Cleaning the Ravelli Francesca

[bjd2k1]

Hi All,

I clean my Francesca every two days or so. I am not really sure if that is what is recommended but I like to keep the glass clean and the ash to a minimum. I will detail what I do below and hopefully you guys can tel me if there is more I should be doing.

1. When the stove is completely shut down, I pull the lever a few times to shake off the ash from the heat tubes.

2. Open the door and using a paint brush I dust off the Firex panels.

3. I then vacuum up the ash in the ash pan, burn pot, and below the burn pot where the candle is.

4. Then I clean the glass with water only and wipe dry.

5. Put everything back together and light it up again!

Two questions, one:

Is this sufficient or should I be doing more?

Two:

Can someone post a video of a deep cleaning for this stove? Resources for Ravelli are hard to come by and I don't speak Italian so YouTube is a bit of a lost cause. Instructions will do fine as well.

Thanks!

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

My cleaning routine (Similar Ecoteck Elena model) :
Every 3 to 5 bags of pellets, I clean my Ecoteck Elena as follows : takes about 10 minutes :
1) Remove Flame trap at top of firebox (triangular metal plate). Be carefull when you remove it so you don't damage the firex. Then vacuum around the heat exchanger tubes and the perimeter of the square opening just below the tubes. A "crevice" tool/nozzle on my ShopVac (with "Cleanstream" HEPA filter) works great. Move the tube scraper to the full out position to vaccum the rear edge of the square opening.
2) Use a soft 2 inch paint brush, gently brush off the Firex, use the vacuum nozzle to gather the dust. DO NOT scrape the Firex with the nozzle : it is fragile ! You won't be able to get all the black soot off the firex...that's OK.
3) Replace the Flame-Trap
4) Vacuum the grate around the burnpot, then remove it.
5) Use a plastic spackle/putty knife and scrape the sides and bottom of the burn pot, then vacuum it, then remove it.
6) Vacuum the inside of burn-pot holder/receptacle.
7) Replace the burn pot
8) Replace the grate.
9) Pull out ashpan and vacuum it
10 Vacuum the bottom of the firebox, where the ashpan sits.
11) Replace the ashpan
12) Clean the glass with a wet (water) paper towel, dry it off with another (dry) paper towel. (NO WINDEX, and clean glass ONLY when it is cool to the touch)
Close it up !

I have never vacuumed my hopper : the Ecoteck auger does not seem to care about fines/dust.

About every ton of pellets, I vacuum out my flue.

At the end of the season (2 to 3 Tons) I take the side panels off, take the exhaust blower off, and open the two clean-out ports and vacuum everything out using a smaller diameter hose/tube, duct-taped into the hose nozzle of my ShopVac, to get into the clean-out ports and into the exhaust blower housing.

Disconnect the vacuum line at the exhaust blower outlet duct, then do the "leaf blower trick" do get the final ash out of the system.

 

[bjd2k1]

Thanks for the reply. That seems to be pretty much what I have been doing. I haven't taken the side panels off yet. There is no way to get the black soot off of the Firex?

 

[guardian89rx]

How do you remove the exhaust blower assembly without damaging the gasket? Does the gasket come off with the
blower assembly or does it stay on the housing?
I'm reluctant to pry with a screwdriver in case I damage the gasket.
Thanks

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I can take off my exhaust blower by removing the 4 or 5 philips head screws around the motor, rather than the allen key screws on the outer edge of the blower housing (which has the orange silicone gasket). There is no gasket around the Philips head screw opening. You might have to rotate the motor a bit so that the fan blades clear the notch in the opening.

If you remove the housing at the outer edge, I bet the orange gasket will rip, and you will have to replace it.

 

[guardian89rx]

That's exactly what I need to know. Thanks very much.