Piazetta 904 Wood stove

[wbg]

This simple small stove appears in mint condition, however it will not draw, and fire is immediately choked off as soon as you close the door. It has only one control, a knob connected to a thermocouple thermostat which controls a round flap valve at the bottom right of the unit.
Fortunately, i tested this unit outside with the valve wide open and 4’ of flue pipe attached. The chamber for the air intake feels clear (i stuck a wire cable up and it went freely to the top and no debris was dislodged. with the flu pipe removed, i can manipulate a metal plate that is loose, it can flip to the back which seems to open the path from the firebox or to the front which closes it. Neither position affects performance. (with flu pipe installed, there is no way to manipuale this plate other than tipping this 400 lb stove ) when i picked up this stove, i heard the plate banging around when it was tilted back on a hand truck.
Anyone seen one of these? It looks like the top will come off with just 4 bolts removed, exposing all the innards…
There is virtually no information that i can find on the web for this old stove.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It looks like they still make a version of it in Italy. You may want to email them to see if they can send you a manual or exploded parts diagram that can help you figure out how it works.

Fire choking out as soon as the door is closed is often a sign of wet wood. But making sure your chimney/flue is tall enough and the right diameter before driving yourself crazy looking for other issues seems like a good idea.

https://www.piazzetta.com/sites/default/files/2019-07/E904%20S-en_0.pdf

 

[wbg]

Thank you so much for the reply. The wood i was using was from an old pallet which was probobly somewhat wet, as well as some recently cut oak. The metal panel that was bouncing around was basically the horizontal lid or ceiling of the burn chamber. Apparently it just lays on top and is not fastened in any way, when the unit was tilted, it fell back over the angled back wall. After taking the top off, i placed it back on top and that cured part of the draw problem. I had 4’ of flue out the top, maybe that wasnt enough. Still getting way to much smoke when opening the door- even just cracking it a bit to allow air in before swinging it wide open, where enough comes out to likely set off smoke detectors. But again somewhat wet wood. I will try tomorrow with bone dry wood and see if its worth installing. I just love the design of this unit, it is made of steel and cast iron- no ceramic fire brick inside, just 1/4” + steel and cast iron. Then there are 4 porcelain walls and and lid that wrap around with an air gap between the ribbed metal walls and the ceramic. Its supposed to stay warm for like 6 hours after the fire goes out.

 

[begreen]

Try some known dry wood like some 2x4 cut-offs. Oak often takes a year or two to dry out, after it has been split and stacked.