Ecoteck Ravelli Runaway Auger Motor ! Any Suggestions?

[guardian89rx]

I have installed my new Ecoteck Ravelli Sofia pellet stove. On starting up the stove, the auger motor
powers up and continues to feed pellets to the fire pot non-stop. The only way to stop the auger is to
pull the power supply or lift the lid on the hopper which operates a micro-switch to interrupt the motor.
I have heard of this happening after the "blackout" error is registered with the circuitry.
I would appreciate any feedback on this issue.
Thanks,
garry

 

[Lake Girl]

Haven't seen that happen on my Elena. When "blackout" occurs, the exhaust fan comes on when repowered and runs as is typical for shut-down. Who told you that happens? Who did set-up on your stove?

 

[guardian89rx]

I didn't have anyone set-up the stove. I installed it with someone who is not familiar with the brand. The stove was purchased from a seller on ebay who
had bought the inventory from a dealer who went out of business.
The stove came with the inspection checklist from the maker in Italy and it was clearly test burned.
I'm not sure if there is a way to program it or if a new motherboard is required.
Any advice about a source for parts/service?

 

[guardian89rx]

There is a report on the web by someone who nearly had a structure fire after starting up their ecoteck pellet stove after an electrical power outage.
The owner walked away after re-starting the stove and came back a short while later to find it dangerously over-fired with the fire pot over filled with
pellets. He reported the problem was due to the "blackout" error message which somehow caused the auger motor to subsequently malfunction.

 

[Lake Girl]

What is your "screw" setting? Should be 0. Screw setting is used to pre-load pellets into auger flight.

Edit: Do you have a manual?

 

[guardian89rx]

Yes, the screw setting is zero. I've tried adjusting the pellet/air ratio as well and also the power setting but the auger doesn't respond.
I suspect it is chugging along at power level five because it can fill the fire pot up very quickly. If I were to simply start the stove and
walk away it would burn the house down in short order.

 

[Lake Girl]

Guess you can confirm wiring is appropriate (diagram towards the end of the manuals). My guess is a new board FYI do you have surge protection on the stove? Let us know what you find...

 

[guardian89rx]

Your point regarding surge protection is excellent. I haven't anything in place at the moment but intend to purchase a surge protector/ups asap.

 

[CleanFire]

On the (older) Ecotech Francesca here, in the (default settings) menu there is an option for 50hz or 60hz line frequency - if this setting is incorrect, the motor may very well behave in the manner you describe..

 

[guardian89rx]

Thanks for the advice. The frequency was set at 50hz so I changed it to 60hz. Now the auger operates intermittently instead of continuously.
Monitoring a test burn and will get back with the results.

 

[guardian89rx]

Ok, it seems to be responding correctly now. The room fan works properly now also. The stove responds to changes in temperature setting
and modulation.
Thanks so much to Lake Girl and CleanFire.

 

[CleanFire]

For Ecotech stove care and maintenance, Lake Girl's posts on the forum here (use Search at the top of the page), should be a required read.

re: "report on the web" - I suspect (whatever) issue the owner had caused a hard-reset of the control board, which reloaded the default European (50hz) value into that stove, again, just a guess.

The stove here behaves the same as Lake Girl stated / as expected: on a power fail, the settings are retained, and the stove will go into final-cleaning mode when power is restored.

(2) areas to avoid to prevent a hard-reset of the stove: 1) the Red button on the back of the unit (this is in your documentation), and the (bank data) option in the stove's menu - no reason to enter that option, and if entered, that -will- reset all values in the stove to European default values / you will loose any setting changes made.

(In short, you should be all set - no need to worry, enjoy the stove & congrats on the purchase.)

A quality surge protector is needed, if you decide to purchase a UPS, recommend getting one in the 1,200 - 1,500 watt range. The APC Back UPS XS 1300 works well here, we will be upgrading to a APC Smart UPS 1500 watt model in the off-season. (Started off with a Belkin 12 Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector, you can find it on amazon.com, it's rated the #1 selling Surge Protector there.)