Pacific Energy

How Did Pacific Energy Start?

Paul Erickson was working at a metal fabrication company when he built a wood stove for his own basement in Duncan, British Columbia. Friends saw it and wanted stoves of their own, so he built them one at a time.^[1][3] It was 1978, oil prices were climbing, and Erickson made stove building his full-time work that year.^[4][1]

He learned as he went. In his words, “There was no textbook in 1978 on how to build a wood stove, so I just kind of winged it.”^[1] Two years later, in 1980, Pacific Energy brought out a wood stove with a glass door and an air wash to keep that glass clean. Hearth & Home called it the industry's first glass-front wood stove.^[1][3] The Pacific Energy name has been in use since February 1981, according to its U.S. trademark registration.^[9]

What Has Pacific Energy Built Into Its Stoves?

Most of Pacific Energy's ideas went into the steel firebox. In its own history, the company dates the floating firebox, built to cut metal fatigue, to 1983, and its spring-loaded trap-door ash removal system to 1984. In 1987, ahead of the EPA's new wood stove limits, it worked out a secondary burn system for stoves without a catalyst.^[4] Its current stoves still burn without a catalyst.^[20][18]

Extended Burn Technology, or EBT, arrived in 1998 on the Summit, the company's large stove, to stretch each load of wood by controlling the combustion air.^[4] The Pacific Summit name dates to April 1998 in the company's U.S. trademark filing.^[10] Today's version, EBT2, adjusts the secondary air automatically, based on the draft the chimney pulls.^[14] In 2024, Pacific Energy filed a U.S. patent application for a combustion system that controls primary and secondary air automatically.^[13]

Then there's the finish. Pacific Energy fires porcelain enamel onto steel in its own flow-through furnace, at more than 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.^[15] In 2018, Hearth & Home reported that it was North America's only hearth maker with an in-house porcelain enamel plant.^[1] That's where the colors on the Classic stoves come from. On the gas side, the company says it introduced a burner that could be switched between natural gas and propane in 1991, and a B-vent adapter for direct-vent fireplaces in 1992.^[4]

How Are Pacific Energy and Town & Country Related?

They're the same company. Town & Country Fireplaces is a brand of Pacific Energy Fireplace Products, launched in 2002 as its high-end line of gas fireplaces.^[3][5] The Town & Country Fireplaces trademark is registered to Pacific Energy Fireplace Products Ltd., at its Allenby Road address in Duncan, with first use dated July 29, 2002.^[11]

The idea grew out of a question. At the 1995 hearth expo in Las Vegas, architects and designers asked why every fireplace looked the same, and Pacific Energy answered with edge-to-edge glass and less hardware.^[1] Town & Country was the brainchild of Tom Pugh, who is credited with inventing the clean-face fireplace.^[2] Hearth & Home later called the first Town & Country models the industry's first clean-faced gas fireplaces, and Pacific Energy says they were the first with a flush hearth and no louvers.^[1][4] The company called the design Decorative Direct Vent, and Paul Erickson applied for a U.S. patent on it in 2003.^[4][12]

The family has grown since. True North, a value line of wood and pellet stoves, followed in 2010,^[1] and Elegant Electric, a line of electric fireplaces, in 2025.^[5] More in our Town & Country guide.

Who Owns Pacific Energy?

The Swedish heating group NIBE. In 2018, Pacific Energy was still privately held, with Paul Erickson as owner and president.^[1] Then NIBE bought 10 percent of the company early in 2021, then another 41 percent in July 2022, which made it the majority owner. The remaining 49 percent was set to follow in the first half of 2023.^[7] NIBE's 2023 annual report lists Pacific Energy Fireplace Products Ltd. as 100 percent owned.^[8]

At the time of the 2022 deal, Pacific Energy had about 170 employees and about CAD 50 million in yearly sales, and NIBE said Erickson and the management team would stay with the company.^[7]

Where Are Pacific Energy Stoves Made?

In Duncan, British Columbia, a city of about 5,000 in the Cowichan Valley on southern Vancouver Island, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Victoria.^[30] The company calls its products “Crafted in Canada,” and NIBE's 2023 annual report says Pacific Energy has complete production facilities in Canada.^[6][8]

In 2016, Pacific Energy had four facilities in the Duncan area and 200 employees, plus warehouses in Ontario, Quebec, and New Hampshire.^[3] By 2018, Hearth & Home described a 100,000-square-foot plant, sales that were about 85 percent North American, and the rest from Australia, Japan, and Eastern Europe.^[1] The company says most of its Duncan team has been there for an average of 18 years.^[6]

What Does Pacific Energy Make Today?

Wood stoves come first. The steel stoves come in three sizes, the Vista, the Super, and the Summit, each with a Classic version in porcelain enamel with legs.^[20][16] The Super 27HD is a heavy-duty Super with a thick steel top.^[21] The Alderlea T4, T5, and T6 wrap cast iron around a steel firebox, the design Pacific Energy introduced in 2006.^[4][22] The Neo 1.6 and Neo 2.5 are the contemporary stoves.^[23] The newest LE2 versions are certified to the EPA's 2020 standard at 1.6 grams of emissions per hour.^[18]

The Vista, Super, Summit, Alderlea T5, and Neo also come as wood inserts for an existing fireplace.^[17] The FP16, FP25, and FP30 are built-in, zero-clearance wood fireplaces.^[24] On the gas side, there's the Esprit L44 linear fireplace, the Tofino Z25 fireplace, and the Trenton, a cast-iron gas stove.^[25][26][27]

Can I Still Get Parts for an Older Pacific Energy?

Usually, yes. Pacific Energy is still building stoves in the same town, and its dealers order parts by model and serial number. Find the rating label on your stove or insert before you call; your manual shows where it is. Pacific Energy keeps an archive of older manuals going back to a Super 27 manual from 1984.^[19]

If you own a Pacific Energy gas fireplace sold between September 2006 and July 2007, check its gas valve. In 2008, American Flame recalled AF-4000 series valves, with date codes 0622 through 0718, that were installed in fireplaces from twelve brands, Pacific Energy among them. The free repair is a dealer test, and a new valve if the old one leaks gas when it's off.^[28][29]