Vanfridge the West Midlands based specialist refrigerated van conversion company has handed over three new vehicles to Wiltshire Farm Foods, the UK’s leading ready cooked frozen meals supplier to supplement their existing home delivery fleets. This takes the number of Hubbard units specified by Vanfridge of Droitwich to over two hundred in three years. 

Vanfridge, who supply many of Wiltshire Farm Foods franchisees, recommend the Hubbard 390 and 460 systems for doorstep deliveries on single and twin compartment freezer vans. Mark Foster, Director of Vanfridge says, “As a specialist company our customers are often new to vehicle refrigeration and we offer a complete refrigerated van package including the van, fridge unit, conversion and even the signwriting. But that means we have to specify the highest quality equipment at the best price, because it’s a complete package each element of our service is only as successful as the weakest component. We’ve now supplied over 200 Hubbard units in 3 years and they are proving extremely reliable offering good value for money for our customers and good value for our reputation.”

Two of the Wiltshire Farm Foods franchisees, based in Walsall and Cannock chose Citroen Despatch panel vans whilst the third in Tyne & Wear specified a Fiat Scudo panel van. Wiltshire Farm Foods prides itself on its personal and reliable service and the continuing high quality of its meals so each van is expected to complete in excess of 40 drops per day delivering 12 items to each destination a massive 2,500 frozen ready meals per delivery van, in perfect condition, each week, so powerful but cost effective refrigeration is essential.

Kieran Greene, Director of the Wiltshire Farm Foods Cannock Franchise says “We’re now running two Hubbard 390 systems on a fleet of four vehicles, the latest addition features the Hubbard 20 series slimline evaporator which has proven to be far more efficient than any of our other units, it offers high capacity and its much superior airflow delivers a quick pull down of temperature to –25°C in just 3 to 4 miles. The greater efficiency of the Hubbard 390 AL when combined with the improved insulation and economy of the Citroen Despatch are already delivering an overall improvement in fuel economy of around 12.5%.”

The Hubbard 390Alpha, and 460Alpha ranges utilise an exterior roof-mounted condenser with separate interior evaporator unit and all panel van systems can also be box body mounted using an optional mounting bracket.

For multi-compartment configurations the 390 and 460Alpha series are also available with the Hubbard TWICE Dual Temperature System. Instead of a traditional large frozen compartment - with a fan transfer kit to maintain a fresh compartment - TWICE evaporators are installed in both the fresh and frozen load spaces. This allows greater freedom of compartment size ratios, as the temperature in each zone is entirely independent of each other as well as eliminating cross-contamination of air between each compartment.

The 390Alpha range of refrigeration systems has been designed to provide optimum performance in panel vans and small box bodies suitably insulated for chilled or frozen produce transportation. The 390aM and 390aEM are suitable for temperatures down to 0°c, the 390aL and 390aEL down to -25°c.

The 390Alpha includes a standby to enable the unit to be run from mains electricity whilst the vehicle is stationary.

All systems utilise an open drive compressor, drawing power from the vehicles crankshaft drive train. The 490Alpha includes a standby to enable the unit to be run from mains electricity whilst the vehicle is stationary.

The 390AlphaM and 390AlphaEM use environmentally friendly R134a refrigerant and an off-cycle defrost system, whilst the 390AlphaL and 390AlphaEL use R404a and have full reverse cycle defrosting.

The system is operated by the easy to use in-cab, digital controller, which is fully programmable and will provide constant temperature read-out.

The 390Alpha units comprise a lightweight, plastic covered low profile condenser, a plastic covered evaporator (for hygiene and durability) and a compressor and mount kit. A simple to operate in-cab controller completes the system. The 390Alpha condensing unit can be mounted on the vehicle roof or onto a vertical bulkhead - no additional brackets are required.

Accessories available for use with the 390Alpha include the Printman™ datalogger, CleanAir™ Ozone Unit, a twin compartment fan kit and a plastic cubic evaporator.