Finned tube heat exchangers are widely used in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration. In the case of exchangers operating as air coolers, frost formation occurs, which generally strongly deteriorates the efficiency of heat transfer by creating additional thermal resistance and causing additional pressure loss. The paper provides with the analysis of the effect of frosting process on the operation of the air cooler using the method proposed by the authors using observations synchronised with thermal measurements of air cooler. On the basis of long-term tests of the air cooler operating in the vegetables cold storage chamber the influence of frosting process was assessed, among others on cooling capacity, bypass factor, and thermal resistance. In the analysed case, frosting reduced the cooling capacity by up to 40%.