Ravelli Francesca

[rich2500]

Can get a new Francesca for $1750.00 in white what are your thoughts of the stove and is that a good price.
From what I can find that seems like a deal worth jumping on.

 

[pete7713]

found this post from smwilliamson he repairs stoves

Ok, so here is review from yesterday. I went to a customer's house in Newton, MA who has a Francesca. Here are the issues I faced.
To get tat the parts which I needed to clean, I had to dismantle the entire stove which is difficult enough. The screws which you need to remove are all metric hex. I think they are assembled using an impact gun, cause many of them stripped by me just trying to loosen them. The metal used in the screws is very poor and is too soft...so they strip. Same as on my stove.
There are parts to the stove that need to be removed just to be able to get to the screws, which if it were assembled properly, would not need to be removed but such is not the case. What should have taken a few minutes turned in to 1 1/2 hrs just to get at them.
The top of the hopper is not sealed to the back of the stove, so when you're adding pellets, its not uncommon to get pellet spillage down and behind the unit as well as on top of the heat exchanger. This is bad cause pellets that fall on top of the exchanger will smolder and if they accumulate too much, could start a top load fire that extends into the hopper. FYI - The first Francesca I had was on loan to a pool store that was going to try and sell them for us and it actually caught fire in the store at 2am from those idiots making a mess from loading it. It almost burned down the store.
Wiring - all of the terminal disconnects on this stove are made from low quality Chinese parts and routinely fall apart at the crimps or fall off the spade terminals of the components. This happened in mine as well as the stove from yesterday.
The micro switches for the hopper and the door were afterthoughts for the US market and were adapted to fit units already assembled...they often fail or are misaligned...and cause error 8 codes.
Auger bushing (nylon) was already loose on the plate and causing binding (has to super glue it)
Top plate baffle above the firebox is wrecked (also on mine) due to the extreme heat above the Firex 600 (material the baffles are made from) This baffle as well as the heat exchangers and rake ought to be made from stainless due to the extreme heat conditions...I'm sure these will corrode over time too and then the stove will be wrecked.
Overall, it was a 4 hour service that should have only taken and hour and a half at best....and I know what I'm doing. Still want one? The Enviro has none of these issues.

smwilliamson, Nov 1, 2012 ReportBookmark

 

[rich2500]

Yeah I read that review but see its from 3 yrs ago, I think they updated the stove since then.Not concerned with being a pain to work on as I work on cars for a living so I used to that and metric sizes,It's longevity that I'm concerned about.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I love my Ecoteck/Ravelli Elena, smwilliamson had to repair a lemon Francesca. I find these stoves very well made, with premium components. They are also very quiet. I have had my Elena for 5 years now, with about 15 tons of pellets through her. I have replaced the room temperature sensor ($20), the flame trap baffle plate ( I think $30), and my burnpot just got a small crack, but is probably usable for another season. I have had no problems with the wiring, switches, or "cheap Chinese terminal blocks". A new burn-pot is $90, and I bought a spare ignitor for $60. It also has a built-in thermostat with a 7 day programmable timer for automatic start and stop during the day. Also, the heat exchanger and the burnpot is made from stainless steel. I have no problems taking my stove apart for seasonal cleaning. I can have the side access panels off in about 5 minutes, no problems with the screws/hardware. I would buy this stove again.

That is a good price for a new Francesca. I paid $2700 for my larger Elena model.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-newbie-ecoteck-installed.72279/page-2

 

[rich2500]

It's home

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I hope the triangular shaped flame trap plate wasn't rattling around during transport, gouging-up the firex in the firebox....

Let me know if you need a user manual and the technical manual.

 

[rich2500]

I hope the triangular shaped flame trap plate wasn't rattling around during transport, gouging-up the firex in the firebox....

Let me know if you need a user manual and the technical manual.

Nope removed the flame trap before transporting,I got the user manual but haven't had time to look at it,If you have anything that explains how to setup the RDS that would help.I'm gonna try to install the stove tomorrow but the dealer won't be open to walk me through the RDS setup.Also how did you hook up the oak mine is currently 2" and the Francesca is much smaller.

 

[rich2500]

It's in the house at least

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Oh..you got the newer RDS version of the Francesca...nice. From who did you buy this from? Through the "Conversation" feature of this forum, send me your email address so I can send you the Tech Manual for the RDS setup.

 

[rich2500]

Got it from a dealer Kingdom Biofuel.

And we got fire

 

[PoodleWamer]

I was going to buy a Francesca but was concerned the small hopper would be an inconvenience and then I found a Piazzetta Sabrina (60# hopper) for a price I couldn't pass up.
The RDS system seemed to work really well on the display at the dealer. I was also impressed how the cleaning cycle burned off the soot on the glass and burn chamber when I was watching the burn at the dealer.

 

[rich2500]

Dealer said if tuned correctly I should get 31 hrs.out of the hopper on low.not to sure I buy that but even 20 hrs. Is fine for me, all my burning will be on low so I should be good.