Ravelli RV80 deep clean exploratory expedition....

[Clockmanchris]

Since my stove was acting so poorly after I thought I had done every nook and cranny, I got so pissed I tore into it. I could never find where the exhaust passages were located; only the two side access panels to part of it. Last night I pulled out the fire tile and every loose bit I could find in the fire chamber with still no luck. I know where the inlet is located, but where the F is the exhaust?? Then, I found it by chance. I was cleaning the crap out of the heat exchange tubes and used my fingers to feel all along the upper edges in hopes of a passage (nope), when my eye finally caught it. There is a horizontal bar just inside the door, below the heat exchange chamber and there they were!! They looked clean, but I hit them with compressed duster and now the stove seems to be working the best ever. The burning pellets are dancing and the pot's not loading up. Finally Ravelli really needs to overhaul their owners' manual with someone whose first language is English and add more detailed cleaning instructions / pics. This stove is leaving in two weeks and I can't wait! Parts are discontinued or hard to get, online help is useless, the controls are over-complicated and if you make a mistake, you have to wait for the stupid thing to go through a full clean and restart before you can make changes (no simple cancel). It came with the house and has been two years of a pain in the ass. I'm moving it to my cottage 45 minutes away and if it makes it, great; if it falls off the truck...oh well.

 

[Manly]

I feel your pain. We are in the fourth season with the Francesca we purchased new. It has been a challenge to keep it operational. User and maintenance manuals are marginal and have never found on one that matches my stoves configuration. Dealership support isn’t something I would think about in our area. Flow meters are an entire issue onto their own. This site and the knowledgeable users here have been a lifesaver. I have worked in electro-mechanical maintenance all my career. I can’t imagine if an average consumer purchased this stove, a real nightmare. All that being said, it does heat well and efficiently for a small stove, now that I’ve got this thing down. They are a pain to clean thoroughly but I only tear it down once a year. I cannot recommend Ravelli based on my experience. I suspect not all of them are as problematic as mine was from the start. Failed auger motor the first winter, 4 flow meters in 4 years.

 

[Clockmanchris]

I feel your pain. We are in the fourth season with the Francesca we purchased new. It has been a challenge to keep it operational. User and maintenance manuals are marginal and have never found on one that matches my stoves configuration. Dealership support isn’t something I would think about in our area. Flow meters are an entire issue onto their own. This site and the knowledgeable users here have been a lifesaver. I have worked in electro-mechanical maintenance all my career. I can’t imagine if an average consumer purchased this stove, a real nightmare. All that being said, it does heat well and efficiently for a small stove, now that I’ve got this thing down. They are a pain to clean thoroughly but I only tear it down once a year. I cannot recommend Ravelli based on my experience. I suspect not all of them are as problematic as mine was from the start. Failed auger motor the first winter, 4 flow meters in 4 years.

I have a local store with a really helpful guy, but short of having it torn apart by a pro and fully explained (which would take forever with all the sub-menus on the control board), I just have to keep diagnosing it as best I can. I'm not an electronics repairman, so when something craps out, all I can do is replace it. So far I have replaced the display panel which would not respond without the remote and then started to fail on that, too as well as the mother board due to error codes. I re-gasketed the door, glass, side access panels, and exhaust blower. I've cleaned and oiled the auger motor and the room fan and motor. I would say I've been proactive on maintaining it to no avail. We have a large house and it's really a bit small for the job needed. I'm getting a Drolet Eco 65 instead. Hope it works better!