Going from Englander 25-PDV to CAB50 or Quad

[cunnibra]

Greetings pellet heads. First a quick thanks to this site. I've been heating with pellets for about 3 years and I've benefited greatly from the advice and recommendations here. I have a 2 story ~2000 sq foot house with a steep vaulted ceiling. With a door closed to a family room I end up heating about 1600 sq ft or so. I've had pretty good luck the last 3 years with a used, mid 90s englander heating all of that with ceiling fans on and only supplementing with propane furnace on the very coldest days (below zero F). That said, I'm on the hunt for a new used stove with thermostat control/auto ignition. The main types of used stoves I see in my area are the CAB50, Quad CB1200 and Santa Fe. I have been eyeing the Quads for years now. I do like the Harmans, but don't have the budget or need for a show piece. Many say the Santa Fe just can't handle 1500 sq ft and it's overrated. If that's true, I'm left with the CB1200 or the CAB50. Any idea how these compare to the Englander? How do they compare to each other as far as ease of cleaning, loudness, heat thrown? Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[Don2222]

Hello
I just picked up my 4th Quad CB1200 pellet stove. Not crazy about the CAB50 but I LUV these CB1200 stoves. They are so reliable, work well on a T-Stat and really crank out the heat!!
Got this one for 4 bills and in the process of painting it. I pulled the fire pot, threw in a new white high temp gasket after painting it with VHT very high temp flat black auto header paint. Then upgraded the Thermocouple hold down clip and changed the fire pot bolts the Stainless Steel!
All the parts still work great and by removing the grill and painting it flat aluminum it gives the stove a little PeeZaz! Of course I use Stove Bright Satin Black for the outside to give it that little bit of sheen!
I may get the optional brick backing too. We will see.
Cannot wait to start cranking it up when it gets cold.
Any questions let me know.
I also have a Santa FE for my shed. It heats the 100 Square feet really well!
Also like having the t-stat control on my iPhone for this stove using the Lowe's Iris T-Stat system,
Last pic is iPhone screen shot. I like to warm my shed in the winter before I go out there. I have cable TV out there too.

 

[cunnibra]

Thanks for the reply, Don. Glad to hear that the CB1200s are working out well for you. So many questions, not sure where to start. Did you have some bad first hand experiences with the CAB50? From what I understand they are filled with Quad parts. I do like the long diagonal mount heat exchangers on the CB1200 over the open exchanger design of the CAB50. I assume the Quad is more efficient because of this, but I posted this to hopefully find some real world experience with it.

 

[GT_Sharp]

All the parts still work great and by removing the grill and painting it flat aluminum it gives the stove a little PeeZaz!

I do like that grill painted!

 

[Don2222]

Thanks for the reply, Don. Glad to hear that the CB1200s are working out well for you. So many questions, not sure where to start. Did you have some bad first hand experiences with the CAB50? From what I understand they are filled with Quad parts. I do like the long diagonal mount heat exchangers on the CB1200 over the open exchanger design of the CAB50. I assume the Quad is more efficient because of this, but I posted this to hopefully find some real world experience with it.

No Bad experience with the CAB 50 but I just like a real Quad better.