Our Company

High quality products, outstanding customer service and engaged employees

Caframo is a privately owned Canadian manufacturing company founded in 1955. We pride ourselves on being an industry leader in laboratory overhead stirrers, specialty fans, heaters, thermoelectric fans, and thermoelectric lighting. Caframo is more than just a quality manufacturer; Caframo is a great place to work.

Our unique combination of products and our name originally evolved from the development of Canadian Fractional Motors and the products that use them. A fractional motor is a motor that outputs less than 1 horsepower.

Today, our product line is organized into two divisions—Caframo Lifestyle Solutions (consumer products) and Caframo Laboratory Solutions (laboratory stirrers and accessories). Caframo Lifestyle Solutions include the Ecofan, JOI Lamp, and specialty marine fans and heaters. Caframo Laboratory Solutions produces overhead stirrers and a wide range of accessories.

Company processes include market research, customer feedback, product design, parts manufacturing, assembly, packaging, quality testing, and functional testing. Caframo products are built and approved to appropriate standards such as CE, UL, CSA, RoHS, and WEEE.

Care for the environment

Caframo’s beautiful location, overlooking the Georgian Bay, makes it easy to recognize the need to respect our environment.

All Caframo products are shipped in Styrofoam-free packaging. Recycling is an integral part of everything we do.

We comply not only with all North American Standards, but environmental standards worldwide such as the European WEEE and RoHS directives.

Caframo Lifestyle Solutions designs, develops and manufactures high quality fans, heaters, lighting and specialty products. We pride ourselves on making unique products of the highest quality.

Caframo Laboratory Solutions offers overhead stirrers with brushless DC motors, metal housings, digital displays and a wide range of electropolished accessories.

History

The who, where, what and why of Caframo

Nine years after the Second World War, a company in Germany wanted to expand outside the country, into North America.

The Wiarton Town Council had sent invitation letters to Chambers of Commerce in Germany, and Hans Heidolph Sr. decided to include Wiarton in his expedition to find a North American location.

In 1954, he decided on Wiarton, and then set out to find a location for a factory. Unable to find the “sturdy foundations” he was looking for in the light industry buildings in town, he was directed to the old “Colonial Portland Cement” factory on the waterfront nearby. The factory had been closed for years, but was of solid concrete construction.

The Heidolph family purchased the property and refurbished the buildings. For the largest building they took detailed measurements and had new roof trusses fabricated in Germany and shipped over. This is the building that can be seen from the water.

The intent was to continue the Heidolph motor-winding business in this new location, so they named the company “Canadian Fractional Motors”. A fractional motor is a small motor with only a fraction of a horsepower, for example a 1/10 horsepower. Motors of this size are typically used in household appliances and laboratory stirrers.

In 1955 the new business was started, manufacturing and distributing heaters, fans, and laboratory stirrers.

The founders were Hans Heidolph Senior, his son Hans Heidolph Jr, and his son-in-law Doctor Rudolph Zinsser. In 1964, Hans Heidolph Jr. was appointed President.

In 1994, Tony Solecki joined the company as General Manager, and in 1996 purchased the company.

Caframo technologies

Caframo was founded in 1955 to manufacture innovative fans and heaters for a variety of retail markets. We select markets and applications that leverage our design experience, manufacturing capabilities and expert knowledge to deliver products that reliably meet the needs of our customers.

Technology

Innovative, patented, cutting edge

Thermoelectric Technology

Caframo is on the cutting edge of applying thermoelectric principles to create real world applications that offer personal comfort solutions. Our first thermoelectric product, Ecofan by Caframo, works on the “Seebeck effect” through a thermoelectric module, using waste heat to generate electrical power that is used to drive a DC motor, which rotates a fan blade that propels and circulates heated air into your living space. Proven in our testing lab to cut your fuel costs by up to 18%, this silent and eco-friendly product is the winner of many awards for innovation and design.

Caframo’s most recent thermoelectric product is JOI, the first product of our Thermologi brand.  Using the same technology as the Ecofan, JOI transforms the heat from a tea light candle into electricity that powers a canopy of LED lights giving you the equivalent lighting of 100 tea light candles.

Computerized Simulations, Design and Analysis

Using computerized software and a numerical technique called Finite Element Analysis (FEA), our Product Development Engineering team can create, test and optimize product designs on simulation software before building their first physical prototypes. FEA software allows the designer to create 3D models and analyze the design for stress, strain, loads, etc., based on the known properties of different materials. The same software can also test the physical limitations (thermal, fatigue, velocity etc.) of parts and assembly through various simulated tests as well as simulate interactions between the product and its environment (i.e. Fluid Dynamics – airflow, etc.). FEA software enhances the product design experience through cost savings and the ability to explore and evaluate more design ideas.

Engineering Test Lab

Caframo has built an engineering test lab to test and observe all of our products in real life scenarios and harsh environment conditions, to prove and ensure safety, quality and innovation across all products.  Testing instrumentation in the lab includes a wind tunnel, thermocouples, an environmental chamber and many more testing devices. Studies performed range from: wood fuel usage measurements showings the potential cost savings of using an Ecofan; to the safety of using Caframo’s explosion proof heater in marine engine compartment; to demonstrating the efficiency of Caframo stirrers in mixing highly viscous materials and liquids.

Community

Giving back locally where we can.

Caframo is equally committed to community as it is to designing and building product. Corporately we support community initiatives, non-profit organizations and service clubs in Wiarton, Georgian Bluffs, Owen Sound and surrounding areas in Grey and Bruce Counties. In addition to our corporate giving, since 2000, our employees have selected one local charity each year to support through fundraising efforts as a group.

Our current employee charity is: R&R Rescue & Resort

Past Employee Charities include: