Ravelli Francesca

[Bonnie1990]

Hello. Hoping for some advice.
I live in a rental and this home is the first I have had with a pellet stove. The past 2 years there was an old Santa Fe and just this fall it was replaced with a Ravelli Francesca. I ordered a pallet of pellets for with the install and they delivered Thurman Hardwood instead of the soft that I requested. No price difference but I am stuck with these. The pellets are very long and I don’t feel like I am getting as much heat as I could be getting. I deal with the “cookies” but have now twice had hooper fires from the pit overflowing which is scary to me. Also the glass gets very dark quickly.
Currently running at +1 feed and 0 air.
Any recommendations on better settings would be appreciated.
Also is there a way to get the RDS code? It keeps wanting to run the RDS but I don’t know if there is a default code when new. I understand it needs to be cleaned well before I run that.

 

[Manly]

I am not an expert or professional. My observations are from my experience with a Francesca I installed about 4 years ago. I only burn high quality softwood pellets. I tried one bag of hardwood a couple of years ago. The heat output was noticeably less and the ash was more and course. I believe my air is +1 and 0 feed. Just going from memory on that. Hopper fires I’ve never experienced. I would remove the stove if I ever experienced anything nearly as dangerous as that. As far as the RDS system, you need to have the proper factory manual for your stove and dig in. These are fairly complicated stoves. I have a Castle Serenity in my garage. Installed it and it runs right out of the box. Switched to hardwood pellets on the Serenity to save money. They burn great with no clinkers but noticeably less heat than the softwoods. Good luck with the Francesca. I’ve been dealing with air flow failures on mine since it was new. Factory support or service on the Ravelli in my area is not good. This site is where I’ve gotten the information I’ve needed. Your hopper fire issue is not good. Be careful.

 

[Bonnie1990]

Thanks. I really am annoyed that they delivered me the hardwood instead of soft. I may just contact them tomorrow and ask if I can make some runs and swap out 20 bags at a time as I really don’t want to keep using these and I still have at least half a pallet. I would rather have the extra heat and clean the ash than these issues.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

I find that my Ravelli/Ecoteck Elena burns softwood and hardwood about the same. The quality of pellets makes a far bigger difference.

 

[Bonnie1990]

I find that my Ravelli/Ecoteck Elena burns softwood and hardwood about the same. The quality of pellets makes a far bigger difference.

These are high quality. I went yesterday and swapped out 23 bags of hardwood for soft. I would love to hear what settings people are using for softwood on this stove. I think it just needs tweaking.