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Founded with an Energy Focus

In 1920's Wisconsin, there was no large electrical power grid. Most of the electricity for smaller towns and rural communities came from excess steam generated by paper mills since all paper mills had steam boilers to run the plants.

As the communities grew, so did the demand for electricity. In fact, shortages were commonplace. Accordingly, the state of Wisconsin employed a State Power Engineer, Harold G White, whose responsibility it was to work with the paper mills and local communities to find the most efficient ways to utilize steam and consequently create excess steam capacity that would be used to generate electricity at the local level.

The State Power Engineer worked closely with the chief engineer from the Kimberly-Clark Paper Company, to develop direct steam injection technology as the most effective method of heating river water for the paper mills. They enlisted Harry Schauer and the Hasco Valve Company of Milwaukee, WI to turn the concept into reality. Hasco branded the technology as the Hydro Heater and went into production in 1932. This is the beginning of the Hydro-Thermal story and direct steam injection technology.

Family Owned

Hydro-Thermal is a family owned business with a story that begins in 1927 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harry Schauer, owner of the Hasco Valve Company, together with the Chief Engineer from the Kimberly-Clark paper company and Harold White, the state of Wisconsins Chief Power Engineer developed and patented a way to more efficiently heat sulphuric acid for paper mash by directly injecting precise amounts of steam. This was a vast improvement over the traditional, inefficient sparging method of heating this difficult fluid. The 1927 patent was sold in the 1930's to the Hydro Heater Company that was later renamed Sirod. Harry's family continued to build Hydroheaters for the paper industry until 1963 when mechanical engineer Don Zaiser acquired the business. The company continued to focus on the paper industry until 1978 when Don's son, Gary Zaiser took over the operation. Gary began to methodically expand the product line and introduced direct steam injection technology to a wider audience of industries.

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