Just so you know, nobody is paying me to write this - and I'm not affiliated with Trane, but a number of you have asked us, "what equipment really stands out in the industry?" I don't want to detract from many great products - there are many awesome products out there made by a multitude of companies. But, since so many of you asked, I will tell you the truth - there's no denying, you certainly can't stop a Trane chiller. (For those of you who don't know what a chiller is; think of a giant air conditioner that produces cold water). Chillers are essential for cooling large buildings, and they are very important for energy modeling - and I’m always glad when I see Trane Chillers - because it usually makes it easier to get LEED points (not just EAc1, but also EAc4). 

And with near zero refrigerant leak and ultra-low CO2 production - Trane chillers kick Ash.

Chillers are really simple to explain, but really, really complicated to make (though it actually looks easy when you see how it’s done). Trane has this down to Chiller Science (which literally might be on par with rocket science). But, there's a few reasons that Trane Centravac chillers are "leading" the way, and I want to list 7 of them as simply as possible

1) No Leakers Allowed

They operate at below atmospheric pressure.This means they basically can't leak, because air leaks into them, instead of refrigerant leaking out. Of course, nothing is perfect when it comes to leakage, but Trane centravacs are Nearly Net-zero when it comes to leakage.

2) Super -Efficiency

Trane Centravacs can be the most efficient chillers on the market. This is due to some highly intelligent design (even though it looks simple when you take the tour). For instance, the copper pipes inside them are actually "carved out" to make the water flow more effective and improve heat transfer. (I don't want to bore you talking about Reynold's numbers, but they are designed to optimize that number while improving heat transfer - quite literally - chiller science). 

3) Direct Drives

They operate at 3600 Rpm. Why is this imporatant? Well, that's the natural cycle of A/C current (in the Western hemisphere). No efficiency loss through electronic equipment, and it minimizes moving parts, and thus increases reliability

4) Size Matters

The motor on a Trane Centravac is huge. I can’t remember the exact weight, but I’d guess it’s over 500 lbs. It has to be huge because it operates at a relatively low RPM. Every time I have been on the chiller tour, I was shocked at how big the darn motors are. They also have uber-huge multiple impellers that make them operate with great stability. Based on conservation of angular momentum - it is hard to stop a Trane indeed.

5) Thermodynamic Limits

I remember in a an advanced thermodynamics class, we did numerous calculations on refrigerant cycles and discussed how it was virtually impossible to implement a perfect refrigeration cycle. However, the professor actually specifically mentioned that the Trane centravac is the closest to achieving a perfect refrigeration cycle. This is because they use these interesting things called “economizers”.  I don’t want to get too complicated, but the bottom line is that they push the limits of theoretical perfection.

6) Precision

Because of a number of the aforementioned items. The Trane centravac can operate at such stable temperatures, they can operate as low as 34 degrees (1 degree celcius) without using glycol. This stability also makes it more efficient, since glycol isn’t quite as effective as pure water.

7) They practice Safe Specs

Let's call this "Lucky 7". You can actually get your chiller tested to show that it operates at the conditions specified with a state of the art testing facility. Also, to protect the chillers in transit, they “wrap it”. No joke, these wrappings are sometimes called “chiller condoms”, though they don’t really contribute to anything but safe travel.

But if you want to learn more, google it, there's plenty of information on the web. 

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