Quadra Fire Santa Fe vs Castile; Noise & Maintainance

[Alan]

I'm looking at both the free standing Santa Fe & Castile. Noise & Maintainance issues are of a concern of mine.

Is there and noise difference between the two? I'm thinking that the Castile might be quieter since is has a partial cast iron shell that might dampen some if the noise --- true or not?

Any maintainance issues between the two, such as access & removing of the motors without having to disconnect the stove from the exhaust piping to gain back access? Cleaning differences?

The one thing the Santa Fe has over the Castile is hopper capacity; 52 lbs vs. a rather small 40 lbs for the Castile.

Thanks, Alan

 

[www_godzilla]

I have the Sante Fe. Both stoves are almost identical mechanically. The Castille has a shell that is cast iron. While the Sante Fe has a steel shell. Plus the Sante fe has a 52 lb hopper capacity. The issues you are worried about(noise) is minimal in the Sante Fe. I find it very easy to clean and take apart. Practice makes perfect. Looks are another factor. They look totally different. The price is probably $400-600 more for the Castille. I went with the Sante fe because of the $ and the hopper capacity. Both stoves are very good looking.

 

[Shortstuff]

I have the Sante Fe. Both stoves are almost identical mechanically. The Castille has a shell that is cast iron. While the Sante Fe has a steel shell. Plus the Sante fe has a 52 lb hopper capacity. The issues you are worried about(noise) is minimal in the Sante Fe. I find it very easy to clean and take apart. Practice makes perfect. Looks are another factor. They look totally different. The price is probably $400-600 more for the Castille. I went with the Sante fe because of the $ and the hopper capacity. Both stoves are very good looking.

I have the Castile and can say the very same about mine as well. Noise is minimal, cleaning is not very difficult at all and knowing that it only has a 40 lb. hopper, we adjusted our refill habits to accomodate it. Mechanically, as he said they are identical. This is our first year with the Castile and it has been operating since October with exactly ZERO problems, absolutely flawlessly so with either stove you will be pleasantly surprised.

Our stove operates on a programable thermostat and has been on medium (of the Hi/Low/Med) since day one, even on below zero °F days and it has easily kept our house at the right temperature.

Steve

 

[Raven20]

Alan, How much space are you trying to heat?

 

[Alan]

There is an exhaust difference between the Castile & the Santa Fe.

If you remove the right brick to vacume out the exhaust venting opening on the Castile, you can see the fan blades & can brush them off & clean it as well.

On the Santa Fe, the fan blades are offset to the left of the opening. While I was able to stick my small hand in the exhaust vent opening & could feel the blade off to the left inside of the opening, there wasn't enough room to be able to clean them. It leads me to believe the fan must be offset & with a slightly different exhaust path between the two.

The only way I could see to clean the Santa Fe fan blades was to remove the motor from the rear. It also appeared to me that there wasn't enought clearance on the upper rear panel of the Sante Fe to actually pull the motor out without also removing the upper rear panel...which also meant disconnecting the stove pipe!! Are my observations correct?? If so, The Castile would be easier to service.

Thanks, Alan

PS: The area I'm trying to heat is about 1000 sq Feet downstairs (where the stove is) & 400 sq feet upstairs. I currently have a stove rated at 48K BTU, but because there is a smoke leak at high heat settings, I've only been setting it to half the maximum pellet feed rate. It heats steady state just fine at that setting. I therefore think the 30K BTU spec on these two models should be OK. I'm also looking at the 35.5K BTU Austroflamm Visio. I've got space limitations to deal with.... Also I'm in Northern California & while we get some nights that can drop below freezing, it's rarely below 40-50 degrees during the day. Last week, before our long-needed rains came, we got to 70 degrees during the day...much above the yearly average.

 

[stoveguy13]

both will do a good job i would go with the santa fe from a hoper cap. stand point and if you like the looks but both are just fine you can give the santa fe a good clean from the inside as well most of the time

 

[Augmister]

I have TWINS.... Castilles. I wish they had more than the 40lb capacity but the older one is three years old and runs just fine. Of course, I do a complete cleaning after burning a ton of pellets. Both like the Tiny Timbers and the Green Team from Lowe's. The three year old runs on a Lux programmable thermostat, which I highly recommend. I am heating just over 800 sq ft and it does a nice job. The "baby" is in a yet to be finished loft above the garage and next season will prove to be its maiden voyage.

 

[Frustrated]

I just took my Santa Fe back to the dealer and got my money back today. I bought a lemon from our local dealer. Quad Fire Customer service was terrible. They wouldn't swap out another stove. I had the service tech replace the auger motor three times and a the whole assembly one time in a four month span. The stove worked fine until about the 17 cycle and it would make a metal on metal grinding noise that would last for 5-6 seconds. After four months of listening to this and not getting any resolve, I returned it.

I sure hope you get it fixed soon, and not have to listen to it for four months!

 

[tjnamtiw]

I have both, but they are inserts. First of all, don't listen to 'Frustrated' as he has already had his chance to prove his incompetence in both installation and operation'. Inserts are another animal as far as access goes but both are equally challenging! As for noise, because the cast iron outer door on the Castile partially impedes air flow, I think that it is noisier than the Sante fe. I, as well as others, open the door when operating as long as 'looks' don't enter into the equation, if you know what I mean. ;-)