For more than a century the Trane name has identified products and technology that stretched the world's idea of what was. In many ways Trane is a classic American success story that grew into a global one. It began with its founder, James Trane, a Norwegian immigrant who opened his own plumbing shop in La Crosse, in 1885. With the inspiration of cold Wisconsin winters, James Trane invented a new low-pressure heating system he proudly called the Trane Vapor Heating System. His son, Reuben, was just back from college with a degree in mechanical engineering, so father and son began manufacturing operations in 1910 and incorporated as The Trane Company in 1913. It was Reuben's invention of the convector radiator in 1923 that firmly established the company's reputation as an innovator, a reputation Trane people have been building on ever since.

Growth through innovation

The idea of using technology to give people relief from summer heat was a radical and unproven idea when Trane became an air conditioning pioneer in 1931. Trane fundamentally changed the concept of air conditioning large buildings with the 1938 launch of Turbovac, the industry's first hermetic, centrifugal refrigeration machine. This was the beginning of a long chain of innovations leading to Trane's current CenTraVac, the industry standard for large commercial air conditioning systems. This is the most energy efficient system available anywhere for large buildings and it has earned Trane the "Best of the Best" Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Expanding offer to customers

With the acquisition of Sentinel Electronics in the late 1970s, Trane moved into the important building automation and management field. The company was the first to offer integrated controls for all its products and became a leader in the still new field of energy management, a leadership position that continues to expand.

Its days as a leader in residential air conditioning began in 1982. That's when it took advantage of an opportunity to acquire General Electric's Central Air Conditioning Division.

In 1984 Trane was acquired by American Standard Companies and remained the largest of its three businesses: Air Conditioning Systems and Services, Vehicle Control Systems (WABCO) and Bath and Kitchen.

In 1988, it re-launched the American Standard heating and air conditioning brand, introducing a new generation of families to the century-old American Standard tradition of making quality products for the home.

On Nov. 28, 2007 it successfully completed a plan announced the previous February to separate the three American Standard businesses, leaving each free to concentrate exclusively on the markets it knows best. Over the course of the year WABCO was spun off as an independent corporation and Bath and Kitchen was sold to Bain Capital Partners. On Nov. 28th American Standard Companies changed its name to Trane, with its stock trading under the new symbol "TT". The new name reflects the company’s business focus and its leadership in providing integrated heating, ventilation and air conditioning services and solutions.

As of June 2008 Trane became part of Ingersoll Rand.

Types of Systems Sold

Trane offers reliable, state-of-the-art energy-efficient systems that deliver comfort for commercial buildings and homes. These include:

Water-Source Heat Pumps

Profitability underlies most decisions in commercial enterprises and efficient systems for lighting, plumbing, and comfort can significantly reduce the operating expense of doing business. That’s precisely why Trane continues to pioneer the application of Geothermal and other WSHP systems to help buildings work better.

Trane's superior design makes its units among the quietest and most efficient on the market. Its units all have superior serviceability of maintenance components; meet high indoor air quality standards; offer quiet operation; and best of all, have higher efficiencies to reduce total cost of ownership.

It has a broad range of products to suit a variety of applications. Schools, office buildings, health care and rehabilitation facilities, condominiums and retirement facilities are just a few of the types of buildings utilizing the energy conscious water-source design of the 6 through 25 ton horizontal and vertical water-source heat pump. Its extra high efficiency units provide energy savings that not only contribute to lowering the life cycle cost, but also reduce the waste impact on the environment.

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