Monitoring hardware now included with FrostBoss® frost fans

Australian Frost Fans is the sister business to New Zealand Frost Fans, which manufactures the FrostBoss® range of frost fans at their factory in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. The FrostBoss® C49 (4-blade machine) is the best-selling frost fan in Australasia.

Web-based monitoring of frost fans is becoming more popular and the FrostBoss® controller has been designed with this in mind. The remote monitoring option, known as FrostSmart™, enables growers to access real-time monitoring of fans around the world, together with text alarms and historical data and graphs on temperature, run-hours and machine performance. The hardware required for FrostSmart™ monitoring is now included as standard with all FrostBoss® machines, which incorporate Auto Start™/Stop and wireless radio temperature probes. That means no additional hardware costs, only an annual monitoring fee for data access.

Direct end-to-end service

Other benefits which differentiate Australian/New Zealand Frost Fans from other companies include: • end-to-end service from initial mapping and machine layouts to consent applications (if required) on your behalf, supply and installation, and ongoing service and monitoring; • a growing network of Service Centres with dedicated and specially equipped service trucks, which provide safe access to top gearboxes and fast, environmentally-safe oil changes; • physical stock of machines and parts at all Service Centres, enabling shorter lead times for installation and highly responsive after-sales service and support; • deal directly with the manufacturer – no intermediaries.

Committed to finding the best frost mitigation solution for growers, CEO Steve Haslett says “all we do is frost fans, so we stake our reputation and livelihoods on it.”

Improved efficiency and reliability

The company’s significant research and development program therefore focuses on improving the efficiency and reliability of frost fans, resulting in the development of the FrostBoss® C49 frost fan incorporating the proprietary FrostBoss® clutch, controller and C49 composite blades.

The FrostBoss® C49 was developed with help from former Team New Zealand aerodynamics research engineer Richard Karn, to optimize noise reduction by using a greater blade working area and slower rotational speed than a 2-blade fan. In addition, the much higher blade passage frequency of the 4-blade fan means the noise signature no longer has a low frequency beating sound. Along with the FrostBoss® C59 (5-blade machine), the FrostBoss® C49 is the quietest machine on the market.

Marketed through its own companies in New Zealand and Australia, FrostBoss® fans are also installed in Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France and Turkey through local distributors.

As well as supply and installation of FrostBoss® frost fans, the transTasman companies service and upgrade most makes of frost fan.

Climate change brings more frosts Increased frequency of frosts, along with greater temperature extremes, are a common theme of climate change effects across the globe. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)’s online Weather and Climate Risk in Agriculture report confirms that, while a warming trend in minimum temperatures in spring has been observed over the past 35 years in many growing regions, if corresponding rainfall is low and there is less soil moisture (which assists in holding heat in the ground) the risk of frost damage may be high. And in these conditions “frost events that do occur have the potential to be more extreme”. A New Zealand MPI technical paper also concluded that significant regional differences in climate variance across the country means that regions including Marlborough have shown “virtually no warming trend in mean annual temperatures, but instead a trend of increasing daily temperature range and frost occurrence over recent decades.”

More information: www.aussiefrostfans.com.au, www.nzfrostfans. com, www.loncel.com or contact Ian Mason at ian.mason@ aussiefrostfans.com.au, mob: 0448 111 384.