Austoflamm Rika Visio

[Alan]

Anyone out there actally have an Austroflamm/Rika Visio? I've seached for comments & haven't seen many. I'd be interested to find out:

1) Noise (or lack thereof)?
2) Any smoke leaks or smell at startup, or anytime for that matter?
3) Cleaning experiences?
4) Any trouble spots or reliability issues?
5) What's different in heating function with the distribution blower venting out the top?
6) Anything else you particularly like or dislike about the stove?

I'm in Santa Rosa, CA & have checked about every dealer in the SF Bay Area, as well as Sacramento & no dealer seems to have stocked them. If there are any owners in Northern California willing to let me come take a look at their unit, please PM me.

Thanks,

--Alan

 

[Mark_ms]

I have an Integra (not the II) insert and I really like it.
1) Its quiet and I mean quiet. Other than he Flame I would not know it is on.
2) Never had smoke leaks or any type of smell at startup or otherwise.
3) I clean every day. I did last week notice that I have a very small crack in one panel of glass, that might explain some of the ash buildup I have had.
4) I have no idea, but the dogs don't seem to mind.
5) Looks good, quiet, large hopper 90+ lbs. and keeps my downstairs about 70, 1100 sq ft. and my upstairs about 64 1100 sg ft.

The Integra II, insert and Freestanding are probably by far the biggest seller for RIKA, hence the difficulty in trying to "see" a Visio.

Mark_ms

 

[pelletfan]

Here are some of the pro's and con's from the Rika Visio

1) Noise (or lack thereof)?

As with any Rika Wood Pellet Stove, they all operate very quite, in my personal opinion better than any other stove

Any smoke leaks or smell at startup, or anytime for that matter?

If you have the stove correctly installed, you should not have any issues at all.

Cleaning experiences?

Recommend that like with any other stove, you go out to the showroom and ask for a hands on demonstration how the cleaning is performed and what steps are involved. That is the best way, so you can judge yourself if this is too much work for you or nothing to talk about.
Enclosed is a link for you so you can familiarise yourself what's involved when cleaning the stove.
http://www.luckydistributing.com/Heat/documents/Visio.pdf

Any trouble spots or reliability issues?

From my personal experience with the ingegra II and reading about rika products one can't really say anything negative about their products.

What’s different in heating function with the distribution blower venting out the top?

Personally don't see a disadvantage or advantage in that. One could argue about it.

Anything else you particularly like or dislike about the stove? /quote]
That model is widely used in Europe for hydronic heating too. So therefore it probably is a good model. I went for the integra II as it has a higher heat output and a bigger Hooper. From the looks, it's all in the eye of the owner.
Give the distributor luckydistributing 800-777-5594 a call to find a dealer who has that particular stove on display and in working order.