Piazzetta Monia opinions

Yes I am sure if I had bought my Monia from Pascal he would have fixed it or replaced it right away. Unfortunately that was not my case. Sorry Pascal but I can't quite bring myself to even consider another Piazzetta. Wound is too fresh.

Come to find out our dealer can't carry Harman but carries Quadra-fire and EcoChoice, all the same manufacturer, made in US, same technology, etc. we went with the EcoChoice PS50. Love the easy clean out design. Holds twice as many pellets.

A long long time ago in this thread I said that the problem would not be with the stove but with Piazzetta. Sorry to hear I was right.

Brad

Ironhorse74 said:

A long long time ago in this thread I said that the problem would not be with the stove but with Piazzetta. Sorry to hear I was right.

Brad

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No Brad we definitely had a lemon of a stove. We had a very knowledgable dealer come out twice and said we had serious issues. In fact Piazzetta is doing exactly what he recommended, taking it to their warehouse and run tests on it to figure out what went wrong with the unit. The distributor however should have provided quality customer service and expected that from their dealer.

I am not going to say anything that will get me sued.

If you go with the ps50 you will have gone from one of the most advanced stoves to one of the simplest,with 2 manual adjustments.As the expensive one never worked properly from day one,and you used to burn wood,I think you will have no problems with that choice.

bob bare said:

If you go with the ps50 you will have gone from one of the most advanced stoves to one of the simplest,with 2 manual adjustments.As the expensive one never worked properly from day one,and you used to burn wood,I think you will have no problems with that choice.

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No I don't think so either. Pretty and fancy have not served me well in the pellet stove department.

My 2014 Piazzetta Monia setup. Bring on the cold.

gdphishman817 said:

Hi everyone,

We've had our Monia since October, it's been great all winter and is saving us a ton on oil. This site has been an invaluable resource for a new stove owner. A couple of questions for fellow Piazzetta owners:

1. Is there a trick to removing the rear baffle plate for weekly cleanings? Every week when I remove, it seems like getting it out and back in again is a struggle. It feels like the width of the plate is the exact width of the inside of the stove.
2. Occasionally, after the stove is shut down completely, 10 minutes later, we can smell smoke that seems to be left over embers still burning. This doesn't happen often, but it happens. Have anyone else experienced this?

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gdphishman817:

The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.

I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.

What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.

Could be bearing going bad. The stove have Pabst motors? Not a real chore to put in new bearings. I got real good at changing them on a Bixby till I got a good set. If the manufacture did it the motors will shut down when starting to get hot or taking to much juice to turn.

HotTamale said:

gdphishman817:

The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.

I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.

What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.

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Combustion fan or room blower? If combustion fan, perhaps it needs its annual cleaning?

chken said:

Combustion fan or room blower? If combustion fan, perhaps it needs its annual cleaning?

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Room blower. Piazzetta rep said, "compressor" fan..perhaps they meant the same. Seems to be clinging on for life! Just cleaned everything out again this morning, but it's getting noisier.

HotTamale said:

Room blower. Piazzetta rep said, "compressor" fan..perhaps they meant the same. Seems to be clinging on for life! Just cleaned everything out again this morning, but it's getting noisier.

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I have a Piazzetta Sveva (which is the Sabrina, but in the majolica cladding). I've also noticed that the room-air fan seems to "tick" at low fan speeds, similar to what I'd expect with a loose bearing or a piece of metal wobbling back and forth. Interestingly, I had the same problem with a warm-air fan when the unit was first installed but the noise was present at high and low fan speeds. The distributor (Northeast Distribution) replaced that fan, which has worked OK since, though I still get the noise at low fan speeds. Disappointment came yesterday when I heard this at high speeds yesterday. I wrote an email to Piazzetta and will call my dealer (Commonwealth Fireplace) tomorrow and post my results.

WKB said:

Disappointment came yesterday when I heard this at high speeds yesterday. I wrote an email to Piazzetta and will call my dealer (Commonwealth Fireplace) tomorrow and post my results.

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Piazza takes 1 -2 days but they DO respond. Commonwealth Fireplace - Is that in Walpole? How is their service? Did Northeast Distribution replace quickly, or was this big job?
I'm also waiting to hear back on replacing the back plate which is extremely difficult to remove and insert due to all the warping from the heat.

HotTamale said:

gdphishman817:

The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.

I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.

What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.

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two years part and service waranties so go for it an call them back you dont need to know what is going wrong just get it fix by your dealer.

Thanks for the comment on Piazzetta. I've tried calling Pacific Energy but they haven't responded. Commonwealth Fireplace has been generally good. They dealt with a very bad experience with an MCZ/Wittus stove I originally purchased from them and I think they became exhausted and (to some degree) tired of hearing from me all the time, I hate to admit. But, in the end, they supported me after Wittus agreed to take the stove back and Commonwealth Fireplace was willing to take-on the Piazzetta stoves without having much prior knowledge of the product. Bruce, the owner, wants his customers happy but I don't think he believes pellet technology is quite where it should be. I think he may be right when you compare the technology of pellet boilers. Commonwealth Fireplace is located in Norwood, MA. The service tech, Darin, is excellent and very polite and I would recommend him for repair of any stove. Given all the trouble (and multiple service calls) with the Wittus, I simply made a video of the noise and offered to install the fan myself, which they sent me promptly and I installed it very easily.

Sorry to hear about the back plate. Seems like it would take a lot of heat to warp that thick, cast iron. I read from someone else they had a similar problem but it was replaced and now fits much better.

I really can’t not understand customers sometime, if it’s on warranties just ask your dealer unless you really have an Idiot has a dealer, they will just go to your house and if they are smart they will ask you your serial number make a warranty claim an then bring a new fan whit them and just change the one that is defective Piazzetta don’t even ask any question. Has a dealer, I tell them what’s wrong they just send the parts. I’ve changed one fan and one igniter in three years for over 50 stove sold. I think with the profits we make, we can afford a free trip to the customer house once in a will. and please stop shopping a stove shop for a good dealer first, a Ferrari is a chit box if you don’t have a good dealer.

Just emailed the dealer. I just didn't want to be a bother and I wanted to speak with someone who had more technical expertise. I'm glad you've had such good luck with the stoves you've installed. Have you encountered this problem with the warm-air fan "ticking"?

WKB said:

I simply made a video of the noise and offered to install the fan myself, which they sent me promptly and I installed it very easily.

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The heating room fan is on the very top of the unit, correct? I have a Monia. I think dismantling this area is pretty straight forward.
I believe the exhaust fan is the one in the smoke chamber, underneath the ash pot.

HotTamale said:

The heating room fan is on the very top of the unit, correct? I have a Monia. I think dismantling this area is pretty straight forward.
I believe the exhaust fan is the one in the smoke chamber, underneath the ash pot.

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The fan is actually located behind the exhaust fan but blows air across the vertical heat exchanger and discharges warm air at the top.

WKB said:

Just emailed the dealer. I just didn't want to be a bother and I wanted to speak with someone who had more technical expertise. I'm glad you've had such good luck with the stoves you've installed. Have you encountered this problem with the warm-air fan "ticking"?

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Yes I really did, and it's very simple to fix just loosen the screws wiggle the fan and place everything back. One time it happened that my delivery guys had the stove on a trolley and once in place they kind of drop it well only two inches or less but still this stove is heavy. Then when we turned the stove on, we got that cling cling cling kind of sound the impellers of the fan are very close to the hole they are set in, all I did is take the front cover and give a gentle shot on the side of the combustion fan an there it was gone I just told the customer, that if any problem would come out, we would just take care of it. it’s been one year now and the customer is very satisfied with is stove

Pascal_Maertens said:

Yes I really did, and it's very simple to fix just loosen the screws wiggle the fan and place everything back. One time it happened that my delivery guys had the stove on a trolley and once in place they kind of drop it well only two inches or less but still this stove is heavy. Then when we turned the stove on, we got that cling cling cling kind of sound the impellers of the fan are very close to the hole they are set in, all I did is take the front cover and give a gentle shot on the side of the combustion fan an there it was gone I just told the customer, that if any problem would come out, we would just take care of it. it’s been one year now and the customer is very satisfied with is stove

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you where talking abbout the convection fan ho! well I would just get it change an that's it, an it is very well located an aesy to reach and change.

Hmm. I didn't think it was one of the impellers but that's a good thought and I'll look into it. Thanks!

Right, the convection fan. I can see how the exhaust fan impellers may be a bit disturbed.

Have you had any problems with the convection fans, too?

WKB said:

Right, the convection fan. I can see how the exhaust fan impellers may be a bit disturbed.

Have you had any problems with the convection fans, too?

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One time yes, on my own Sabrina, that was the fan that I’ve changed once but it was only noisy just like a buzzing frequency at a certain speed.