Ravelli RV100[c] Owner's Thread - Tips & Knowledge

[PelletPractitioner]

Information for Ravelli RV100s is a little sparse. I'm creating this thread with the hope it will become a go-to location for basic tips and information about the RV100. Feel free to add your own knowledge and experiences by commenting on this thread.

If you found this post useful, please click the "like" button. I'll be encouraged to keep adding information.

Table of Contents

• Installation / Maintenance
  • Removing and installing the porcelain tiles (post #2)
  • Appliance adapter for venting pipe (post #4)
• Operation
  • Self Control System (Post #5)
  • Blower Speed (Post #6)

Related Content

1. Ravelli RV80 airflow meter error and replacement. (link)

Official Documents

1. RV100 Classic Manual (pdf)
2. RV110 Dimensions (pdf) (This is linked to off the RV100 Classic product page, and the dimensions appear to match. I suspect they changed the model names for the US region)

 

[PelletPractitioner]

Installing the Panels

I ordered a Ravellli RV100c but opted out of the installation (~$800). It arrived with the unit, and a box of porcelain panels. After verifying none of the panels were broken, I begin the surprisingly frustrating job of installing them.

To install the top panel: this is obvious. Just take off the cast iron top and slide into place.

To install the front bottom panel: remove the right two panels, if installed. Loosen the 4 or 5 bolts securing the right rail that runs the entire length of the stove. Slide out the rail. Insert the tile on the left rail, then into the the right rail. Slide the right rail back into place and tighten screws.

To instal the side panels: this is also straight-forward.

Side Panels that Won't Slide Into Place

My right panels slide nicely into place. The left ones were very difficult. The tile would slide in 3 inches, then get stuck. They were almost impossibly hard to remove, even though I didn't force them in. It was crazy. I was worried they would shatter. It was pretty scary. I thought the stove might have gotten dinged during shipment, so I called the dealer. The installer told me they sometimes encounter this and didn't seem surprised. He recommended using a wide flat screw driver or pliers, wrapped with painters tape (to avoid stripping off the black paint), to expand the rail from the inside.

Once I got it past that, it would stop 2" before the bottom of the stove. I used a pliers and paper towels folded over about 5 times to bend the outer rail. I also stuck it in the rail and wiggled it to widen the rail.

The other problem I had was the top of the rails where you slide in the tiles. The top of the left rail was shaving off porcelain tile into powder that collected at the bottom. The rail didn't seem aligned correctly. After 10 minutes of getting the tile stuck, removing it, and repeating it, I loosened the top bolt holding the rail in place a half turn. The rail rotated a bit.

The installer told me over the phone not to shave down the porcelain tile as a larger chunk of enamel might flake off.

After 30 minutes of rotating the rail and using a pliers to bend open the rail, the panel finally slid into place as normal.

 

[jerrieric]

Same issue on right side
I found holding from bottom and lowering slowly helps.

 

[PelletPractitioner]

Appliance Adapters

The DuraVent PelletPro 3PVP-ADR appliance adapter works great. I also tried the standard 3" DuraVent appliance adapter, but that didn't fit at all. It was the exact same circumference as the exhaust pipe on the RV100. You really do need the 3PVP-ADR. I got it for around $30 from Wood Stove Pro. Plumbers Stock has it for cheaper, but it's direct order from manufacturer and takes 5 weeks to arrive. Still beat my dealer's price of $100 for an adapter.

 

[PelletPractitioner]

Self Control System

The manual was vague to the point of uselessness. I couldn't find any information on the Internet, so I called the dealer.

The tech at the dealer explained this adjusts the responsiveness of the temperature swing. The idea being if you're out of the house it will respond slower to temperature swings, or wait longer to ignite or turn up the power. It wasn't too clear, but that was the idea behind it, and he says they rarely set it.

 

[PelletPractitioner]

Blower Speed - The fan blowing over the heat exchanger to move hot air into the room.

This setting is locked behind the service settings menu and requires a password to access.

The initial settings, even on "silent" mode, and even on "Power 1" were loud to me. I could endure them for periods of time, but not continuous noise as the fireplace is modulating on low when the temperature is met. The model in the dealer show room DEFINITELY had the fan speed turned down, as it was much more quiet. The dealer was also advertising "whisper quiet" in their commercials. As configured, it was definitely NOT "whisper quiet."

The fan that blows over the heat exchanger can be adjusted in small increments independently for each power level. I tried lowering the value to v60 from v85, and it got pretty quiet. Of course the air movement decreased, too. I was worried this could increase heat build-up so I called the tech at the dealer. He assured me lowering the fan speed will not damage the stove. Each power level has a minimum lower limit, so I can't lower it to the point of damaging the stove. Lowering the fan will reduce air movement, obviously, and increase the temperature and radiant heat coming from the cast iron top

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

RDS System

Your Dealer has no clue as to the "Self Control System". This is called the "RDS System", and it has noting to do with the thermostat swing or responsivness.

The Ecoteck/Ravelli "RDS" stove models use a mass air-flow sensor in the intake air path, used to regulate the combustion fan speed to achieve a constant amount of combustion air, automatically compensating for the restriction of the particular flue pipe configuration installed with each stove, and the normal increase of combustion air restriction that occurs as the burn-pot holes and the exhaust passages get restricted as the stove is used, between cleanings. This type of system does help maintain a more consistent air-fuel ratio (compared to a stove which does not have a mass-airflow sensor), and can issue an alert when the stove needs cleaning, based on the actual restriction (from soot/ash) of the combustion air path.

The RDS must be set-up, or calibrated, one-time, when the stove is first installed, so the system can compensate for the actual draft (or restriction) of the particular flue pipe that was installed with the stove. Not all dealers know how to do this. How the RDS system works and how to do the initial set-up are described in the RDS Technical Manual.

The RDS initial setting instructions are on the third page "8-New stove testing system"
Make sure you have a clean stove before you do this, including a clean-out of the internal stove exhaust passages and the entire flue pipe. If it is not 100% clean of any ash, the RDS set-up won't be correct. That is why it should be done with the first bag of pellets you burn.

 

[PelletPractitioner]

Your Dealer has no clue as to the "Self Control System". This is called the "RDS System", and it has noting to do with the thermostat swing or responsivness.

So the "Self Control System" option in the menu actually turns the RDS system on and off? I thought the RDS system was always running.

 

[Pelleting In NJ]

UPS with Auto-Shutdown of Stove During a Power Failure

I built and installed this on my Ecoteck/Ravelli Elena stove, using the convenient wires of the hopper lid switch. I believe all the Ravelli stoves have a hopper switch. This can be used on any "top-feed" stove, by just wiring the relay contacts in series with the auger motor. I would not try this on a "bottom-feed" stove, like a Harman, as the shutdown sequence may not work properly if the auger motor is just stopped.

Please be aware that you are connecting to hazardous 110VAC voltages....I am not responsible for the outcome of your attempts to do this modification.

 

[jerrieric]

I had the 09 flow meter error on my RV 100c last season. Dealer gave me the information how to turn the meter off which I did last year and everything ran great after that. Stopped by dealer this week and Ravalli actually has programming fixed to go around the flow meter so the RDS works as it should. He gave me the print out but it's two pages and looks kind of complicated so he's going to have to come down and set it up

 

[PelletPractitioner]

I had the 09 flow meter error on my RV 100c last season. Dealer gave me the information how to turn the meter off which I did last year and everything ran great after that. Stopped by dealer this week and Ravalli actually has programming fixed to go around the flow meter so the RDS works as it should. He gave me the print out but it's two pages and looks kind of complicated so he's going to have to come down and set it up

Nice. Are you able to share the document?

 

[jerrieric]

Nice. Are you able to share the document?

Well I really don't want it to come back and haunt my dealer. I actually did the reprogramming yesterday and once I got by my initial fear of screwing the settings up it was very simple to do. But it hasn't been cold enough to run the stove with the new settings yet so I don't know if It made anything better or if it just works as usual. Works as usual is not bad because the thing still works great with the original settings and turning off the flow meter.

 

[jerrieric]

Got the RV 100cc cranked up in eco mode. Only issue I have with Eco Mode is the display shows *F. I assume that's for Fahrenheit but the damn degrees that you set it to I believe is in Celsius only. So I don't know if I got it set right or not. We shall see. I have Eco set on 25 which I believe is 75 Fahrenheit. It's in the room so it went into Eco shut down mode so we'll see if it starts back up at 72 or 73.

 

[johneh]

25 is 77

 

[jerrieric]

Yeah I use my cell phone to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. I actually think the Comfort Eco control should have been set at 3. I think that means when it goes three degrees below what you set the temperature at it'll shut down. I'll have to try that again sometime. In three years I never really used it because I didn't like to make the ignitor work that often.

 

[jerrieric]

Well I got the Comfort climate to work but I don't like it shutting the stove on and off. Too much work for the igniter I believe so I disabled Comfort Clima climb on mode

 

[jerrieric]

Sitting here bored so I thought I'd take some pics so you can see my RV 100c install. I do all my own installs.

 

[jerrieric]

I'm on my third year with the RV 100c. I burn 24/7 starting in November usually to the end of April early may. I do a deep clean which means removing the side panels taking the side plates off and vacuum out the passages. I put a 3-inch shop vacuum in the exhaust tube once a month to suck out any Ash that's in there and that seems to be fine so I never remove the exhaust fan. One thing I'm curious about is I have never removed the fireX. Are there any passages behind the firex that need to be cleaned?

 

[rich2500]

None on the Francesca so I doubt there are any on the 100. When I removed mine there was not that much ash behind the panels and what little ash is behind there does not mean a thing. Got to be very careful when removing the firex it's a tight fit and very brittle.

 

[jerrieric]

Yeah that's what I thought so I'm not going to remove mine. My back panel is already cracked horizontally so I didn't really want to remove that it anyway. This is the third year on the Firex and it looks like they will last a lot longer and the new ones are only eighty bucks for a set.

 

[jerrieric]

Can you set the day timer to come on at 5:30am with no off time for all days for temp 75 power 5 and set another program for all days to come on at 11:30pm no off temp 69 power 3 and will that work? And if so will it cause the ignitor to come on even though the stove is running?

 

[jerrieric]

Got Hot Smoke message the other day on my rv100 C. Manuel says go back to power setting one. What does Hot smoke actually mean and can it cause problems if not attended to?

 

[rich2500]

Basically it means the stove got too hot, First try cleaning the burnpot if that don't fix it then try either turning the pellet feed down a little or the blower up a little.

 

[jerrieric]

This may seem like a stupid question but I want to reduce the pellet volume being fed for each auger turn. Does that mean I change the %pellet setting to the minus settings or the plus settings? The reason I ask does minus mean the auger turns less frequently? Or does plus %pellet mean the auger waits longer before it turns? manual really leaves something to be desired. I currently have the %pellet set to -5 and still is pumping out allot if heat in modulation mode.

 

[jerrieric]

Okay did my own testing and by moving the %pellet all the way to the right seems to slow the pellet feed down. Today I'm going to extend the thermostat probe from the back of the stove halfway up my room about 12 ft to see if it'll be more accurate.