MLA Business Member Spotlight: Infab Refractories

It all goes back to sailing ships. Infab Refractories of Lewiston makes heat and sound insulating blankets for the exhaust systems of fishing vessels, among many other products. “The company came about when they began using steam instead of sail for vessels,” explained Jean Bergeron, company owner. “The shift left many sailmakers out of work. Insulating businesses used them to hand sew insulation on steamers.”

Infab Refractories is the offspring of Eastern Refractories Company, which opened a branch office in Lewiston in the 1940s. Back at the end of the 1800s, the company had hired many Scandinavian former sailmakers to make the insulating wraps for boiler room pipes in mills, factories, schools, hospitals, and other facilities using the new-fangled steam heat. “My boss, Bill Walker, was a sailor. He was interested in ocean-going vessels. So he went to the fishermen around here and said that we could do this a little better. He made our name common along the coast,” Bergeron said.

The company’s removable insulation blankets do make a fisherman’s task a little easier. Once fishermen would wrap their hot exhaust pipes with fiberglass fabric, tape it snugly, and paint it to keep it watertight. When the time came to work on the exhaust system, as it always does, the fabric had to be removed. Then the whole wrapping process done over again.

“Our blankets have a high temperature metal mesh on one side, then the ceramic or fiberglass insulation, and then silicone or Teflon coating. It’s easy to take off and easy to reuse. Plus there are a lot less fibers getting into air intakes, so the air filters last longer,” Bergeron said.

Infab Refractories is a full-service refractory company that provides contracting, distribution, and fabrication services for just about any sort of project or need. The company was sold to a national contractor in the late 1990s and then re-sold, becoming employee-owned in 2004.

In addition to the advertising benefit of being a MLA member, it was the controversy related to right whales that prompted Bergeron to sign on as a business member. After many years working with lobstermen, he knew that “They are hardworking, they are honest, and they pay their bills!”

Infab Refractories

150 Summer St.

Lewiston, ME 04240

783-2075

https://infabrefractories.com