Thoughts on Quadrafire - end of season 1

[DexterDay]

My Quad salesman was like a used car dealer. Never asked how big my house was, lead me to the MT AE, 3000 sq ft plus stove.
My house is 1500 sq ft. All the special features turned me off, trouble. He dropped me there, so I looked around and found the stove that suited me.

For some reason the small Quads and the one large AE seem to have all the problems.

The CB 1200 is a no frills and no thrills stove. That has been on the market for awhile. But it can KICK out the heat, and that's not even putting it on HIGH. Probably the most user friendly and highest output stove on the market. IMO. Don't hear a lot of "burn" problems for this model either. Just turn it on and go.

Having owned a Quad 1200 and Harman P61A, I can say that the Harman was the better stove hands down. The 1200 had all manner of strange design aspects, from the multi latch door, snap discs, heat exchangers that were shielded from flames, a giant glass expanse that would cloud up in a day, etc etc. the P61 reminds me of the Russian T-34: not pretty, but it was simple, rugged, you could beat the heck out of it and it would still run, and it got the job done. My 1200 simply could not put out enough heat to keep my house warm.

Do you think the 61000 BTU against the 47000 BTU had anything to do with it lol.

14,000 more BTU's is a lot. And also note where I said user friendly. Harman is not the most complicated stove, but deg not the set and forget simplicity of a Quad.

 

[richg]

My Quad salesman was like a used car dealer. Never asked how big my house was, lead me to the MT AE, 3000 sq ft plus stove.
My house is 1500 sq ft. All the special features turned me off, trouble. He dropped me there, so I looked around and found the stove that suited me.

For some reason the small Quads and the one large AE seem to have all the problems.

The CB 1200 is a no frills and no thrills stove. That has been on the market for awhile. But it can KICK out the heat, and that's not even putting it on HIGH. Probably the most user friendly and highest output stove on the market. IMO. Don't hear a lot of "burn" problems for this model either. Just turn it on and go.

Having owned a Quad 1200 and Harman P61A, I can say that the Harman was the better stove hands down. The 1200 had all manner of strange design aspects, from the multi latch door, snap discs, heat exchangers that were shielded from flames, a giant glass expanse that would cloud up in a day, etc etc. the P61 reminds me of the Russian T-34: not pretty, but it was simple, rugged, you could beat the heck out of it and it would still run, and it got the job done. My 1200 simply could not put out enough heat to keep my house warm.

Do you think the 61000 BTU against the 47000 BTU had anything to do with it lol.

14,000 more BTU's is a lot. And also note where I said user friendly. Harman is not the most complicated stove, but deg not the set and forget simplicity of a Quad.

Again, having owned both, it was no contest and the Harman kept the house temperature far more even than the Quad. The Quad goes by a thermostat which kicks the stove on or off, and there is no middle ground. My Quad would often overshoot the temp set point, and then only kick on when the temp dropped below the set point. It was annoying, and I had a top of the line thermostat, not the piece of crap they include with the stove. With a room temp probe, the Harman constantly monitors the room temperature vs the temp setting and modulates the size of the fire based on the difference. Big temp difference, big fire, small difference, small fire. if you ever replace your 1200 with a P61, I'd be interested in your comparison. This is my review of the Harman P61 from seven years ago....and for the record, I bought the quad based on their representation that the 1200 could heat 2500 sq ft....yeah right. Maybe it could heat a 2500 sq foot house in Florida, but not northern NJ.


https://www.hearth.com/ratings/art.php?id=1252

 

[DexterDay]

I'm heating 2,180 sq ft. Only use it on Low unless it drops in the low single digits. Never had to use high to heat the house. My house is about 15 yrs with good insulation. Windows are not the greatest. Getting new ones installed this Summer. But for now I use the shrink plastic kits on the windows. Makes a huge difference. Everyones set-up and opinion are different. But my 85 year old Grandfather could run this stove. Again. Based on simplicity, and ease of use. (I.e.- No Fines trap, ESP, Auger squeal, several knobs) Quad has 2 switches. Would I like the Harman? Absolutlely! Not knocking them at all. One day soon, I will get rid of the Quad and buy another stove (multi-fuel). The Englander 10-CPM, Harman PC-45, Enviro Omega, or the Enviro M55. Sorry to hear about your Quad experience. But there are some of us out there that like them and get them to work well in our application. Cheers

 

[richg]

Dexter,

I appreciate your opinion, and if you noticed my signature, I burn a Quad 4300 woodstove now ;-) If you're looking at multifuel stoves, be sure to put the Bixby on the list of contenders. It has a very unique feed and burnpot system and Bixby owners swear by them. The PC45 has received very mixed reviews and hopefully Harman will have worked out the bugs in the stove by the time you go to market. The PC45 burnpot is very different from the P38/61/68 series as it has an agitator and is shaped more like a halfpipe.

I was recently bellyaching to execs of a certain pellet mill that there needs to be greater coordination between stove manufacturers and mills to ensure compatability between fuel and stoves. As the construction industry continues to languish, high-quality sawdust is not as common as it once was and new feedstock sources are being looked at....switchgrass, paper, cardboard, whole trees, nut hulls etc. Given events in Japan and the middle east, IMO we need to bring biomass into the mainstream ASAP.

 

[DexterDay]

I have read about the problems with the PC 45. Also problems with the M55. All the multi fuelers I am looking at have the agitator. That's the reason the PC 45 was on my Radar. Every stove will have an owner out there, that does not like the operation of there unit. Can't please everyone. Wish I would have done more research and bought one of these to begin with. But, like I said before. The Quad is a good stove, and I have not had one problem with it. Was a Great stoave to learn with. That's the simplicity part. Its time to move on and get something I can fine tune and tinker with. May not be this year (I hope it does happen this year though) but sometime in the near future. There is a Fully "Tuneable" stove in the cards for me. How so you like that Woodstove?

.

Dexter,

I appreciate your opinion, and if you noticed my signature, I burn a Quad 4300 woodstove now ;-) If you're looking at multifuel stoves, be sure to put the Bixby on the list of contenders. It has a very unique feed and burnpot system and Bixby owners swear by them. The PC45 has received very mixed reviews and hopefully Harman will have worked out the bugs in the stove by the time you go to market. The PC45 burnpot is very different from the P38/61/68 series as it has an agitator and is shaped more like a halfpipe.

I was recently bellyaching to execs of a certain pellet mill that there needs to be greater coordination between stove manufacturers and mills to ensure compatability between fuel and stoves. As the construction industry continues to languish, high-quality sawdust is not as common as it once was and new feedstock sources are being looked at....switchgrass, paper, cardboard, whole trees, nut hulls etc. Given events in Japan and the middle east, IMO we need to bring biomass into the mainstream ASAP.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

My quad is a tank, never had any problems with it, it must have been assembled on a tuesday. My only complaint is it uses alot of fuel but it isa 60,000 btu unit.

 

[Vinelife]

I love my Sante Fe, its a great little stove. The place I bought it from has great customer service.. That is important...

 

[www_godzilla]

I bought my Quadrafire Sante Fe on January of 2009. It has been a work horse for me. The only problem I had was with the window/door gasket frayed in the first couple of months. I had the local Quadra Fire dealers come out and replace the gasket. He did a chitty job and I ended up doing it myself.
Both of the local Quadrafire deals are out of business. The one in Portland on Commercial Street went under during the fall of last year and the one in Yarmouth(I bought it from these guys) went under in January of this year. The one in Yarmouth was so poorly staffed and didn't give a rats ass about you once you bought your stove.
I had to fix my window/door gasket again because of the last tech to do it screwed it up again. So I went to the Maine Stove and Chimney store in Sanford,Maine. I didn't bring the dorr itself. So they took the time and showed me how to do it myself. They were very helpful and I will go to them for any future maintaince of my stove. I have 2 friends who are looking to buy pellet stoves this spring/summer. I will send them to Sanford.
If you sell a good product,make a reasonable profit,stand by your products with good customer service and treat them with respect...you will stay around for a while.