Airmaster helps local farmer make hay while sun shines with combine-d effort!

3rd September 2014

It was nearly the last straw for farmer Eddie Oldknow of Stanfree Farm at Clowne when the air conditioning failed in his combine harvester as temperatures soared into the 80s in the recent heatwave.

Eddie, who also runs Oldknow Contracting building services, was recommended to Swallownest-based Airmaster, which designs, installs and maintains bespoke energy efficient heating and air conditioning systems across the UK. Fortunately, Airmaster's business development manager 'Energy Ian' Fisher was able to upgrade the cab's cooling system using similar techniques to those he used as a young engineer working on similar systems cooling the cabs on the cranes in the steel works at the likes of Forgemasters and Brinsworth Strip Mills. Ian explained, -The job was relatively easy because it was half completed already, the air conditioning unit had burst a coil which had been repaired by a local garage, but they couldn't re-charge the refrigerant as they were not familiar with its type. It turned out the harvester air conditioning ran on R12- a refrigerant that was phased out back in 1995 because it damages the ozone layer. Our specialist experience meant we could brainstorm some ideas with our refrigerant supplier, strength-test the repair and recharge the unit with a non- damaging refrigerant. For an old harvester- a Massey Ferguson 860 from 1986- it was in surprisingly good condition and we were frankly relieved when everything worked. -On the day I asked one of our engineers, Simon Lord, to come along with me for the experience of R12. He spent a lot of time on a farm in his younger years and is such a good engineer, I knew if we hit problems he would be a great guy to have around. Eddie, who grew up on his family farm at Clowne said, -The air conditioning failed just as I started getting the harvest in from our 250 acres of arable land. I can only describe the feeling as sitting in a greenhouse with the heating on! Airmaster did a brilliant job and made driving a much pleasanter experience with our new re-gased air conditioning. I'll certainly be calling on their expertise again when I need to. Ian concluded, -This job was a bit unusual, so we loved doing it. All the engineers at Airmaster thrive off working on something a bit different, no matter if it's something old like this harvester or a brand new cooling technology, such as a heat pump that's causing problems. Our positive and proactive attitude to solving problems our customers are facing has been key to the growth of Airmaster. Airmaster, the air conditioning and heating specialists have grown from a one man start-up in 1992, to employing 26 staff working nationwide from their Swallownest premises on the Sheffield-Rotherham border today. They have just had their best ever year in the company history. More information from Airmaster on 0114 2889911 www.airmaster.uk.com www.oldknowcontracting.co.uk