I have had the Santa Fe for 10 years and it heats our 1700 sq ft house. However it needs to be cleaned after every bad, the heat exchanger every week and the smoke vent pipes every 3 weeks. All you do is clean, clean and more cleaning with this stove. When it was installed the tech told me you don't want it to close to the wall because it has to be service. No kidding good thing I can do it myself it's had 4 exhaust fans, 5 thermocouples and one vacuum switch. It's the most temperamental appliance I have owned. I am converting my main furnace from Oil to the much cheaper natural gas and see you later Santa Pain.

Tellitlike

USA

This quadrafire Santa Fe has been bad from day one and company and local dealer will not let me return the stove. Over feeds with high flames all the time occasional jamming with longer pellets. But the worst part is the inefficiency of the stove , the blower fan is way to weak , must put a fan in front of the stove to enable the stove to work correctly. Comany does not supply a better larger fan.

ucguy

USA

I love this heater, it puts out alot of heat and it's not very noisy at all.  You don't have to use much energy to get it going at all.  Doesn't use much fuel and it starts up very quickly.  It also does not need much cleaning at all.  It's convenient and easy to use.

wendypol

Lake Peekskill, NY

I'm starting my second winter with a Santa Fe fireplace insert. Once I hooked up the outside air vent, it put off decent heat. I have a 1500 sq foot house with an open central stairway; until the temp dips into the single digits, I can keep the house between 65-75. I burn prenium pellets, usually hardwood unless I can't find them. I only had once when it would not start after cleaning the firepot. The problem was part of a clinker was blocking the small horizontal hole in the front of the burnpot where the ignition coil is. Pros: I hooked the cord to a watt buster, on startup it uses around 480 watts, once running it uses 65 watts on low and 75 on medium. FAST startup, you usually have a fire within two minutes, the circulater fan kicks in about 5 minutes after that. The thermostat is nice and works well, as long as the burn pot is clean it restarts well.   Cons: Ash builds up very quickly, I clean mine every 2-3 days. The glass becomes dirty quickly, usually within two days. On the high setting it is very loud, I only use the low setting and somtimes the medium setting on cold nights. I'm disappointed that Quadrafire has decided to move their production to China. My insert was made in China. I have a slightly older Santa Fe freestanding pellet stove in the basement that was made in the states. It seems to be a better quality and thows more heat. The black paint has started to peel off the one from China, the US one has no such problems. It is not a "true" outside air pellet stove such as the Harman Accentra. The Santa Fe, if you hook up the outside air, uses a blend of outside and inside air. Unless you have a brand new house that was well constructed and sealed, you will get some draft even if you hook up the outside air vent.  I owned a Harman Accentura in a prior house and now wish I had spent the extra money on another one insead of the Santa Fe. If price is your main factor, the Santa Fe is a decent stove. However if you're willing to spend a little more, I believe that a true outside air pellet stove with a completely sealed chamber such as the Accentra would pay for itself over the years and heat your home better.

staywarm

Ogdensburg, NY

We have 4 of these stoves. First off, we are totally satisfied with the two free standing stoves. We have found over the years that you have to burn the best pellets you can find. We had been burning Golden Fire, that brand really clogged up the burning pot rapidly. We burn Packsaddle now, there is minimal ash and no clinkers we use 10 tons a winter season (Oct.- May). The insert stoves we have are not to bad, they hold pretty much the same amount as the free standing but,... the pellets do not completely run out. They get hung up on the feed rate mechanism and causes the insert stove to run out of pellets prematurely. You could certainly get 3 or 4 more hours of burning before filling the hopper. I hope in the future QF looks into this problem and redesigns the feed rate controler so it is not in the way of the pellets.

bikerart

Sherwood, OR

Compared to a wood stove, this is far less work, performs well, and for extra convenience and efficiency the included thermostat can be replaced easily by one with time of day settings so that it heats things up before you leave bed in the morning. Here in Vermont, the pellets currently come in at about 20% more than firewood, but 20% less than oil. The Quadrafire Santa Fe has nice clean lines, and fits comfortably in a small corner. Set to medium, it's reasonably quiet. And no new carbon is added to the biosphere from its use - other than the fuel for the trucks that deliver the pellets.

wytcld

Bellows Falls, VT