Fireplaces in Victoria BC: Gas, Wood and Electric
Pacific Fireplaces sells, installs and services gas, wood and electric fireplaces, inserts and stoves across Greater Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula. Most of what we install is built here: Enviro, Urbana and Uptown fireplaces come out of Sherwood Industries in Central Saanich, a few minutes from our showroom on Keating Cross Road, where the gas units are burning and the wood and electric units are set up to compare. We have done this since 2000, and the technicians who install a fireplace are the ones who service it afterwards.
Gas, wood or electric: what actually decides it
The fuel is usually settled by the house before it is settled by taste. Three questions cover most of it: is there gas at the house, is there a chimney, and how much heat do you want from the fireplace.
Gas fireplaces and inserts
Natural gas or propane, a vent to the outside, and a switch or remote. A gas insert slides into an existing masonry fireplace and turns an open hearth that loses heat into a sealed, efficient heater. A zero-clearance gas fireplace goes into a framed wall where there was nothing before. Gas is what we install most often. It suits the many houses that already have a gas line, the heat is immediate, and most models keep running during a power outage. Gas fireplaces in Victoria.
Wood fireplaces and stoves
Wood needs a chimney, either an existing masonry one that is lined and in good shape, or a new insulated chimney through the roof. A modern EPA-certified stove or insert runs at 71 to 83 percent efficiency, burns a fraction of the wood an old open fireplace did, and heats with no electricity at all, which is why wood stoves sell well on the Peninsula every time the power goes out. We install to WETT standards with WETT-certified technicians. Wood fireplaces and inserts · Wood stoves.
Electric fireplaces
An electric fireplace needs an outlet and nothing else: no gas line, no vent, no chimney, so it goes into a bedroom, a condo or a basement wall where gas and wood cannot. The flame effect runs on its own, and the built-in heater is a room heater of about 1,500 watts, enough to take the chill off one room, not a whole house. If you want a fireplace mainly for the look, or in a room that can never be vented, electric is the honest answer. Electric fireplaces.
Insert, built-in or freestanding
- Insert. Fits inside an existing fireplace opening. Gas, wood or electric. The usual choice for a house with an old brick fireplace that gets no use.
- Zero-clearance (built-in) fireplace. Framed into a wall as part of a renovation or new build, then finished with tile, stone or drywall. Gas or wood.
- Freestanding stove. Sits on the floor on its own hearth pad, vents up or out the wall. Puts the most heat into a room for its size. Gas or wood.
Brands we carry
Gas: Enviro and Urbana, both built in Central Saanich, plus Napoleon. We are the largest Enviro and Urbana dealer on Vancouver Island.
Wood: Blaze King, Osburn, Valcourt and Enviro.
Electric: Dimplex and Uptown. Pacific Fireplaces started in 2000 as a Dimplex-only dealer and is the authorized Dimplex warranty and repair centre for the southern Island.
Installed and serviced by the same people
Our gas installs are done by licensed gasfitters and our wood installs by WETT-certified technicians, and the same crew does the annual service and the repairs afterwards. Gas fireplaces we sell and install carry a 10-year parts and labour warranty. If an existing fireplace is not lighting, not staying lit or smelling wrong, that is a repair call; if it just has not been looked at in a few years, book a gas fireplace service.
Rebates, briefly
There is no BC rebate for a gas fireplace. The provincial wood-stove exchange only exists where a local program runs it, and the Capital Regional District does not run one, so there is no wood rebate in Greater Victoria right now either. Heat pumps are the one thing with real money behind them; see current BC heat pump rebates.
See them burning in Saanichton
Specifications only get you so far. Our fireplace store and showroom at 2205 Keating Cross Road has gas fireplaces burning and wood and electric units on the floor, about 20 minutes from downtown Victoria. If you would rather we came to you, book a free estimate or call (250) 544-6769.
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