Ravelli Francesca

I'll take 2 for that price

 

Hi Rich,

Was glad to see you got the Francesca up-and-running in the other thread, nice flame, Cool.

Here are some tips for your first cleaning:
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Tools used here:

Burn Pot:
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To remove any ash buildup:
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A paint brush,
An old -dull- 'J hook' tool from a VT Castings Resolute stove w/ handle to knock any ash off the sides / base of the Burn Pot:
** You can use an old teaspoon w/ dull edge, for this also..

To fully clean: at the kitchen sink
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A deep dish, tall enough to completely submerge the burn pot,
Liquid dish washing detergent,
-Plastic- scrubber pad, aka 'Brillo grill pad'
An old metal teaspoon w/ dull edge,

Fire chamber / Burn Pot:
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A 2" paint brush,
A Shop Vac, with high efficiency paper bag & Hepa filter installed, & a Crevice tool attached to hose,

Front Glass:
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Paper towel and -water only-.


Cleaning:

1. Make sure the stove is off and -completely cold- to touch before any cleaning.

2. FireEx Panels:

The Firex 600 panels in the stove should be brushed using a paint brush only: grab a couple of different cheap paint brushes ( 1", 2") from store, you'll be using them to clean the stove. A lot.

3. Burn Pot:

The stainless burn pot -should not-, under any circumstances, be cleaned using sharp metal tools. Ever.

* If you scratch, score, or mar the burn pot, you will -shorten the life of the Burn Pot- considerably. *

To clean the burn pot, remove from the stove, place a tablespoon or so of liquid dish detergent in a container suitable to submerge the burn pot, fill with hot water & get it sudsy, place the burn pot in it, -and let soak-.

For at least 15-20 minutes or longer, depending on the amount of carbon buildup.

We use non-metallic (plastic) scrubber pads here to remove any carbon buildup on the sides & bottom of the burn pot.

-If- you need to use a tool to scrape carbon off the burn pot, we use the dull edge of a metal teaspoon to help lift stubborn carbon off the pot. That's the only tool you will need. * If the carbon doesn't come off w/ either the scrubber pad or teaspoon, back in the water it goes, to soak longer.

Rinse thoroughly, and dry well using a 'donor' dish towel, you are ready to reinstall. * Don't reinstall a wet burn pot.

4. Top Baffle Plate:

The stove here has a removable 'Baffle Plate' located at the top of the burn chamber / between the top of the FireEx panels and Heat Exchanger tubes.

The baffle plate sits on a metal bracket welded to the base of the heat exchanger assembly, and on a removable plate located on the top rear FireEx panel.

To remove the baffle plate here: Tilt up the plate at the front using your thumb, slide the plate slightly forward until it clears the rear plate on the FireEx panel, then lower the back of the plate while moving the plate back, to clear both brackets. Slowly drop the plate down until it clears all FireEx panels, then pull straight out of the stove. Just take it slow the first couple of times so you get the hang of it / to avoid scraping the baffle plate against any of the FireEx panels in the stove.

Brush the baffle plate clean with a paint brush only, that should be all it needs for cleaning.

Once the baffle plate is out, you have full access to the Heat Exchange tubes. Give the Exchange cleaning rod several pulls to dislodge any ash buildup on the tubes.

With the plate out, use a Shop Vac w/ crevice tool attachement to vacuum up any ash buildup at the top of the FireEx panels, either side of the Exchanger assembly, all tubes, and back of the Exchanger tube assembly.

With the Exchange cleaning rod back in closed position, reinstall the baffle plate in reverse order. Again, -careful- to avoid scraping any FireEx panels.

5: Interior Fire Box:

With the Burn Pot out:

Again, lightly brush the FireEx panels from the top down, including the feed tube at the back of the stove.

Vacuum the lower air intake chamber (below the Burn Pot) fully, remove any ash or pellets.
Vacuum the side rails for the ash grate assembly.
Remove the ash pan and vacuum the lower pan area.
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Empty the Ash pan. Use a paint brush to get any stuck residue. Vacuum as needed.

6: Front Glass:

We use a damp paper towel, w/ water only, to gently remove any smoke film buildup. * Be aware of, and careful not to, scrape the glass gasket seals when cleaning.

*** If the glass appears 'cloudy' after cleaning, just leave it, don't get aggressive w/ it - the next fire will burn off the residue. ***

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Best advice I can give is to treat everything like a fine instrument - treat the interior panels w/ care, no tool should touch them whenever possible,
go very gently when wiping down the front glass, vacuum everything well, and again - never use any sharp tools on the burn pot for cleaning.

When the stove is burning well, everything above should take 10-15 minutes, tops: soaking the burn pot when cleaning the stove interior / cleaning the burn pot, and firing back up.

* All this info. was posted by Lake Girl and the other Ecoteck/Ravelli owners on the 'other' forum: full credit & -Thanks- goes to them, for this info.

Hope the info helps, give a shout if you have any questions, etc. on the above.

 

Awesome info thanks bud.Have you ever dealt with or been to Kingdom Biofuels.

 

Good, but I still prefer the Perfect Woman, Giada........

 

Giada can cook breakfast for Francesca and I.

 

Yep, shes some hot stove. 256,000 btu's. doesnt even need pellets.

 

You're welcome Rich, no problem - treat the 'little lady' gently, & she will show you lots of love for many years.

No, haven't had the pleasure to visit or speak w/ the folks @ Kingdom Biofuel, but like their philosophy, values, and website - I would, if I was closer.
You got a -great- deal on a new Francesca, congrats on that.

Are they local to you, and did they go they through cleaning procedures on the stove, e.g.: removing the interior Firex panels / exterior side panels, etc. ?

 

I'll take dessert, please.

 

They are an hour from me, I spent 2-1/2 hrs. there on Sat. what an operation they got going, They are starting their own mill, everything is in place just waiting on proper electric,they are big into bulk pellets with some really cool ways to do that and the route I'm gonna go next year. They only sell Ravelli stoves but then they sell boilers and furnaces also. They are currently working on a set up that with a pellet vac system you can fill right into a Ravelli stove, They got some real cool stuff going on there.Yes they did go over the basics of the stove with me but it's so much to remember that by time I got home I forgot most of it LOL.Had the side panels off for the install that was super easy, the rest I will figure out.One question for you, I burned the stove all night on heat level 1 with the temp. set at 73 when I got up this morning the flame seams a bit lazy to correct this do I need to tweak the RDS settings or should I correct this with a draught adjustment.
thanks

 

That -is- really cool. ( I might have to leave a note telling the wife I've 'gone fishing', and make a road trip. )

This is where we're getting into "I don't want to give you bad info.." territory: your stove's (Ravelli RDS) setup is somewhat different.
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* "Lazy Flame" is most likely too much fuel / not enough Combustion air - I would start with a draught adjustment, and increase air. *


[Set Air/Pellet] menu:
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If the parameters haven't changed, the adjustment range is (-5 -> 0 <- +5), which equals a (-5%) to (+5%) range adjustment.

You can adjust fuel Feed rate ("Pellet") or Combustion air ("Flow") settings in the menu.

On your stove: [View Settings] menu:
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Do you have the ability to individual parameters for each Setting ( 1 - 5 ) and adjust Fuel feed / Air rates ?

That's the 'default' w/ the older Ecoteck stove here, unsure if the Ravelli/RDS stoves still have this ability, or if settings are now internal to RDS.

* On the stove here, the [View Settings] menu option allows you to view each stove parameter, without affecting operation of the stove.

Important Tip: Grab a Notepad and pencil, and write down each / all settings, to establish a base-line for your stove there, before any 'tuning' is done.


If you want to post the settings on your stove, I'll try to help w/ tweaking your stove there.

 

I have a call in to the dealer, but I did try adjusting the draught setting up and giving some time to settle but it didn't change the flame, on power 1 my fan is 1300 rpm and exhaust temp is 311. I have a feeling it has to do with the RDS setup.

 

Agree - 1,300 RPM seems low: at 1.0 lb/hr Feed rate here on Setting (1), Combustion air RPM is 1,430.

Note: That's tuned to the 'high-side' / burning lean, with Granules LG pellets. Pellet volume: (1) layer, covers 3/4 of bottom of the burn pot.

* But this is all specific to your setup, of course: Vent length / natural draft, OAK setup, Feed rate, Intake air temp., etc. all play a role in this.

If I was tuning your stove here:
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I would start by increasing Combustion blower by (50) RPM +- to start, & observe flame - pellets should be glowing 'bright' (not dull), but not so bright they appear 'torched' .. Give it a full run, if still "Lazy Flame" begin increasing by increments of (20) RPM until you find the 'sweet spot'.

* Tuning the Ravelli isn't much different than your work in dialing-in the Serenity - trust your instincts, common sense applies.

 

Talked to the dealer they would like pics of the flame at various power levels, then they will direct what adjustments to make. The stove is off right now while it's this warm out so I think I'm gonna go through the RDS setup again tonite and bump the blower rpms up during the setup and see if that helps.

 

Cool, glad you have Dealer support, (and they are actively carrying/selling your stove) - that's always best.

* It may take a couple of tries to get it dialed-in, that's one disadvantage of software-based setup (vs. adjusting a mechanical air damper rod),

but keep at it, small steps - I'm sure you'll get there.

PS: Great news from Artisdam for you ! Was glad to read that.