It was a cold Vermont night in the early 1970′s when Richard Travers had a ‘eureka’ moment about using outside air for refrigeration.
At that time, he was living at Dimetrodon, a Vermont experiment in architectural improvisation, group living, and alternative energy. “We were sitting around our dining room where we had an old restaurant refrigerator. The compressor went on, and it made so much noise, you couldn’t hear the other person talking across the table. It was 20° below zero outside, one of the coldest nights of the year. I got to thinking – why not take that cold air from the outside?”
Richard began to experiment, and installed the first “free air” system at The Warren Store in Vermont. Over the years, he continued to refine and develop the technology. He discovered opportunities to save energy beyond just using outside air. Door heaters rarely need to be on, and were easily controlled. Evaporator fans could be turned off more often than originally anticipated.
Freeaire® had become a product that could save significant amounts of energy in any climate, at any time of the year.
In the meantime, Richard continued to work on the Cooler Controller. His goal was to make it as reliable as a mechanical thermostat. Voltage surges, power failures, software glitches and other challenges were met and overcome. Richard and an electrical engineer added a battery back-up so settings weren’t lost during power failures, and installed an EMI filter and a “watchdog” chip to guard against power surges. At long last, the dream of harnessing free outside air had arrived.
Freeaire had started a revolution in cooling that harkens back to Richard’s early interests. The Cooler Controller is the most dependable refrigeration controller on the market. With hundreds of installations in place, you can be sure that it is safe, effective and reliable enough to be entrusted with any refrigeration job, large or small.
Freeaire has been coming up with solutions for clean, low-cost, eco-friendly refrigeration since 1990. Since that time, our team has expanded to include a group of passionate, expert problem-solvers, dedicated to one goal: providing reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient refrigeration. We’re proud to offer a simple solution to the problem of wasteful and costly refrigeration technology.
It’s fitting that our company is based in Vermont, a leader in the green revolution taking hold in so many places around the world. And it’s a place known for its values of integrity, cooperation, and people helping people. Each and every one of our clients is important to us, a value which goes into our product design, and shows up in the smallest detail of the way we do business. When you call Freeaire Refrigeration, you won’t get a recorded message – you’ll speak to one of us! We look forward to serving you, our clients, and our planet, by bringing you the power of Freeaire.
