QuardaFire Santa Fe

[smalltown]

This weekend my wife and I made one last swing around to stove dealers and we thought we were ready to purchase a Santa Fe pellet stove as the off season sale started and the local dealer
'beleived" the Santa Fe will qualify for the upconing tax rebate. We have a small living room and need a small stove to place in the corner. It came down to the Harman Advance, the Enviro Evolution and the Quadra Fire Santa Fe. The Harmon and the
Enviro looked like good stoves, but even with some off season sales prices they were no where close to the Santa Fe that can be had on sale for $1599.

My remaining issues are where the exhaust will exit the house just 48" away from the nearest window if we measure diagonaly downward from the window toward the exhaust. My dealer thinks I will be able to get by with a horizontal pipe only, but I have concerns about soot on the vinyl siding occuring. The dealer said those home that have soot are not taking care of there stoves as they should.

If I could I would run the pipe up the side of my home and above the roofline. I have a small cap cod style. Windows on the second floor prevent a pipe going straight. My only option would be to place a 45 degree to move the direction of the pipe to the left and then a 45 degree back to the right and then straight up to the roof. I think that might look a little goofy on the side of the house and might cause cleaning issues.

My idea was to ask the dealer to at least install the outside exhaust using 4" pipe in such a way that if I did get soot on the house I could easily modify the outside to extend the pipe upward approx 5' and also get some natural draft in time of commercial power failure. I also asked about using outside air and was surprised at how large the outside air assembly is on the exterior of the building when compared to a simple exhaust. I wonder if you can just bore a seperate hole and push a pipe throught for ouside air provided I keep it 1' away from the exhaust?

Lastly and this is the biggy!
last evening I searched the forum for any new info on the Santa Fe stove and was really discouraged to see some reports of hopper fires using this stove. Now I am tryinhg to decide if this was such a good idea after all! Would any Sants Fe owners please comment and any other users that have had hopper fires.

 

[peirhead]

I wouldn't be concerned over hopper fire issues...the Quad auger design is about as safe as they get even without the electronic safety features.....Quad Harman Enviro....like Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM and Chrysler...great products, well engineered.....each with their unique designs ....I'd like to have one of each!!

 

[malibuman00]

We have been very happy with our Santa Fe. Burned 3 tons through the stove this winter. My only suggestion is to make sure to follow the cleaning schedule. I think not following a cleaning schedule is why there have been hopper fires or problems with the stove. I remove all the baffles and clean the exhaust port monthly and also vacuum out the hopper.

 

[fluemasterjr]

I have dealt with quads for some time and have never herd of them having a hopper fire before. I have seen them start to burn up into the auger tube from lack of cleaning but have never seen it get to the hopper. Also I would not recommend just a horizontal venting, vertical rise is so much better!! you have to be 48" from the bottom and sides of an opening window or door but only one foot from the top of that window or door. off the top of my head the out side air kit for the Santa Fe is 3"x3".

 

[Raven20]

I also have a Santa Fe, Couldn't be happier....No hopper fires here....Mine is vented straight thru the wall, The tip of the cap is 12 inches from my siding, I have never seen soot on the siding, Your getting a 2200.00 stove for 1600.00?....I'd jump on that....These stoves are so easy to clean it takes me about 15 minutes and that's removing the baffle and the Firebrick....You won't be dissapointed if you buy one....

 

[jtp10181]

Hopper Fires, only happens when you neglect the stove, don't keep baffles and burn pot clean.

Why 4" pipe? At sea level you can go about 25 equivalent ft of vent using only 3". A vertical foot is only 1/2 equivalent feet. See the manual and it makes more sense. I see people wanting to use 4" all the time for no reason except they think its better.

Outside air, leaks like hell and wont be worth it unless the stove runs 24/7 when its cold outside. When not in use cold air will be dumping in and the line will condensate and ice up.

 

[Raven20]

I don't use a OAK either, No need for it, Mine is vented with 3" pipe and does very well

 

[www_godzilla]

I have a Sante Fe. I LOVE this stove. It is so easy to operate. The biggest thing is to clean the stove occasionally. A clean stove is a safe stove. I vent horizontally back,through the wall and 12 inches from my vinyl side. I do not go up at all. Living in the city,I never lose my power. If you lose power occasionally,then go out and up at least 3 feet. I have an OAK(Outdoor Air Kit). I recommend them a lot. I also have a corner installation and windows on either side. Direct venting kits(3 inch pipe is all you need below 5,000 feet) will allow you to be within18 inches of the windows. The person who installs them came by and told me I was fine and up to code. As far as cleaning.....it is very easy to clean. This a good stove to own and operate. ALSO...buy a 1 inch wide wood chisel to scrape the fire pot. The one that comes with it sucks. Make your own hearth pad too. It's cheaper to do it by yourself and surprisingly easy.

 

[smalltown]

The reason I was thinking of the 4” pipe was just in case in the future I need to extend the pipe upward that I would not need to go to the 4” size if I already had it installed to the outside of the house. As for the outside air I was thinking that it would give me more wiggle room to locate the exhaust if I neeed to come close to the window and I thought without it I was drawing a lot of heated room air into the stove and out the exhaust.

I am encouraged to read that people are not having problems with your stoves.

 

[www_godzilla]

Is it a corner installation?

 

[smalltown]

Yes a corner installation.

 

[www_godzilla]

I have a corner instalation with windows on either side from the corner at approximately 39 inches either way. I used a direct vent kit. It is code and legal. Where in western Maine are you?

 

[jtp10181]

I was told by Quad that only the Mt Vernon AE was tested for closer window clearances with the OAK, the other units still needed the 48" even if an OAK is installed.

 

[gcugg]

If you use an outside air supply that will reduce your clearance to a window to 12". You should definitely go vertical. After coming out of the house horizontal, use a 3" to 4" tee w/cleanout, then go vertical with 4" pipe (it will give a better flow).

If you just come out horizontal you'll get soot on the siding. Every time a pellet stove ignites it will smoke, during the course of a season this happens many times and this is what will cause the soot, not improper cleaning.

Harman XXV

 

[jtp10181]

If you use an outside air supply that will reduce your clearance to a window to 12".

Is this a national code or something? Please show me or point me to this info. We would like to reduce clearances with the OAK but Quad told us only the Mt Vernon AE is tested that way. Check any quad manual except the Mt Vernon AE and they do not mention anythig about reducing clearances with the OAK.

 

[smalltown]

This is a partial section right from the Harman company web site in the stove manual for the Harman Advance.
" B. The clearance to a window or door that may be opened must be a minimum of 48" to the side, 48" below the window/door, and 12" above the window/door.1
(with outside air installed, 18” below or beside, and 9" above.)
C. A 12" clearance to a permanently closed window is recommended to prevent condensation on the window.

Hope that helps.

godzilla I am located just west of Lewiston.

 

[www_godzilla]

I have a horizontal only exhaust. I have NO soot,ash or anything on my vinyl siding.

 

[jtp10181]

This is a partial section right from the Harman company web site in the stove manual for the Harman Advance.
" B. The clearance to a window or door that may be opened must be a minimum of 48" to the side, 48" below the window/door, and 12" above the window/door.1
(with outside air installed, 18” below or beside, and 9" above.)
C. A 12" clearance to a permanently closed window is recommended to prevent condensation on the window.

Hope that helps.

Vent clearances are specified in individual unit manuals. As you stated that's for a Harman unit, not a Quad Santa Fe. You cannot apply vent clearances from one manual to all pellet stoves. That example shows how they can be different for different units. The Mt Vernon AE can be 12" with the OAK and this Harman unit can only be 18" with the OAK.

 

[gcugg]

Hey Jtp,

I Got this info directly from a Quad dealer. I've put in a call to him to see if he can get me the source. Can't guarantee he'll get back to me as I ended up buying a Harman from another dealer. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[jtp10181]

I am a Quad dealer and I got my info from the Quadrafire pellet technical specialist. I know the source of your dealers info, he made it up based off the Mt Vernon AE manual. We were about to do the same thing but I called Quad to check and they consulted for a little while and got back to me. Only the AE can be reduced to 12" using the OAK, all other quad pellet units are 48" no matter what.

 

[smalltown]

JTP got to agree with you on the OAK. I had thought it was a national code as I recall seeing it before with other pellet stoves. I looked over the Santa Fe instructions backwards and forwards and 48" is the closest.

 

[gcugg]

Jtp-

Do you happen to know the reason why all other Quads have to be 48"?

As far as the dealer goes, can't say I thought that much of them, especially when they told me no discounts or specials were running then I found out there was a discount on going. I'm glad I went with the Harman and my dealer "The Stove Place" was very helpful.

 

[jtp10181]

Do you happen to know the reason why all other Quads have to be 48"?

Cause they were not tested for anything closer. If they do a redesign on any of the units I suspect they would test for closer clearances with the OAK, but as of right now those units have not changed in a long time and they probably don't want to re-test them just for that.