Down the memory lane...
The story about oil furnaces...
In the late sixties, a workshop owner in Varde decided that he would make an oil furnace for buses. The reason was that the existing furnaces did not work satisfactorily. The furnaces were ready for production in 1972. The workshop owner was Holger Pedersen, brother of the founder of Nisap, Nis A. Pedersen. Nisap was therefore offered the production of the furnaces, because Nisap already had production facilities and staff for the production. Jørgen Strøier, who had started the company Stroco, wanted to sell the furnaces. This was the beginning of a long and close cooperation between the three companies concerning development, production and sale of furnaces for buses, trains, cars and boats.
The products are sold mainly in the Nordic countries, but also in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. The products are sold under the name Stroco, and in addition to car manufacturers, bus companies are the largest customers. The furnaces are installed in buses and function as a normal domestic furnace. They are connected to the oil tank of the bus and connected to the cooling water system.
The furnace is started automatically in good time before the bus has to drive. In this way, the bus is comfortably warm for driver and passengers. If the weather is very cold, it should also operate to keep the bus heated during driving.
After a slow start, the production has been 500-1,000 units per year. The total production of more than 30 years is about 20,000 units. However, it was difficult to make a profitable production, as the competition was hard and the competitors were very large companies. This was the reason why the production was gathered in Varde in the end of the nineties. In this way, it could at least become a profitable business for one company. A new furnace was developed in the end of the nineties - more compact and more efficient. A great interest was shown for this furnace, and advance orders for about 1200 units per year are already given.
The company, which took over the production, was JP Maskinfabrik A /S, which today is owned by Jørgen Pedersen. Dorte and Erling Pedersen are members of the board of directors.