Ventilation failure at 3:47 AM in a broiler house

Broiler house, floor system, 22,000 birds at day 32 (avg weight 1.8 kg, high density), in the middle of a June heat wave. Tuesday at 03:47, the differential breaker on the ventilation panel trips after a brief grid sag. All six tunnel fans and the cooling pads stop at once.

In broilers at that age the thermal window is very narrow and heat-stress mortality climbs fast: indoor temperature rises about 1 °C every 4-5 minutes without forced ventilation. After 30 minutes the birds start panting and crowding into cooler areas. After 90, mortality is significant. After 2 h, the flock is compromised.

Before Aviot, this farm relied on the morning walkthrough or a neighbour noticing the silence. The question was not if it would happen — only when.

Aviot wires into the differential contact on the ventilation panel and two temperature probes per room. The customer's thresholds fire a critical alarm whenever:

• The differential contact changes state (power loss, phase failure, trip) — instant alert, no need to wait for the probe.
• Temperature crosses the pre-warn threshold (24 °C) for over 60 seconds.

At 03:47:12 Aviot caught the contact change. Automatic call to the manager's mobile at 03:47:30. SMS and push to two other team members in parallel.

The manager picks up at 03:48, presses 1 to acknowledge, and is in the car. The barn is 4 minutes away.

Arrival at barn: 04:18. Breaker reset: 04:21. Fans running: 04:22. Total time without ventilation: 35 minutes. Temperature rose from 23 °C to 26 °C in the densest zone.

Zero losses. Target temperature (22 °C) restored in 18 minutes. That day's production stayed inside the normal range.

Aviot's exportable history was evidence for both insurance and the integrator's welfare audit. Without a technical alarm, those 35 minutes would have stretched to 4-5 hours until the morning walkthrough — and between 1,500 and 3,000 losses according to the sector's thermal models.