The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia[24]
- La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy[24]
- McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago, Illinois[24]
- Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece[24]
- SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida[24]
- Rogers Centre, Toronto, Canada[24]
- Statue of Liberty, New York City, New York[24]
- Farragut Technical Analysis Center, Washington, D.C.
- Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.[24]
- World Trade Center, Beijing, China[24]
- Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE[25]
Manufacturing locations
Commercial products
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Charmes, Vosges, France
- Clarksville, Tennessee
- Columbia, South Carolina
- Forsyth, Georgia
- Fort Smith, Arkansas
- Epinal, France
- Golbey, France
- La Crosse, Wisconsin
- Lexington, Kentucky (Closed in 2019)[26]
- Lynn Haven, Florida
- Macon, Georgia (Closed in 2018) [27]
- Penang, Malaysia
- Pueblo, Colorado
- Rockingham, North Carolina
- Rushville, Indiana
- Sao Paulo, Brazil
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- Taicang, China
- Yangmei, Taiwan
- Waco, Texas
- Araucaria, Brazil
Residential products
- Monterrey, Mexico – Products made include strip heaters, plant code X
- Trenton, New Jersey – Products made include gas furnaces & coils, plant code G
- Tyler, Texas – Products made include unitary air conditioners & heat pumps, plant code F
- Vidalia, Georgia – Products made include air handlers & coils, plant code V
- Chennai, India closed now
Brands
- Trane
- American Standard Heating and Cooling
- Oxbox
- RunTru
- Ameristar
References
- Trane Culture » Our History (Trane Inc.) Archived 2013-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
- "Central Heating and Air Conditioning".
- "1987 General Electric Room Air Conditioners". June 2016.
- "Trane heating and air conditioning". Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
- Trane – News Release Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
- La Crosse Tribune – 7.0 : Area leaders optimistic about company’s name change, but none predict that the headquarters will return to city
- Trane : Ingersoll Rand To Acquire Trane Archived 2013-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
- La Crosse Tribune – 7.0 : Ingersoll-Rand to buy Trane for $10.1 billion
- La Crosse Tribune – 7.0 : Reaction to Trane sale cautious; mayor disappointed
- La Crosse Tribune – 7.0 : Union: New owner good fit for Trane
- Forbes.com
- "Ingersoll Rand – Ingersoll Rand Completes Acquisition of Trane". Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
- "Allergy Standards Website". Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- "Trane® CleanEffects™ Air Cleaner Is the First Certified asthma & allergy friendly® Whole Home Air Cleaner Option" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 21 September 2017.
- "Trane Technologies Completes Reverse Morris Trust Transaction and Begins Trading Today on NYS". Businesswire.com. 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
- "Folkestone Eurotunnel Trains". Transworld Leisure Limited. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- Institution of Civil Engineers (1989). The Channel Tunnel. London: Thomas Telford. p. 95. ISBN 0-7277-1546-1.
- Wise, Jeff (1 October 2009). "Turkey Building the World's Deepest Immersed Tube Tunnel". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014.
- Sharma, Gaurav (5 June 2018). "Europe's 'Largest Cooling System' Boosts Anglo-French Channel Tunnel's Sustainability Drive". Forbes. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- "HFO chillers to cool the Channel Tunnel". Cooling Post. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
- "Tunnel vision proves R1233zd efficiency". Cooling Post. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- Merrett, Neil (5 June 2018). "Eurotunnel lauds cooling efficiency gains after HFO switch". Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Magazine. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- "Trane project in Paris museum is a work of art". Modern Building services. 1 December 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- "Famous Trane Buildings". Trane. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007 – via Wayback Machine.
- "Case Study: Burj Dubai Tower" (PDF). Trane. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016 – via Wayback Machine.
- https://lex18.com/breaking-news/2018/10/04/employees-trane-plant-to-shut-down-next-year/
- "South Macon plant to close doors; 100 people's jobs in danger". 4 October 2018.