I often hear the term P.E. stove bandied about

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Pacific Energy is a West Coast company, currently celebrating their 30th anniversary, headquartered in BC, Canada (just a few miles from my shop in Bellingham, WA). They're a huge player in Canada and the West Coast of the US, but US dealers become fewer and farther between as you travel Eastward. Too bad, because PE products, which are engineered to wring every last btu out of the softwood species we burn out here, reportedly produce mind-numbing results burning East Coast hardwoods. We've been a PE dealer for over 20 years, and the incidence of warranty claims is far lower than any other line we've ever carried. Several "heavy hitters" on this forum, including moderator BeGreen, have PE stoves.
 
Joe,

P. E. is short for Pacific Energy. They are the company. The stoves they make are the Summit, Vista, Pacific, Spectrum, Alderlea, and a few more.

I have the Insert version of the Summit. Like Tom said mind-numbing heat on hardwood. Good burn times on softwood too.
 
i have a summit and i am in mass... there is a east coast distributor in ny maybe chimneysweep can help but they are here
 
Got a dealer here on LI, Joe... you can swing by the next time you're down this way

http://www.ashwoodfireplace.com/webpages/index2.html

This is where my PE Pacific is coming from... next Tuesday
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Quality product manufactured only 10 miles from my doorstep. and if you are looking for work they never seem to stop hiring.

Makes me suspect about the wages and benefits though :blank:
 
I hear that they sneak'em in at night on a boat from China. Along with loads of Enviro Kodiaks :coolgrin:
 
sonnyinbc said:
if you are looking for work they never seem to stop hiring.

Makes me suspect about the wages and benefits though :blank:

same thing for Travis and Country here is Western Wa, alway's have adds in the classified's for sheetmetal workers and welders, I know they don't pay all that great though, most production places don't
 
BrotherBart said:
I hear that they sneak'em in at night on a boat from China. Along with loads of Enviro Kodiaks :coolgrin:

Hey BB: my clock reads 6:15 PDT so it must be about 9:15 PDT where you are? Up kinda late for a man of your age aren`t you?? :smirk:

Oh, ya, Japipe, those Kodiaks are also only manufactured only about 35 miles from my place. That`s why I bought one.!!
 
thechimneysweep said:
JP, PE has a dealer locator on their home page at http://www.pacificenergy.net/ (blue button, top of page).

Unfortunately for much of the Northeast, this dealer locator is next to useless. I think it just takes information from some trade groups or database because for New Hampshire it shows a lot of stove shops which are not PE dealers. I'm only aware of two maybe three PE dealers in NH and it lists almost 20.
 
Several shops are authorized to sell even though they don't have them on the floor. At least that's the case with the local stove shop.
 
PE was distributed in the east by the same outfit that distributed VC......they pretty much will sell to anybody....I assume things are different on the west coast where they are more popular, but they are certainly not big sellers here (in the east, in general).
 
Webmaster said:
PE was distributed in the east by the same outfit that distributed VC......they pretty much will sell to anybody....I assume things are different on the west coast where they are more popular, but they are certainly not big sellers here (in the east, in general).

Very popular here. Not so much the Enviro wood stoves or inserts. Funny, just re-reading my manual, and the enviro still makes reference to the "cat being engaged". Of course, they no longer make cat stoves. Man, but does this company have a marketing defiecincy or what?

However, I am a happy camper so far, this winter will be the real test. But you know, it is really gonna be hard to blow the horn for them when they are so much in defecit as far as marketing their product. Sad, really sad.
 
BeGreen said:
Several shops are authorized to sell even though they don't have them on the floor. At least that's the case with the local stove shop.

BG, that is probably the case but I went to four shops and got reactions from ranging from dumb looks, really dumb looks to "Oh, you don't want one of those, you should have the (VC, Jotul, Quad, Avalon, Hearthstone - pick one) that we sell".

I know that there is a distributor for PE in the NH Seacoast Region and that most shops can and often do buy from them as they distribute other lines as well but none of the shops I went to offered me that option, ( maybe not surprising if they didn't want any of the responsibilities they might carry with other lines.) But still it was a lot of effort that could have been saved with some better vetting on PE's part.
 
That's funny. I can hear them saying that. It could be that we get a lot better coverage on the West Coast. You're probably right. If PE wants to grow, they could do a better job promoting their product and checking out the dealers in some locales. It's not just east coast, the local shop is nothing like Tom's operation. When I told them I wanted a T6 the response was, "Whoa, that stove is way too big, we never sell any of those here.". (No wonder why. If they sell more than 1 PE a year I would be surprised.). When I asked - wouldn't it depend on the size of the house and insulation, the response was, "Well I suppose if you had a 5000 sq ft mansion you could get away with one.". Needless to say, end of conversation.
 
East coast owner, bought by a dealer less than 20 miles away. Mind ya, I wouldn't do anything with this dealer except the purchase.
I researched, and researched some more, made a list of my wants, needs and chose the one that came the closest.
Proud to have an Englander also. I have the best of both worlds and am smiling right now.
VC was a mere hint of a thought, and now I am even more glad of my decision. I need a company that will be around a while, same company covering their own warranty, if/when needed.
 
Thanks, BeGreen. I appreciate the kind words. In my 29 years as a player in the woodstove industry, I've heard countless consumer complaints about the lack of talented, educated help-desk personnel, dealers and salespeople in our industry. But the sad fact is, this is not a business that creates big-money opportunities that might attract and hold the Best and Brightest.

Most manufacturers rely upon their dealer network to field consumer inquiries, and have absolutely no control over how those inquiries are handled. And most of those dealers suffer from a similar lack of control, as they are faced with hiring and training new personnel at the beginning of each season, because they can't keep their people employed during the off-season months.

This is a business that involves deep knowledge of some pretty unique and specific packets of knowledge, and, sadly, the average woodstove store employee I've met simply isn't up to the challenge.

The best examples of how to play that I can come up with are Englander Stove Works and Woodstock Soapstone, who have both pretty much taken the dealership (and the undereducated new-hire) out of the picture. The participation of Englander's Mike Holton on this forum is a perfect example of what I'm talking about: the man knows his product, knows the answer to the question at hand, and responds to the inquirers' questions in such a way that they feel prepared to make an educated buying decision. This is not likely to happen when you call Bob's Brand New Woodstove Store, even if you talk to Bob.
 
Tom, how hard is it to change the glass in my Summit without breaking the new one? Are the clamps set to stop pre-breaking the glass, or is it a tighten with finesse type deal?
 
Hog, what are you doing up this time of night? No prob with the glass changeout, the clips are designed to let you bottom out with the mounting bolts without creating undue pressure on the neoceram. Your door had the 7/8" graphite-impregnated gasket as I recall, so you'll need a torx driver. Just make sure you use the N-34 high compression glass gasket, and you're golden.
 
thechimneysweep said:
Hog, what are you doing up this time of night? No prob with the glass changeout, the clips are designed to let you bottom out with the mounting bolts without creating undue pressure on the neoceram. Your door had the 7/8" graphite-impregnated gasket as I recall, so you'll need a torx driver. Just make sure you use the N-34 high compression glass gasket, and you're golden.

Ah haven't been sleeping well lately.
Check your PM.
 
JPapiPE said:
Burn-1 said:
Pacific Energy

Thank you Burn -1...It must be a pretty good stove if so many people sing it's praises, but I have never seen it sold on the east coast...or in maine where i do hang my hat

woodmans forge in nh is a big dealer and they carry all of the pacific energy stoves. also york county fireplace in the sanford airport plaza may have them. i know the previous owners of the store (which was york county stove shop) carried them and it was a big seller) what town you from jpapipe?
 
rich81 said:
woodmans forge in nh is a big dealer and they carry all of the pacific energy stoves.

Woodmans might be a distributor of the stoves but I have gone there at least twice a year for the past three years and have never seen Pacific Energy stoves on the showroom floor. I haven't been in a few months but they're not listed as a line they carry on their website.

Was it recently that you saw them there? It would be a big help because I like that shop.
 
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