RSF

How Did RSF Start?

It started in British Columbia. RSF Energy built its wood fireplaces in the northern part of the province,^[25] and a Canadian parts dealer and a wood-smoke blog both place it in Smithers.^[32][33] The letters RSF stand for Renewable Solid Fuel.^[17] We couldn't confirm who founded RSF Energy or when, so we've left that out.

The company that owns RSF today came from the chimney side of the business. Industrial Chimney Company, or ICC, was founded in 1991 by partners with more than 75 years of combined experience in the chimney industry.^[3] Hearth & Home magazine names them: Ray Bonar, a hearth products distributor in western Canada, and Doug Singer and Andre Bibaud, two engineers from Security Chimney.^[25]

Bonar and Singer liked the idea of a built-in fireplace that heated like a wood stove, and each put an RSF Opel in his own home. When the RSF line came up for sale, ICC bought it.^[25] By December 1998, ICC's website was selling RSF Energy fireplaces from its own address in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec,^[23] and calling RSF Energy a maker of “high-technology, high-efficiency, clean-burning wood hearth products.”^[22] Hearth & Home dates ICC's move of the RSF operation from northern British Columbia to Quebec to 2001.^[25]

Several models from those years are still remembered. In 2004, RSF's website showed the Opel, Onyx, Delta, Topaz, and Oracle, and the Opel was EPA certified at 3.7 grams an hour with its optional catalytic combustor.^[24] RSF says Popular Science magazine recommended the Opel.^[20][9] RSF's 2013 catalog quotes Doug Singer as its president,^[20] and that June RSF released the Focus ST, Focus 250, and Focus 320.^[5] RSF's catalog says its later Delta Fusion won a Vesta Award for best new hearth product,^[19] and Hearth & Home reported it was the first product tested and listed to the EPA's single-burn-rate standard.^[25]

What Makes an RSF Different From an Open Fireplace?

An open fireplace is mostly for looks. The EPA says most of the heat from a fireplace goes out the chimney, that fireplaces don't burn as cleanly as an EPA-certified wood stove, and that the EPA doesn't regulate or certify them.^[30]

An RSF works the other way. It's a closed fireplace, built into the wall, that RSF says performs like a wood stove.^[17] The EPA agrees on paper: its database lists RSF's fireplaces as wood stoves, certified to the 2020 standard for new wood heaters.^[28] That standard allows 2.0 grams of particulate an hour when a heater is tested with crib wood, or 2.5 grams with cord wood.^[29] RSF's Opel Plus fireplaces are certified at 0.7 grams, the Focus SBR at 1.4, and the Focus 3600 and Pearl 3600 at 1.7.^[28][2]

RSF gets there two ways.^[17] The Opel Plus fireplaces are catalytic. The EPA describes a catalyst as a coated ceramic honeycomb that the smoky exhaust passes through, where the smoke is burned.^[31] RSF's manual says its catalyst lights the creosote-forming gases in smoke at much lower temperatures, so you get less creosote and more heat at low and medium burn rates.^[21] Catalysts do wear out: the EPA says one can last more than six seasons with proper use, or break down in as little as two years without cleaning and care.^[31] The Focus and Pearl fireplaces are non-catalytic, with a secondary burn system instead.^[17][28]

The Focus SBR adds RSF's Smart BurnRate, a heat-activated air control. As the fireplace heats up, it closes down the air on its own, with no electricity, and RSF says it burns as little as half the wood a conventional stove does in the first two hours.^[17][13]

One RSF is different. The see-through Focus ST falls under the EPA rule's definition of a fireplace, so it isn't regulated as a wood heater,^[14] and RSF lists it as a decorative fireplace.^[2]

What Does RSF Make Today?

Wood fireplaces, and one wood insert.^[2][12]

The Opel Plus family is RSF's catalytic line, and the EPA lists it as the Opel+ 2C, Opel+ 3C, and Opel+ Keystone.^[28][21] The Opel 3 Plus has a single door,^[10] and the Opel Plus Keystone takes its name from an interchangeable keystone facing that comes as a semi-clean look or a full faceplate.^[8] All three are rated to heat 1,500 to 3,000 square feet on a 7-inch chimney.^[2]

The Focus SBR is the non-catalytic heater with Smart BurnRate, rated for 1,000 to 2,000 square feet.^[13] The Focus 3600 and Pearl 3600 are the compact pair. Their 2.04-cubic-foot fireboxes are about the size of an average wood stove's, they heat 800 to 1,500 square feet on a 6-inch chimney, and both are approved for mobile and manufactured homes.^[11][15] The Focus has a contemporary look,^[11] and the Pearl has arched glass and what RSF calls a rustic, yet refined style.^[15] The Pearl 3600 was first shown at the 2020 HPBExpo.^[5]

The Focus 3600i is RSF's first fireplace insert, built to go into an existing fireplace and vent through a 6-inch liner.^[12] It isn't in RSF's March 2023 catalog and is in the 2025 one.^[18][17] The Focus ST is the see-through, with a glass door on each side, room for 20-inch logs, and heat for up to 1,000 square feet.^[14]

RSF backs its fireplaces with a 30-year limited warranty.^[15][14]

Can an RSF Fireplace Heat the Whole House?

Many can. RSF builds its fireplaces to send heat beyond the room they're in. A central heat blower can push warm air through dedicated ducts or into your furnace's ductwork, and a zone kit can split it among up to three areas, each with its own control.^[7] Some RSF models, the Opel among them, use a bimetal damper that works like a furnace thermostat, closing down the air at the start of a burn and opening it at the end so the heat stays even.^[7][21] The central heating option isn't available on the Pearl 3600, Focus 3600, or Focus ST.^[8]

A few practical points matter when you plan one. Every RSF fireplace is zero clearance, so it can sit right on the floor and be framed into the wall, and it uses a stainless steel chimney, so you don't need a brick one.^[4] The fireplaces are certified with ICC's own EXCEL chimney.^[11][13] And because RSF fireplaces run on natural draft, they keep heating in a power outage.^[4]

Who Owns RSF?

Industrial Chimney Company Inc. of Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, does.^[21] RSF is a division of ICC,^[17] and ICC says it has been privately owned and operated since 1991.^[1] In 2016, its three founders were still its active owners, and as the company grew, key employees had been made partners, for a dozen partners active in running it.^[25] Ray Bonar was co-chairman of ICC's board in 2022,^[27] and his son, Dan Bonar, was vice president.^[26]

ICC makes chimneys and venting as well as fireplaces.^[3] Its other fireplace brand is Renaissance Fireplaces, which ICC began designing and building in 2008.^[26] The two brands share a company, a website, and a dealer locator,^[4][16] but they're built for different jobs. Ray Bonar told Hearth & Home that Renaissance fireplaces were designed as clean-burning conventional fireplaces, never as heating units.^[25] The Renaissance story has its own page: Renaissance.

Where Are RSF Fireplaces Made?

In Saint-Jérôme, Quebec. RSF's catalog and manuals give ICC's address there,^[17][21] and Hearth & Home reported in 2016 that every ICC product is made in the company's 120,000-square-foot factory and headquarters in the city.^[25] ICC says the plant, on more than 20 acres, runs around the clock, and that it employs about 200 people.^[3]

Can I Still Get Parts for an Older RSF?

Usually, yes. ICC still builds RSF fireplaces, and your first stop is the dealer who sold you yours.^[4] RSF keeps owner's manuals for its past fireplaces online, including the Chameleon, Oracle 2, Onyx, Delta, Delta Fusion, Topaz, Focus 250, the original Pearl, and the Opel AP, Opel 2000, Opel 2 and 3, and Opel 2C and 3C.^[6] Some wear parts, like door gaskets, are sold as kits.^[8] Find the model and serial number on your fireplace's label before you call.

We also checked for recalls. When we searched the CPSC and Health Canada recall databases in November 2026, we found none naming RSF or ICC fireplaces.^[34][35]