Convair by Seeley International

The Convair brand is applied to a range of portable evaporative and refrigerated coolers sold throughout the world. Some models can also be used as air filters/humidifiers to improve Winter conditions in very dry air areas with central heating. The Convair brand is occasionally applied to light industrial coolers.

Markets

Regional web sites:
Australia and New Zealand
USA, Canada, Mexico
Europe and Africa

For other parts of the world, please refer to the European web site as a guide to 220-240 volt products, or the USA, Canada, Mexico site for 110 volt products.

Convair heating and cooling products were first manufactured in the 1950s by Craig and Seeley. One of the founders of Craig and Seeley, Mr Harold Seeley AM, is the brother of Seeley International founder, Mr Frank Seeley AM.

Craig and Seeley were best known for their cooking products, which became very popular in Australia under the Chef brand name. When Craig and Seeley introduced portable evaporative coolers and solid fuel heaters, they chose the brand names Convair and Super Convair. At the time, "Convair" was the name of the leading edge passenger aircraft used by Australian domestic airlines Ansett and TAA. Convair, in turn, was the acronym used by its maker, the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, famous for manufacturing various US aircraft in World War II and developing the world's first delta wing jet fighter after the war. The name conjured thoughts of high performance, style and leading technology, which was a good fit with the products.

Both the heating and cooling products entered new sectors of the market. The heaters were enclosed, solid fuel slow combustion units that were considerably more efficient and less polluting than the predominant open fireplaces of the time. The portable evaporative cooler created a niche between the simple fan and the expensive, luxurious refrigerated room airconditioner that was just emerging. The Convair cooler provided genuine, affordable, healthy cooling much like it does today.

Early in the late 1960s, Craig and Seeley decided to concentrate on their cooking products and no longer required the Convair brand. By this time, Mr Frank Seeley and another brother, Cedric, had entered the business of selling portable evaporative coolers. After the untimely passing of Cedric, and later, after a parting of the ways between Seeley Brothers and Coolair, Frank created his own and very revolutionary new design that, wherever possible, replaced metal components with plastic. He began manufacturing the Model 1000 cooler in 1972, using the name “Supercool” and later he also acquired the “Convair” name from Vulcan, who had, by this time, purchased Craig and Seeley from his brother, Harold.

After modest sales of around a thousand units in the first year, by 1981 over 150,000 units had been sold and the Convair cooler had moved into a clear leadership position in world markets. The design, which used around one seventh of the parts used in similar coolers, was predominantly plastic, meaning that Convair was both cheaper and would last much longer. Largely because of their excellent design features, Convair coolers earned the reputation of high performance cooling without noisily spitting water at the unsuspecting owner, as was common with other brands.

During the 1980s, Convair gas space heaters were introduced. Once again, the design principals that had made Convair coolers great came to the fore. The wall and space heaters had low profiles, pleasing styling, and were extremely quiet and efficient. When the Braemar operations were acquired, Convair heaters merged and ceased to be marketed separately - despite the fact they were much loved and still have a very loyal following.

Throughout the years, Convair coolers have been at the forefront of design and several models have come and gone. However, the current products are easily the best ever made. The Convair Millenia cooler, also known as the Megacool and Mastercool, was introduced in 1999. The Millenia was by far the most stylish, powerful and quiet unit in its class and remains one of the best selling Convair coolers today. Apart from its great looks - and unlike most of its competitors - the Millenia has a very large water tank, extremely powerful cooling performance, is very quiet and highly mobile.

In 2003, the smaller Convair Magicool, or Climate Wizard, was introduced. This product has broken new ground in the extremely competitive portable cooler market space. Not only does it deliver exceptional cooling performance from a very compact, quiet, portable unit, its design lends it to act as a Winter air refresher - an affordable air filter and humidifier for greatly improving conditions in centrally heated apartments and homes, especially in very cold climes.

In 2004, the range of evaporative coolers was supplemented by a selection of refrigerated portable coolers known as the Convair Supercool. The outstanding reputation of Convair coolers built up over 50 years could now be enjoyed by far more people.

Convair coolers are now found in their millions throughout the world, from the harsh conditions of the Australian outback to modern, sophisticated apartments and homes in places like London, Paris, Dubai and New York. All Convair coolers provide unmatched cooling-to-power ratios - which translates into cooling-to-money ratio. Many manufacturers have tried to pass off inferior products that have damaged the reputation of the excellent technology behind evaporative coolers; some have sprayed water, some required ice and some were just so badly manufactured that they didn't work. Not Convair. Simply put, they work!