Quadrafire or Englander

niteshiftfromkc · Nov 21, 2015

Hello all,

I was looking into getting the pellet stove last year, but due to medical issues I wasn't able to get one in. I am looking at getting either a Quadrafire Classic Bay 1200 or the Englander 25-EP. I would like to find out what recommendations/issues any of you can give me for these two models. If there is another brand/model in the price range of these two that may be better I will take a look at them as well.

As far as my setup is concerned. I have a chimney that is centrally located in my house. I just put in a 4" SS flexible liner kit into it for the pellet stove. (chimney was right at 29') Putting in an outside air kit will not be possible due to the location, unless it is safe to run 2" schedule 40 pvc down the same flue with the liner. The vent line from the stove will be double wall pipe until it goes into the single wall liner in the chimney.

As far as drawing air from inside the house for the combustion air, can I put some sort of filter on the air intake to keep dust out of the unit? We do have pets and with our old wood stove with the blower it would get quite a bit of hair and dust in the blower unit that needed to be cleaned out.

Thanks for the help.

bcarton · Nov 21, 2015

I'm pretty sure that all Englander stoves require an OAK, so you'll want to check the install manual for that. Otherwise, there are plenty of happy users of both stoves on the forum here.

titanracer · Nov 21, 2015

I'm going to try and explain the difference, the easiest as I can. It comes down to quality, cost & maintenance. When I say maintenance, I mean as far as everyday daily cleaning. This doesn't always mean the replacing of parts because of breakage and or wearing out of parts. All things will eventually wear out & parts will need replaced.

Quadrafire - is a BMW - Excellent quality, higher cost, less maintenance ( this level will also include Harmans, Whit's and a lot our top brand stove's.
Englander - is a Average Car - Middle of the road on quality, cost & little more maintenance required
Anything less (USSC) -is a UGO - less quality, cheaper & will require even more maintenance

It all comes down to what you want to spend, how you want it to look & how much time you want to put into it.
As you can see in my signature below, I own a UGO, because all I wanted was a heat alternative vs. gas/oil. I didn't care what it look like, I didn't want to spend a lot of money and thru the winter time, I become a hermit crab because of the coldness. With that being said, I have no where to go, so cleaning the stove does not bother me for the great heat & warmth I get back out of it. It kind a makes you appreciate, what you got. The more maintenance, the more I learn how what I have, ticks. Yes, oil may be cheaper right now at this time, but I would not have this bone warming heat from oil & or gas, as I can get from burning wood pellets, or more labor, chopping wood, which I don't choose to do either. Hope this helps you out on your decision.

Wilbur Feral · Nov 22, 2015

First, no go on the schedule 40 PVC i side a chimney. Not safe. However, if the termination of your SS liner is at least 12" above the top of the chimney, an alternative is to either run another 2" metal liner up and terminate with a cap made to accommodate exhaust and OAK.

Some also just draw OAK air from the open space of the chimney by inserting a metal OAK tube a couple of feet into the empty chimney. However, if any other combustion appliances use that chimney - even with a separate flue - you may not want to do this as there is a danger of drawing those fumes back into the home.

niteshiftfromkc · Nov 22, 2015

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I wasn't too clear on the OAK. My chimney has two separate clay tile flue liners that both run the full length of the 35' chimney. I have the new 4" liner down one flue and the other flue has never been used. I was thinking of using the flue that has never been used to run the piping down. If I shouldn't use pvc, can I use the flexible aluminum like what is used for dryer vents to run down the secondary flue? Or what about using HVAC round pipe? I am just trying to keep the cost down as the 4" SS liner wasn't cheap.

Is there really a necessity to run the OAK for the unit? My old wood burner drew air from the inside of the house as it didn't have the ability for an OAK.

Dwig · Nov 22, 2015

niteshiftfromkc said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess I wasn't too clear on the OAK. My chimney has two separate clay tile flue liners that both run the full length of the 35' chimney. I have the new 4" liner down one flue and the other flue has never been used. I was thinking of using the flue that has never been used to run the piping down. If I shouldn't use pvc, can I use the flexible aluminum like what is used for dryer vents to run down the secondary flue? Or what about using HVAC round pipe? I am just trying to keep the cost down as the 4" SS liner wasn't cheap.

Is there really a necessity to run the OAK for the unit? My old wood burner drew air from the inside of the house as it didn't have the ability for an OAK.

Aluminum is fine. I made an OAK out of a 3 inch dryer vent - super cheap and works perfectly.

sante fe · Nov 22, 2015

titanracer said:
I'm going to try and explain the difference, the easiest as I can. It comes down to quality, cost & maintenance. When I say maintenance, I mean as far as everyday daily cleaning. This doesn't always mean the replacing of parts because of breakage and or wearing out of parts. All things will eventually wear out & parts will need replaced.

Quadrafire - is a BMW - Excellent quality, higher cost, less maintenance ( this level will also include Harmans, Whit's and a lot our top brand stove's.
Englander - is a Average Car - Middle of the road on quality, cost & little more maintenance required
Anything less (USSC) -is a UGO - less quality, cheaper & will require even more maintenance

I agree with the above post, I have owned a Quad it was my first stove and now have a Harman. I would recommend a Harman, I know people who have the englander and have seen them, Guess its all what works for you , but there is a differance.

wildbill · Nov 22, 2015

go with the stove that looks good to you and fits your needs, I spent a lot of time looking and reading up and went with a harman, actually two harman stoves, one is an insert and the other is a free standing, what really matters is having a good dealer for support and parts , you don't want a cheaper stove from a bbs who cant help if a prob comes up and having to find parts from some stove made in china or something, do your research and go with a good dealer, if your looking for used then get a top brand so parts are readily available should you need, harman has a chimney cap that has a oak built in and a couple other company's do too, good luck and let us know what you end up with

Wilbur Feral · Nov 23, 2015

Will your stove "run" without an OAK? Probably, and just fine. But you will be operating far less efficiently as you're using air you already heated for combustion. Rather wasteful.

OhioBurner© · Nov 24, 2015

I'm not sure how similar/different the 25-EP and 25-PAH (like I have) are but my PAH has issues pushing the exhaust up such a tall chimney. Unless something is wrong with the stove, my only guess is my venting is to blame for the poor performance. And I'm only going up about 15'. Your DOUBLE that, I'm not sure if that is a good idea with any pellet stove, but probably a stretch for an Englander at least.

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