# Piazzetta Monia opinions



## hedgehog

anyone have one of these stoves yet?  my local dealer just started selling them and trained up last week.

really like the look of them , and it was real quite in the store. 

i Was also looking at the Enviro mini , enviro m55 , and enviro Omega.

http://www.piazzetta.com/products/sc/monia/


----------



## boosted3g

Thats a sharp looking stove.  I like the tall design with the big window and a smiley face.


----------



## hedgehog

yes very European , thats what my wife likes about it.


----------



## hedgehog

anyone own one?  i dont like to be the first in line for anything


----------



## P38X2

Mmmmmmm......pizza.

Slick looking stove.


----------



## jtakeman

The Omega is discontinued. Maxx M is the replacement. The Monia does have a nice look, But I couldn't do the white.


----------



## smwilliamson

check out MZC or Whittus as well, stay away from Ecoteck


----------



## hedgehog

its too bad i really like the look of the Omega, and i like the idea of multi fuel. 

if the Monia was multi fuel i would jump on it.


----------



## hedgehog

smwilliamson said:


> check out MZC or Whittus as well, stay away from Ecoteck


 
ecoteck?  are you saying that the monia is related to this company?


----------



## smwilliamson

No.


----------



## Eatonpcat

Nice looking stove (Way too modern for me), But look at that uncomfortable davenport in the background...Can't even imagine getting comfortable on that!


----------



## Pelleting In NJ

smwilliamson said:


> check out MZC or Whittus as well, stay away from Ecoteck


 
You don't like the stoves??     or the company's policy ??


----------



## hedgehog

Yes the stove LOOKS good but i cant find one review, not one


----------



## hedgehog

Well im now  officially a Ginny pig.  Ordered the Piazzetta Monia this morning.  dealer gave me 400$ off plus Piazzetta is giving me 125$  back.

Install to be booked shortly , ill post some videos and pictures when its in and running.

anyone here cast there own hearth?  is there a section of this website?


----------



## slls

35 lb hopper, not even one bag.


----------



## hedgehog

right but its not my primary heat source


----------



## Ironhorse74

Piazzetta as a company would not be my first choice. Matter of fact it would be pretty close to the bottom of my list. 

Just my .02 

Your mileage may vary

Brad


----------



## hedgehog

reasons?


----------



## papa bears stove

smwilliamson said:


> check out MZC or Whittus as well, stay away from Ecoteck


Sm I'm just curious as to what you don't like about the Ecotek? I've considered carrying them in the past but have not as I don't have enough info on them.  Any tips or info is appreciated.


----------



## Donald Duck

I'm new to the site and I'm close to buying the Monia Piazetta.  How do you like it so far?  What was the list price before the $400 discount? Did you ever receive reasons why the stove was panned by another member?


----------



## hedgehog

retail for the stove here in Canada is 2900$  minus 400$ then minus 125$ manufactures mail in rebate 

i am waiting to have it installed now.   should be before the end of the month.


----------



## Donald Duck

Thanks, I'm at the same initial price for the stove.  My dealer can provide the enameled sides at no xtra charge, as well, so I'm going with the red.


----------



## hedgehog

there is no extra charge for the coloured sides.  we ordered the white


----------



## hedgehog

Donald Duck said:


> I'm new to the site and I'm close to buying the Monia Piazetta. How do you like it so far? What was the list price before the $400 discount? Did you ever receive reasons why the stove was panned by another member?


 

did you buy one yet?  mine gets installed on the 20th


----------



## jgrz0610

I like it.  That's the kind of thing you could convince the wife to put in the middle of the living room.  Let us know how it works.


----------



## hedgehog

jgrz0610 said:


> I like it. That's the kind of thing you could convince the wife to put in the middle of the living room. Let us know how it works.


 

Thanks exactly what happened


----------



## hedgehog

T minus 12hours and ill have my new stove.  hope the install goes well


----------



## Dagored

Just installed our Monia today. Rus like a champ, quiet an powerful. I am concerned that I am constantly going to be filling he bin and emptying the ashes. It does not hold a full bag and the ash bin is about the size of an EZBake brownie pan (4-inch by 12-inch by 1-inch).


----------



## hedgehog

PICTURES?


----------



## hedgehog

iv got 4 or so bags in mine and haven't cleaned out the browny tray yet.  the hopper is small but i fill it when i set the dogs out so its a non issue for me


----------



## WKB

Dagored said:


> Just installed our Monia today. Rus like a champ, quiet an powerful. I am concerned that I am constantly going to be filling he bin and emptying the ashes. It does not hold a full bag and the ash bin is about the size of an EZBake brownie pan (4-inch by 12-inch by 1-inch).


 
I'm considering one these brands, amongst others. How did the first season end up going?


----------



## smwilliamson

WKB said:


> I'm considering one these brands, amongst others. How did the first season end up going?


I think you meant Monica, it's Ecoteck by Ravelli. The Francesca is the same stove but with metal sides instead of ceramic. I have a Francesca, great little heater, like most of the Ecoteck, has some build issues that only a trained eye would find, its good for a room or two but not much else, mine is noisy as all get out and I cannot get it to settle down. WAY TOO MANY SCREWS AND SUCH TO REMOVE TO CLEAN IT!


----------



## Bioburner

We like the used Ecoteck we installed last spring. Still have to design the hearth area yet. It had been used one season and needed a serious cleaning, could have used leaf-vac on a regular basis and things would have been fine. The heavy ceramic sides and top help with the stoves functional noise and the german fans are quiet.


----------



## WKB

smwilliamson said:


> I think you meant Monica, it's Ecoteck by Ravelli. The Francesca is the same stove but with metal sides instead of ceramic. I have a Francesca, great little heater, like most of the Ecoteck, has some build issues that only a trained eye would find, its good for a room or two but not much else, mine is noisy as all get out and I cannot get it to settle down. WAY TOO MANY SCREWS AND SUCH TO REMOVE TO CLEAN IT!


 
I looked at a Ravelli this weekend but wasn't vented and able to operate. I did see a Palazzetti Prima, in the majolica. Beautiful design, loved the matte finish. But I saw the metal version operate and the start-up proved disappointing. Surprisingly loud auger motor. The start-up fire phase sounded like a hushed Harley (e.g. a staccato "wha wha wha wha wha wha wha"). Perhaps this is the way the appliance gets a secondary burn. I did look at a Piazzetta Sabrina. This was the most quiet of them all. This one also has an aluminum heat exchange, instead of cast iron, which I found appealing.


----------



## Donald Duck

WKB said:


> I'm considering one these brands, amongst others. How did the first season end up going?


 
We love our Monia stove.  We opted for the metal sides, rather than ceramic.  Loud motors on appliances drive me nuts, but the start-up and operational does not bother be.  I can run one 50# bag of pellets a day during the coldest day of a NH winter and keep our first floor at 75 degrees (about 800 sq. ft.).  I bought an antique coal scuttle and pour the balance of the 50# bag into it after filling the hopper.  The ash drawer can handle 3-5 bags before cleaning it out with the pellet brand I'm using.


----------



## WKB

Donald Duck said:


> We love our Monia stove. We opted for the metal sides, rather than ceramic. Loud motors on appliances drive me nuts, but the start-up and operational does not bother be. I can run one 50# bag of pellets a day during the coldest day of a NH winter and keep our first floor at 75 degrees (about 800 sq. ft.). I bought an antique coal scuttle and pour the balance of the 50# bag into it after filling the hopper. The ash drawer can handle 3-5 bags before cleaning it out with the pellet brand I'm using.


 
Thanks. How long have you had it? Any problems with equipment failure?


----------



## Donald Duck

We have used it for one heating season, no equipment failures


----------



## smwilliamson

WKB said:


> Thanks. How long have you had it? Any problems with equipment failure?


where do you get the 50# bags?


----------



## Donald Duck

They are 40 or 50 lb bags and they are delivered on a pallet.  I purchase a pallet at a time, one ton per pallet.


----------



## HotTamale

How many bags are you burning a day/night? You mentioned 1 bag per day..is that 24 or 12 hours?


----------



## Donald Duck

HotTamale said:


> How many bags are you burning a day/night? You mentioned 1 bag per day..is that 24 or 12 hours?


On the coldest 24 hour cycle in Lebanon, NH, 1 to 1 1/2 40# bags.


----------



## HotTamale

Donald Duck said:


> On the coldest 24 hour cycle in Lebanon, NH, 1 to 1 1/2 40# bags.


Just installed my Grey Monia today...will post pics soon. The start up phase seems interesting given that I cannot burn at max cycle until these fumes dissipate. Also, going to test run in energy saver mode. Not sure if this baby is safe to run without anyone home for hour or so. 

Did anyone program the auto turn on/off setting feature yet?


----------



## Donald Duck

HotTamale said:


> Just installed my Grey Monia today...will post pics soon. The start up phase seems interesting given that I cannot burn at max cycle until these fumes dissipate. Also, going to test run in energy saver mode. Not sure if this baby is safe to run without anyone home for hour or so.
> 
> Did anyone program the auto turn on/off setting feature yet?


Yup, just follow the directions in the install manual.  The stove runs twice a day on auto-pilot during the heating season.


----------



## HotTamale

Here's my new Monia..Lighting it up tonight!! Returned the hideous tile hearth pad for this granite board.
Also, put small slate panel under bottom exhaust in case of possible sparking.


----------



## Bioburner

It will look a lot better when you got it fired up


----------



## HotTamale

Not excited about the burnt glass in the front after just three hours of operation. Is this normal?


----------



## krooser

You should get a cleaner burn once you turn up the heat... every new pellet stove owner expects that glass to stay squeaky clean... they don't.


----------



## Youppi99

Hello,
just got my Piazzetta Monia installed yesterday and we fall in love with it WOW it is so quiet and the Energy Saving mode is wonderful! The first couple of hours were smelly but now after a couple of adjustments in the temperature it is so well!! I set it up so it start 2 deg/ Celsius (Sorry in Canada) and stop 3 deg. after ...... We are not in the deep cold yet but so far I recommend it! I have an Harman Invincible RS in the basement and it work well too but do have have that technologies who start by itself and it is more noisy... Only sad little point is that it can not hold the complete 40 pounds bag since only 35 pounds go in the Monia..


----------



## WKB

These are quiet stoves. We like ours, too! Glad it's going well.


----------



## kah68

Just installed a Sabrina....a little smokey but once the paints burn in shpuld be good...pretty quiet even in full power mode. If its as good as the reviews its a keeper....chose it for the higher BTU s and 66 lb hopper.


----------



## Lake Girl

smwilliamson said:


> like most of the Ecoteck, has some build issues that only a trained eye would find


 
Trained eye what have you found as build issues on the Ecoteck?  Examples please...  I agree the screws they use are garbage so I have replaced most of them but what else have you found?


----------



## smwilliamson

Lake Girl said:


> Trained eye what have you found as build issues on the Ecoteck?  Examples please...  I agree the screws they use are garbage so I have replaced most of them but what else have you found?


Bad welds, sloppy welds, knife edge for door gasket seal out of alignment, door switches and hopper lid switches that fall apart, over temp and break, electrical disconnects that become brittle cause they are not isolated away from heat or insulated, computer display that starts to pixel fade when the stove heats up... Again not isolated or insulated, clear spacers that separate the ceramic sides melt with the stove heat, baffles and heat exchangers are not an alloy and corrode as well as burn pots, the nylon auger bushings don't fit the plates tightly and free float around and prematurely wear. These are just the few thinks that come to mind offhand.


----------



## Lake Girl

thanks for the heads up on some of the problems - agree with some sloppy welds and burn pot issues.  Just used the spacers under the hopper lid so no melting  Alloys would be nice but can't have everything!


----------



## Bioburner

I feel lucky our -$600 Elena had no issues other than needing a good cleaning. Who needs the hopper switch?


----------



## Pelleting In NJ

I find the welds and overall construction quality of my Ecoteck to be top notch, compared to all the other brands of stoves that I looked inside. I have had no problems with melted wires, or terminals,  or sloppy / misaligned gasket sealing lips. I have not had any issues with the screws, other than one which was too tight.


----------



## Lake Girl

No wiring, switch issues here either.


----------



## boomhour

smwilliamson said:


> Bad welds, sloppy welds, knife edge for door gasket seal out of alignment, door switches and hopper lid switches that fall apart, over temp and break, electrical disconnects that become brittle cause they are not isolated away from heat or insulated, computer display that starts to pixel fade when the stove heats up... Again not isolated or insulated, clear spacers that separate the ceramic sides melt with the stove heat, baffles and heat exchangers are not an alloy and corrode as well as burn pots, the nylon auger bushings don't fit the plates tightly and free float around and prematurely wear. These are just the few thinks that come to mind offhand.[/quot
> 
> 
> Wow glad i didn't ask about my stove .


----------



## smwilliamson

Pelleting In NJ said:


> I find the welds and overall construction quality of my Ecoteck to be top notch, compared to all the other brands of stoves that I looked inside. I have had no problems with melted wires, or terminals,  or sloppy / misaligned gasket sealing lips. I have not had any issues with the screws, other than one which was too tight.


All of these things don't exist in any one stove or on all stoves but has been my overall experience with Ecoteck


----------



## Ben Lomond

Installed the Piazetta Monia 6 weeks ago. Great stove! Practically heats our whole 2000 sq ft home (with a couple well placed circulator fans). Our northern CA climate gets into the 20's (F) often and we have never had to burn more than 3/4 of a bag of pellets in a day, and never ran above power setting 3 (of 4). The "energy saving" feature is really clever and works well, if a little challenging to program the first time. Can also be attached to a thermostat - we have a wireless remote t-stat, but have not used it because it disables the energy saving mode, so just set the temp by the built-in t-stat. We keep a shop vac in a closet nearby and clean the stove daily - takes about 5 minutes to do a really thorough job including Windex on the glass. We get about 1/4 cup of ash in a whole day, practically nothing! The fan has a couple levels, but even on the highest it is not too loud. The retailer said it was the quietest of the pellet stoves they offer. We had a power outage, and the stove simply stopped, and then when the power came back on several hours later it went through its normal start up and came back on line automatically, no problem. So far we are loving this stove! Not cheap, but looks like a great investment, especially compared to constantly stoking the old Jotul we replaced with it.


----------



## chken

Ben Lomond said:


> Installed the Piazetta Monia 6 weeks ago. Great stove! Practically heats our whole 2000 sq ft home (with a couple well placed circulator fans). Our northern CA climate gets into the 20's (F) often and we have never had to burn more than 3/4 of a bag of pellets in a day, and never ran above power setting 3 (of 4). The "energy saving" feature is really clever and works well, if a little challenging to program the first time. Can also be attached to a thermostat - we have a wireless remote t-stat, but have not used it because it disables the energy saving mode, so just set the temp by the built-in t-stat. We keep a shop vac in a closet nearby and clean the stove daily - takes about 5 minutes to do a really thorough job including Windex on the glass. We get about 1/4 cup of ash in a whole day, practically nothing! The fan has a couple levels, but even on the highest it is not too loud. The retailer said it was the quietest of the pellet stoves they offer. We had a power outage, and the stove simply stopped, and then when the power came back on several hours later it went through its normal start up and came back on line automatically, no problem. So far we are loving this stove! Not cheap, but looks like a great investment, especially compared to constantly stoking the old Jotul we replaced with it.
> 
> View attachment 129217


Congrats! Was your brick hearth always designed for a freestanding stove? The opening seems custom designed for the Monia! What pellets are you using giving you so little ash? Given how tiny the ash pan is in the Monia, it's probably a very good thing. All your other comments match up with my experience owning a Piazzetta as well.


----------



## Ben Lomond

chken said:


> Congrats! Was your brick hearth always designed for a freestanding stove? The opening seems custom designed for the Monia! What pellets are you using giving you so little ash? Given how tiny the ash pan is in the Monia, it's probably a very good thing. All your other comments match up with my experience owning a Piazzetta as well.


Alcove was designed for an old Jotul replica stove that worked great for almost 30 years - heated up all that brick and would stay warm overnight even in the coldest weather. But when I wanted to replace some parts I found they were out of stock and no longer available. Not only that, the old stove had no secondary combustion so no longer legal in my area - could not even have replaced the whole thing, and finding another wood stove with new technology but the same configuration would be a challenge to say the least. But silver lining, we got the Monia and life has gotten a lot easier! We use Golden Fire pellets (from Oregon) - soft wood, 40 lb bags for $6. I think our overall fuel bill is going to go down a lot, considering we were buying up to three cords of hardwood at $325 per. We still have a backup stove in another room, but I think we will be down to 1/2 cord per season now, plus about 75 bags of pellets ($450) at most, I'm guessing.


----------



## Justin@Bayside

We have one in our showroom also. It has a great look to it. Ours is Red. It is very quiet. My one criticism of it is the complexity of its control board. The average person is going to have a hard time understanding how to use it. Which doesn't make it any easier to sell.


----------



## Ben Lomond

Justin@Bayside said:


> We have one in our showroom also. It has a great look to it. Ours is Red. It is very quiet. My one criticism of it is the complexity of its control board. The average person is going to have a hard time understanding how to use it. Which doesn't make it any easier to sell.


Yes, controls are a little intimidating at first and not completely intuitive, but all you really need to know is how to turn it on/off and set is the temperature, and those functions are simple. It's really worth walking through the "energy saving" mode, though, because that feature is great! We have it set to turn off 2F above set temp and turn on at 2F below, at power level 3 (of 4). So when it comes on it heats up fast to the set temp, and then drops to level 1 but keeps heating up slowly to the off temp (if it gets there). Really evens out the room temp swings. Have not tried the timer programming yet. Any experience with that?


----------



## chken

Ben Lomond said:


> Yes, controls are a little intimidating at first and not completely intuitive, but all you really need to know is how to turn it on/off and set is the temperature, and those functions are simple. It's really worth walking through the "energy saving" mode, though, because that feature is great! We have it set to turn off 2F above set temp and turn on at 2F below, at power level 3 (of 4). So when it comes on it heats up fast to the set temp, and then drops to level 1 but keeps heating up slowly to the off temp (if it gets there). Really evens out the room temp swings. Have not tried the timer programming yet. Any experience with that?


Yeah, I use the Energy Saving mode, but when it's really cold, I just leave it in manual, where i set the temp and Power level. The only real difference between Energy Saving and manual, is that manual never turns off, it will alternate from your Power level set, and Power level 1, while Energy Saving will do the same, but also turn off. When I asked my dealer about what modes other Piazzetta owners used, he told me "simplest is best", which meant manual! Actually, I don't think my dealer knows all that much about the stove.

I have not used the Timer, aka Program mode.

As for complexity, I think many of the european made stoves are similar in that since many use the same control boards.


----------



## Lake Girl

Welcome Ben, love the pics  I keep my Italian lady in manual - so much simpler.  You'll find that using the softwood pellets make for easier clean-up and less ash...  Happy burning!

Justin - welcome to the forum!


----------



## Donald Duck

Greetings all,
   I finishing up my second season of heating in NH with a Monia and we love this stove!  We have used about two tons of pellets this year and are closing in on 6,000 degree days for this season, so we are seeing substantial savings over gas/oil heat.  It heats our first floor at level one and keeps us toasty warm.
   You have to take the time to learn how to use the program mode, it is really easy to use after getting the hang of it.  I have the stove on two heating cycles a day, running for 4 to 6 hours and starting at 3:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m..  If a cold snap is going to hit, then I just press a button and scroll to the time settings on the stove and add an hour of heating.  For a warm spell, I cut down on the heating cycle.  And, you can always stop the stove in a heating cycle.  Using the feature allows you to keep your house cooler at night and during the day when you are at work.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

hedgehog said:


> anyone have one of these stoves yet?  my local dealer just started selling them and trained up last week.
> 
> really like the look of them , and it was real quite in the store.
> 
> i Was also looking at the Enviro mini , enviro m55 , and enviro Omega.
> 
> http://www.piazzetta.com/products/sc/monia/


ill might be kind off late on this but this stove is very good me and 2 of my friend have the Sabrina model and we are not in Florida here it's Québec -40 the kind of weather we get here. this stove run good I have a house  35 years old of 24 x 36 2 floor isolation is poor 175 pouch of 40 pound for 1 year heating only why pellets. this stove is fully adjustable but the dealer has to go to the customer place to adjust the stove. people that says that its not a great stove most of the time they have no service from there dealer, or they are dealer that do not sale the product and prefer to groan the product I have sold only this year 20 unit of this product and a few more last year we where just starting the line in Quebec and I can assure you that this is a meen machine when it come to heating a house the Sabrina model is way to big for my house the Monia model would be better.sorry if my English is poor I'm usualy French ty have a nice day.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

smwilliamson said:


> No.


why was that remark you don't sale them hey! they are great you should.


----------



## Ben Lomond

Pascal_Maertens said:


> ill might be kind off late on this but this stove is very good me and 2 of my friend have the Sabrina model and we are not in Florida here it's Québec -40 the kind of weather we get here. this stove run good I have a house  35 years old of 24 x 36 2 floor isolation is poor 175 pouch of 40 pound for 1 year heating only why pellets. this stove is fully adjustable but the dealer has to go to the customer place to adjust the stove. people that says that its not a great stove most of the time they have no service from there dealer, or they are dealer that do not sale the product and prefer to groan the product I have sold only this year 20 unit of this product and a few more last year we where just starting the line in Quebec and I can assure you that this is a meen machine when it come to heating a house the Sabrina model is way to big for my house the Monia model would be better.sorry if my English is poor I'm usualy French ty have a nice day.


Your English is good enough to get the point! Now with over two months living with the Monia we still love this stove! No problems. It is used every day. We do not have the coldest weather, and now that spring is here the stove is not running during the afternoons until sometime in the evening when it comes back on automatically. But everything works perfectly, and we are really impressed with how quiet it is compared to some other pellet stoves we have heard! We keep a small shopvac in a closet nearby, and we clean the stove at least once every other day. Takes exactly 6 minutes start to finish (I timed it) including windexing the glass, from the time I pull the vac out until I put it back. EZ PZ! I still can't believe how little ash this stove produces.


----------



## Lake Girl

Welcome to the forum Pascal.  Glad to hear you're enjoying the Monia.  When I bought my Ecoteck Ravelli, I don't think the Piazzetta's were imported yet.  Still happy with my stove after the third winter.  We picked up another Elena without the air option for half the price of the first one.  Original distributor went bankrupt so many were sold at auction.  We get the same cold weather in NW Ontario (not far from Manitoba) and the second stove will help with the heat distribution (approximately 2000 sq ft).

Keep warm...


----------



## p962man

Glad to hear feedback from another satisfied Piazzetta owner! We have had a great season selling these stoves, primarily the SC series like the Monia and Sabrina, but also a couple from SY series. My crew is putting in a Monia Bordeaux tomorrow, beautiful unit. Now if we could only find some darn pellets to put in these things....


----------



## chken

Pascal_Maertens said:


> ill might be kind off late on this but this stove is very good me and 2 of my friend have the Sabrina model and we are not in Florida here it's Québec -40 the kind of weather we get here. this stove run good I have a house  35 years old of 24 x 36 2 floor isolation is poor 175 pouch of 40 pound for 1 year heating only why pellets. this stove is fully adjustable but the dealer has to go to the customer place to adjust the stove. people that says that its not a great stove most of the time they have no service from there dealer, or they are dealer that do not sale the product and prefer to groan the product I have sold only this year 20 unit of this product and a few more last year we where just starting the line in Quebec and I can assure you that this is a meen machine when it come to heating a house the Sabrina model is way to big for my house the Monia model would be better.sorry if my English is poor I'm usualy French ty have a nice day.


Very well said. I grew up down the road from you in Ste Agathe-des-Monts!


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Actually I do sale the Piazzetta pellets stove in Mont-Laurier, Quebec and I have few tricks to clean them on a longer period of time. I own a Sabrina for 2 years now and even if the cleaning is exactly like you said 6 minute including everything, I used to clean my stove every second day but if you can get a tech to configure your stove to be auto clean more often and also for a longer period of time, I explain; in the configuration program you can adjust the pot or grate cleaning interval from; 30 min to 180 min by default it is set to 60, I settled mine for 30 minute. Also the grate cleaning time can be change; from 10 sec. to 30 sec. I set these one to 30 seconds even if it seems to be very little changes it makes a big difference. I should talk about cleaning per pouches in staid of days; before I used to clean every 2 or 3 pouches and now well around 4 to 6 pouches and I like it. And you have to know that this cleaning process only occurs in the power level 3-4 and 5 at level 1 and 2 it will never auto clean so a good trick is to run at power level 3 and if it’s too hot just lower the thermostat it really work for me and also most important allllll of my customers. Now since 2 weeks I now have new stove yes it’s still a Piazzetta but a P-962 so… nice it’s still on test need little adjustments I might be the only stupid guy in Quebec that is asking for one more week of cold weather just so I can settle it properly for next winter, for now it is ok but I know whit a little more fine tuning this can be a mean machine and always be economical to run. Well I guess that it, hope you are all enjoying your Piazzetta if not please let me know it will be my pleasure to help you out. My name is Pascal Maertens you can reache me by mail at pmaertens@msn.com


Ben Lomond said:


> Your English is good enough to get the point! Now with over two months living with the Monia we still love this stove! No problems. It is used every day. We do not have the coldest weather, and now that spring is here the stove is not running during the afternoons until sometime in the evening when it comes back on automatically. But everything works perfectly, and we are really impressed with how quiet it is compared to some other pellet stoves we have heard! We keep a small shopvac in a closet nearby, and we clean the stove at least once every other day. Takes exactly 6 minutes start to finish (I timed it) including windexing the glass, from the time I pull the vac out until I put it back. EZ PZ! I still can't believe how little ash this stove produces.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Actually I do sale the Piazzetta pellets stove in Mont-Laurier, Quebec and I have few tricks to clean them on a longer period of time. I own a Sabrina for 2 years now and even if the cleaning is exactly like you said 6 minute including everything, I used to clean my stove every second day but if you can get a tech to configure your stove to be auto clean more often and also for a longer period of time, I explain; in the configuration program you can adjust the pot or grate cleaning interval from; 30 min to 180 min by default it is set to 60, I settled mine for 30 minute. Also the grate cleaning time can be change; from 10 sec. to 30 sec. I set these one to 30 seconds even if it seems to be very little changes it makes a big difference. I should talk about cleaning per pouches in staid of days; before I used to clean every 2 or 3 pouches and now well around 4 to 6 pouches and I like it. And you have to know that this cleaning process only occurs in the power level 3-4 and 5 at level 1 and 2 it will never auto clean so a good trick is to run at power level 3 and if it’s too hot just lower the thermostat it really work for me and also most important allllll of my customers. Now since 2 weeks I now have new stove yes it’s still a Piazzetta but a P-962 so… nice it’s still on test need little adjustments I might be the only stupid guy in Quebec that is asking for one more week of cold weather just so I can settle it properly for next winter, for now it is ok but I know whit a little more fine tuning this can be a mean machine and always be economical to run. Well I guess that it, hope you are all enjoying your Piazzetta if not please let me know it will be my pleasure to help you out. My name is Pascal Maertens you can reache me by mail at pmaertens@msn.com


----------



## gdphishman817

Hi everyone,

We've had our Monia since October, it's been great all winter and is saving us a ton on oil. This site has been an invaluable resource for a new stove owner. A couple of questions for fellow Piazzetta owners:


Is there a trick to removing the rear baffle plate for weekly cleanings? Every week when I remove, it seems like getting it out and back in again is a struggle. It feels like the width of the plate is the exact width of the inside of the stove.
Occasionally, after the stove is shut down completely, 10 minutes later, we can smell smoke that seems to be left over embers still burning. This doesn't happen often, but it happens. Have anyone else experienced this?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

gdphishman817 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> We've had our Monia since October, it's been great all winter and is saving us a ton on oil. This site has been an invaluable resource for a new stove owner. A couple of questions for fellow Piazzetta owners:
> 
> 
> Is there a trick to removing the rear baffle plate for weekly cleanings? Every week when I remove, it seems like getting it out and back in again is a struggle. It feels like the width of the plate is the exact width of the inside of the stove.
> Occasionally, after the stove is shut down completely, 10 minutes later, we can smell smoke that seems to be left over embers still burning. This doesn't happen often, but it happens. Have anyone else experienced this?


point 1. I'm not sure what you have been said for you to clean this every week ?? cause I clean mine every 50 pouches including my chimney pipes. but for the size of it, if you are confident maybe just a little sanding could do the job
point 2. there is a way to adjust the convection blower to stop latter refer to a technician to have the program p-13 lowered to 40celcius  it is at 43celcius by default this way you combustion fan is going to stop at 40 Celsius less chance to have red hot ashes 
point 2. also as I said in the post ((configure your stove to be auto clean more often and also for a longer period of time, I explain; in the configuration program you can adjust the pot or grate cleaning interval from; 30 min to 180 min by default it is set to 60, I settled mine for 30 minute. Also the grate cleaning time can be change; from 10 sec. to 30 sec. I set these one to 30 seconds even if it seems to be very little changes it makes a big difference.

all of these adjustments need to be done by a tech, of curse someone can give you access to all of dose codes  ( irresponsible people ) but I assure you that it can be very dangerous to make modification to some codes whit out proper knowledge it's better to pay a little extra to get satisfaction. By the way if you would be my customer there would be no charge for this kind of adjustments cause you would have get it set up anyway on the FIRST START of your stove that's what WE call service you can ask your dealer if they are responsible they might just go and fix it for you no charge.

good luck
Pascal


----------



## gdphishman817

Pascal_Maertens said:


> point 1. I'm not sure what you have been said for you to clean this every week ?? cause I clean mine every 50 pouches including my chimney pipes. but for the size of it, if you are confident maybe just a little sanding could do the job
> point 2. there is a way to adjust the convection blower to stop latter refer to a technician to have the program p-13 lowered to 40celcius  it is at 43celcius by default this way you combustion fan is going to stop at 40 Celsius less chance to have red hot ashes
> point 2. also as I said in the post ((configure your stove to be auto clean more often and also for a longer period of time, I explain; in the configuration program you can adjust the pot or grate cleaning interval from; 30 min to 180 min by default it is set to 60, I settled mine for 30 minute. Also the grate cleaning time can be change; from 10 sec. to 30 sec. I set these one to 30 seconds even if it seems to be very little changes it makes a big difference.
> 
> all of these adjustments need to be done by a tech, of curse someone can give you access to all of dose codes  ( irresponsible people ) but I assure you that it can be very dangerous to make modification to some codes whit out proper knowledge it's better to pay a little extra to get satisfaction. By the way if you would be my customer there would be no charge for this kind of adjustments cause you would have get it set up anyway on the FIRST START of your stove that's what WE call service you can ask your dealer if they are responsible they might just go and fix it for you no charge.
> 
> good luck
> Pascal



Thanks for your response.

I clean the behind the baffle every week because that what the manual says to do. But I do wait about 50 bags or so to clean the vent pipe.

As far as the second points, I saw you make the recommendation for the cleaning intervals and made that adjustment at 03P and 12P, I also went to P13 and lowered to 104F (40C). I'm a computer and tech guy so this stuff isn't that scary to me. I didn't touch anything else in there.


----------



## chken

gdphishman817 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> We've had our Monia since October, it's been great all winter and is saving us a ton on oil. This site has been an invaluable resource for a new stove owner. A couple of questions for fellow Piazzetta owners:
> 
> 
> Is there a trick to removing the rear baffle plate for weekly cleanings? Every week when I remove, it seems like getting it out and back in again is a struggle. It feels like the width of the plate is the exact width of the inside of the stove.
> Occasionally, after the stove is shut down completely, 10 minutes later, we can smell smoke that seems to be left over embers still burning. This doesn't happen often, but it happens. Have anyone else experienced this?


1) No, not really. You turn the cams, then push up a little, the ease it out at the bottom. Don't think there is any other way. Of course, it's tight, and requires a very, very straight extraction and insertion.

2) Usually, when my Piazzetta starts up, I can smell a little. I figure this is because if you look carefully at the air wash, the slits are open at the top. I figure if the stove is not creating pressure, then passive pressure can suck a little tiny bit of smoke out.


----------



## chken

gdphishman817 said:


> Thanks for your response.
> 
> I clean the behind the baffle every week because that what the manual says to do. But I do wait about 50 bags or so to clean the vent pipe.
> 
> As far as the second points, I saw you make the recommendation for the cleaning intervals and made that adjustment at 03P and 12P, I also went to P13 and lowered to 104F (40C). I'm a computer and tech guy so this stuff isn't that scary to me. I didn't touch anything else in there.


I wouldn't worry too much. I've fiddled with all of my settings! From having done it, I have the sense that all the settings are within a range. That is, you can't go outside of the mfr.'s allowable range, so you can't screw too much up. And if you do, you can always hit the reset.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

gdphishman817 said:


> Thanks for your response.
> 
> I clean the behind the baffle every week because that what the manual says to do. But I do wait about 50 bags or so to clean the vent pipe.
> 
> As far as the second points, I saw you make the recommendation for the cleaning intervals and made that adjustment at 03P and 12P, I also went to P13 and lowered to 104F (40C). I'm a computer and tech guy so this stuff isn't that scary to me. I didn't touch anything else in there.


well I hope this will help you out for the baffle cleaning well I assure you that I clean mine almost every 50 bags it does the job but more often is much better then less have u tried to sand the edges cause I think that there must no be much to sand just to fit this thing in there.


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> point 1. I'm not sure what you have been said for you to clean this every week ?? cause I clean mine every 50 pouches including my chimney pipes. but for the size of it, if you are confident maybe just a little sanding could do the job
> point 2. there is a way to adjust the convection blower to stop latter refer to a technician to have the program p-13 lowered to 40celcius  it is at 43celcius by default this way you combustion fan is going to stop at 40 Celsius less chance to have red hot ashes
> point 2. also as I said in the post ((configure your stove to be auto clean more often and also for a longer period of time, I explain; in the configuration program you can adjust the pot or grate cleaning interval from; 30 min to 180 min by default it is set to 60, I settled mine for 30 minute. Also the grate cleaning time can be change; from 10 sec. to 30 sec. I set these one to 30 seconds even if it seems to be very little changes it makes a big difference.
> 
> all of these adjustments need to be done by a tech, of curse someone can give you access to all of dose codes  ( irresponsible people ) but I assure you that it can be very dangerous to make modification to some codes whit out proper knowledge it's better to pay a little extra to get satisfaction. By the way if you would be my customer there would be no charge for this kind of adjustments cause you would have get it set up anyway on the FIRST START of your stove that's what WE call service you can ask your dealer if they are responsible they might just go and fix it for you no charge.
> 
> good luck
> Pascal



Ah Pascal, I wish we had purchased our Monia SC from a dealer like you! We can't get them to return a phone call! We have had all kinds of issues with the stove since we bought it Oct. 2012.  Regarding the back plate. We recently had the distributor come to the house and he was going to order us a new one. The plate has since been fixed in the newer models. He also made the adjustments that you suggested. Unfortunately the issues are still present. 

Has anyone else had issues with the units exhaust fan turning off, even when there is still fire in the chamber?  Also the stove does not burn the pellets to ash. They are just charred pellets for the most part. We have to scoop the brownie out the fire chamber every 6-8 hours to keep the pellets from filling up the ash pan. We also continue to have the pellets backup in the shoot. This scares me to death, since we had pellets in the hopper smoldering our first winter using it! We were told that was impossible. Luckily we were home and caught it before it did any damage.  We clean it thoroughly every single day! We burn Super Premium soft wood pellets.


----------



## gdphishman817

NHMtns, sorry to hear all those issues you are having, I was only have the two issues. Are you saying that you also had trouble getting the rear baffle in and out, and they provided you with a new one that goes in and out more easily?


----------



## Mt Bob

http://www.piazzetta.com/products/warranty  This is what I would do,as that is an expensive stove.


----------



## NHMtns

gdphishman817 said:


> NHMtns, sorry to hear all those issues you are having, I was only have the two issues. Are you saying that you also had trouble getting the rear baffle in and out, and they provided you with a new one that goes in and out more easily?


Yes the rear baffle is almost impossible to remove and reinstall. They said that it warps from heat and they are since redesigned it. We haven't received it yet, but we are supposed to.


----------



## NHMtns

bob bare said:


> http://www.piazzetta.com/products/warranty  This is what I would do,as that is an expensive stove.



Yes at this point they have not fixed the issues to our satisfaction and as far as we are concerned, can come get their stove.

Any suggestions on a replacement?


----------



## Mt Bob

There are many good stoves,and many opinions.If you like that style,read up on the enviro mini or ecoteck stoves.


----------



## Lake Girl

NHMtns, sorry to hear of your issues as we have only heard good about the Piazzettas.  What have they done to remedy the pellet back-up and unburned pellets?  Have you been in contact with Pacific Energy if the dealer is not addressing the problem?

Finally, if after giving them reasonable time to sort this out, please advise of the dealer so others can avoid them...


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> Ah Pascal, I wish we had purchased our Monia SC from a dealer like you! We can't get them to return a phone call! We have had all kinds of issues with the stove since we bought it Oct. 2012.  Regarding the back plate. We recently had the distributor come to the house and he was going to order us a new one. The plate has since been fixed in the newer models. He also made the adjustments that you suggested. Unfortunately the issues are still present.
> 
> Has anyone else had issues with the units exhaust fan turning off, even when there is still fire in the chamber?  Also the stove does not burn the pellets to ash. They are just charred pellets for the most part. We have to scoop the brownie out the fire chamber every 6-8 hours to keep the pellets from filling up the ash pan. We also continue to have the pellets backup in the shoot. This scares me to death, since we had pellets in the hopper smoldering our first winter using it! We were told that was impossible. Luckily we were home and caught it before it did any damage.  We clean it thoroughly every single day! We burn Super Premium soft wood pellets.


That sounds like a lemon. I think the regional distributor is in S. New Hampshire.

Exhaust fan premature turn off? No. Pellets unburned? No. Brownies every 6 to 8 hours? Never. Pellet backup into the chute? No.

Very much a lemon.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> Ah Pascal, I wish we had purchased our Monia SC from a dealer like you! We can't get them to return a phone call! We have had all kinds of issues with the stove since we bought it Oct. 2012.  Regarding the back plate. We recently had the distributor come to the house and he was going to order us a new one. The plate has since been fixed in the newer models. He also made the adjustments that you suggested. Unfortunately the issues are still present.
> 
> Has anyone else had issues with the units exhaust fan turning off, even when there is still fire in the chamber?  Also the stove does not burn the pellets to ash. They are just charred pellets for the most part. We have to scoop the brownie out the fire chamber every 6-8 hours to keep the pellets from filling up the ash pan. We also continue to have the pellets backup in the shoot. This scares me to death, since we had pellets in the hopper smoldering our first winter using it! We were told that was impossible. Luckily we were home and caught it before it did any damage.  We clean it thoroughly every single day! We burn Super Premium soft wood pellets.


ok so point 1. is fix, and point 2. seems to be adjusted like you said, but there is also one more adjustment that can be done and this one is really going to fix that final issue at the same time  (( Also the stove does not burn the pellets to ashwich ))if we could talk would be much simpler for me cause I have a hard time whit my English. do you have Skype, faebook or something that we can talk or video chat. if yes, I would be able to fix your problem on the spot but you would also need a tool like the one on the picture can also be digital

the problem explained example; in mode Power P3 on a monia stove, the combustion fan must be set so that the negative pressure in smoke chamber show 85 pascals or 0,34 WC on the magnehelic tool by default.  This is the air going true the grate, if the RPM of the combustion fan is not hi enough it will result in; 1 ash not burn properly then 2 ahs not burn will turn in to a sponge like a little bread or like you say a brownie then 3 when the stove stops the red ash left in the grate will smoke out of the stove as soon as the blower stops and finally 4 sometime when the stove will start back it can result in a pile of pellets half burned and get a message of (( stove did not start )) I just don't remember the exact word cause mine is set in French it says ((dafaux d'allumage))

now what can be done; just like gas carburetor altitude can change air pressure and affect the efficiencies of combustion so whit this information I have tried to make some change on my own stove and find out how to fix all of dose problem by simply raising the RPM of the combustion fan to get +10 pascal on the magnehelic tool and this true all off the level; start phase I, Phase II, power 1,2,3,and 4 after this adjustment ash will burn completely the cleaning task will be only for the ash tray cause the grate should always be clean so when the stove stops there will be no ahs to be red in the grate and smoke the place

if you cant get service from a near by service center then a magnehelic should cost you less then 50$ on the internet then contact me on my facebook Pascal Maertens I will help you  set you stove properly please don't try to do it your self that's all what I can offer you and you will finally
	

		
			
		

		
	




	

		
			
		

		
	
 be an other satisfied Piazzetta customer lol...


----------



## p962man

One thought I had on the unburned pellets/incomplete combustion problem is that it very well could be related to the fit of your baffle plate. I had one of my customers call in with a problem on his Sabrina similar to what you are describing (excluding the early shutdown of the exhaust fan). Turns out that he had the baffle plates (the Sabrina has a two piece baffle) installed incorrectly in a way that was choking down the path for the exhaust to pass through the firebox to the exhaust fan chamber. If the airflow through the firepot is disrupted or reduced, this usually will result in poor combustion, with the issues you were describing as a result.

If the baffle plate in your Monia is not fitting correctly, it is possible that the air coming through your firepot is being reduced or flowing incorrectly through the firebox. I would be curious to know if the issues you are experiencing now are resolved once the new baffle plate is installed.

As far as the other problem with the early shutdowns, I would have the dealer double check your parameter settings while they are there installing your new baffle plate. I would also request that your stove be calibrated with a magnahelic gauge to confirm there is proper vacuum present for the different power settings for your stove. Additionally, check the exhaust sensor. Make sure it is seated on the exhaust housing properly and set screw is snug. Lastly, it may be a faulty exhaust sensor if everything else checks out.

Sorry your having problems with response from your dealer, if you were closer I would be happy to help you out- Good luck!


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> NHMtns, sorry to hear of your issues as we have only heard good about the Piazzettas.  What have they done to remedy the pellet back-up and unburned pellets?  Have you been in contact with Pacific Energy if the dealer is not addressing the problem?
> 
> Finally, if after giving them reasonable time to sort this out, please advise of the dealer so others can avoid them...



We bought the stove from Woodman's in Ossipee, NH.  I should have known we would have issues with customer service from the beginning. After the stove was paid for, and I inquired as to when I could expect delivery and installation, we were told that they couldn't install it until after the first of the year! This was October. They failed to mention that when it was purchased. We had it professionally installed by someone else.  We started having significant issues almost immediately. Never owning a pellet stove before, we didn't realize just how poorly this stove was performing. We started calling Woodman's last spring after the smoldering pellets in the hopper incident. We were afraid to use it. We turned it off for the season. Started calling back again at the end of summer. They finally returned a call, we made an appointment for them to come and check the stove, for three weeks later. They cancelled the appointment 30 minutes before, and rescheduled, this time two weeks out. Again cancelled the day of the appointment, and yet again it was going to take weeks to come out. We are now into October. At this point I went to the Piazzetta website and left a message. They sent out a representative for the distributor. He serviced the stove and checked the settings.  Still the issues continued.
We cannot use the energy saving mode. When we turn it off, we have to stay close by, because as soon as grate cleaning stops the exhaust fan cuts off and we have to turn it back on and then off to get it to cycle again. We repeat this 4 or 5 times until there is no longer smoke in the chamber. It cut off in the middle of the night and caused heavy smoke damage to the house almost two months ago.  I contacted the distributor again and they sent someone out. We checked the setting again, most of them were way off. He stressed using super supreme pellets. I found some and we still have all the same issues.


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> ok so point 1. is fix, and point 2. seems to be adjusted like you said, but there is also one more adjustment that can be done and this one is really going to fix that final issue at the same time  (( Also the stove does not burn the pellets to ashwich ))if we could talk would be much simpler for me cause I have a hard time whit my English. do you have Skype, faebook or something that we can talk or video chat. if yes, I would be able to fix your problem on the spot but you would also need a tool like the one on the picture can also be digital
> 
> the problem explained example; in mode Power P3 on a monia stove, the combustion fan must be set so that the negative pressure in smoke chamber show 85 pascals or 0,34 WC on the magnehelic tool by default.  This is the air going true the grate, if the RPM of the combustion fan is not hi enough it will result in; 1 ash not burn properly then 2 ahs not burn will turn in to a sponge like a little bread or like you say a brownie then 3 when the stove stops the red ash left in the grate will smoke out of the stove as soon as the blower stops and finally 4 sometime when the stove will start back it can result in a pile of pellets half burned and get a message of (( stove did not start )) I just don't remember the exact word cause mine is set in French it says ((dafaux d'allumage))
> 
> now what can be done; just like gas carburetor altitude can change air pressure and affect the efficiencies of combustion so whit this information I have tried to make some change on my own stove and find out how to fix all of dose problem by simply raising the RPM of the combustion fan to get +10 pascal on the magnehelic tool and this true all off the level; start phase I, Phase II, power 1,2,3,and 4 after this adjustment ash will burn completely the cleaning task will be only for the ash tray cause the grate should always be clean so when the stove stops there will be no ahs to be red in the grate and smoke the place
> 
> if you cant get service from a near by service center then a magnehelic should cost you less then 50$ on the internet then contact me on my facebook Pascal Maertens I will help you  set you stove properly please don't try to do it your self that's all what I can offer you and you will finally
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 131210
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> be an other satisfied Piazzetta customer lol...



Thank you. It's amazing to me that no one here that we have dealt with knows this! They keep trying to blame the issues on the pellets. The dealer sold us hardwood, the first guy said use a mix of hard and soft, and this last guy said only use softwood! They even told my insurance agent that the reason we had smoke damage was because we were burning the wrong pellets! Amazing!


----------



## NHMtns

p962man said:


> One thought I had on the unburned pellets/incomplete combustion problem is that it very well could be related to the fit of your baffle plate. I had one of my customers call in with a problem on his Sabrina similar to what you are describing (excluding the early shutdown of the exhaust fan). Turns out that he had the baffle plates (the Sabrina has a two piece baffle) installed incorrectly in a way that was choking down the path for the exhaust to pass through the firebox to the exhaust fan chamber. If the airflow through the firepot is disrupted or reduced, this usually will result in poor combustion, with the issues you were describing as a result.
> 
> If the baffle plate in your Monia is not fitting correctly, it is possible that the air coming through your firepot is being reduced or flowing incorrectly through the firebox. I would be curious to know if the issues you are experiencing now are resolved once the new baffle plate is installed.
> 
> As far as the other problem with the early shutdowns, I would have the dealer double check your parameter settings while they are there installing your new baffle plate. I would also request that your stove be calibrated with a magnahelic gauge to confirm there is proper vacuum present for the different power settings for your stove. Additionally, check the exhaust sensor. Make sure it is seated on the exhaust housing properly and set screw is snug. Lastly, it may be a faulty exhaust sensor if everything else checks out.
> 
> Sorry your having problems with response from your dealer, if you were closer I would be happy to help you out- Good luck!



Thank you! You and Pascal seem to know what you're doing!


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> We cannot use the energy saving mode. When we turn it off, we have to stay close by, because as soon as grate cleaning stops the exhaust fan cuts off and we have to turn it back on and then off to get it to cycle again. We repeat this 4 or 5 times until there is no longer smoke in the chamber. It cut off in the middle of the night and caused heavy smoke damage to the house almost two months ago.  I contacted the distributor again and they sent someone out. We checked the setting again, most of them were way off. He stressed using super supreme pellets. I found some and we still have all the same issues.


That's very strange behavior. When the grate cleaning stops, it is supposed to last long enough for all the smoke in the chamber to be gone. I think there's a setting that can be adjusted to make it last longer, but I've never had to change it.

I can't understand how the settings could be "way off", they have to be changed from original, so who would do that besides the installer, or a goof at the factory?

Using Super Premium pellets will mean less fines and less ash, which is great, but how do they think that is causing you smoke issues and partially burned pellet problems? It doesn't make much sense.

[edit]

A dealer installer should have used a magnahelic or manometer to adjust your stove's combustion.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> Thank you. It's amazing to me that no one here that we have dealt with knows this! They keep trying to blame the issues on the pellets. The dealer sold us hardwood, the first guy said use a mix of hard and soft, and this last guy said only use softwood! They even told my insurance agent that the reason we had smoke damage was because we were burning the wrong pellets! Amazing!


The mfr recommends softwood, but the Piazzetta will burn both soft and hard, equally well, if it is dialed in correctly. Your dealer is really not doing you any favors, and then to blame you for his incompetence is just inexcusable.

BTW, Pascal and P962 are dealers, so they know what they're talking about. Sadly, not all do.


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> That's very strange behavior. When the grate cleaning stops, it is supposed to last long enough for all the smoke in the chamber to be gone. I think there's a setting that can be adjusted to make it last longer, but I've never had to change it.
> 
> I can't understand how the settings could be "way off", they have to be changed from original, so who would do that besides the installer, or a goof at the factory?
> 
> Using Super Premium pellets will mean less fines and less ash, which is great, but how do they think that is causing you smoke issues and partially burned pellet problems? It doesn't make much sense.



You see our frustration! No the pellets we burn are not controlling the exhaust fan, but this is there only response to our concerns. 
We were right there when he checked the settings and he had no explanation as to why they were so far off the factory settings. He did increase the grate cleaning time and frequency while running, and lowered the exhaust temp. This didn't make any difference.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> You see our frustration! No the pellets we burn are not controlling the exhaust fan, but this is there only response to our concerns.
> We were right there when he checked the settings and he had no explanation as to why they were so far off the factory settings. He did increase the grate cleaning time and frequency while running, and lowered the exhaust temp. This didn't make any difference.


Yeah, I'd be frustrated as well.

Increasing the grate cleaning time and frequency make sense. I know I've made those changes and Pascal has recommended them as well. Lowering the exhaust temp, that must be the one set at 109F. That's the temp when the fan shuts off. You can only change that about 6 degrees lower, which might mean that the fan runs for another minute or two.

Looking back at your original complaint, I think P962 may be right, that the exhaust temp probe may not be seated properly or just bad. That could cause early shutdown on the exhaust fan. Lastly, I would do a thorough cleaning of the exhaust vent. There may be blockage causing poor combustion. You have to be sure the stove and vent are clean before making combustion adjustments.


----------



## Mt Bob

If the settings are changing,may be a board problem,or emi problem.


----------



## Lake Girl

I was thinking a board problem too...

Did any of the reps use a magnehelic on it when they were checking settings?


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> Yeah, I'd be frustrated as well.
> 
> Increasing the grate cleaning time and frequency make sense. I know I've made those changes and Pascal has recommended them as well. Lowering the exhaust temp, that must be the one set at 109F. That's the temp when the fan shuts off. You can only change that about 6 degrees lower, which might mean that the fan runs for another minute or two.
> 
> Looking back at your original complaint, I think P962 may be right, that the exhaust temp probe may not be seated properly or just bad. That could cause early shutdown on the exhaust fan. Lastly, I would do a thorough cleaning of the exhaust vent. There may be blockage causing poor combustion. You have to be sure the stove and vent are clean before making combustion adjustments.



The temp for mine is supposed to be set to 113 degrees. I don't remember what he lowered it to. I've been telling them that I felt it was a motherboard/sensor issue for a year now, because it's obviously not working correctly when there are flames or substantial hot coals in the chamber and the fan shuts off. I'm guessing that expensive to replace and they are waiting for my warranty to run out and then suddenly they will come up with the diagnosis. Ugh.

The last rep from the distributor cleaned everything before he fired it up.  I don't know if he cleaned the sensor.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> I was thinking a board problem too...
> 
> Did any of the reps use a magnehelic on it when they were checking settings?


 
No, neither of them used that.


----------



## NHMtns

I want to thank all of you for your responses. It has validated for me that we have done everything we could to make the stove function properly. It's a shame that the dealer and reps were not educated enough to do the things you all suggested. The dealer didn't ever bother to get the training, but the reps should know better. The customer service has been the worst Ive ever experienced in my life.

I wanted to love this stove. I wanted owning a pellet stove to provide a hassle free, WARM, and cost effective addition to our home. After running a wood stove for 25 years, I was looking forward to ease of pellets. Right now, I'd gladly go back to the low tech wood stove, mess and all.

At this point, I want the LEMON removed from our house. I don't think that we could trust that this stove will continue to work properly, even if they managed to fix all of the issues.


----------



## Mt Bob

don't give up on pellets.If you had a good unit you would be very happy.


----------



## Lake Girl

Did you get documentary evidence to show to Pacific Energy - burnt pellets in the hopper, pellets piling up, unburnt pellets in the burnpot?  Start working on that if not...  Keep on bugging the district rep... or take it higher.

Keep us posted.


----------



## Pelleting In NJ

See if you can get Scott Williamson to take a look at your stove. He knows pellet stoves, and is familiar with some of these Italian stoves. Search the forum for smwilliamson, pelletstoveservice, he is in Mass. (508) 507 9201


----------



## Mt Bob

Pelleting In NJ said:


> See if you can get Scott Williamson to take a look at your stove. He knows pellet stoves, and is familiar with some of these Italian stoves. Search the forum for smwilliamson, pelletstoveservice, he is in Mass. (508) 507 9201


I think the biggest problem is that he is 18 months into a 24 month warranty,parts and labor,with a unit that has never worked properly,and has caused house damage.If it was me,would contact pacific one more time,then a lawyer.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

bob bare said:


> There are many good stoves,and many opinions.If you like that style,read up on the enviro mini or ecoteck stoves.


well here I have an opinion the Enviro mini or maxx Stove are very poor on adjustment if you realy like the look of Piazzetta an cant get any service out of them there is also Raveli that looks quite the same but the more important thing is also to get a good dealer they are to many ..@²¦*%/".. out there cause the Piazzetta is a very good stove I'm just sad for the service you are getting.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> Thank you. It's amazing to me that no one here that we have dealt with knows this! They keep trying to blame the issues on the pellets. The dealer sold us hardwood, the first guy said use a mix of hard and soft, and this last guy said only use softwood! They even told my insurance agent that the reason we had smoke damage was because we were burning the wrong pellets! Amazing!


I'm so sorry to had more to this for now I'm burning a Sabrina in the store with soft wood a Sabrina at home for 2 years with hard wood and now a P-962 with hard wood and after seeing that we can run the Sabrina at the store for all winter long on soft wood ill try this at home next season here soft wood go for 2,99$ can and hard wood 5,13$ for 40 pounds so I used 3 palettes of 75 sac this year so   that's 480$ more then soft wood at this moment I would not recommend my customers to use soft wood but when I will have try it next year at home then Ill have a better opinion but for now I would say that there is not much of a difference beside the price.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> Did you get documentary evidence to show to Pacific Energy - burnt pellets in the hopper, pellets piling up, unburnt pellets in the burnpot?  Start working on that if not...  Keep on bugging the district rep... or take it higher.
> 
> Keep us posted.[/quote
> 
> I cannot get a picture of the pellets backing up because I could have to open it while it's burning. I can see it through the very top of the glass that isn't black. I did take a picture of the pellets piled up and the hot coals, after I had gone through the shut down 6 times. I showed it the guy from Northeast Distributors who came out. We did not think to take pictures when the hopper was smoldering. We were trying to keep it from catching on fire.
> 
> What is Pacific Energy?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> The temp for mine is supposed to be set to 113 degrees. I don't remember what he lowered it to. I've been telling them that I felt it was a motherboard/sensor issue for a year now, because it's obviously not working correctly when there are flames or substantial hot coals in the chamber and the fan shuts off. I'm guessing that expensive to replace and they are waiting for my warranty to run out and then suddenly they will come up with the diagnosis. Ugh.
> 
> The last rep from the distributor cleaned everything before he fired it up.  I don't know if he cleaned the sensor.


please do you a favor see if you can borrow or rent that magnehelic from your local dealer and give me a call this will be your last service call 819-623-5336 I live in Quebec, can I'm off Monday and Tuesday from 8:00am to 9:00pm so be free to call me and will see how we can fix this or pmaertens@msn.com  I'm not going to charge you anything for this and the only thing I expect is just that you finally be satisfied with you stove.

regard's
Pascal


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> please do you a favor see if you can borrow or rent that magnehelic from your local dealer and give me a call this will be your last service call 819-623-5336 I live in Quebec, can I'm off Monday and Tuesday from 8:00am to 9:00pm so be free to call me and will see how we can fix this or pmaertens@msn.com  I'm not going to charge you anything for this and the only thing I expect is just that you finally be satisfied with you stove.
> 
> regard's
> Pascal



That is a very nice gesture but unfortunately our local dealer is part of the problem, and until that back plate is fixed/replaced we would not have proper air flow to get an accurate reading.  The dealer we bought it from never bothered to do the training to work on the Piazzetta stoves. We can't get them to come service the stove. Which we suspect is because they have no idea what to do.


----------



## Mt Bob

Pacific energy fireplace products is the usa importer for these units.Will leave another link.  http://www.piazzetta.com/


----------



## NHMtns

bob bare said:


> Pacific energy fireplace products is the usa importer for these units.Will leave another link.  http://www.piazzetta.com/



I have been to this site and left messages three time. They sent the message to Northeast Distributor, the guys that we've been dealing with.


----------



## Mt Bob

NHMtns said:


> I have been to this site and left messages three time. They sent the message to Northeast Distributor, the guys that we've been dealing with.


 Just noticed no phone contact info. at that site or pacifics.Must be real proud of their service.Reccomend you call pascal tomorrow,he can talk to them direct.I am becoming more unimpressed with this company.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> That is a very nice gesture but unfortunately our local dealer is part of the problem, and until that back plate is fixed/replaced we would not have proper air flow to get an accurate reading.  The dealer we bought it from never bothered to do the training to work on the Piazzetta stoves. We can't get them to come service the stove. Which we suspect is because they have no idea what to do.


not to be pretentious ( I turned to be a dealer for Piazzetta I had no training at al,l I started to sale Piazzetta in oct 2012 ) I bougth my stove a Sabrina end of October good looking stove wow I was very happy about the deal but then came the problems I had no clue on how to fix then until I get access to the parameter menu code and finally get a technician manual to understand dose modifications that where possible to do ( I'm a passion freak ) when I get on a case and from there I made so many test first to get that stove to burn less then 40 pound a day (( hey it's f... -20 to -40 around here)) and from one test to an other I have fix many of dose problem that I ear from in france, Canada, quebec, and now in the states peoples are always talking about the same problem but it seems that I'm the only one that have no such problem anymore (( hey listen I haven't sold 500 unit of this )) but I can swore you that all of my customer, all off them are definitely satisfied. Fanaly  whit all the problems that others dealer had I was invited to discus on how I solved the problems and what where the adjustment I made, all that at the head office of my distributor witch deals with Pacific Energy. I had to deal with some installer and technician that had many years of experience in stove installation so it was kind of hard for me to be credible with my little 6 years of experience but all of the problem they where talking about are the same all over the planet; stake of pellets unburned, lake of heat, black window, bread of ash in the grate, ect... I think that they just don't have a Piazzetta at home and I think that this is what made the difference.  I think that years of experience is one thing, but being interested in what you do is an other, anyway once you get that baffle back just let me know I'll be more then glade to help you out.

my boss told me (( un vieux singe ne fait pas de nouvelles grimaces)) relating to guys who have many years of experience lol.. an old monkey do not make new grin


----------



## NHMtns

Not sure why the image is sideways, but this is the pic I took to show the rep. This is after only 12 hours burn time, and turning it on and off 6 times to get it to vent the smoke.


----------



## Lake Girl

That's a heck of a mess.  Can't believe no one has been able to sort this out unless the baffle plate is throwing it off all the time.  When the techs work on it, does it burn well until next cleaning or shorter period of time?

Bob - telephone numbers are a closely guarded secret only the dealers can know

My question - Does Pascal do road trips?


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> View attachment 131275
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure why the image is sideways, but this is the pic I took to show the rep. This is after only 12 hours burn time, and turning it on and off 6 times to get it to vent the smoke.


Holy cow That's an unrecognizable mess.


----------



## chken

That's something I'd watch for the first hour after starting to see why the pellets are overflowing like that. And look at the soot pattern created on the air wash deflector. That's a bit strange too.


----------



## krooser

My two cents… I think you have either an air leak causing poor combustion causing the pellets to overflow in the burn pot OR you have an obstruction in the exhaust. If you have burned more than one ton of pellets thru the stove you need to completely disassemble the stove, clean the combustion and room fans, clean all internal passages that move exhaust out of the stove plus clean your vent pipe.

Try this and you may be surprised… do you use the 'leaf blower trick'?


----------



## p962man

bob bare said:


> Just noticed no phone contact info. at that site or pacifics.Must be real proud of their service.Reccomend you call pascal tomorrow,he can talk to them direct.I am becoming more unimpressed with this company.


For anyone interested, look on the back cover of any Pacific Energy product manual, you will find the address, phone number, and email address for Pacific Energy. Additionally, check the back cover of any current Piazzetta manual, you will find the same info as well as a decal with your serial number so you don't need to go hunting for it while talking to tech support. If your Piazzetta manual does not have the P.E. info on it, that means the stove was purchased before Pacific Energy partnered with Piazzetta. You would just need to go to www.piazzetta.com and download any pellet manual to find the info. Pacific Energy is a stand up company that takes a lot of pride in their product and stands behind it 100%. I have had the privilege of being a P.E. dealer for quite a while, and now Piazzetta as well. This problem with NHMtns is frustrating, but what is more frustrating is the fact that he is not getting proper support from his dealer. It makes all the dealers look bad when you hear these stories and it also gives the product line a black eye. If I was within somewhat of a reasonable distance from this problem, you can bet I would be making the trip to get it straightened out. I'm going to find somebody fix this thing...


----------



## Lake Girl

Dealer concept can be good when it works ...  but not all dealers are created equal.  NE Distributor should be in contact with PE by now as OP has had 2 service techs out over the same issue.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> The temp for mine is supposed to be set to 113 degrees. I don't remember what he lowered it to. I've been telling them that I felt it was a motherboard/sensor issue for a year now, because it's obviously not working correctly when there are flames or substantial hot coals in the chamber and the fan shuts off. I'm guessing that expensive to replace and they are waiting for my warranty to run out and then suddenly they will come up with the diagnosis. Ugh.
> 
> The last rep from the distributor cleaned everything before he fired it up.  I don't know if he cleaned the sensor.


I just looked at the Parameter sheet in the Programming Manual for the Piazzetta and the spec for both the Sabrina and Monia is 109F. Unless the spec has changed. And, according to the manual you can drop it 3Celsius to 40C, which is about 104F.

Your comment and the photo makes me think that the combustion fan is shutting off when its running. How else to explain half-burned pellets, and an overflowing pot?

Seems to me that the fan is shutting off, the pellets continue to drop, but since there's no air, the pot just smolders, leading to half-burned pellets. The pellets continue to drop, until you get a mountain of half-burned pellets filling the whole ash pan, and looking exactly as your picture. Leading to smoke, and pellets up the chute, and the strange smoke staining on your air wash deflector.

So, your combustion fan is turning off, not only early in shutdown, but during its run phase. Either the fan is flaky, or the leads aren't connected tightly, or the motherboard is sending out spurious signals, or the exhaust temp sensor is sending bad readings to the motherboard.

You can check the leads that connect the fan to the mobo. And, you can check the exhaust temp sensor, but checking if it's giving the correct temp readings.

Hold button 6 on your control board down for 5 secs. That will get you into the main menu. Once you're in the main menu, push button 5, twice. That will put you into Stove Status. Push button 3, and that will cycle three readings, combustion fan speed (1900 to 2500rpm), augur feed secs (3 to 8 secs out of a 12 sec cycle), and exhaust temp reading. When the stove is up to speed and running, the exhaust temp will generally be between 200F and 250F, depending upon which feed rate you've chosen.

You should check the Stove Status when it's running to see if the combustion fan is stopping, because that's what I suspect. And, check the temps to see if maybe the temp readings are wrong, sending a shutdown signal to the mobo, and thus the fan.

I'm going to try to embed a jpg of the Programming Manual settings for the Monia:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta98nidpy0pkqjx/Monia.jpg

If you have  dropbox acct, I think you can access the jpg at the above link, if the embedded image doesn't show.


----------



## chken

p962man said:


> For anyone interested, look on the back cover of any Pacific Energy product manual, you will find the address, phone number, and email address for Pacific Energy. Additionally, check the back cover of any current Piazzetta manual, you will find the same info as well as a decal with your serial number so you don't need to go hunting for it while talking to tech support. If your Piazzetta manual does not have the P.E. info on it, that means the stove was purchased before Pacific Energy partnered with Piazzetta. You would just need to go to www.piazzetta.com and download any pellet manual to find the info. Pacific Energy is a stand up company that takes a lot of pride in their product and stands behind it 100%. I have had the privilege of being a P.E. dealer for quite a while, and now Piazzetta as well. This problem with NHMtns is frustrating, but what is more frustrating is the fact that he is not getting proper support from his dealer. It makes all the dealers look bad when you hear these stories and it also gives the product line a black eye. If I was within somewhat of a reasonable distance from this problem, you can bet I would be making the trip to get it straightened out. I'm going to find somebody fix this thing...


Thanks, the back cover of the manual is how I found out that PE was the importer, but my local dealer told me that the unit shipped up from NH, which turns out to be NE distributor that NHMtns has mentioned. Since PE has almost nothing about the Piazzetta on their website, I was distinctly worried that something had happened, and that they were no longer doing business with Piazzetta and that perhaps the NE distributor was selling leftover inventory or something. I'm glad to know that's not the case.

However, since a couple dealers are in this thread, I thought I'd ask a question. I installed my Piazzetta Sabrina myself. Inside the firebox I found the EPA card. If you look at it, the specs on the card are rather odd:






The Heat Output is 8.8k BTU to 37k BTU?!? The card is for the Sabrina not the Monia. What's up with that? I asked my dealer, and he asked if I had gotten a Monia in the box and not a Sabrina, and I said no, since the size difference is obvious, and he seemed satisfied. I still think it's extremely strange to have the EPA card state the wrong range of BTUs. And, while I know the efficiency is asterisked, it is odd that it's about 10% off what the stove is rated for.

Any thoughts? Is this normal for the EPA card to be so off?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

at the end of your chimney is thee a grid you need to take it out and clean it and don't put it back on this grid is causing air restriction


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Pascal_Maertens said:


> at the end of your chimney is thee a grid you need to take it out and clean it and don't put it back on this grid is causing air restriction


once the grid is of turn the stove on an hit the side of the chimney so the ash can be remove


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Pascal_Maertens said:


> once the grid is of, turn the stove back on an hit the side of the chimney so the ash can be remove it' tha accumulation of ashes that create air restriction I'm just laughing my heart out thinking of all those tech info we went true please tell me that this was the proble.


I just put a video of this on youtube


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> at the end of your chimney is thee a grid you need to take it out and clean it and don't put it back on this grid is causing air restriction



No grate on ours. Rep did suggest putting a jet cap on it though. Do those work?


----------



## NHMtns

p962man said:


> For anyone interested, look on the back cover of any Pacific Energy product manual, you will find the address, phone number, and email address for Pacific Energy. Additionally, check the back cover of any current Piazzetta manual, you will find the same info as well as a decal with your serial number so you don't need to go hunting for it while talking to tech support. If your Piazzetta manual does not have the P.E. info on it, that means the stove was purchased before Pacific Energy partnered with Piazzetta. You would just need to go to www.piazzetta.com and download any pellet manual to find the info. Pacific Energy is a stand up company that takes a lot of pride in their product and stands behind it 100%. I have had the privilege of being a P.E. dealer for quite a while, and now Piazzetta as well. This problem with NHMtns is frustrating, but what is more frustrating is the fact that he is not getting proper support from his dealer. It makes all the dealers look bad when you hear these stories and it also gives the product line a black eye. If I was within somewhat of a reasonable distance from this problem, you can bet I would be making the trip to get it straightened out. I'm going to find somebody fix this thing...



Looked on the back of the manual. There is only contact info for Piazzetta in Italy. Not even a US number.


----------



## NHMtns

krooser said:


> My two cents… I think you have either an air leak causing poor combustion causing the pellets to overflow in the burn pot OR you have an obstruction in the exhaust. If you have burned more than one ton of pellets thru the stove you need to completely disassemble the stove, clean the combustion and room fans, clean all internal passages that move exhaust out of the stove plus clean your vent pipe.
> 
> Try this and you may be surprised… do you use the 'leaf blower trick'?



What is the leaf blower trick?

They took it all apart in Oct. and the manual states once a year, as did the rep. But you've found that it needs it every ton?


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> I just looked at the Parameter sheet in the Programming Manual for the Piazzetta and the spec for both the Sabrina and Monia is 109F. Unless the spec has changed. And, according to the manual you can drop it 3Celsius to 40C, which is about 104F.
> 
> Your comment and the photo makes me think that the combustion fan is shutting off when its running. How else to explain half-burned pellets, and an overflowing pot?
> 
> Seems to me that the fan is shutting off, the pellets continue to drop, but since there's no air, the pot just smolders, leading to half-burned pellets. The pellets continue to drop, until you get a mountain of half-burned pellets filling the whole ash pan, and looking exactly as your picture. Leading to smoke, and pellets up the chute, and the strange smoke staining on your air wash deflector.
> 
> So, your combustion fan is turning off, not only early in shutdown, but during its run phase. Either the fan is flaky, or the leads aren't connected tightly, or the motherboard is sending out spurious signals, or the exhaust temp sensor is sending bad readings to the motherboard.
> 
> You can check the leads that connect the fan to the mobo. And, you can check the exhaust temp sensor, but checking if it's giving the correct temp readings.
> 
> Hold button 6 on your control board down for 5 secs. That will get you into the main menu. Once you're in the main menu, push button 5, twice. That will put you into Stove Status. Push button 3, and that will cycle three readings, combustion fan speed (1900 to 2500rpm), augur feed secs (3 to 8 secs out of a 12 sec cycle), and exhaust temp reading. When the stove is up to speed and running, the exhaust temp will generally be between 200F and 250F, depending upon which feed rate you've chosen.
> 
> You should check the Stove Status when it's running to see if the combustion fan is stopping, because that's what I suspect. And, check the temps to see if maybe the temp readings are wrong, sending a shutdown signal to the mobo, and thus the fan.
> 
> I'm going to try to embed a jpg of the Programming Manual settings for the Monia:
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta98nidpy0pkqjx/Monia.jpg
> 
> If you have  dropbox acct, I think you can access the jpg at the above link, if the embedded image doesn't show.



That would explain a lot. We went through all of the settings you show above. How do you check if the motherboard is malfunctioning? In the manual there are error messages that are supposed to come up if there are sensor issues but if the mobo itself is messed up.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> That would explain a lot. We went through all of the settings you show above. How do you check if the motherboard is malfunctioning? In the manual there are error messages that are supposed to come up if there are sensor issues but if the mobo itself is messed up.


First, I'd check the exhaust thermostat to be sure it's not telling the fan to shut off. As I mentioned in the prior post, check stove status, to see if you're getting the correct exhaust thermostat readings. If you are, then I think the problem has to be the board.

We know your combustion fan comes on, but not for long, that's why you cycle it on 5 or 6 times to clear the smoke when it shuts down. So, the fan works, so the board has to be bad, if the fan and the exhaust sensor are working. The NE distributor guy should have a backup board to replace yours. I can't understand why they didn't do it originally when they saw what your stove had done. I mean, I've only owned my Piazzetta since November, and it seems obvious the combustion fan is not on, causing all of your symptoms with the pellets unburned and hot embers visible, and pellets backing up the chute.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> What is the leaf blower trick?
> 
> They took it all apart in Oct. and the manual states once a year, as did the rep. But you've found that it needs it every ton?


According to the manual, you clean the exhaust vent every ton or so. You clean behind the backplate once a week or so. You scrape the grate once a day. You vac the fly ash chamber once a season.

Personally, once you do dial in your stove, you can do less. I scrape the grate, and vac the firebox once every 2 or 3 days depending upon how much I have burned. I clean behind the backplate once every 2 weeks. When I do that, I clean the exhaust vent. So, I clean the exhaust vent more, and inside the stove less. It's possible I clean the vent more because my vent is at the length limit for its size.


----------



## Lake Girl

NHMtns said:


> No grate on ours. Rep did suggest putting a jet cap on it though. Do those work?


Yes they work but that does not seem to be your problem ... or the least of your problems.  We have just a 3' horizontal that terminates with turbo cap - turbo cap also has a screen built-in.  What configuration and diameter is your exhaust venting?  Bends, t's, length of horizontals and verticals?  Do you have an OAK?

When was the last time you talked to the Rep?  Did they give you a time frame for part arrival?  May want to give them a deadline and think about small claims court... although I personally hate that concept.  They are not leaving you a lot of choice as they are running you out of warranty, taken your money in good faith, selling through a dealer that is untrained and you have a stove that doesn't function as advertised.  If they knew they had a problem with warping, they should have replacement plates in stock... at PE at least.  A week at standard parcel rate ...


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> According to the manual, you clean the exhaust vent every ton or so. You clean behind the backplate once a week or so. You scrape the grate once a day. You vac the fly ash chamber once a season.
> 
> Personally, once you do dial in your stove, you can do less. I scrape the grate, and vac the firebox once every 2 or 3 days depending upon how much I have burned. I clean behind the backplate once every 2 weeks. When I do that, I clean the exhaust vent. So, I clean the exhaust vent more, and inside the stove less. It's possible I clean the vent more because my vent is at the length limit for its size.



We clean the glass, tray and grate every day, the back plate once a week, the smoke chamber we've cleaned once a month or so. I can't find anything in my manual regarding cleaning the flue based on tons. Mine recommends once a month. When the rep came he had to look up a different chart then the one you shared. I have the older model I guess.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> Yes they work but that does not seem to be your problem ... or the least of your problems.  We have just a 3' horizontal that terminates with turbo cap - turbo cap also has a screen built-in.  What configuration and diameter is your exhaust venting?  Bends, t's, length of horizontals and verticals?  Do you have an OAK?
> 
> When was the last time you talked to the Rep?  Did they give you a time frame for part arrival?  May want to give them a deadline and think about small claims court... although I personally hate that concept.  They are not leaving you a lot of choice as they are running you out of warranty, taken your money in good faith, selling through a dealer that is untrained and you have a stove that doesn't function as advertised.  If they knew they had a problem with warping, they should have replacement plates in stock... at PE at least.  A week at standard parcel rate ...



What is OAK? Ours has a short rise installation through the wall, as specified in my manual.

We have not heard back from anyone at NE. They were supposed to get back to us. My fiancé had some choice words with them last week when they refused to do anything, but tell us that the soft wood pellets (that they specifically told us to get) were probably not light enough. That we should only burn white pellets. He was like, "really you expect us to inspect every single bag before we use it, and then what? Throw them away? "  This after the rep that was at the house a couple weeks before claimed that he can set the stove to burn anything. Which he supposedly did. 

I think a conversation tomorrow with a lawyer is an unfortunate but necessary turn of events.


----------



## Lake Girl

OAK - Outside Air Kit.

No word on the plate?

Have you kept track of the brand of pellets you have been using?  They are setting you up for this from their manual (page 20 - beech/fir pellets):
Using pellets that are out of date or not in conformity with the manufacturer's recommendations not only damages the stove and jeopardises its performance, but can render the guarantee null and void and relieves the manufacturer of all liability.
http://www.piazzetta.com/files/7113/6846/1510/manual_monia_2013_e.pdf

However, where does that leave them when the authorized dealer sold you the wrong pellets and can't set up/work on the stove?

Page 52 is the important contact information.... may want to go directly to them now.

Good luck - Keep us updated


----------



## gusto

chken said:


> I just looked at the Parameter sheet in the Programming Manual for the Piazzetta and the spec for both the Sabrina and Monia is 109F. Unless the spec has changed. And, according to the manual you can drop it 3Celsius to 40C, which is about 104F.
> 
> Your comment and the photo makes me think that the combustion fan is shutting off when its running. How else to explain half-burned pellets, and an overflowing pot?
> 
> Seems to me that the fan is shutting off, the pellets continue to drop, but since there's no air, the pot just smolders, leading to half-burned pellets. The pellets continue to drop, until you get a mountain of half-burned pellets filling the whole ash pan, and looking exactly as your picture. Leading to smoke, and pellets up the chute, and the strange smoke staining on your air wash deflector.
> 
> So, your combustion fan is turning off, not only early in shutdown, but during its run phase. Either the fan is flaky, or the leads aren't connected tightly, or the motherboard is sending out spurious signals, or the exhaust temp sensor is sending bad readings to the motherboard.
> 
> You can check the leads that connect the fan to the mobo. And, you can check the exhaust temp sensor, but checking if it's giving the correct temp readings.
> 
> Hold button 6 on your control board down for 5 secs. That will get you into the main menu. Once you're in the main menu, push button 5, twice. That will put you into Stove Status. Push button 3, and that will cycle three readings, combustion fan speed (1900 to 2500rpm), augur feed secs (3 to 8 secs out of a 12 sec cycle), and exhaust temp reading. When the stove is up to speed and running, the exhaust temp will generally be between 200F and 250F, depending upon which feed rate you've chosen.
> 
> You should check the Stove Status when it's running to see if the combustion fan is stopping, because that's what I suspect. And, check the temps to see if maybe the temp readings are wrong, sending a shutdown signal to the mobo, and thus the fan.
> 
> I'm going to try to embed a jpg of the Programming Manual settings for the Monia:
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta98nidpy0pkqjx/Monia.jpg
> 
> If you have  dropbox acct, I think you can access the jpg at the above link, if the embedded image doesn't show.





I think the auger should stop if the combustion fan  quits (vacuum sensor in series with auger supply)

Later

Regards
gusto


----------



## gusto

chken said:


> Thanks, the back cover of the manual is how I found out that PE was the importer, but my local dealer told me that the unit shipped up from NH, which turns out to be NE distributor that NHMtns has mentioned. Since PE has almost nothing about the Piazzetta on their website, I was distinctly worried that something had happened, and that they were no longer doing business with Piazzetta and that perhaps the NE distributor was selling leftover inventory or something. I'm glad to know that's not the case.
> 
> However, since a couple dealers are in this thread, I thought I'd ask a question. I installed my Piazzetta Sabrina myself. Inside the firebox I found the EPA card. If you look at it, the specs on the card are rather odd:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Heat Output is 8.8k BTU to 37k BTU?!? The card is for the Sabrina not the Monia. What's up with that? I asked my dealer, and he asked if I had gotten a Monia in the box and not a Sabrina, and I said no, since the size difference is obvious, and he seemed satisfied. I still think it's extremely strange to have the EPA card state the wrong range of BTUs. And, while I know the efficiency is asterisked, it is odd that it's about 10% off what the stove is rated for.
> 
> Any thoughts? Is this normal for the EPA card to be so off?



My guess , in the spec sheet for the Sabrina they state 47000 Btu max at 5.7 lb per hour ( should read input Btu in my opinion ,  5,7 x 8250 Btu/lb = 47025 )
The EPA numbers are the stove output  at 80% efficiency  ( 47025 x 0.8 = 37620 )

Again just guessing,the wine made me do it 

Regards
gusto


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> OAK - Outside Air Kit.
> 
> No word on the plate?
> 
> Have you kept track of the brand of pellets you have been using?  They are setting you up for this from their manual (page 20 - beech/fir pellets):
> Using pellets that are out of date or not in conformity with the manufacturer's recommendations not only damages the stove and jeopardises its performance, but can render the guarantee null and void and relieves the manufacturer of all liability.
> http://www.piazzetta.com/files/7113/6846/1510/manual_monia_2013_e.pdf
> 
> However, where does that leave them when the authorized dealer sold you the wrong pellets and can't set up/work on the stove?
> 
> Page 52 is the important contact information.... may want to go directly to them now.
> 
> Good luck - Keep us updated


No, no word on the plate.

I have the older version Monia according to the rep.  My manual on page 20 is installing the external thermostat 
On page 18 does not to specifically use beech/fir, it does show that in the chart at the bottom, but in bold print above it states "we recommend that you use high-quality pellets".  When the rep kept harping on pellets I told him to show me in the manual where it states to use soft wood pellets. It doesn't. He couldn't. When I asked why, he said that the stoves can be programmed to burn any kind of pellets.

I don't have a page 52. Back cover has contact info for Italy.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> OAK - outside air kit.  Provides air for combustion directly from outside rather than the living space.
> 
> No word on the plate?



Yes it's set up like that. We have two pipes going through the wall.


----------



## chken

gusto said:


> My guess , in the spec sheet for the Sabrina they state 47000 Btu max at 5.7 lb per hour ( should read input Btu in my opinion ,  5,7 x 8250 Btu/lb = 47025 )
> The EPA numbers are the stove output  at 80% efficiency  ( 47025 x 0.8 = 37620 )
> 
> Again just guessing,the wine made me do it
> 
> Regards
> gusto


You are correct as far as I'm concerned. The math works at 79% efficiency. Why the dealer couldn't tell me is odd and why Piazzetta or Pacific Energy would want to use an untested average, when the stoves are tested at 88.6%?


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> No, no word on the plate.
> 
> I have the older version Monia according to the rep.  My manual on page 20 is installing the external thermostat
> On page 18 does not to specifically use beech/fir, it does show that in the chart at the bottom, but in bold print above it states "we recommend that you use high-quality pellets".  When the rep kept harping on pellets I told him to show me in the manual where it states to use soft wood pellets. It doesn't. He couldn't. When I asked why, he said that the stoves can be programmed to burn any kind of pellets.
> 
> I don't have a page 52. Back cover has contact info for Italy.


The manual that has the PE contact info was printed in April 2013. Since you have a 2012 stove, unless there was time travel, clearly you have a prior version.


----------



## chken

gusto said:


> I think the auger should stop if the combustion fan  quits (vacuum sensor in series with auger supply)
> 
> Later
> 
> Regards
> gusto


It should. All the more reason to suspect a mobo malfunction.


----------



## Lake Girl

They may not have had that data at the time of printing the translated manual or left it low so they could not be held to account if stoves sold did not meet that spec.


----------



## Lake Girl

chken said:


> It should. All the more reason to suspect a mobo malfunction.


What manufacture date is on your stove?

NHMtns, what is your date of manufacture?


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> What is OAK? Ours has a short rise installation through the wall, as specified in my manual.
> 
> We have not heard back from anyone at NE. They were supposed to get back to us. My fiancé had some choice words with them last week when they refused to do anything, but tell us that the soft wood pellets (that they specifically told us to get) were probably not light enough. That we should only burn white pellets. He was like, "really you expect us to inspect every single bag before we use it, and then what? Throw them away? "  This after the rep that was at the house a couple weeks before claimed that he can set the stove to burn anything. Which he supposedly did.
> 
> I think a conversation tomorrow with a lawyer is an unfortunate but necessary turn of events.


Light, as in color?!?  The heating process will even darken softwood pellets. 

And, you're right. I looked at my manual, and it states just as you wrote. 

The ONLY thing I see is that the ash should be <0.5% which means the pellets should meet the PFI super premium standard.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> We clean the glass, tray and grate every day, the back plate once a week, the smoke chamber we've cleaned once a month or so. I can't find anything in my manual regarding cleaning the flue based on tons. Mine recommends once a month. When the rep came he had to look up a different chart then the one you shared. I have the older model I guess.


Correct, most people equate months with tons and clean based upon actual tonnage or usage, but the manuals typically refer to cleaning schedules based on time.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> What manufacture date is on your stove?
> 
> NHMtns, what is your date of manufacture?


My manual states 07/2012


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> Light, as in color?!?  The heating process will even darken softwood pellets.
> 
> And, you're right. I looked at my manual, and it states just as you wrote.
> 
> The ONLY thing I see is that the ash should be <0.5% which means the pellets should meet the PFI super premium standard.



Yes light as in color. When we talked to the first guy who came out here, he jumped on the wrong pellet band wagon. When we explained that we bought the exact brand and grade of pellets that was suggested by the second rep, this guy said that we need check to make sure they were uniformly light, almost white because that supposedly mean they are pure. That there are according to him, varying qualities of super supreme pellets. 

Quite frankly, if these stoves are this persnickety, I don't want it! I would have never bought such a stove if that was made clear.


----------



## Mt Bob

With all the adjustments on that stove,pellet quality is irrelevant.Poor pellets will just make stove dirty faster,and put out poor heat.You should sit down and document everything,in a time line setup,as I think you need to do something now,so you will be set up,tested and running before next winter.They should bring you a new stove,at this point.


----------



## NHMtns

bob bare said:


> With all the adjustments on that stove,pellet quality is irrelevant.Poor pellets will just make stove dirty faster,and put out poor heat.You should sit down and document everything,in a time line setup,as I think you need to do something now,so you will be set up,tested and running before next winter.They should bring you a new stove,at this point.



Thanks, I agree. I am in the process of doing that for the lawyer. If they truly stood behind their product, they would have replaced the stove by now.


----------



## lvnandree

Wow I have been reading these posts over the past few days. I am awaiting our dealer to call me to set an install date as they are waiting for the Sabrina in red to come in on an order.  I am dealing with a company that is well respected in our comunity and has been in business for along time. Before even talking about price or anything I made sure they were reputable.  Sounds like Pascal is one as well !! What are people burning for pellets in these machines soft or hardwood. I can actually buy cubex hardwood delivered to the door cheaper than softwood like LG what do you think?


----------



## lvnandree

sorry Cubex $289 ton vs LG premium softwood at $299 ton


----------



## chken

lvnandree said:


> Wow I have been reading these posts over the past few days. I am awaiting our dealer to call me to set an install date as they are waiting for the Sabrina in red to come in on an order.  I am dealing with a company that is well respected in our comunity and has been in business for along time. Before even talking about price or anything I made sure they were reputable.  Sounds like Pascal is one as well !! What are people burning for pellets in these machines soft or hardwood. I can actually buy cubex hardwood delivered to the door cheaper than softwood like LG what do you think?


I love the LG pellets. They burn very clean in my Sabrina. However, everything burns well if your stove is running well. For me, Cubex and LG are about the same price, actually, the Cubex are $10 more.


----------



## lvnandree

Seems to me they have the same ash amounts but I have seen people say the lg makes it easier to clean but the cubex are higher in btu


----------



## gdphishman817

Just an update on my rear baffle plate situation, I called the dealer and they sent someone out today. After struggling to get my plate out he immediately said that there was definitely a problem with it. He brought with him a plate from their showroom model and that one slide right in no problem. They are ordering me a new one and letting me borrow the showroom one in the mean time.


----------



## Lake Girl

Dah! on the plate.  Obviously hadn't ordered a new one...  How's it burning now?  Did they check all the settings again to make sure they were still appropriate?


----------



## NHMtns

gdphishman817 said:


> Just an update on my rear baffle plate situation, I called the dealer and they sent someone out today. After struggling to get my plate out he immediately said that there was definitely a problem with it. He brought with him a plate from their showroom model and that one slide right in no problem. They are ordering me a new one and letting me borrow the showroom one in the mean time.



You obviously have a great dealer! Makes all the difference.


----------



## NHMtns

Lake Girl said:


> Dah! on the plate.  Obviously hadn't ordered a new one...  How's it burning now?  Did they check all the settings again to make sure they were still appropriate?



We have not been using the stove. Throwing money, time, and energy away. Not to mention the anxiety I get when we used it.  I don't know how to get in to the settings. I thought you needed a code for that.


----------



## gdphishman817

NHMtns said:


> You obviously have a great dealer! Makes all the difference.



They really are great, they seem to be learning about the Piazzetta stoves but I guess we all are. I've called them twice since I've had the stove in October and they were out at my house promptly. When I bought the stove, Piazzetta had a $200 rebate. I needed a registration number from the dealer and they missed the window to get it. They credited me the $200 any way. If anyone lives south of Boston, I've had great experience with New England Hearth and Home in Canton, MA.


----------



## chken

NHMtns said:


> We have not been using the stove. Throwing money, time, and energy away. Not to mention the anxiety I get when we used it.  I don't know how to get in to the settings. I thought you needed a code for that.


E9 is the code.  But your prob is the mobo is shutting the combustion fan off without throwing any error codes.


----------



## NHMtns

chken said:


> E9 is the code.  But your prob is the mobo is shutting the combustion fan off without throwing any error codes.



Yes that does seem to be the problem. I've suspected the mobo from the beginning.


----------



## krooser

NHMtns said:


> What is the leaf blower trick?
> 
> They took it all apart in Oct. and the manual states once a year, as did the rep. But you've found that it needs it every ton?



This is what you get AFTER a good cleaning the first time… much less if you do this after every ton. If you think you can claen your stove without this simple procedure you're kidding yourself...


----------



## chken

If everybody does the LBT, and we create a huge ash cloud, we'll reverse global warming and cause a mini ice-age. Then we'll really need our pellet stoves.


----------



## NHMtns

Update. We found a dealer that knows how to work on the stove and he came out and determined we have a serious problem, as we all knew. His recommendation is that Piazzetta replace it and figure out what went wrong in manufacturing. At the very least he will try to get the company to replace whatever parts necessary to get us a fully functioning stove. If not, then our lawyer now has a professional to back up our claims.


----------



## Mt Bob

Excellent.


----------



## Lake Girl

Glad to hear you have an expert in your corner.  Hope Piazzetta does the right thing ...


----------



## fidelito

Does anyone know how to remove the safety grill on the hopper of the Monia? It is summer and I don't want to leave any pellets in the hopper.


----------



## chken

fidelito said:


> Does anyone know how to remove the safety grill on the hopper of the Monia? It is summer and I don't want to leave any pellets in the hopper.


If I understand you correctly, you want to remove the mesh guard in the pellet hopper? There are two philips screws you have to remove, and then bend the grate a little and twist it out. Not too hard, I removed mine a long time ago to suck out fines.


----------



## stayfitz

NHMtns said:


> Update. We found a dealer that knows how to work on the stove and he came out and determined we have a serious problem, as we all knew. His recommendation is that Piazzetta replace it and figure out what went wrong in manufacturing. At the very least he will try to get the company to replace whatever parts necessary to get us a fully functioning stove. If not, then our lawyer now has a professional to back up our claims.



How are things progressing?  Any good news?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

gdphishman817 said:


> They really are great, they seem to be learning about the Piazzetta stoves but I guess we all are. I've called them twice since I've had the stove in October and they were out at my house promptly. When I bought the stove, Piazzetta had a $200 rebate. I needed a registration number from the dealer and they missed the window to get it. They credited me the $200 any way. If anyone lives south of Boston, I've had great experience with New England Hearth and Home in Canton, MA.


i'm very glade to ear that we are not the only one giving a great service it's sutch a good product just need a little fine tuning depending the house it's instaled in


----------



## Don2222

hedgehog said:


> anyone here cast there own hearth? is there a section of this website?



Here are a few of my hearth builds

Hearth that Heats the room all by itself when the stove is down for cleaning!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/heated-hearth-output.68655/

Lighted Hearth with Selkirk DT up & Out venting
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...stall-with-custom-lighted-hearth.90555/page-2

Pressure Treated and waterproof PCV board trim hearth
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...-hearth-for-garage.104197/page-2#post-1405455


----------



## Don2222

hedgehog said:


> anyone here cast there own hearth? is there a section of this website?



Here are a few of my hearth builds

Hearth that Heats the room all by itself when the stove is down for cleaning!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/heated-hearth-output.68655/

Lighted Hearth with Selkirk DT up & Out venting
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...stall-with-custom-lighted-hearth.90555/page-2

Pressure Treated and waterproof PCV board trim hearth
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...-hearth-for-garage.104197/page-2#post-1405455


----------



## Don2222

hedgehog said:


> anyone here cast there own hearth? is there a section of this website?



Here are a few of my hearth builds

Hearth that Heats the room all by itself when the stove is down for cleaning!
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/heated-hearth-output.68655/

Lighted Hearth with Selkirk DT up & Out venting
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...stall-with-custom-lighted-hearth.90555/page-2

Pressure Treated and waterproof PCV board trim hearth
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...-hearth-for-garage.104197/page-2#post-1405455


----------



## NHMtns

stayfitz said:


> How are things progressing?  Any good news?



NO unfortunately. I wrote a long, detailed letter to the email address on the website weeks ago. I hadn't heard anything, so I wrote a little note on their site and got an email, so I resent my previous letter to him and asked if he would please forward it to customer service. 
Still no word. Disappointed is an understatement!


----------



## stayfitz

Incredible... I'm very sorry to hear there is still no resolution to your problem stove Keeping my fingers crossed for a better outcome!


----------



## NHMtns

stayfitz said:


> Incredible... I'm very sorry to hear there is still no resolution to your problem stove Keeping my fingers crossed for a better outcome!



Thanks!


----------



## NHMtns

Does anyone have an email address to someone in customer service at Piazzetta? The main company, not NE Dist. I have waited weeks for a reply from them.  I wrote a detailed letter, explaining everything, which was recommended by the guy who came out and worked on the stove.  Nothing.  I would like to know if they intent on giving him the okay and materials to fix the stove , replace it (which is what he recommends), or continue to jerk us around and do nothing.  Winter is approaching and I would really like to use my very expensive pellet stove.
A name and number, email, anything would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> Does anyone have an email address to someone in customer service at Piazzetta? The main company, not NE Dist. I have waited weeks for a reply from them.  I wrote a detailed letter, explaining everything, which was recommended by the guy who came out and worked on the stove.  Nothing.  I would like to know if they intent on giving him the okay and materials to fix the stove , replace it (which is what he recommends), or continue to jerk us around and do nothing.  Winter is approaching and I would really like to use my very expensive pellet stove.
> A name and number, email, anything would be greatly appreciated.


hello again i'll try to find out some one that can help you whit this


NHMtns said:


> Does anyone have an email address to someone in customer service at Piazzetta? The main company, not NE Dist. I have waited weeks for a reply from them.  I wrote a detailed letter, explaining everything, which was recommended by the guy who came out and worked on the stove.  Nothing.  I would like to know if they intent on giving him the okay and materials to fix the stove , replace it (which is what he recommends), or continue to jerk us around and do nothing.  Winter is approaching and I would really like to use my very expensive pellet stove.
> A name and number, email, anything would be greatly appreciated.


hi, it's been a will in summer time I'm more out fishing then computing anyway I taugh by now your problem would been fix I'm very sad to find out that you are still in that position.  I'll transfer your case to my rep in Quebec it's Maison DF witch are very Professional people they can get in touch whit PE Pacific Energy I which you would live closer I would definitely fix this for you gee! it's hard for me to wright cause I'm French, but if you would have a magnehelic manometer then I would be able to help you more  by the phone or even better on Facetime or something like this. i'll get you back on this whit in a week max.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> Does anyone have an email address to someone in customer service at Piazzetta? The main company, not NE Dist. I have waited weeks for a reply from them.  I wrote a detailed letter, explaining everything, which was recommended by the guy who came out and worked on the stove.  Nothing.  I would like to know if they intent on giving him the okay and materials to fix the stove , replace it (which is what he recommends), or continue to jerk us around and do nothing.  Winter is approaching and I would really like to use my very expensive pellet stove.
> A name and number, email, anything would be greatly appreciated.


sent at Pacific Energy and at Piazzetta;
 (( Hi, I do own and sale Piazzetta product but since a will ived been on Hearth.com forum and there is a Monia customer that seems to be very unsatisfied whit is pellet stove I have tried to help him out whit many others it a shame that is dealer wont help I'm out and this ruins the effort we put in this product  this customer live in New Hampshire I cant just go there I'm in Québec I which I could help this customer is there a way that you can help me help this guy send me a contact e-mail that can get in touch whit this customer )).
and will also contact my rep tomorrow.


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> sent at Pacific Energy and at Piazzetta;
> (( Hi, I do own and sale Piazzetta product but since a will ived been on Hearth.com forum and there is a Monia customer that seems to be very unsatisfied whit is pellet stove I have tried to help him out whit many others it a shame that is dealer wont help I'm out and this ruins the effort we put in this product  this customer live in New Hampshire I cant just go there I'm in Québec I which I could help this customer is there a way that you can help me help this guy send me a contact e-mail that can get in touch whit this customer )).
> and will also contact my rep tomorrow.


Thank you so much Pascal. I've said it before, I sure wish that I had bought the stove from a dealer like you! We did find a local dealer that seems pretty knowledgable on the Piazzettas. He came out twice. He thinks they should replace the stove, but at the very least, replace the baffle plate and motherboard. He recommended writing the long, detailed letter to Piazzetta and giving them one last chance to fix it. I wrote that weeks ago. I have not heard anything from Piazzetta.
Thanks again, and I don't blame you for fishing!


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> sent at Pacific Energy and at Piazzetta;
> (( Hi, I do own and sale Piazzetta product but since a will ived been on Hearth.com forum and there is a Monia customer that seems to be very unsatisfied whit is pellet stove I have tried to help him out whit many others it a shame that is dealer wont help I'm out and this ruins the effort we put in this product  this customer live in New Hampshire I cant just go there I'm in Québec I which I could help this customer is there a way that you can help me help this guy send me a contact e-mail that can get in touch whit this customer )).
> and will also contact my rep tomorrow.


No help yet?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

NHMtns said:


> No help yet?


can you please e-mail me at  ((          pmaertens     @    msn   .   com      )) i do have 2 contact for you but for some reason I cant put this on the forum cause it's only in extrem exemption that they must be contact I realy had an hard time getting those cause Customer sould always pass by there dealers I wich I could sent you a private message but I dont know how.

waiting for your e-mail now.


----------



## NHMtns

Pascal_Maertens said:


> can you please e-mail me at  ((          pmaertens     @    msn   .   com      )) i do have 2 contact for you but for some reason I cant put this on the forum cause it's only in extrem exemption that they must be contact I realy had an hard time getting those cause Customer sould always pass by there dealers I wich I could sent you a private message but I dont know how.
> 
> waiting for your e-mail now.


Done. I was gone all day. I look forward to your email tomorrow. Thanks again.


----------



## NHMtns

chickenman said:


> I must confess I have not read through this thread as my attention span is too short.
> I do not understand what is going on here.
> Is the company that sells these stoves still trading in the US?  If so ring them up and go and see them.
> Is the dealer who checked your stove able to obtain the pcb and baffle?
> My advice would be to have him repair it, if he really knows what he is doing and will guarantee a fixed price.  Yes it will cost you money but at least you will have an operating stove rather than an expensive ornament.  Also you will have opened up a line of communication with a dealer who can help you next time.  This is very important.



Hi, yes I think that Woodman's is still selling Piazzetta, but we have never been able to get them to keep an appointment. It takes weeks to get them to call back and make an appointment, then they cancelled on the appointment day and rescheduled for weeks later, only to cancel again, and again. 
The dealer who came out was the one who suggested we give Piazzetta one last shot at making this right. So I wrote a long, detailed letter as he suggested. So far not one single response. I sent the letter to several email addresses.
Yes, we will have the other dealer come out and fix the stove. We were just hoping that Piazzetta would cover the parts and labor, since it is still under warranty.


----------



## NHMtns

chickenman said:


> Pretty poor performance all round.
> Cant you just load up the stove and take it back to where you bought it for a refund or repair.
> It would seem that the people you are dealing with are experts of fobbing people off so I don't hold out much hope for parts and labour.
> Look after the dealer who is actually prepared to help you.



I have thought about physically taking it back, but I would probably be out of a stove.  I would have to sue Woodman's to get them to reimburse me.  
I guess I just need to get White Mt. to come out and replace or grind down the back plate and replace the motherboard.  Then I guess I can pursue reimbursement from there.
This has been such a frustrating thing.  One lesson I have learned through all this, is to do loads of research on a companies Customer Service record.  I didn't check out Woodman's, only Piazzetta and only found good things. 
There is a breakdown here that should be fixed, so that people like us who bought from a lousy dealer have some recourse.


----------



## NHMtns

chickenman said:


> Is this the company you mean;*Woodman's Forge & Fireplace
> THey dont look like a fly by night operator *on their website.
> How far away are they?
> Personally I would take it back, plonk it in their showroom and ask them what they are going to do for you.  I am sure you have the receipt.  THey have a definite responsibility to you
> Surely they wont leave you empty handed, there must be a solution.  I would not be worried about being out of a stove, a dead stove is just an expensive ornament.




Yes, that's the company. The problem is that when I bought my Piazzetta stove they had just started selling them. The guy said that he was getting ready to go for some extensive training on the stoves so that he would be able to service them, which we were concerned about. To date, he has never gone for the training! When we called to TRY and get him to service the stove, he kept asking if we "had the manual", "are you sure you have the manual", "I have to have the manual to work on it". It was clear he didn't know what he was doing. I believe that is why he kept canceling our appointments. Probably if I had purchased a stove he'd been selling for years, we might have had a very different experience.


----------



## NHMtns

They are coming to pick up the stove and give me a full refund! They are going to do testing on it to figure out what went wrong. The guy from Northeast Dist. was very nice and apologized profusely for this whole ordeal. Going pellet stove shopping this weekend. Suggestions?


----------



## NHMtns

We did. The guys that came out twice to service a stove they didn't sell us. We are buying from them!


----------



## Bioburner

Keep us posted as to what your considering to fill the hole and hopefully a better experience. Your not the only that got overdue help on a lingering stove issue. On a roll.


----------



## stayfitz

Great News... Very happy everything worked out! Sorry the process required so much time. Interested to hear about the new/replacement stove


----------



## NHMtns

Any issues with the Harman Accentra or their P43? We have a small corner for the stove (which is one reason we went with the Monia originally), but either one of these will fit too. Is the Accentra as efficient as they claim?


----------



## stayfitz

NHMtns said:


> Any issues with the Harman Accentra or their P43? We have a small corner for the stove (which is one reason we went with the Monia originally), but either one of these will fit too. Is the Accentra as efficient as they claim?



Both are great stoves!  I understand access to service areas (fan motors, auger, etc) is slightly more difficult on the Accentra.  The "P" series offers decent service access (not as good as removable panels or swing doors).  Both models would probably produce more heat output than your Monia.  The feed rate on the P43 is 5.5lbs max.  The Monia is 4.5lbs.  Also, the "P" series offers an optional hopper extension, adds about 50+ lbs.  Cast iron (Accentra) vs. steel ("P" series).  Harman's heat adjustment controls are excellent, but do not allow easy incorporation of an outboard thermostat.

Harman makes a great product! They support their customers through good dealers!  Case and point - my two year old P68 is being replaced (tomorrow) with a new unit (burn pot and paint defects)!


----------



## johnnh

NHMtns said:


> Any issues with the Harman Accentra or their P43? We have a small corner for the stove (which is one reason we went with the Monia originally), but either one of these will fit too. Is the Accentra as efficient as they claim?


 

NHMtns,
I am a fellow NH'erite.  I have read through all these posts from the beginning, so I am going to let loose on what I believe....  Stay away from these Euroweenienanzypanzy stoves made in Italy or wherever.  Don't be sucked in by fancy Euro styling or any of the garbage.  Find a dealer you can trust close by, find out what manufacturers they rep, and go from there.  Chances are they will rep Harman or Enviro or any good solid stove made here in the North Americas.  I myself own an Enviro M55 steel, and it has been solid as a rock. If something goes wrong, I am sure that the place I bought it from in my hometown will be over to help fix it in a timely manner.
               John


----------



## NHMtns

johnnh said:


> NHMtns,
> I am a fellow NH'erite.  I have read through all these posts from the beginning, so I am going to let loose on what I believe....  Stay away from these Euroweenienanzypanzy stoves made in Italy or wherever.  Don't be sucked in by fancy Euro styling or any of the garbage.  Find a dealer you can trust close by, find out what manufacturers they rep, and go from there.  Chances are they will rep Harman or Enviro or any good solid stove made here in the North Americas.  I myself own an Enviro M55 steel, and it has been solid as a rock. If something goes wrong, I am sure that the place I bought it from in my hometown will be over to help fix it in a timely manner.
> John



The issue was having a lousy dealer. A good dealer willing to service the product they sold would have made ALL the difference. We have a good dealer now, and will go with their recommendations.


----------



## NHMtns

chickenman said:


> Good boy, I am sure you are embarking on a fruitful relationship.



Yes, I'm sure we are.  And its good Girl


----------



## BrotherBart

Or where he is from, "Good Sheila."


----------



## NHMtns

chickenman said:


> Sorry maam



No worries!


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

johnnh said:


> NHMtns,
> I am a fellow NH'erite.  I have read through all these posts from the beginning, so I am going to let loose on what I believe....  Stay away from these Euroweenienanzypanzy stoves made in Italy or wherever.  Don't be sucked in by fancy Euro styling or any of the garbage.  Find a dealer you can trust close by, find out what manufacturers they rep, and go from there.  Chances are they will rep Harman or Enviro or any good solid stove made here in the North Americas.  I myself own an Enviro M55 steel, and it has been solid as a rock. If something goes wrong, I am sure that the place I bought it from in my hometown will be over to help fix it in a timely manner.
> John


 
i'm verry sorry to ear that cause Piazzetta is not to blame, I do sale Piazzetta product but we also have a very good service yes they are Italian product and they need more ajustement but ones done they realy rock the heat


----------



## NHMtns

Yes I am sure if I had bought my Monia from Pascal he would have fixed it or replaced it right away. Unfortunately that was not my case. Sorry Pascal but I can't quite bring myself to even consider another Piazzetta. Wound is too fresh.


----------



## NHMtns

Come to find out our dealer can't carry Harman but carries Quadra-fire and EcoChoice, all the same manufacturer, made in US, same technology, etc. we went with the EcoChoice PS50.  Love the easy clean out design. Holds twice as many pellets.


----------



## Ironhorse74

A long long time ago in this thread I said that the problem would not be with the stove but with Piazzetta. Sorry to hear I was right. 

Brad


----------



## NHMtns

Ironhorse74 said:


> A long long time ago in this thread I said that the problem would not be with the stove but with Piazzetta. Sorry to hear I was right.
> 
> Brad



No Brad we definitely had a lemon of a stove. We had a very knowledgable dealer come out twice and said we had serious issues. In fact Piazzetta is doing exactly what he recommended, taking it to their warehouse and run tests on it to figure out what went wrong with the unit.  The distributor however should have provided quality customer service and expected that from their dealer.


----------



## Ironhorse74

I am not going to say anything that will get me sued.


----------



## Mt Bob

If you go with the ps50 you will have gone from one of the most advanced stoves to one of the simplest,with 2 manual adjustments.As the expensive one never worked properly from day one,and you used to burn wood,I think you will have no problems with that choice.


----------



## NHMtns

bob bare said:


> If you go with the ps50 you will have gone from one of the most advanced stoves to one of the simplest,with 2 manual adjustments.As the expensive one never worked properly from day one,and you used to burn wood,I think you will have no problems with that choice.



No I don't think so either. Pretty and fancy have not served me well in the pellet stove department.


----------



## 709GADE

My 2014 Piazzetta Monia setup. Bring on the cold.


----------



## HotTamale

gdphishman817 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> We've had our Monia since October, it's been great all winter and is saving us a ton on oil. This site has been an invaluable resource for a new stove owner. A couple of questions for fellow Piazzetta owners:
> 
> 
> Is there a trick to removing the rear baffle plate for weekly cleanings? Every week when I remove, it seems like getting it out and back in again is a struggle. It feels like the width of the plate is the exact width of the inside of the stove.
> Occasionally, after the stove is shut down completely, 10 minutes later, we can smell smoke that seems to be left over embers still burning. This doesn't happen often, but it happens. Have anyone else experienced this?


gdphishman817:

The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.

I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.        

What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.


----------



## Bioburner

Could be bearing going bad. The stove have Pabst motors? Not a real chore to put in new bearings. I got real good at changing them on a Bixby till I got a good set. If the manufacture did it the motors will shut down when starting to get hot or taking to much juice to turn.


----------



## chken

HotTamale said:


> gdphishman817:
> 
> The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.
> 
> I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.
> 
> What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.


Combustion fan or room blower? If combustion fan, perhaps it needs its annual cleaning?


----------



## HotTamale

chken said:


> Combustion fan or room blower? If combustion fan, perhaps it needs its annual cleaning?


Room blower. Piazzetta rep said, "compressor" fan..perhaps they meant the same. Seems to be clinging on for life! Just cleaned everything out again this morning, but it's getting noisier.


----------



## WKB

HotTamale said:


> Room blower. Piazzetta rep said, "compressor" fan..perhaps they meant the same. Seems to be clinging on for life! Just cleaned everything out again this morning, but it's getting noisier.




I have a Piazzetta Sveva (which is the Sabrina, but in the majolica cladding). I've also noticed that the room-air fan seems to "tick" at low fan speeds, similar to what I'd expect with a loose bearing or a piece of metal wobbling back and forth. Interestingly, I had the same problem with a warm-air fan when the unit was first installed but the noise was present at high and low fan speeds. The distributor (Northeast Distribution) replaced that fan, which has worked OK since, though I still get the noise at low fan speeds. Disappointment came yesterday when I heard this at high speeds yesterday. I wrote an email to Piazzetta and will call my dealer (Commonwealth Fireplace) tomorrow and post my results.


----------



## HotTamale

WKB said:


> Disappointment came yesterday when I heard this at high speeds yesterday. I wrote an email to Piazzetta and will call my dealer (Commonwealth Fireplace) tomorrow and post my results.


Piazza takes 1 -2 days but they DO respond. Commonwealth Fireplace - Is that in Walpole? How is their service? Did Northeast Distribution replace quickly, or was this big job? 
I'm also waiting to hear back on replacing the back plate which is extremely difficult to remove and insert due to all the warping from the heat.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

HotTamale said:


> gdphishman817:
> 
> The baffle plate can be cumbersome to put on, as I stripped the original alan nut when attempting to pull out for cleaning. My retailer service had to come and pry it out, adding in a new casing screw, charging me up the ying yang!! Major headache and quite surprised as a new owner having to go through this.
> 
> I also experienced (last January), just 3 months after my Monia purchase, a surprising overflow of pellets in the pot and ash pan, while causing a very carcinogenesis aroma in my whole house. I had to open all the windows in mid January frigid temps for about 3 hours to air out the house. After calling Monia directly, they claimed that the stove fans needed a full reset, where the "compressor" fans were not kicking in according to the appropriate phase. Strange..but after a thorough cleaning inside and out it started to behave like new again. I usually vacuum clean the stove after every use and clean the pipes (outside and inside) and back / baffle plate once a month.
> 
> What I'm experiencing now (1 year old) is a louder unusual fan noise. Not hugely loud, but louder than what I've been experiencing.


two years part and service waranties so go for it an call them back you dont need to know what is going wrong just get it fix by your dealer.


----------



## WKB

Thanks for the comment on Piazzetta. I've tried calling Pacific Energy but they haven't responded. Commonwealth Fireplace has been generally good. They dealt with a very bad experience with an MCZ/Wittus stove I originally purchased from them and I think they became exhausted and (to some degree) tired of hearing from me all the time, I hate to admit. But, in the end, they supported me after Wittus agreed to take the stove back and Commonwealth Fireplace was willing to take-on the Piazzetta stoves without having much prior knowledge of the product. Bruce, the owner, wants his customers happy but I don't think he believes pellet technology is quite where it should be. I think he may be right when you compare the technology of pellet boilers. Commonwealth Fireplace is located in Norwood, MA. The service tech, Darin, is excellent and very polite and I would recommend him for repair of any stove. Given all the trouble (and multiple service calls) with the Wittus, I simply made a video of the noise and offered to install the fan myself, which they sent me promptly and I installed it very easily. 

Sorry to hear about the back plate. Seems like it would take a lot of heat to warp that thick, cast iron. I read from someone else they had a similar problem but it was replaced and now fits much better.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

I really can’t not understand customers sometime, if it’s on warranties just ask your dealer unless you really have an Idiot has a dealer, they will just go to your house and if they are smart they will ask you your serial number make a warranty claim an then bring a new fan whit them and just change the one that is defective Piazzetta don’t even ask any question. Has a dealer, I tell them what’s wrong they just send the parts. I’ve changed one fan and one igniter in three years for over 50 stove sold. I think with the profits we make, we can afford a free trip to the customer house once in a will. and please stop shopping a stove shop for a good dealer first, a Ferrari is a chit box if you don’t have a good dealer.


----------



## WKB

Just emailed the dealer. I just didn't want to be a bother and I wanted to speak with someone who had more technical expertise. I'm glad you've had such good luck with the stoves you've installed. Have you encountered this problem with the warm-air fan "ticking"?


----------



## HotTamale

WKB said:


> I simply made a video of the noise and offered to install the fan myself, which they sent me promptly and I installed it very easily.



The heating room fan is on the very top of the unit, correct? I have a Monia. I think dismantling this area is pretty straight forward.  
I believe the exhaust fan is the one in the smoke chamber, underneath the ash pot.


----------



## WKB

HotTamale said:


> The heating room fan is on the very top of the unit, correct? I have a Monia. I think dismantling this area is pretty straight forward.
> I believe the exhaust fan is the one in the smoke chamber, underneath the ash pot.




The fan is actually located behind the exhaust fan but blows air across the vertical heat exchanger and discharges warm air at the top.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

WKB said:


> Just emailed the dealer. I just didn't want to be a bother and I wanted to speak with someone who had more technical expertise. I'm glad you've had such good luck with the stoves you've installed. Have you encountered this problem with the warm-air fan "ticking"?



Yes I really did, and it's very simple to fix just loosen the screws wiggle the fan and place everything back. One time it happened that my delivery guys had the stove on a trolley and once in place they kind of drop it well only two inches or less but still this stove is heavy. Then when we turned the stove on, we got that cling cling cling kind of sound the impellers of the fan are very close to the hole they are set in, all I did is take the front cover and give a gentle shot on the side of the combustion fan an there it was gone I just told the customer, that if any problem would come out, we would just take care of it. it’s been one year now and the customer is very satisfied with is stove


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Pascal_Maertens said:


> Yes I really did, and it's very simple to fix just loosen the screws wiggle the fan and place everything back. One time it happened that my delivery guys had the stove on a trolley and once in place they kind of drop it well only two inches or less but still this stove is heavy. Then when we turned the stove on, we got that cling cling cling kind of sound the impellers of the fan are very close to the hole they are set in, all I did is take the front cover and give a gentle shot on the side of the combustion fan an there it was gone I just told the customer, that if any problem would come out, we would just take care of it. it’s been one year now and the customer is very satisfied with is stove


you where talking abbout the convection fan ho! well I would just get it change an that's it, an it is very well located an aesy to reach and change.


----------



## WKB

Hmm. I didn't think it was one of the impellers but that's a good thought and I'll look into it. Thanks!


----------



## WKB

Right, the convection fan. I can see how the exhaust fan impellers may be a bit disturbed. 

Have you had any problems with the convection fans, too?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

WKB said:


> Right, the convection fan. I can see how the exhaust fan impellers may be a bit disturbed.
> 
> Have you had any problems with the convection fans, too?


One time yes, on my own Sabrina, that was the fan that I’ve changed once but it was only noisy just like a buzzing frequency at a certain speed.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

It toke me more time to take the panel of then to replace the fan


----------



## WKB

Pascal_Maertens said:


> It toke me more time to take the panel of then to replace the fan




Right, the panel is the hardest part! Do you know if Piazzetta publishes which Trial fans they use for their products? (http://www.trial.it/uk/catalogue/prodotti.asp?id_cat=8). The tech manual lists the part number, but I think this is a Piazzetta part number and not a Trial number. It would be nice to have the correct dimensions recorded, in case I need to replace a fan in the future.


----------



## HotTamale

WKB said:


> Right, the panel is the hardest part! Do you know if Piazzetta publishes which Trial fans they use for their products? (http://www.trial.it/uk/catalogue/prodotti.asp?id_cat=8). The tech manual lists the part number, but I think this is a Piazzetta part number and not a Trial number. It would be nice to have the correct dimensions recorded, in case I need to replace a fan in the future.


 That link helps..Thanks WKB. I'm going to contact Piazzetta tomorrow and ask. I'll let you know how I made out.


----------



## gdphishman817

WKB said:


> Thanks for the comment on Piazzetta. I've tried calling Pacific Energy but they haven't responded. Commonwealth Fireplace has been generally good. They dealt with a very bad experience with an MCZ/Wittus stove I originally purchased from them and I think they became exhausted and (to some degree) tired of hearing from me all the time, I hate to admit. But, in the end, they supported me after Wittus agreed to take the stove back and Commonwealth Fireplace was willing to take-on the Piazzetta stoves without having much prior knowledge of the product. Bruce, the owner, wants his customers happy but I don't think he believes pellet technology is quite where it should be. I think he may be right when you compare the technology of pellet boilers. Commonwealth Fireplace is located in Norwood, MA. The service tech, Darin, is excellent and very polite and I would recommend him for repair of any stove. Given all the trouble (and multiple service calls) with the Wittus, I simply made a video of the noise and offered to install the fan myself, which they sent me promptly and I installed it very easily.
> 
> Sorry to hear about the back plate. Seems like it would take a lot of heat to warp that thick, cast iron. I read from someone else they had a similar problem but it was replaced and now fits much better.



That was me who had the warped back plate. Last year when I finally had the dealer come look at it, he used a hammer to get it out. They replaced it of course free of charge and so far so good with the new one. I got my stove from New England Hearth & Home in Canton. They've been installing these stoves for a few years, but, I find they just know how to install and clean them. Anything I can troubleshoot myself, I do, I just leave hardware issues to the dealer as I'm still under warranty


----------



## HotTamale

If your back plate is warped an takes you half a day and 7 buckets of sweat to pry out. Try this tool. PE is sending me one.


----------



## beantownmessenger

It's ok at best.....burn it to hot and in time plate will warp marking it near impossible to remove for cleaning


----------



## gusto

Pascal_Maertens said:


> One time yes, on my own Sabrina, that was the fan that I’ve changed once but it was only noisy just like a buzzing frequency at a certain speed.


 Bonjour Pascal

You mention replacing the fan on the Sabrina ,mine is getting noisy more noticeable at the lower settings the stove only has 1900 Hrs of total time . In your case did you notice if you had the problem with the motor or the bearings? After you replaced the fan the problem went away completely ?
http://www.micronovasrl.com/vecchiosito/italiano/applicazioni/pdf/ProgettoFuocoPellets.pdf     on page 16 they mention an inductor choke for noise reduction are you aware or tried any noise reduction methods ?

Regards
Gus


----------



## gusto

WKB said:


> Right, the panel is the hardest part! Do you know if Piazzetta publishes which Trial fans they use for their products? (http://www.trial.it/uk/catalogue/prodotti.asp?id_cat=8). The tech manual lists the part number, but I think this is a Piazzetta part number and not a Trial number. It would be nice to have the correct dimensions recorded, in case I need to replace a fan in the future.



Try this link 
http://www.trial.it/prodotti/ventilatori-tangenziali/singoli/

On the first drop down menu  Tensione (Voltage) choose 115v 

Regards


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

gusto said:


> Bonjour Pascal
> 
> You mention replacing the fan on the Sabrina ,mine is getting noisy more noticeable at the lower settings the stove only has 1900 Hrs of total time . In your case did you notice if you had the problem with the motor or the bearings? After you replaced the fan the problem went away completely ?
> http://www.micronovasrl.com/vecchiosito/italiano/applicazioni/pdf/ProgettoFuocoPellets.pdf     on page 16 they mention an inductor choke for noise reduction are you aware or tried any noise reduction methods ?
> 
> Regards
> Gus


 
completelly, no more vibration noise. it seem to be from the motor ( electrical vibration ) no bearing on mine .


----------



## coldinnh

hedgehog said:


> anyone have one of these stoves yet?  my local dealer just started selling them and trained up last week.
> 
> really like the look of them , and it was real quite in the store.
> 
> i Was also looking at the Enviro mini , enviro m55 , and enviro Omega.
> 
> http://www.piazzetta.com/products/sc/monia/





hedgehog said:


> anyone have one of these stoves yet?  my local dealer just started selling them and trained up last week.
> 
> really like the look of them , and it was real quite in the store.
> 
> i Was also looking at the Enviro mini , enviro m55 , and enviro Omega.
> 
> http://www.piazzetta.com/products/sc/monia/


I have had a monia since Sept and it's been nothing but TROUBLE! The grate gets so clogged after 1 bag of pellets I nearly have to jack hammer all the crap out, it has smelled up my house several times (campfire smoke smell)  its always beeping with alarms and doing weird things, it will just shut down (says no lighting) so we spent over $3k and we are freezing.  The service is guy is nice and he tries to fix it I just don't think he has a clue how to.


----------



## Lake Girl

coldinnh said:


> I have had a monia since Sept and it's been nothing but TROUBLE! The grate gets so clogged after 1 bag of pellets I nearly have to jack hammer all the crap out, it has smelled up my house several times (campfire smoke smell)  its always beeping with alarms and doing weird things, it will just shut down (says no lighting) so we spent over $3k and we are freezing.  The service is guy is nice and he tries to fix it I just don't think he has a clue how to.



Sounds like the original set-up is off.  Try a PM to Pascal who sells and services them in Quebec.  Maybe your service guy can chat with him and figure out what is off.  Spend some time searching the threads.  Somewhere on here I think there is a service or Tech manual for the Piazzettas... Good Luck!


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

coldinnh said:


> I have had a monia since Sept and it's been nothing but TROUBLE! The grate gets so clogged after 1 bag of pellets I nearly have to jack hammer all the crap out, it has smelled up my house several times (campfire smoke smell)  its always beeping with alarms and doing weird things, it will just shut down (says no lighting) so we spent over $3k and we are freezing.  The service is guy is nice and he tries to fix it I just don't think he has a clue how to.


Where are you from? Maybe I can help you out ( no! I will help you out ). please before look at the prior post I have explained that before, and it is so easy to fix I’m sure that no one has been at your place to set the stove up whit a magnehelic for you tadaaaaa... how did I know that, hey ! There are too many ass hole selling stoves and they don’t give a chit for customer service that makes me mad, or they simply dont know there products. I just had a similar case; a customer came in are store, will I was talking about the Piazzetta the guy start saying that his stove was not running properly and he was not satisfied whit it so and bla bla bla just blasting my sale. I ask him what kind of service did he got from his dealer? Who installed and did someone set the stove up for is house, I clearly knew the answer, nada, folk all, I offered the customer to go an adjust an do the complete set up for him. Yes I did charge the guy for this, but usually it’s included in the price of the stove, we just don’t charge for the first setup. Not to confound whit the installation which refer to the chimney installation, I’m talking about configuration of the stove and the exhaust fan. Believe me you will love your stove once all is set.

For all of you out there that have warp problem, I would realy like to know if you did run your stove like the manual says; at (( P3 for 5 hours strait )) an then (( P4 for 10 hours )) if not well... dont heaven ask why you are having this kind of problem usually your dealer should have told you this. at this moment I have over 50 stove sold from Piazzetta brand, Monia, Sabrina, P962, and P963 an none have been warp an beleive me, our customer are all, very, happy, and satisfied of there stove.

regards
Pascal
from
Rona Mont-Laurier Hardware store in Québec Can.
you can give me a call to
home 819-623-5336
work 819-623-1245
my pleasur


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

I’m very sorry for my little frustration on dealers but I find that today customers have a hard time to get a ‘’nice buying experience’’ just look at the last car or truck you purchase most of the time the customers know more on the product then the f… salesman. I have bought a nice fishing boat 16’ Princecraft just 2 years ago an just now a nice ATV Outlander 650 from Can-am once I sinned those papers, no more sound and image from the salesman they just vanish, ho! They might listen to you as long as it’s nothing to complicate. so my advice to you; please share that information to your friends cause for most of you on this forum it’s too late if you are looking to buy a new stove, don’t just look at prices an brands find a good dealer that have experience, that will listen to you, ask question, check if possible for reference. A Ferrari will be a chit box if you can’t get service from your dealer. Piazzetta are very good stove, but just like any other product needs to be explained, installed and setup properly, 80% of the customer don’t read there manual, dealers are aware of this issue and should advise there customers, yes that include to do a little more work hum… So I end on this, wishing you all happiness for 2015, Happy New Year.


P.S. And maybe some nice buying experience.


Regards

Pascal


----------



## chken

coldinnh said:


> I have had a monia since Sept and it's been nothing but TROUBLE! The grate gets so clogged after 1 bag of pellets I nearly have to jack hammer all the crap out, it has smelled up my house several times (campfire smoke smell)  its always beeping with alarms and doing weird things, it will just shut down (says no lighting) so we spent over $3k and we are freezing.  The service is guy is nice and he tries to fix it I just don't think he has a clue how to.


That's a bad install. Did you dealer do the install, if so, he needs to fix it, and send you a new technician if this one is clueless.

Also, what pellets are you using, and what's your vent like, because it shouldn't smell, unless you're talking at startup, there's a whiff of smoke.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Piazzetta have that little thing called combustion fan adjustment, from 1500 to 3000 rpm, knowing that only 10 makes a difference you have plenty adjustments no matter what kind of house you live in. But it's only for your technicain to adjust. Nothing to do whit north American stove in USA, cause it’s a law in the states the EPA ask pellets stove owners to plug an OAK which is completely unnecessary whit the Piazzetta unless you live a bottle. and has long as your combustion fan is ajustable you can burn just any kind of pellet soft or hard wood, and if you do not beleive this just look at europeen forum they all go for soft wood I just dont know why. total oposit from north america. Piazzetta is not the only one that have that kind of adjustement Pallazetti, Ravelli and many more europeen stove they have no more wood the pellets they buy from us. thats why they have mutch better stove then we do.


----------



## Mikesif

Hi -  I recently purchased a Piazzetta Monia - great heat - great looking machine and fan is very quiet. 

I am looking for feedback from other owners - My problem i am having is the auger motor is very noisy. you can tell everytime it is running a cycle to drop in pellets - it is much noisier than the fan - is when running on p 1,2,3  - on  p4 the fan is a slightly louder than the auger motor so no problem.  but it is quiet annoying on 5 seconds off 5 seconds with loud noise - is this normal?

Thanks you any piazzetta monia owners for your feedback.


----------



## 709GADE

This is my first season with a Monia and I am experiencing the same with mine. So far we love this stove, great heat and large glass looks good.


----------



## 709GADE

Just wondering if anyone received paint with their stove as mentioned in the manual?


----------



## chken

Mikesif said:


> Hi -  I recently purchased a Piazzetta Monia - great heat - great looking machine and fan is very quiet.
> 
> I am looking for feedback from other owners - My problem i am having is the auger motor is very noisy. you can tell everytime it is running a cycle to drop in pellets - it is much noisier than the fan - is when running on p 1,2,3  - on  p4 the fan is a slightly louder than the auger motor so no problem.  but it is quiet annoying on 5 seconds off 5 seconds with loud noise - is this normal?
> 
> Thanks you any piazzetta monia owners for your feedback.


I have a Sabrina, but they use the same mechanicals, I believe. I think it's really quite hard to say, as noise is a subjective thing, without actual measurement. As far as I can tell, people who've had Piazzettas praise it for being a quiet stove. As for the augur, I can hear it, and it has a rhythmical sound, so it's noticeable, because of the pattern, but I don't consider it loud. Perhaps, you should stop at your local dealer and compare it to one in the shop.

The other thing to consider is maybe upping the blower fan to drown out the augur noise? On my Sabrina, I've changed the blower fan so that the setting for P3 is the one I use for P1, and the one for P4 is the one I use for P2, etc. So, my blower fan noise is louder, perhaps that's why I don't notice the augur noise too much.

Use "E9" to get into your programmable settings and the Blower settings are Parameters 23 to 26 for P1 to P4. When you up them, the stove will change immediately so you can get a sense of the noise level.


----------



## chken

709GADE said:


> Just wondering if anyone received paint with their stove as mentioned in the manual?


Nope. I keep thinking I'll stop into my dealer to ask, but keep forgetting!


----------



## gusto

chken said:


> Nope. I keep thinking I'll stop into my dealer to ask, but keep forgetting!





Mikesif said:


> Hi -  I recently purchased a Piazzetta Monia - great heat - great looking machine and fan is very quiet.
> 
> I am looking for feedback from other owners - My problem i am having is the auger motor is very noisy. you can tell everytime it is running a cycle to drop in pellets - it is much noisier than the fan - is when running on p 1,2,3  - on  p4 the fan is a slightly louder than the auger motor so no problem.  but it is quiet annoying on 5 seconds off 5 seconds with loud noise - is this normal?
> 
> Thanks you any piazzetta monia owners for your feedback.



Well like Chken I have the Sabrina and I think they use the same auger motor , had noise as well and sounded like the motor was working very hard, made me think that the gears were ready to give up soon ,replaced the motor with a spare 1 RPM (instead of 1.2 RPM) things worked fine  for a bit and then the same noise , motor working very hard . Removed the covers again and checked the motor ,under normal conditions you have about  2 cm of play you can move the motor back and forth between the two bars ,in my situation was very very hard to  move the motor/auger combination but after a few tries  things get loose again , noise goes away for awhile then back again. Emptied the pellet hopper (removed the safety grid) and found a lot of fines at the bottom (at the time I was burning La Crete pellets) vacuum everything up and tried again, this time I didn't put the left side cover on (all this was last year at the end of the season) so at the first sign of  things getting noisy  I would just wiggle the motor/auger a bit and free things up . This season I started with the original motor( 1.2 RPM) and burned 70 bags of very very bad pellets old with a lot of saw dust and fines and mixed with some La Crete pellet l (with this combination need to clean the burning pot every day and fumes temperatures are lower) . I checked the bottom of the hopper a few times and I have a lot of fines but no jambs ever . I still have about 20 bags of the very old stuff after that I will be back to the La Crete pellet and I will let you know the results ( My guess is the pellet  maybe too much resin in the fines when pressed by the auger creating a bind and with the auger almost vertical more fines keep falling back)

Stayed tuned for next episode


Regards
Gus


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

709GADE said:


> Just wondering if anyone received paint with their stove as mentioned in the manual?


they do not send paint anymore, it's consider as a bomb thats what the tech from Piazzetta told me.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Mikesif said:


> Hi -  I recently purchased a Piazzetta Monia - great heat - great looking machine and fan is very quiet.
> 
> I am looking for feedback from other owners - My problem i am having is the auger motor is very noisy. you can tell everytime it is running a cycle to drop in pellets - it is much noisier than the fan - is when running on p 1,2,3  - on  p4 the fan is a slightly louder than the auger motor so no problem.  but it is quiet annoying on 5 seconds off 5 seconds with loud noise - is this normal?
> 
> Thanks you any piazzetta monia owners for your feedback.


I recently installed a Sabrina and notice that the auger motor was a little noisier than usual, I just act like everything was fine one out of fifty is not so bad and it’s not like that much of a difference but it is noticeable, if the customer complain about it, it will be change immediately.


----------



## gusto

Pascal_Maertens said:


> I recently installed a Sabrina and notice that the auger motor was a little noisier than usual, I just act like everything was fine one out of fifty is not so bad and it’s not like that much of a difference but it is noticeable, if the customer complain about it, it will be change immediately.




Bonjour Pascal

In my case the original motor is fine , no noise using very old pellets with a lot of fines and sawdust but last season with premium pellet (La Crete) the auger was getting some binding and the motor noticeably noisier under more load .

Merci 
Gaston

PS

Pascal by any chance do you have the schematic for the Micronova IO 23 control board ?


----------



## chken

Pascal_Maertens said:


> they do not send paint anymore, it's consider as a bomb thats what the tech from Piazzetta told me.


Can they recommend a paint to buy then?


----------



## 709GADE

I was just reading section 7.12 WHEN NOT IN USE in the Monia Manual and it states;

 "_using a steel brush, clean the baffle plate or internal baffle plates of the firebox and coat them using the *spray paint*, supplied with the kit, to prevent them from oxidising and consequently forming rust" . 
_
Just wondering what you people that have owned a Piazzetta for more than 1 season have done and what you would recommend Pascal?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

709GADE said:


> I was just reading section 7.12 WHEN NOT IN USE in the Monia Manual and it states;
> 
> "_using a steel brush, clean the baffle plate or internal baffle plates of the firebox and coat them using the *spray paint*, supplied with the kit, to prevent them from oxidising and consequently forming rust" .
> _
> Just wondering what you people that have owned a Piazzetta for more than 1 season have done and what you would recommend Pascal?


I know it says that, but you will not find any more paint in the new arrivals. And the question was what would I use well I do not know the word in English sorry but in French it’s ( mine à poêle ) it’s a polis that we use to put on the cast-iron stove but it’s black only and for all regular metal just an HI-temp paint should do the job  but I have not tried it yet. it's not all stove that need to be repainted only 2 of our customer have complained about this issus. and i'm still loking whit Piazzetta to see what can be done. my stove is still in very good shape no trace of rust any.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

this is the product


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

gusto said:


> Bonjour Pascal
> 
> In my case the original motor is fine , no noise using very old pellets with a lot of fines and sawdust but last season with premium pellet (La Crete) the auger was getting some binding and the motor noticeably noisier under more load .
> 
> Merci
> Gaston
> 
> PS
> 
> Pascal by any chance do you have the schematic for the Micronova IO 23 control board ?


*MICRONOVA : 
Antonio Niedda, 
Tel. 049/8931563 
Fax 049/8931346 
Email info@micronovasrl.com
*


----------



## chken

Pascal_Maertens said:


> this is the product


Thanks, Pascal, I've seen that, Imperial Stove Polish Paste.


----------



## 709GADE

Thanks again Pascal. I've seen that black stove polish around as well.


----------



## Drew65

I never thought of using stove black. I went old school and sprayed it with WD40


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Drew65 said:


> I never thought of using stove black. I went old school and sprayed it with WD40


WD40 will remove rust just like CLR will bot they dry the iron and leave no protection. I use WD40 in cycling to clean my bike parts from grees.


----------



## HotTamale

I've had the Monia for just 2 seasons and here are my subsequent issues which I had to rectify on my own! Retailer had no clue on how to service!
1) Replaced very noisy room fan in beginning of 2014 season (note: just one year of ownership)
2) Replaced warped rear baffle plate
3) Replaced rusted out Burn Pot after 3 ply paint protection within 2 seasons
4) Rethreaded screw mount for auger base plate
4) Readjust fan speeds (P2, P3, and P4) via E9 set key
5) Readjust pot cleans to every 40 mins instead of 1 hour  
6) Readjust RPM speeds 

OK..I don't mind resetting the fan speeds etc, but replacing parts after just 1 or 2 seasons does't fit my book! This stove rusts out and plates warp fast and cleaning / replacing auger and room fan debris is not a simple task. Overall, I'm not happy!


----------



## NHMtns

I hear ya! We had nothing but trouble with ours. It was such a relief to replace it. We've been so warm this winter and the cleaning was so minimal and NO unburned pellets!


----------



## HotTamale

NHMtns said:


> I hear ya! We had nothing but trouble with ours. It was such a relief to replace it. We've been so warm this winter and the cleaning was so minimal and NO unburied pellets!


Interesting..What stove did you replace it with?


----------



## NHMtns

We went low tech with an EcoChoice Heatilator. We love it!


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

In result, do you like or not your stove? Did it heat up your house properly or not? And did you had to pay for any of these replacements? Cause within two years it is supposed to be on warranty. I still run my Piazzetta, and I can assure you that I have now around 45 Sabrina and 10 Monia sold, and beside one, that the customer chooses a Monia, even if told that it would not be suitable for their house of 1700 square foot, wood rip insulated, but we finally took back the stove just by pride, saying that we have no unsatisfied customer. And for some customer that complained having black soot in their glass door, where immediately corrected just by raising the blower RPM, and some other just by cleaning their chimney. After three years of running and having sold the product I will not say that I am 100% satisfied but 98%, there are some little things that need to be talk over but nothing major.

That was my opinion I feel very bad for those out there that have a bad service from their dealers but this has nothing to do with the product.

Regards to all of you.


----------



## HotTamale

Pascal_Maertens said:


> In result, do you like or not your stove? Did it heat up your house properly or not? And did you had to pay for any of these replacements? Cause within two years it is supposed to be on warranty. I still run my Piazzetta, and I can assure you that I have now around 45 Sabrina and 10 Monia sold, and beside one, that the customer chooses a Monia, even if told that it would not be suitable for their house of 1700 square foot, wood rip insulated, but we finally took back the stove just by pride, saying that we have no unsatisfied customer. And for some customer that complained having black soot in their glass door, where immediately corrected just by raising the blower RPM, and some other just by cleaning their chimney. After three years of running and having sold the product I will not say that I am 100% satisfied but 98%, there are some little things that need to be talk over but nothing major.
> 
> That was my opinion I feel very bad for those out there that have a bad service from their dealers but this has nothing to do with the product.
> 
> Regards to all of you.


My issues revolve around the product and not so much the dealer. Warped baffle plates (cleaning nightmare!) and cracked burn pots after just 2 seasons leads me to believe I'll be paying a lot more than 4K in the next 5 years - past the warranty. I'm actually less dependent on my retailer because not every single one possesses the required knowledge to program and service Piazzetta stoves, although a handful actually do. (not mine!!) Subsequently, my service issues revolve around replacement order periods and programming advice, hence, I'm still waiting for my new burn pot since January.


----------



## NHMtns

We found a different dealer who carries Piazzetta stoves to come out and fix or confirm our issues. They went to bat for us with the distributor. We had a lemon. The distributor picked up the stove and handed us a check for what we paid for it.


----------



## Sootmaster1990

smwilliamson said:


> check out MZC or Whittus as well, stay away from Ecoteck


are the eco teks junk iknow they are hard to get parts for ive never worked on one


----------



## NHMtns

Well I guess it depends on your definition of junk. We've had it one season. Not one single issue, it kept our house toasty warm, and it was SO easy to maintain. We paid half of what we shelled out for the Monia.

In the first three months of running the Monia we had a warped back plate, tons of UNBURNED pellets, a cold house, daily cleanings (which could only take place after the stove had been off for hours), zero customer service from the dealer,  smoke pouring into my after the fan cut off (because of the unburned pellet mound), burning pellets backing up into the hopper and catching them on fire, severe smoke damage to the house resulting in an insurance claim..... I could go on and on..... Read my previous posts. So in my book our EcoChoice is anything but junk. 

Bottom line, we have a great distributor this time White Mt Stoves who will be here with bells on to fix anything that might eventually break.


----------



## gusto

gusto said:


> Well like Chken I have the Sabrina and I think they use the same auger motor , had noise as well and sounded like the motor was working very hard, made me think that the gears were ready to give up soon ,replaced the motor with a spare 1 RPM (instead of 1.2 RPM) things worked fine  for a bit and then the same noise , motor working very hard . Removed the covers again and checked the motor ,under normal conditions you have about  2 cm of play you can move the motor back and forth between the two bars ,in my situation was very very hard to  move the motor/auger combination but after a few tries  things get loose again , noise goes away for awhile then back again. Emptied the pellet hopper (removed the safety grid) and found a lot of fines at the bottom (at the time I was burning La Crete pellets) vacuum everything up and tried again, this time I didn't put the left side cover on (all this was last year at the end of the season) so at the first sign of  things getting noisy  I would just wiggle the motor/auger a bit and free things up . This season I started with the original motor( 1.2 RPM) and burned 70 bags of very very bad pellets old with a lot of saw dust and fines and mixed with some La Crete pellet l (with this combination need to clean the burning pot every day and fumes temperatures are lower) . I checked the bottom of the hopper a few times and I have a lot of fines but no jambs ever . I still have about 20 bags of the very old stuff after that I will be back to the La Crete pellet and I will let you know the results ( My guess is the pellet  maybe too much resin in the fines when pressed by the auger creating a bind and with the auger almost vertical more fines keep falling back)
> 
> Stayed tuned for next episode
> 
> 
> Regards
> Gus


Well season almost over burning La Crete since mid January with no issues,for the last two months I was away and the wife only scraped the burning pot and vacuum the ashes on the sides of it and no major cleaning . Did loose a couple points on the manometer (draft) . Back on the original problem (auger) could not replicate ,the only difference I recall on the previous La Crete batch the pellets were harder  many long pieces and darker in color but had a beautiful wood smell every time I opened a bag .
So La Crete pellets for the next season 

Later


----------



## HotTamale

NHMtns said:


> Well I guess it depends on your definition of junk. We've had it one season. Not one single issue, it kept our house toasty warm, and it was SO easy to maintain. We paid half of what we shelled out for the Monia.
> 
> In the first three months of running the Monia we had a warped back plate, tons of UNBURNED pellets, a cold house, daily cleanings (which could only take place after the stove had been off for hours), zero customer service from the dealer,  smoke pouring into my after the fan cut off (because of the unburned pellet mound), burning pellets backing up into the hopper and catching them on fire, severe smoke damage to the house resulting in an insurance claim..... I could go on and on..... Read my previous posts. So in my book our EcoChoice is anything but junk.
> 
> Bottom line, we have a great distributor this time White Mt Stoves who will be here with bells on to fix anything that might eventually break.


Ohhh yes.. I hear you loud and clear on all the above. I forgot to mention my smoke infested evenings within my first year of owning the Monia. Definitely not going with ANY Piazzetta again!


----------



## HotTamale

709GADE said:


> I was just reading section 7.12 WHEN NOT IN USE in the Monia Manual and it states;
> 
> "_using a steel brush, clean the baffle plate or internal baffle plates of the firebox and coat them using the *spray paint*, supplied with the kit, to prevent them from oxidising and consequently forming rust" .
> _
> Just wondering what you people that have owned a Piazzetta for more than 1 season have done and what you would recommend Pascal?


I played by all the Piazzetta rules, heat coating the baffle plate and stove's removable guts. I sprayed the burn pot twice and had to exchange for a new one because it rusted out between the holes after the first season. They don't make them like they used to, that's for sure!


----------



## Phil Do's fire.

hedgehog said:


> anyone have one of these stoves yet?  my local dealer just started selling them and trained up last week.
> 
> really like the look of them , and it was real quite in the store.
> 
> i Was also looking at the Enviro mini , enviro m55 , and enviro Omega.
> 
> http://www.piazzetta.com/products/sc/monia/


There is a Piazzetti dealer close to me and there are several locals that purchased these stoves over the last few years. They are on this Forum in the fall and several have contacted me. No reported issue. I have a Palazzetti a close cousin and with over 8,000 hours on it, great stove


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

This June I’m invited to go at Gruppo Piazzetta in Asolo Italy for a technical mechanical formation, I have good faith that I’ll be even more efficient helping you guys. And yes I do have some issue that I also want to discuss with them, if you have any subject suggestion be my guest i'll be pleased to bring you answers.


----------



## chken

Pascal_Maertens said:


> This June I’m invited to go at Gruppo Piazzetta in Asolo Italy for a technical mechanical formation, I have good faith that I’ll be even more efficient helping you guys. And yes I do have some issue that I also want to discuss with them, if you have any subject suggestion be my guest i'll be pleased to bring you answers.


What about those new firepots that were supposed to be coming for the Sabrina with the stainless steel lip?


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

chken said:


> What about those new firepots that were supposed to be coming for the Sabrina with the stainless steel lip?


I will still ask, but I have been given an answer for this issue from a Piazzetta importation director. He told me that for now there where nothing officially done yet or operational. I know that this product is available on the net, but for me, one feature that would come handy would be to have a good gage stainless deflector for the pellets not to go over the grate the one that come with it, deteriorate to fast.


----------



## HotTamale

Pascal_Maertens said:


> I will still ask, but I have been given an answer for this issue from a Piazzetta importation director. He told me that for now there where nothing officially done yet or operational. I know that this product is available on the net, but for me, one feature that would come handy would be to have a good gage stainless deflector for the pellets not to go over the grate the one that come with it, deteriorate to fast.


Yes, the grate will crack after 1 - 2 seasons. This should be kept clean with a wire brush daily.


----------



## Bioburner

I would be tempted if having bottom burnout issues to cut it out and have a little thicker piece of stainless welded in. Maybe having a couple pieces of metal cross the base to help cool the base(heat sink) can be a simple way to resolve heat stresses. I have had no more issues after I added some stainless welds to the pot to stop the cracking.


----------



## Bioburner

I would be tempted if having bottom burnout issues to cut it out and have a little thicker piece of stainless welded in. Maybe having a couple pieces of metal cross the base to help cool the base(heat sink) can be a simple way to resolve heat stresses. I have had no more issues after I added some stainless welds to the pot to stop the cracking.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

HotTamale said:


> Yes, the grate will crack after 1 - 2 seasons. This should be kept clean with a wire brush daily.


it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.

for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

HotTamale said:


> Yes, the grate will crack after 1 - 2 seasons. This should be kept clean with a wire brush daily.


it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.

for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.


----------



## Bioburner

The pot of my Elena is not cast.


----------



## 709GADE

The burn pot of my Monia is cast iron and the deflector is stainless steel,I have the new deflector , and it is not flaking at all...


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

Bioburner said:


> The pot of my Elena is not cast.


it's not a Piazzetta


----------



## gusto

Pascal_Maertens said:


> it's only the deflector on top of it, and yes now they are replacing it with a new Stainless steel one that should last.
> 
> for the grate that would crack I never had any request for this but it's made of cast iron so if a customer drops it, it will crack.


Pascal
I will try to post a couple pictures of my Sabrina burning pot with cracks and some internal erosion after 8 pallets 

Regards
gusto


----------



## gusto

gusto said:


> Pascal
> I will try to post a couple pictures of my Sabrina burning pot with cracks and some internal erosion after 8 pallets
> 
> Regards
> gusto


----------



## chken

gusto said:


> View attachment 172698


My grate looked EXACTLY like that as well after 2 seasons. My dealer replaced it under warranty. I figured it was a disposable part that needed regular replacement after a couple years.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

so I`ll have to order some cause my oldest customer are now 4 years old and still havent had any request for this.


----------



## gdphishman817

chken said:


> My grate looked EXACTLY like that as well after 2 seasons. My dealer replaced it under warranty. I figured it was a disposable part that needed regular replacement after a couple years.


I only got 2 seasons out of my burn pot as well, I was also able to replace it under warranty.


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor


----------



## gdphishman817

Pascal_Maertens said:


> hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor


Here's a picture of mine


----------



## chken

gdphishman817 said:


> Here's a picture of mine


That looks awful!


----------



## chken

Pascal_Maertens said:


> hey does someone have a neet picture of this I would like to send it to my distributor


Here's mine from last season that was replaced by my dealer as a warranty item:





I wonder if the batch numbers are the same as Gusto's, as the cracking seems to be the same.


----------



## gusto

chken said:


> Here's mine from last season that was replaced by my dealer as a warranty item:
> View attachment 173374
> 
> 
> I wonder if the batch numbers are the same as Gusto's, as the cracking seems to be the same.



So much for email notification ,better check my setting again

Yes same numbers on the on the grate (burning pot)  D67030250  The rear baffle plate bulged out a bit on the bottom half and I have a bit of a gap
were the baffle plate rests on the pellet chute and had to grind the top edge of the burning pot so can slide in easy again

Later


----------



## HotTamale

Had to replace my burn pot (under warranty) after 2nd season. Cracks appeared after first season! The new burn pot is beginning to show fast signs of erosion on the back.


----------



## Stagg3r

So erosion on the burn pot is most likely related to materials in the pellets you are burning. In real life I'm in industrial water treatment engineer. Think boilers and cooling towers. Iron will crack from impact or repeated rapid cooling and heating. Fire pots in stoves are subject to this all the time. Iron will erode due to oxygen and several other corrosive byproducts of burning biofuels. 
Ideally, you would have only enough oxygen to allow the reaction to take place and all corrosive byproducts would be eliminated or blocked.  This is what we do with amines and oxygen scavengers on the water side of boilers. It is more difficult to control this on the fireside although there are numerous fuel treatments that prevent crystal formation, etc. 
The point is,  it is reasonable to expect erosion of a firebox and the rate probably more dependent on the content of your fuel then the design of the box. Normal indicators of "quality" pellets won't have much bearing on how corrosive the byproducts are. 
And, yes... Eventually all parts of the fireside are disposable, as anyone that has to buy parts for a firetube boiler will tell you.


----------



## gusto

Stagg3r said:


> So erosion on the burn pot is most likely related to materials in the pellets you are burning. In real life I'm in industrial water treatment engineer. Think boilers and cooling towers. Iron will crack from impact or repeated rapid cooling and heating. Fire pots in stoves are subject to this all the time. Iron will erode due to oxygen and several other corrosive byproducts of burning biofuels.
> Ideally, you would have only enough oxygen to allow the reaction to take place and all corrosive byproducts would be eliminated or blocked.  This is what we do with amines and oxygen scavengers on the water side of boilers. It is more difficult to control this on the fireside although there are numerous fuel treatments that prevent crystal formation, etc.
> The point is,  it is reasonable to expect erosion of a firebox and the rate probably more dependent on the content of your fuel then the design of the box. Normal indicators of "quality" pellets won't have much bearing on how corrosive the byproducts are.
> And, yes... Eventually all parts of the fireside are disposable, as anyone that has to buy parts for a firetube boiler will tell you.





  Can the problem be avoided by using some type of stainless?

Regards


----------



## Stagg3r

gusto said:


> Can the problem be avoided by using some type of stainless?
> 
> Regards


This will be an unsatisfying answer but nevertheless, sometimes. The reality is that there are chemical compounds that don't play nicely with different grades of stainless either.  Stainless would be less likely to be reactive with various byproducts of burning pellets. Look at it this way,  it's unlikely that using stainless will hurt.. much

Also...
I also wanted to add after taking another look at Chken's burn pot; if you are getting clear crystilization like that, you are developing fouling (basically scale but on the fireside). When your pot gets to this point, you should wash it.  
Let it get completely cool and simply place it in very clean water. Many of the compounds that will corrode iron are salt based and are very water soluble.
I use de-ionized water at work but evaporation distilled water from any grocery store is great too.  You can even use home filtered water if that is all you have. Simply drop the pot in a large enough bucket so that you can keep the part submerged while you work on it and get a wire brush. I have the small wood handled brass ones laying around for my accounts so I use one of those. Let it soak for a few min and gently brush off any remaining deposits. The goal here is to get the corrosive byproducts, not hack away at any stuck carbon/clinkers.
When you have finished brushing, remove the burn pot and give it a quick pat dry with a paper towel or tag. Now, this is important if you don't want a ton of rust on your BP, get a hair dryer, set it as high as it goes, and quickly get the pot bone dry.  You should get very little, if any, rust and that can be quickly removed with your (also dried) metal brush.  
I don't go nuts with this.  Once or twice a season is usually enough. Let your eyes judge. If it looks like Chken's photo I referenced above(not picking on you at all, just a perfect picture of crystal formation), it's time.


----------



## chken

Stagg3r said:


> This will be an unsatisfying answer but nevertheless, sometimes. The reality is that there are chemical compounds that don't play nicely with different grades of stainless either.  Stainless would be less likely to be reactive with various byproducts of burning pellets. Look at it this way,  it's unlikely that using stainless will hurt.. much
> 
> Also...
> I also wanted to add after taking another look at Chken's burn pot; if you are getting clear crystilization like that, you are developing fouling (basically scale but on the fireside). When your pot gets to this point, you should wash it.
> Let it get completely cool and simply place it in very clean water. Many of the compounds that will corrode iron are salt based and are very water soluble.
> I use de-ionized water at work but evaporation distilled water from any grocery store is great too.  You can even use home filtered water if that is all you have. Simply drop the pot in a large enough bucket so that you can keep the part submerged while you work on it and get a wire brush. I have the small wood handled brass ones laying around for my accounts so I use one of those. Let it soak for a few min and gently brush off any remaining deposits. The goal here is to get the corrosive byproducts, not hack away at any stuck carbon/clinkers.
> When you have finished brushing, remove the burn pot and give it a quick pat dry with a paper towel or tag. Now, this is important if you don't want a ton of rust on your BP, get a hair dryer, set it as high as it goes, and quickly get the pot bone dry.  You should get very little, if any, rust and that can be quickly removed with your (also dried) metal brush.
> I don't go nuts with this.  Once or twice a season is usually enough. Let your eyes judge. If it looks like Chken's photo I referenced above(not picking on you at all, just a perfect picture of crystal formation), it's time.


Thanks for the advice. It's funny because if someone asked me, I'd have said it was salts in the wood fibers in the pellets that was causing the corrosion. I've wanted to stick the pot in water, but I was worried I would be corroding it even faster! And, with only one pot, you can imagine, not wanting to fool around with something that's working. I always wanted to have two pots so that one can be soaked/cleaned while one is working in the stove, so that's one reason why I didn't mind getting a 2nd pot. All the better it was a warranty replacement.

I've been hoping that Piazzetta would get a stainless pot option, but the only one we've seen was a photo 2 seasons ago of a cast iron grate with a stainless steel flange.


----------



## Stagg3r

I only have had to "soak" mine for 15 min. I fully understand your fear and all I can say is that I have done this 3 times so far and I have no issues with rust,  corrosion, or cracking.  The latter is probably due more to my patterns of use and luck more than cleaning. Point is that the process isn't very time intensive when you use a wire brush. As long as you use pure water, clean quickly and dry immediately, you won't cause any measurable additional corrosion.


----------



## chken

Stagg3r said:


> I only have had to "soak" mine for 15 min. I fully understand your fear and all I can say is that I have done this 3 times so far and I have no issues with rust,  corrosion, or cracking.  The latter is probably due more to my patterns of use and luck more than cleaning. Point is that the process isn't very time intensive when you use a wire brush. As long as you use pure water, clean quickly and dry immediately, you won't cause any measurable additional corrosion.


Thanks, I just didn't want to experiment with my one grate. Now that I've got two, admittedly one has a crack, I plan to incorporate the soak into my routine.


----------



## 709GADE

what is the reason for soaking in water?


----------



## chken

709GADE said:


> what is the reason for soaking in water?


To remove the crystallized salts.


----------



## 709GADE

chken said:


> To remove the crystallized salts.


Thanks, I may have to try it also


----------



## Stagg3r

709GADE said:


> what is the reason for soaking in water?



Dissolves some of the corrosive compounds that form in the burn pot and other parts of the combustion chamber.


----------



## yancovitch

hello...just found this forum and was wondering if pascal was still available.....have a monia......two years....


----------



## 709GADE

yancovitch said:


> hello...just found this forum and was wondering if pascal was still available.....have a monia......two years....



I have had my Monia for 2 yrs as well, any thing I could help you with?


----------



## chken

yancovitch said:


> hello...just found this forum and was wondering if pascal was still available.....have a monia......two years....


Drop him a message, he posted last month, so I assume he's still active.


----------



## yancovitch

thank  you.....seems to work quite well, although the internal baffle is quite heavy and difficult to remove...i don't think my wife could do it.....they should advertise pellet stove for men only ...i'm 75, my wife 65, and it's likely i'll leave before her, and i doubt she will be able to handle proper cleaning by herself.....
   also, i was wondering if there was an exploded diagram to show the inner workings available, also proper instructions on how to clean the insides....like which panels to remove and how etc......
   it seems to soot up quite a bit.....would increased fan speed make a difference?, and will it make too much noise this way?
these are a few things i was wondering about....cheers...........


----------



## Lake Girl

yancovitch said:


> hello...just found this forum and was wondering if pascal was still available.....have a monia......two years....


If you go to the first page of the Pellet Mill, you will find a permanent thread with information on the Piazzettas.  

Was your stove set up with a magnehelic gauge?  What is your exhaust configuration? What power level do you burn on?  How often do you clean the exhaust pathways (inside the stove and the venting)?  What brand/type of pellets doyou use? All these factors will effect how your stove burns.

As to the back baffle, I know they had an issue with some warped ones that created issues with reinstall.  Those were some of the first stoves in use in the US.

You might want to start a new thread for you specific issues but here is fine too.  Welcome to the forum!


----------



## yancovitch

thanks and thanks for your response ...will check it out........


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

yancovitch said:


> thanks and thanks for your response ...will check it out........


yes I come once in a will just to check if anybody needs help. what can I do for you ?


----------



## yancovitch

hello, bonjour pascal.....ha, i used to live in montreal, and play in a band on weekends in st. sauveur in nymarks inn....long time ago... i'm 75 now and live up in burns lake bc....
  i'm not good at reading or understanding instructions, but i try .....i have a monia on the main floor, and it seems to run quite well, and i'm quite happy with it.....third winter coming up....i use it until the temp goes below -5 or so, then i use the wood stove in the basement...
  it's exiting the roof...maybe 12 foot pipe.....was using power saving mode...with a power setting of 1, then changed it to 2, cause it seemed to be sooting up quite a bit...it seems a little better now.....recommendations appreciated......
  i clean it regularly...burn pot or grate, seems in good shape.....but the internal baffle is a bit of a pain to remove...i don't think my wife could remove it if i kicked the bucket.....as i mentioned before....stove should be advertised "for men only" ....i have to lift it off with a screwdriver an pull it forward so i can grab those two tabs to remove it....takes a bit of practice so i don't jam it....
  you mentioned that in this mode the igniter burns out more quickly, which is my concern...also is there a exploded diagram or whatever to show the inner construction and explanation on how to do repairs or internal cleaning...the stove reminds me of a brass instrument...you know where it goe in and where it comes out, but where it goes in between...nobody knows .......the people at the lumber yard here, don't know much about it....i only found your great contribution just yesterday.......so i'd have to do my own repairs whenever it will be necessary......i guess it's past the two year warranty now....
  thanks for your time and selflessness .....much appreciated....cheers, vic


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

yancovitch said:


> was using power saving mode...with a power setting of 1, then changed it to 2, cause it seemed to be sooting up quite a bit...it seems a little better now.....recommendations appreciated......


 well I have always recommand to run the stove at power level 3 cause at 1 and 2 there is no self cleaning procedures



yancovitch said:


> i clean it regularly...burn pot or grate, seems in good shape.....


you need to clean the grate every number of .... ? day



yancovitch said:


> but the internal baffle is a bit of a pain to remove...i don't think my wife could remove it if i kicked the bucket.....as i mentioned before....stove should be advertised "for men only" ....i have to lift it off with a screwdriver an pull it forward so i can grab those two tabs to remove it....takes a bit of practice so i don't jam it....


 well this issue on a monis is well kwnone I circerely never sale Monia



yancovitch said:


> you mentioned that in this mode the igniter burns out more quickly, which is my concern..


well only if the stove goes off and back on with in 15 minute or less. du to a bad house insulation



yancovitch said:


> .also is there a exploded diagram or whatever to show the inner construction and explanation on how to do repairs or internal cleaning...the stove reminds me of a brass instrument...you know where it goe in and where it comes out, but where it goes in between...nobody knows .......the people at the lumber yard here, don't know much about it....i only found your great contribution just yesterday.......so i'd have to do my own repairs whenever it will be necessary......i guess it's past the two year warranty now....
> thanks for your time and selflessness .....much appreciated....cheers, vic


what ever the problem I will be abble to help you out. beside the baffle issue .


----------



## yancovitch

thank you pascal........do you mean you don't sell the monia model any more?
and we have good insulation in house and the stove stays off for a long time...i was just curious about what i could repair by myself when the time came.......
     i do clean the grate every day....and thanks for the power level 3 information...will do......
so i guess drawings of the inner construction of the stove is not available...and info on how to dismantle and clean the fans etc etc.....
    thanks for you help...cheers, vic


----------



## chken

yancovitch said:


> hello, bonjour pascal.....ha, i used to live in montreal, and play in a band on weekends in st. sauveur in nymarks inn....long time ago... i'm 75 now and live up in burns lake bc....
> i'm not good at reading or understanding instructions, but i try .....i have a monia on the main floor, and it seems to run quite well, and i'm quite happy with it.....third winter coming up....i use it until the temp goes below -5 or so, then i use the wood stove in the basement...
> it's exiting the roof...maybe 12 foot pipe.....was using power saving mode...with a power setting of 1, then changed it to 2, cause it seemed to be sooting up quite a bit...it seems a little better now.....recommendations appreciated......
> i clean it regularly...burn pot or grate, seems in good shape.....but the internal baffle is a bit of a pain to remove...i don't think my wife could remove it if i kicked the bucket.....as i mentioned before....stove should be advertised "for men only" ....i have to lift it off with a screwdriver an pull it forward so i can grab those two tabs to remove it....takes a bit of practice so i don't jam it....
> you mentioned that in this mode the igniter burns out more quickly, which is my concern...also is there a exploded diagram or whatever to show the inner construction and explanation on how to do repairs or internal cleaning...the stove reminds me of a brass instrument...you know where it goe in and where it comes out, but where it goes in between...nobody knows .......the people at the lumber yard here, don't know much about it....i only found your great contribution just yesterday.......so i'd have to do my own repairs whenever it will be necessary......i guess it's past the two year warranty now....
> thanks for your time and selflessness .....much appreciated....cheers, vic


The backplate issue seems to have affected a few Monias. You may be able to search old threads for a solution or perhaps Pascal remembers what they did.

As for sooting, it helps to know is it blackish? Or are you just talking about lots of gray ash in the grate? Or are you talking about the glass? If the glass, higher fan speeds help, but only a little. If lots of ash in the grate, perhaps a different pellet brand will burn better. If black soot, then more air is needed. There's a sticky at the top of the forum on Piazzettas that Pascal wrote, and there are quite a few threads from 2 seasons ago where we tackle adjusting the air with and without a manometer.


----------



## yancovitch

thank you...will try to find the posts on air adjustment.....but it's not too bad with increase power setting...cheers....


----------



## 709GADE

What I've done to make the back heavy baffle plate to slide in easier is to apply a very small amount of oil (Pam cooking spray) to the edges, works great.


----------



## yancovitch

thanks...that's a good idea.....shall do.....well i'll have to make sure i live long enough so my wife doesn't have to lift the thing by herself hahaha....


----------



## Pascal_Maertens

yancovitch said:


> thank you pascal........do you mean you don't sell the monia model any more?


NO, but it's not the model that I would recommande the most, I usualy recommande the Sabrina model.


----------



## yancovitch

aha....thank you pascal...................


----------



## yancovitch

it's been quite a while...hope someone is still here.....notice my blower fan is a bit noisy....would like to clean and oil....and wondered about access...thanks. victor


----------



## yancovitch

actually i just talked to northwest stoves, and they are emailing me a proper manual, which describes the cleaning processes in detail.....the one i have only mentioned a few things......so i should be ok hopefully ......

well, i cleaned the blower fan and added a few drops of oil to the bushing -bearing on the left side...couldn't access the right side easily ....so we'll see what happens....will be happy  to hear any extra advice....cheers, victor


----------

