The Brand Story
SunStar: Infrared Heat from a Charlotte Family That Started in the Tobacco Barns
In 1949, in Charlotte, North Carolina, a small company went to work on a very Southern problem: how to put steady, controllable heat into a tobacco barn during curing season. Its answer was a gas-fired heater, and from that first burner grew Gas-Fired Products, a family-owned manufacturer that would spend the next seven decades learning how to throw radiant warmth across cold, drafty, open spaces. SunStar is the brand that family created in 1987 to carry that experience into warehouses, shops, garages and patios across North America.
Chapter 1 · 1949
A burner for the curing barn
Gas-Fired Products was founded in Charlotte in 1949 to build gas-fired heaters for tobacco barns, and the company traces its first gas-fired infrared heating system to that same year. Curing tobacco demands patient, even heat over long stretches, and the work taught the young company a lesson that still defines everything it builds: heat has to be dependable, simple to service and safe to leave running.
The company kept its roots in Charlotte. Its home on Doggett Street remains the base for both of the family's heater brands, Space-Ray and SunStar.
Chapter 2 · 1950s to 1960s
From steel mills to the first unitized tube heaters
As the postwar economy grew, so did the places that needed heat. In the late 1950s the company added floor-model heaters for steel mills. By the mid-1960s it was building high-intensity heaters for broad-area and perimeter heating, and in 1964 it opened a sister operation, Gas-Fired Products (UK), in Ipswich, England, making industrial and commercial gas heating equipment and poultry brooders for Britain and parts of Europe.
The most important step came at the end of the decade. Through its Space-Ray line, the family company introduced low-intensity unitized tube heaters in the late 1960s, and it describes itself as the first U.S. manufacturer to offer a unitized tube heater design, in 1968. A burner, a long steel emitter tube and a reflector in one package became the template for the infrared tube heaters that hang in industrial buildings today, including SunStar's.
Chapter 3 · 1987
SunStar is born
In 1987 the family founded SunStar Heating Products as a wholly owned subsidiary of what is now GFP Companies. SunStar was built to reach a wider market: vent-free gas room heaters and patio heaters for homeowners and businesses, sold through hardware, plumbing, heating, fireplace and gas-equipment wholesalers in the United States and Canada, alongside a full range of commercial and industrial infrared heaters sold to wholesalers nationwide and overseas.
SunStar heaters have been manufactured in Charlotte since that first year, supported by an engineering team with long experience designing gas appliances. The company keeps close to the propane world, too, as a member of trade groups including the National Propane Gas Association, which helps it follow market and regulatory changes.
Chapter 4 · Today
Two factories, one family
Together, SunStar and its parent company employ more than 100 people and operate about 156,000 square feet of manufacturing, office and warehouse space in Charlotte and in Ipswich. Most SunStar products are design certified by CSA or UL, and some models carry approvals in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Korea, Argentina and Australia. The company remains family-owned, and SunStar and Space-Ray still share the same parent, the same Charlotte address and the same long memory of what it takes to heat a difficult room.
How Infrared Works
Heat that lands where people stand
A forced-air heater warms the air, and in a tall building with big doors that warm air rises to the ceiling or rushes out the moment a dock door opens. An infrared tube heater works differently. Burning gas heats a steel emitter tube, and a reflector above it directs radiant energy down onto the floor, equipment and people below, much the way sunlight warms skin on a cold day. Those warmed surfaces then hold and release heat back into the space.
SunStar's own literature points to the places where this matters most: buildings with ceilings above about ten feet and doors that open and close all day, such as warehouses, manufacturing plants, auto dealerships, aircraft hangars, loading docks, car washes, greenhouses, gymnasiums and farm buildings.
The Lineup
What SunStar builds today
SunStar's catalog spans vent-free room heaters, patio and hospitality heaters, construction comfort heaters and, at its core, low-intensity tube heaters and high-intensity ceramic heaters for commercial and industrial buildings. HVAC365 focuses on the commercial infrared side:
- Positive pressure tube heaters: the SPS straight-tube and SPU U-tube series, in eight sizes from 40,000 to 200,000 BTU per hour. A blower pushes combustion gases through 4-inch heat-treated aluminized steel tubes, configurations run to more than 60 layouts with straight runs up to 70 feet, and the Tube Integrity Safety System watches for overheating and tube failure. Optional all-aluminized Tough Guy tubes are offered for humid or corrosive rooms such as car washes and pool buildings.
- Vacuum tube heaters: straight and U-tube vacuum models, including the compact SIR series, which draws combustion products through the tube under negative pressure and suits workshops, garages, greenhouses and spaces with lower ceilings.
- Two-stage tube heaters: models with two-stage gas valves that can run at reduced fire in milder weather and step up when the doors open.
- By shape: straight tube heaters for long, even coverage, and U-tube heaters that keep the burner and exhaust at one end for spot heating and high heat-loss zones.
- By fuel: natural gas tube heaters and propane tube heaters, with most sizes offered in both.
- Ceramic infrared heaters: high-intensity SG and SGM series heaters, offered with direct spark ignition or millivolt standing pilot ignition.
- Accessories: gas regulators, including vent-limiting regulators, plus the mounting and venting parts that complete an installation.
Smaller units in the 40,000 to 99,000 BTU range are the usual fit for shops and bays, while the larger SPS and SPU sizes cover warehouses and hangars.
At a Glance
SunStar at a glance
- Founded
- 1987
- Headquarters
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Parent company
- GFP Companies (Gas-Fired Products)
- Parent founded
- 1949, Charlotte
- Sister brand
- Space-Ray
- Facilities
- Charlotte, NC and Ipswich, England
- Combined footprint
- About 156,000 sq ft
- Certification
- Most products CSA or UL design certified
- Ownership
- Family-owned
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Sunstar
Who makes SunStar heaters?
SunStar Heating Products is a wholly owned subsidiary of GFP Companies, the family-owned Charlotte, North Carolina manufacturer founded in 1949 as Gas-Fired Products. The same parent company also builds Space-Ray heaters.
Where are SunStar heaters made?
SunStar has manufactured its heaters in Charlotte, North Carolina since 1987. Its parent company operates facilities in Charlotte and in Ipswich, England.
What is the difference between vacuum and positive pressure tube heaters?
Positive pressure tube heaters, such as the SunStar SPS and SPU series, use a blower to push combustion gases through the tube. Vacuum tube heaters, such as the SIR series, draw the gases through the tube under negative pressure.
Where do infrared tube heaters work best?
They work best in buildings with ceilings above about ten feet and doors that open often, such as warehouses, plants, loading docks, hangars, car washes and farm buildings, because they warm people and surfaces rather than the air.
Are SunStar heaters certified?
Most SunStar products are design certified by CSA or UL, and some models also carry approvals in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Korea, Argentina and Australia.
Is SunStar related to Space-Ray?
Yes. SunStar and Space-Ray are sister brands owned by the same Charlotte parent company, GFP Companies.
