Santa Fe vs Accentra in subjective heat output?

I had a Santa Fe and it seemed its efficiency was lower when I burnt it along side of a Bixby. It ate more pellets for the heat output. Not a true OAK. It got a new home. Had a weak fan in low(hacked that) Accentra I believe is a hot bodied stove radiating some heat. I am sure I'll catch some heat for this post. I think its a very good beginners stove. I just like something that can run for extended time without fussing. (manual pot dump)

Bio burners is kind of right. The Sante Fe was my first stove, I had the insert model. The stove is well made and I like the looks of it and had it for 7 years. It save me a lot on the oil bill but when it got real cold I would have to go on the Dino Juice. The 52i blast heat and reminds me of when I had a wood stove insert. I really like the way the harman controls the room temp, once it reaches set temp it goes into a Maint. Burn which uses very few pellets and doesn't cycle the igniter like the quad. It can be run in many differant ways.Also like the bottom feed a lot less noise and more even burn. The sante Fe was bullet proof and good price. But the harman is a serious mega blaster also radiates heat like a wood stove and it was 21 last night and stayed off the Dino juice. Good luck

I agree the low setting is rather lackluster. I use it for 50+ outside temp really only. There is tradeoffs with every stove. I like the sante fe for its simplicity. Harmans are nice but you definitely pay more.

My Santa Fe does really good and gets really hot. One morning we had 25 below zero and it still kept the house around 66.

I'm starting my 3rd season with a Santa Fe insert. Haven't had any serious issues with it except when it was new, the thermocouple wire wasn't all the way in the ceramic housing and it wouldn't stay running. I was rescued by some knowledgable members on this forum and I fixed it. What I like about it is it doesn't seem to care what pellet it uses, the heat is about the same. I'm talking Green Supreme vs Vermonts. The Vermonts are less ashy and I paid $78 more per ton for them, $197 vs $275. What I don't like about it is I understand an OAK really won't work on this stove and I really think this would be a benefit for me. It also has 3 heat settings, but is generally unreliable on the lowest setting. I am still a newbee with pellet stoves, but this is my opinion on this stove. Hope this helps.

Hello

I have a SanteFe for my shed and it works better on a T-Stat. I can flip a switch in my house that turns on the Shed T-Stat that fires the Sante Fe so it is toastie when I go out to work in there.

Also have to P61a-2 stoves in the house. Just like the old Sunoco jingle "Make's your car start like it is summer tome/" The harmans make your house "Feel like it is Summer Time"

I do keep it on high because it is heating the whole house. No, the feed rate isn't all the way open. During the coldest of days I might go through 1.5 or so bags in a day. Sometimes it gets so hot its hard to stand in front of it. Now I wouldn't recommend a Santa Fe for a home above 1500 square feet .. mine is 1450 and we stay nice and warm. If its zero outside and the thermo is set to 72, the stove will stay on continuously and keep the house around 70-71 consistently. I guess i'm very happy with my Santa Fe, everyone will have a different experience I guess..

Can't speak to the Sante Fe, but the air coming out of my Harman is always warm...

I have both a SantaFe and a Castile. I don't have a problem with heat. Make a difference with the pellets that I burn. Heating 1500 Sq. Ft with one and 900 with the other.

what pellets are you burning? that's very likely the problem.

What I don't like about it is I understand an OAK really won't work on this stove and I really think this would be a benefit for me.>


I will never understand this thinking. The ash box does not need to be sealed. tight, the stove will pull outside air from the nearby oak over depressurizing the house and pulling air through minute cracks in the house envelope.

maineah1214 said:

My Santa Fe is keeping my house @ low 70s at night (low 20s) on medium. I agree that I would prefer the maintenance burn you speak of. Seems like it would be more even. Live and learn I guess. Gonna see how it does this winter and if it doesn't cut it, I'll be looking at a P43.

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I like my P43, but wish I had the extra cash at the time to go one size up. If you can afford it do it. I had my 1000sq.ft. cape cod at 75 last night and it was 30 outside. I run in stove temp mode, around medium setting.

well, if you're burning oakies (and I see now you said that in the first post.. oops), that's probably not the problem. It should be pretty hot on medium.

Comparing the Sante Fe to the Accentra or a Bixby is apples vs oranges. You bought a 30,000 btu MAX output stove so if you need 80% x 30,000 or 24,000 btu's continuously to keep your house warm, then accept the fact that you must keep it running on high and feeding enough pellets to create those btu's. There's really no magic involved. Just make sure you don't overfire the stove. Set the flame height on HIGH to the recommended average height and that's all you're getting safely. The stove will run on high 24/7 without a problem if you don't over fire.

If you need more btu's, then, like some of the others did, consider selling the stove and upgrading. I have an OAK on one of my stoves but can't really tell if it helps or not since the thing's really not sealed up very well. I did put some high temp silicone sealant in strategic places to dam up some of the openings.

Oh, and the air temperature coming out of the vents is NOT a true indicator of how many btu's the stove is putting out because it also depends on the CFM being put out at that temperature. If the air is blowing slowly, it has more time to pick up heat and will feel hotter even though fewer btu's might actually be coming out of the stove. About a year ago I did a series of tests on my Castile showing temps and flow rates for each tube before and after modifications. Search and ye shall find.

On my Santa Fe, it doesn't run continuously .. it turns on and off many times during the day. Only exception would be if it was 0 out.

Vinelife said:

On my Santa Fe, it doesn't run continuously .. it turns on and off many times during the day. Only exception would be if it was 0 out.

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Same here. I usually run it on medium or high but, like you, it cycles on and off with the thermostat. I only run it if it's below 40 outside when the heat pumps start really getting less efficient. I wired my convection blower to always run on high to get the most efficiency out of the stove with good turbulent flow.