FAFCO was founded in 1969 by Freeman A. Ford and Richard O. Rhodes. When the company was launched, the solar pool heating industry was based on expensive, difficult to install copper glass collectors. Despite significant drawbacks, copper glass collectors had dominated solar thermal heating for a 100 years. FAFCO's vision was to replace copper glass with inexpensive, easy to install polymer collectors. FAFCO's initial vision spawned an entire industry and, today, FAFCO is the oldest and largest producer of solar pool heating panels in the United States.

FAFCO has also applied our polymer expertise to thermal energy storage (TES). FAFCO TES systems allow customers to buy inexpensive off-peak electricity at night, store the energy and then use it to cool the building in the day when electricity costs peak. In addition to saving our customers money on HVAC costs, FAFCO TES systems allow utilities to reduce peak load saving the costs associated with building new capacity.

FAFCO's most recent research and development has led to the application of FAFCO's solar technology to it's newest product line of domestic solar hot water heaters.