Ravelli Francesca question

[bjd2k1]

Hi All,

I just joined the forum after reading for a while.... I have a question however and can't seem to find any information (in English anyway) on my stove. A while back I was in the market for a pellet stove. We have a Vermont Castings Defiant in the basement but my wife wasn't happy on nights when I am not home and she needed to load it with wood. I went to our local dealer and they sell the Ravelli's which they were pushing hard as being more efficient, italian made, blah blah... The price tag was a bit high in my opinion so I looked on Craigslist and was able to pick one up with all of the exhaust parts for 2,000$. I did the install myself and ran the RDS Setup. I also have the Eco Stop feature enabled but I have 2 questions that I am hoping someone here can help with.

1. The fitting on the stove for the OAK hookup is an odd size and I can't seem to find a good fitting that will go from the Francesca to a 3" hose for the OAK. Any suggestions beyond going to an exhaust shop to have them custom make a fitting?

2. The stove will randomly make a beep while idle, I am not sure if it is because of the Eco Stop feature or what. There isn't much information on this stove online and everything that I find is mostly in Italian.

Thanks for any help!

 

[CleanFire]

1. The fitting on the stove for the OAK hookup is an odd size and I can't seem to find a good fitting that will go from the Francesca to a 3" hose for the OAK. Any suggestions beyond going to an exhaust shop to have them custom make a fitting?

You can take an aerosol can or other metal container that fits inside the OAK flex hose, cut one side off & secure w/ a clamp, and punch a hole on the other to slip-fit the stove air inlet. Use high temp aluminum tape to cover up any sins on the air inlet side / make the slip fitting tight on the air inlet pipe.

 

[bjd2k1]

You can take an aerosol can or other metal container that fits inside the OAK flex hose, cut one side off & secure w/ a clamp, and punch a hole on the other to slip-fit the stove air inlet. Use high temp aluminum tape to cover up any sins on the air inlet side / make the slip fitting tight on the air inlet pipe.

thanks for the reply though your idea may be problematic because the inlet pipe is behind the rear cover with only a slightly larger opening than the inlet pipe so I don't think a can would fit through the opening...

 

[CleanFire]

Understood, that's why I ended up using 2 inch aluminum flex pipe here - that size will fit through the back plate opening on the Francesca stove here. (But measure on your stove to make sure, your stove is a much newer version vs. the one here.)

The reason I went with a slip fitting is due to the back plate having a full hole embedded, meaning there is no easy way to remove the back plate & access the back of the stove, if the OAK pipe is permanently affixed to the air inlet pipe. I dunno if that has changed or is different on the Francesca Ravelli stove you have there.

If going w/ 3" pipe on the OAK -> to the stove, you may need to have an adapter made that goes from the diameter of the air inlet pipe -> to beyond the back cover plate -> to the size needed ( 2 3/4" ) that allows the 3" flex pipe to slip over ..

Edit: I'll get a picture of the back plate and OAK inlet pipe here & post it tomorrow am.

 

[CleanFire]

Stove was running yesterday, couldn't get pics. Here they are:

Pic 1 is the air intake on the back of the stove,
Pic 2 is the slip fitting opening on the adapter pipe,
Pic 3 is a side-by-side of the adapter, and original of the container used,
Pic 4 is a just disconnected shot through the stove back cover,
Pic 5 is the (saved) original box the 2" aluminum flex pipe came in. purchased at Ace Hardware (Hamshaw Lumber, Keene NH).
Pic 6 is a full size of 5 so you can read the info.

* You should put an OAK on your stove, regardless on whether you route it to outside air, or several feet away from the stove inside the home: the Francesca models use a tangential fan for room air: at higher speeds, the room air fan -will- affect combustion air being pulled into the stove, so even if you don't pull in outside air, add the OAK pipe and route to a room location several feet away from the stove that will not be affected by other air sources ( cold air return / heater ducting, etc. )

Hope the pics help, good luck w/ your install,
CleanFire

 

[bjd2k1]

thanks, i got it hooked up temporarily. I will post a picture later. I used a piece of PVC to connect it to the 3" flex, so I have to replace that at some point.

Does yours beep randomly when it is in standby?

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I can send you the English manual for your stove. Send me your email address thru the Private Message feature of this forum.

Don't know why yours beeps. Does it display a message on the LCD when it beeps?

I just slipped the slightly bigger ID aluminum flex tube over the recessed intake pipe, and clamped it down on with a hose clamp. You have to take the side panel off the stove to be able to put the clamp on, but that is no big deal, and you have to learn how to do that anyway, when you perform the "deep cleaning" of the stove after every ton of pellets. (Both side panels have to come off to get to the rear clean-out hatches on the back of the firebox exhaust passages.

 

[CleanFire]

thanks, i got it hooked up temporarily. I will post a picture later. I used a piece of PVC to connect it to the 3" flex, so I have to replace that at some point.

You should replace it much sooner than later - having any combustible material in the OAK is a big NO. You would be better off just clamping down the 3" flex directly to the Intake tube, like Pelleting in NJ suggests.

Does yours beep randomly when it is in standby?

No beeps, but your stove's electronics are more advanced / different than the older Francesca here (different control pad, newer firmware, etc.) Sorry I can't help with that.