The Trouble With Francesca

[swdowling]

I purchased an Ecoteck Francesca stove back in November of 2009 and have been greatly disappointed in it's performance. Well, let me clarify that statement.

I'm afraid of the damn thing. I cannot run the unit for more than one hopper full of pellets before I have to shut it down and clean out the firepot. Any longer than that and the clinkers start to build up in the bottom of the firepot and soon I have burning pellets flowing over the top and backing up into the feed chute. I've come home on several occasions to find it in this state and now I don't trust it.

I thought perhaps it was the pellets I was buying, so I've bought several different brands. Last season I ran Cubex pellets exclusively because they were the least problem. I've never bought any softwood pellets and I honestly don't think it's the fuel, but the stove itself that's the problem.

I've tried changing the various settings and cannot eliminate the problem regardless of the adjustments I make.

I feel like I've been rooked. I spent over four grand getting this thing home and installed and now all I want to do is get rid of it. Currently, it's completely removed from my home and soon going onto craigslist.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well first off welcome to the forum.

What is it you want help with?

Burn pot buildup isn't exactly a new situation for the folks here to have seen and also fixed.

 

[Bkins]

Do you want help or are you just going to sell it? Lots of great pellet stove guru's here that most likely would help you with your situation, if you give them a chance. Doesn't matter how much you have fiddled with the settings you may be going about it wrong. It is easy to do. Sonds like there may have been a bad part right from the get go. Did you have a dealer come try to fix your problem?

 

[swdowling]

I don't think there is any helping with this thing. Just wanted to post in case someone else was considering buying one of these things. They should be aware that they don't run for long without cleaning. If I'd known that I had to clean it out every bag or risk burning the house down, I'd have spent less money on a more reliant stove. Shoulda done more homework, but I was sold on the "high tech" aspect of this stove and thought I was going down the right route.

I am curious as to whether others are experiencing the same issue.

 

[CT Mets Fan]

Slightly off topic, but I thought you were talking about Mike Francessa. I don't like him very much.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I don't think there is any helping with this thing. Just wanted to post in case someone else was considering buying one of these things. They should be aware that they don't run for long without cleaning. If I'd known that I had to clean it out every bag or risk burning the house down, I'd have spent less money on a more reliant stove. Shoulda done more homework, but I was sold on the "high tech" aspect of this stove and thought I was going down the right route.

I am curious as to whether others are experiencing the same issue.

We haven't seen many Ecoteck owners on here with issues. There is a chap on here who independently services stoves who has IIRC the same unit you had installed in his house.

We however have many folks who had had burn pile up issues on just about every stove there is pop up on here.

Burn pot build up like most issues with a pellet stove is an air flow issue. What the cause of the airflow issue can be one or more of several things.

 

[jtakeman]

If the problem started right from the get go? I'd say you need to discribe your vent configuration to us(snap some pict too!). Could be excessive EVL which is no fault to the stove itself.

 

[swdowling]

If the problem started right from the get go? I'd say you need to discribe your vent configuration to us(snap some pict too!). Could be excessive EVL which is no fault to the stove itself.

Yes, right from the get go. At first I just thought it was because of the stove being new and my needing to get it "dialed in". But no matter what brand of pellets I bought, I had the same issues.

I'm afraid the stove is already disconnected and I didn't take any pics while it was still installed. The best I could do is describe the setup. It was a corner install. The pipe came out of the stove about a foot and then up to about a foot below the top of the stove before venting out thru the wall. Once outside, the pipe extended about a foot before turning 45 degrees and extending another foot to the endcap. The pipe didn't go straight up at the bend, but was installed so that it was angled. Now I wish I'd gotten pics before tearing the thing out!

The dealer where I purchased the stove also said that perhaps the settings on the stove were wrong and that they'd not gotten any complaints from other purchasers. I've cranked the draft all the way up and feed all the way down and didn't get any change in stove performance. They suggested that the "factory settings" might be off. So now I've got to decide whether I want to hook the stove back up and spend the money to have them come out and adjust it, or just get rid of it.

I'm just disgusted with the whole endeavor. I didn't save any money on heating costs with this thing either. We spent just as much on pellets as we would have on gas without it. Albeit, we were a lot warmer!

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

When the stove was installed did the installer check the draft on it?

Also, can you describe how tight your house is or isn't and tell us what other air moving devices are in use in the house?

Other things that can cause problems from the git go are blocked air intake (packaging material), damper control disconnected from the damper (shipping, handling, not connected at the factory), warped door (shipping, handling), depending upon how the stove is put together loose bolts where the ash pan holding assembly joins the fire box (shipping, handling), early demise of the combustion blower (blower manufacturer), partially blocked vent (only for a little while if it is combustible), improper vent configuration both size and evl, warped hopper door (shipping, handling), improper positioning of the burn pot (difficult on some stoves but not all), bad burn pot gaskets, bad door gaskets, insufficient oxygen in the intake air due to depletion by other devices in the house .... just touching the surface of possible causes.

 

[Bkins]

I can understand your unhappiness but it truely does sound like something was totally out of whack. I don't believe you have to hook everything back up in order to run it. You can put it through its paces outside if you still have pellets, or maybe take it back to your dealer and have him straighten it out since its no longer hooked up. I, myself wouldn't be giving up on something I spent 4 large on. In fairness to the world of pellet stoves you can't compare a non working pellt stove to not saving you money. If the stove was operating properly that would be another matter.

Give the dealer, and these guys a chance to get you up and running correctly before you take a bath. Have you looked in the exhaust track, where you hook the stove up to to make sure there was no shipping papers or other things in the exhaust track? I'm not trying to be a wise ass by asking you this as any tech would start with the basics of making sure air can get in and out.

 

[DexterDay]

Lack of air can be an easy fix. Smokey stated many reasons. A stove that costs that much, does not cost that much for no reason. That is a Top of the line model stove. I believe you had problems, but I also believe that it can be fixed.

Did you have an Outside air Kit? Was your flame lazy and sooty? Or bright and lively?

 

[swdowling]

Lack of air can be an easy fix. Smokey stated many reasons. A stove that costs that much, does not cost that much for no reason. That is a Top of the line model stove. I believe you had problems, but I also believe that it can be fixed.

Did you have an Outside air Kit? Was your flame lazy and sooty? Or bright and lively?

There is no outside air kit. The stove (when it's clean) produces a very lively and hot flame with little soot. Because the house was built back in the '30s and is not sealed up very well, I was told the outside air kit wouldn't be necessary and would reduce the heat output from the stove also by pulling in frigid outside air instead of using already warm inside air.

I'll set the stove up again outside and see about having the store techs come and check it out. That's a good idea.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

So...swdowling....any update to this??

 

[swdowling]

So...swdowling....any update to this??

I sold it. I own a two family home and moved into the other unit this summer after doing renovations. Instead of taking a chance on getting this thing running the way I thought it should run, I decided to just let it go.

The folks I sold it to were told about the stoves operation and that I'd needed to clean it after each bag of pellets. I started the stove out in my garage so they could see it run and was totally up front about it. They've had a harmon stove for years and know about pellet stoves. I was satisfied with the price I got; so everyone is happy.

Thanks for inquiring. I should have posted this earlier!

Another reason for just letting it go was, as I mentioned, this is a two family. I hope to be moving out soon and don't want to have to remove the stove from the house again. The stoves warmth this winter here in New England would have been nice, but not worth the effort of repairing another hole in the wall this spring.

 

[smilejamaica]

Slightly off topic, but I thought you were talking about Mike Francessa. I don't like him very much.

ha ha i thought the same thing of course you dont like him you are a mets fan .