The Kraus Co. of Florida The History of a Local Company Compiled from a conversation with Otto Kraus, Jr. on March 3, 1995.

Dr. William Carrier

In the early 1920's air conditioning was just beginning to emerge as an industry. Before this time, there were some scattered systems throughout Florida. Mostly ventilating, heating, sheet metal, roofing, refrigeration and ice making were the prime industries. Otto Kraus, Sr. brought his family to Florida on a vacation once and fell in love with the white sand and palm trees and decided to move here in 1923. They left New York on a ship to Jacksonville and drove to Tampa.

Mr. Kraus had been working with Dr. Carrier on several new systems and recalls that most of the new chillers were manufactured in Germany to Dr. Carrier's exacting specifications. He required brass bolts and copper on all surfaces and spared no expense in development of the centrifugal chiller. Centrifugal water chillers were being used to deliver chilled water to air washers or spray coils in central air handling units. Otto recalled that Dr. Carrier's the slogan was something like "Dehumidify with Water and Cool with Heat". The only buildings which had air conditioning in the early years were the Theaters. They used to leave their doors open so that passersby could get a gust of the cool air. Five such theaters were built in Florida and each had an air washer system and a Carrier chiller. Mr. Buensod, an employee of Carrier at that time, was involved in most of the installations of Carrier chillers. Most systems were being designed by manufacturers rather than engineering firms. Mr. Buensod became a million dollar salesman with Carrier and left Carrier in the late 30's to start the mechanical contracting firm of Buensod-Stacey. He later formed the Anemostat Corporation.

Mr. Kraus began in the sheet metal, roofing, and ventilation/heating business and started representing Carrier equipment in the late 30's. Many of the chain stores such as Walgreens, S.H. Kress, J.C.Penney, and Lerners next began to offer an air conditioned environment for the shopper during the 30's and early forties before W.W.II. When the war came his firm was installing a/c systems in small restaurants and commercial buildings. Most of these systems were water cooled. Refrigerants used on small systems included methyl chloride. Soon after freon was introduced it became the refrigerant of choice and design. Some small refrigeration systems used sulfur dioxide refrigerant. During this time most refrigerant systems for the food industry were manufactured and serviced by independent refrigeration service firms and larger ammonia work was done by firms from Jacksonville and Atlanta. One of these service firms was headed by Mr. Garvey who later became one the major managers at The Publix Supermarkets. Also, R.V. Money was in the service business and not until later was the firm focus shifted to the sheet metal business that we are most familiar with today.

During the war materials were scarce but they could be obtained on an allotment basis. A lot of work began on barracks buildings and military installations and training centers located in Florida. Liberty Ship conversions were being done at local shipyards and some of these conversions hired as many as 100 sheet metal workers at $1.00 and hour. After the war, residential air conditioning really started to take over the business and many firms sold "window shakers". Still most commercial systems were water cooled with ground coupled loops of condenser water or with evaporative condensers. Otto recalls how common it was to find condenser coils with mud or silt from poor water quality. Heat pumps, especially water cooled, were being promoted by the utility companies in the area. Gilbert Leach of TECO promoted and Sam Graziano converted many "Typoon" units to water cooled heat pumps with changeover valves.

In 1938, Otto Kraus Sr. started K&W Supply as extension of his air conditioning, heating, and sheet metal business in the early days in Tampa. After much lost time and travel between Tampa and St.`Petersburg he had the idea to provide a sheet metal and heating supply house in Tampa. The firm later became a major supplier to our industry from Brooksville to Venice and Auburndale, Florida. Through consistent customer service the firm has grown with the HVAC industry in this area and continues today under the leadership of Mrs. Helen Leslie, Mr. Kraus's daughter.

The Kraus Corporation was involved in many projects throughout the Tampa area including "The Coliseum" , the Westinghouse plant in Tampa, USF dormitories, Crystal River Nuclear Plant air conditioning, the GE Plant at Pinellas Park, and numerous other facilities. Mr. Kraus sold the company in 1984 after a long and successful career. The Kraus Co. continues today under the name of The Kraus Co. of Florida.