Ravelli RV 80 blower issues

[Arncoem]

I bought my RV 80 new in 2015 from Dean’s Stove & Spa in Southington CT - after only 2 months the blower fan stopped working so I called Dean’s and they replaced it bc had 1 year warrantee.

Let me say this though- I clean the stove every night the slide out tray as well as everything in the front section and on weekends I take the sides out and clean it w shop vac & numerous small attachments as well as the bottom section where the dust falls to & the exhaust I do every 2 weeks from outside in. Its as good as could possibly be. When the service tech comes each spring for yearly inspection they claim it’s the cleanest pellet stove they’re ever at a service for.

Back to the issue. After the first time was replaced by warrantee in 2016 then in 2017 it stopped working 2x and i had to wait for service to get to my house to fix a few days later. 2018 it happened only 1x and they again came out - roughly these are 150$ service calls each time plus $75 for the new blower fan. (Can see it in photos I’ve attached. Think it’s referred to as convection fan blower).

I would be fine changing it myself now that I know the issue as I’m a lisensed sign installer / w/ an electrical journeyman Lisense - So changing this is nothing for me to do. Question is why is this happening so frequently and where can I buy 2 to keep as backups so I don’t have to wait for service tech from dean’s stove & spa to get to my house. They won’t sell me one when I go to their showroom - also I was pretty misled when bought it as they sold me on it being user friendly then delivered to me w no instructions on how to use and all instructions in Italian- calling them to assist was a nightmare too. I’ve learned how to do everything over the years so not an issue now other than if I put it on high “5” hot smokes comes up and shuts it down so I have to always have it on 3 or 4 only. 4 is ok but the hopper is empty from full 11pm by 5am. On 3 setting it will go 8 hours but of course not as warm in the 10-20 degree nights.

Their (Dean’s stove & Spa) service techs are A+ I will give them though. They have too many negative reviews to read them all I foUnd out after purchased from them too. Live and learn I suppose.

 

[jerrieric]

I can't imagine what's going on. I have an rv100c and the thing runs on five all the time 24/7 with the thermostat set at 69 and 71. Weather has been in the single digits and this thing runs easily 12 hours. When I come down and check it in the morning it can still go for another three or four hours. I usually go to bed at 9 or 10 and get up at 9. With outside temps in the single digits, I'm really happy with the way it's been performing. I've gone through about 6 ton of pellets so far between last year and this year and the only issue I had was an 09 air flow meter error and all I had to do was go in and turn the meter off via the console per Ravalli. For the price of these stoves if I had the problems you have had I would really not be happy. And I only clean it every 4 or 5 days.

 

[Arncoem]

How big is your hopper ? I’ve always had my temperature set at 90 or as high will go bc I’ve never had anyone to tell me differently & place I bought It From was of zero help. I’m going to try it down to 71 on the thermostat tonight for sure though.

I can fit around a half of a bag of pellets in my hopper - having never owned one before I would’ve gotten one double the size have.

I go through around 3 pallets of pellets a year - - is that around the average running it nov - March ?

 

[jerrieric]

My Hopper is 55 lb. I was going to buy the RV80 but this is my fourth pellet stove and I wasn't comfortable with a smaller Hopper. Plus I wanted the extra btus. I really do Run 5 days straight 120 hours with my thermostat set on 69 or 71 on power 5. 5 days is the max because my ash hopper is full but the glass is still really clean. My cleaning consists of 15 seconds for the glass and about 5 or 10 minutes to vacuum the hopper out and scrape the burn pot. I usually put the Shop-Vac in the pellet stove T outside to suck out any ash that may build up in the blower about once every ton.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

Woodmanspartsplus.com
They have parts for your stove, the fan is $100.
I bet that your blower motor only needs some lubrication of the motor and fan shaft bearings. Use a synthetic motor oil like Mobil 1 10w-30, just a drop. First clean all the dust from the motor and the fan blades.

 

[Monica in France]

That blower looks remarkably like mine which is in its 10th year at least.
I would guess that it is operating in an environment more hostile than anticipated : too hot ?
Pelleting's advise is good , but there is something else wrong : Either in the physical installation or the parameters used in the set up.
If that stove uses RDS I would suggest that its been badly set up.

 

[Capy01]

Do you know if the bolts that you mount the fan with have nuts on the other side or do they just bolt into the side of fan? Thanks.