Our History

Midco International Inc.® is a family owned & operated business originally incorporated in 1941 as Mid-Continent Metal Products. It has been a world leader in power burner manufacturing since developing the market’s first modern forced air burner, the Economite, which dramatically changed the industry and quickly became the standard in the late 1940’s.

Waste incineration increased during the 1950’s leading to the development of the company’s second major product, a burner producing a long powerful flame, called the Incinomite. A product type still produced solely by Midco.

In 1953, The Peoples Gas Company of Chicago requested a “one time only” application using gas to fire a charcoal free broiler for Don Ross’ new Blackhawk Restaurant. The innovation was a great success, leading to the industry’s first gas char broiler and the creation of EmberGlo; a subsidiary of Midco International dedicated to the needs of the food service industry.

Make-up air burners were introduced to the line in the late 50’s and early 60’s to be sold to the industrial markets for process heating. The oil crisis of the 1970’s called upon Midco again. The need for commercial and residential conversion from fuel oil to natural gas burners was the perfect fit for Midco’s high quality, efficient and dependable products.

Since the 1980’s Midco has been highly focused on the customer and diversification of product offerings. Focus was put forth to OEM solutions and custom designed burners. Emphasis shifted from product development to product refinement for equipment including water heaters, boilers, crop dryers and industrial ovens. The RE4000 Series burner was designed for the tobacco curing industry as a replacement for inefficient direct fired burners. Over 20,000 manufactured in the first 3 years.

In the late 1990’s Midco began work to modify the HMA burners to use both LP & natural gas. The product of this redesign is the company’s current HMA-2A burner which uses a patented 2 stage combustion process to lower emissions and increase temperature. The HMA-2A is still an industry leading burner.

In the 2000’s the MPG (Midco Power Gas) line of commercial power burners was developed to offer a more robust design and the ability to fire smaller and more efficient boiler applications including the high turndown style of heat exchanger applications.

Manufacturing processes have been a strong focus for Midco since 2000. Lean Manufacturing practices began in 2001 and the company became ISO 9001 certified. Year after year, we continue to eliminate waste and give customers as much value as possible in the products engineered, built, and shipped.

Lately, Midco has been designing burners specifically for the Coffee Roasting Industry, Micro Brewing Industry, and have been heavily involved in the Automotive Refinishing Industry. Midco has developed or refined:

MHTD Burner

Fits applications such as lower input BTU’s with Hi-Low and modulating capabilities to create energy efficient combustion needs in the market.

LNB Series

Midco introduced a line of Low NOx power gas burners that differentiates itself from the competition. Midco uses a premix gas blower, along with a zero governor to insure low NOx emissions. A patented heat exchanger chamber was developed for paint booth applications in the automotive finishing industry and process oven industry to meet the changing NOx requirements.

VA Series Gas Burners

Developed for efficiency, high turn down and precise temperature control. The VA series uses direct fired burner technology, a variable speed blower and a modulating gas valve to promote better control over the combustion process resulting in a linkage-less, modulating high turndown burner. This design requires less time for burner setup while maintaining a true high turndown firing rate that controls precise temperature needs and reduces fuel consumption that the industry demands