# Ravelli RV80 blower problem



## Doug richard (Feb 15, 2016)

Hello, I'm new here and am having a problem with my Ravelli RV80. Ive had it 3 seasons now and never had a problem.  I first notice the when the stove displayed " hot smokes " and my first reaction was to clean all the exhaust piping and throughly clean the stove.  I did so and still had the problem.  I then notice that the stove was on work mode and yet the blower motor was not blowing at full power. I always have the stove set to power level 5 ( MAX ) and the temp to around 70. So the problem is the blower is not functioning properly with the what mode its in. Sometimes the blower motor will completely stop, and the stove gets extreamly hot.  If I reach in and spin the fan it will restart most times.  Funny thing is if the blower is stopped and I power the stove down it goes into " final cleaning " mode and the blower motor will turn on.  So the motor seems fine.

Ive done multiple searches and called my local dealer and no one know's anything about this stove.  Its frustrating, I knew 3 years ago when I bought it that it was new to the USA but I thought by now it would be more known.

Thanks,

Doug


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## rich2500 (Feb 16, 2016)

I would start by checking the blower motor and make sure it's not caked up with dust or pet hair (if you have pets )


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## Doug richard (Feb 16, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> I would start by checking the blower motor and make sure it's not caked up with dust or pet hair (if you have pets )


Hi Rich,

I will try taking the blower fan and motor out tonight and cleaning it and get back with how it looks.
Thanks for the tip!


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## Bkins (Feb 16, 2016)

If you have the motor out it can't hurt to oil it.  A lot of motors have sealed bearing which make it hard, if not impossible, to get oil into the bearings but I've found it can be done with some patience and some creativity.  3in 1 oil works but get the can designed for motors, I believe it is the blue can.
Also I will mention that most stoves are not designed to run on their highest setting all the time.  You may be experiencing some of the problems encountered by doing so.  It's usually thought that if the stove needs to be on its highest setting to maintain the heat your looking for that you need a bigger stove.  I'm sure there are members who feel it's ok to run their stoves at full bore all the time but I'm not one of them.  I've seen in owners manuals that they say no to do it.

Back on subject let us know what you find out by pulling the motor and fan assembly.  What is this "hot smokes" you mentioned?


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## Doug richard (Feb 16, 2016)

Ok, Thanks I will try that while its out. I would like to get a bigger stove and will be looking into it. In the meantime I will be running this one on high.  The stove is from Italy and the manual is translated like crap to be blunt.  Same goes for the display. " hot smokes " is a message I receive on the screen when the convection fan turns off and the stove continues to run.  I'm assuming this is because the stove is overheating since all the heat its producing is not being blown out.


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## Pelleting In NJ (Feb 16, 2016)

Are you talking about the combustion blower or the room blower?

The "Hot Smokes" message means that the exhaust temperature sensor has sensed that the exhaust temp is too high. When this happens, the room blower should run at max speed, and the pellet feed rate is reduced, to cool the stove down. If your room blower blades are too dirty (dust/lint), or something else is restricting the air flow through the heat exchanger, that will trigger the Hot Smokes alarm. Or perhaps your room blower is intermittent, or the bearings are going, slowing it down, or seizing. Could also be a failing capacitor for the motor (the can thing with two wires that go to the fan motor, about the size of a C battery). The last thing it could be is a bad triac on the control board (it controls the 110VAC that is applied to the motor, to control it's speed).

I doubt it is a problem with the combustion blower, as the control board senses the actual RPM of the combustion blower, and if it is not spinning at the correct RPM, that will trip a different alarm warning message.

I have been running my Ecoteck/Ravelli Elena stove at full blast power level P5 since I have owned it, for 5 years, going thru about 15 total tons of pellets, and other than a small crack that just appeared in my burn pot, the stove has been fine. Eventually all stoves will get a cracked burn pot. As an Engineer, if a stove can't be run at full power, then it is a poor design....purposely over-rated in its BTU capacity for marketing purposes.....Your home furnace is designed to run at 100% of its BTU rating for it's entire life...a pellet stove should be no different.


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## Doug richard (Feb 16, 2016)

Pelleting In NJ said:


> Are you talking about the combustion blower or the room blower?
> 
> The "Hot Smokes" message means that the exhaust temperature sensor has sensed that the exhaust temp is too high. When this happens, the room blower should run at max speed, and the pellet feed rate is reduced, to cool the stove down. If your room blower blades are too dirty (dust/lint), or something else is restricting the air flow through the heat exchanger, that will trigger the Hot Smokes alarm. Or perhaps your room blower is intermittent, or the bearings are going, slowing it down, or seizing. Could also be a failing capacitor for the motor (the can thing with two wires that go to the fan motor, about the size of a C battery). The last thing it could be is a bad triac on the control board (it controls the 110VAC that is applied to the motor, to control it's speed).
> 
> ...



Lots of good info, Thanks! I'm talking about the room fan. It just stops when ever it feels like it.  I took the blower fan and motor out tonight and each blade had 1/16" of dust on it. It took me a while it get it all off each blade with Q tips. Put everything back together and it's running good right now and seems like the fan is spinning faster. It has a rubber end cap that the fan sits in with a plastic insert to center it. I'm wondering if I should put some type of grease in there?  It does this sometimes after I shut it down- runs perfect for a day or 2 then starts acting up again. I have my fingers crossed though! 
I didn't attempt to oil the motor, it's sealed like you thought and I figured I'd put it back together first and see where I'm at.


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## Doug richard (Feb 16, 2016)




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## Pelleting In NJ (Feb 16, 2016)

So, from your picture, it looks like Ravelli now uses a cheaper motor for the room blower. That kind of motor does not use a capacitor, like the EBM Pabst motor does on the older stove models. The EBM motors have ball bearings, the newer motor probably has an oil impregnated bronze sleeve bearing.

Yes, looks like you had a dirty fan, but you should also blow-out the motor, and sparingly lubricate its bearings with a light machine oil (not grease). Also sparingly lubricate the end bearing on the blade wheel. Too much oil will attract its own "family" of dust bunnies.......


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## rich2500 (Feb 17, 2016)

that fan setup is the exact same as in my serenity,I think that's why the fans are so quiet being mounted in the rubber, fan assy is probably from china


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## Doug richard (Feb 17, 2016)

Pelleting In NJ said:


> So, from your picture, it looks like Ravelli now uses a cheaper motor for the room blower. That kind of motor does not use a capacitor, like the EBM Pabst motor does on the older stove models. The EBM motors have ball bearings, the newer motor probably has an oil impregnated bronze sleeve bearing.
> 
> Yes, looks like you had a dirty fan, but you should also blow-out the motor, and sparingly lubricate its bearings with a light machine oil (not grease). Also sparingly lubricate the end bearing on the blade wheel. Too much oil will attract its own "family" of dust bunnies.......



What's the best way to go about lubricating the motor bearings?
I woke up this morning and the stove was on work mode ( room fan should be running full blast ) and the fan was barley spinning. It was spinning slower than it would on modulation mode.  Do you think this could be from the motor needing oil? Or maybe the motor needs replacing? Or could it be an electrical issue? I was really hoping it was fixed, but of course it's not.


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## Pelleting In NJ (Feb 17, 2016)

With the stove off, does the fan spin easily with your fingers...or does it seem to drag? If it spins easily it sounds like a bad motor, or problem with the control board. Are there any labels/markings/part numbers on the motor?


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## Doug richard (Feb 17, 2016)

It has a drag to it. Here are a few pics of motor markings. My dealer says they only sell the motor with the fan assembly and it's 170$. Worst part is the soonest they could have it is 2 weeks maybe longer. I don't want to order it since I don't know for sure if it's even that.


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## Doug richard (Feb 17, 2016)

Pelleting In NJ said:


> So, from your picture, it looks like Ravelli now uses a cheaper motor for the room blower. That kind of motor does not use a capacitor, like the EBM Pabst motor does on the older stove models. The EBM motors have ball bearings, the newer motor probably has an oil impregnated bronze sleeve bearing.
> 
> Yes, looks like you had a dirty fan, but you should also blow-out the motor, and sparingly lubricate its bearings with a light machine oil (not grease). Also sparingly lubricate the end bearing on the blade wheel. Too much oil will attract its own "family" of dust bunnies.......


I took the motor apart tonight and it seemed like you're right, it has a bronze sleeve on each side of the motor. there seemed to be no oil or grease of any kind on the shaft, but there was some debris. I wiped each shaft down and re-assembled. I was hesitant to add any oil because I don't have anything I felt comfortable using. Any suggestions? The motor is super easy to take out. So I could always add some.   Stove is running now and fan is working perfectly. We'll see how it's doing tomorrow.


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## Lake Girl (Feb 17, 2016)

Just found this on the emb pabst fans & how to "revive" them


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## Lake Girl (Feb 17, 2016)

The other style blower on the older Ecotecks found here:  http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/78...l-Fan.html?d_id=65647&infield=Filter1:Ravelli

$634 ... absolutely nuts!


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## Pelleting In NJ (Feb 18, 2016)

$634....But you probably will never have to replace it...


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## Lake Girl (Feb 19, 2016)

Not everyone realizes that the bearings can be replaced...  Not sure if the stove shops would offer the option of replacing bearings either 

PS  If I wasn't looking here, I wouldn't have known either!


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## Doug richard (Feb 19, 2016)

So just an update.. Stove has been running for over 48 hours perfectly since I took the motor out, took it apart, cleaned and reassembled.  All I basically did when it was apart was wiped down the shafts where it slides into the bearing on either side with a rag and removed a small amount of debris.


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## Monica in France (Feb 21, 2016)

That is serious crud on your room fan.
I had mine out the other week thinking that it might be responsible for an ominous noise emanating from the stove.
Hoping there was a pellet caught up in it : but it was as clean as a whistle.
If you have all that on the fan itsself have you thought of checking that  the heating channels are totally free ?
I clean mine out with compressed air at the end of each season.

The noise actually came from the smoke fan which was suffering from a bad bearing.
A little oil , dripped hopefully in the right area ,solved the problem for a week.
But I found no way to dismantle the blades so I could get at the motor and do the job properly.
I was obliged to change the whole unit . Not $600 but I still felt ripped off.
The old unit had heavy metal , exponentially curved blades. The unit was balanced.
The replacement has cheap impeller blades and causes the whole stove to vibrate at cleaning speeds.
*Does any one know how to dismantle the original fan unit ? *
For a starter , you need to remove the fan blades , this could even be a "heat" fit , but that seems unlikely on an exhaust fan.
No obvious woodruff key : no obvious anything.


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## Lake Girl (Feb 22, 2016)

Monica in France said:


> Does any one know how to dismantle the original fan unit ?


Do you have any photos of where you are at with dismantling?


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## Monica in France (Feb 24, 2016)

Hi Lake Girl,
Sorry so long to reply , but I needed to find someone with a camera that worked.
So I have two pics - but how do I add them to this post ?
I know it can be done : but how ?


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## Lake Girl (Feb 25, 2016)

You can upload your photos using upload a file option below the text box bottom right...


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## Monica in France (Feb 25, 2016)

Oh dear , I am getting old and stupid.


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## Lake Girl (Feb 25, 2016)

I'm out my way out the door but .... that impeller looks nothing like what is on my stove  I have to see if I have photos of mine (may have been lost on the old computer)


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## Pelleting In NJ (Feb 26, 2016)

The exhaust fan in my Ecoteck / Ravelli Elena looks like this :


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## Lake Girl (Feb 26, 2016)

Set screw between blade and housing cover?


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## Monica in France (Feb 27, 2016)

Pelleting in NJ : That looks like my replacement fan - is that a nut in the middle holding the blade in place ?
Lake Girl : You could well be right : but not with the force I've dared to use up to now !

I'm hoping someone will recognise the 'extra' ring in the middle  and tell me what it is.
I suspect its a form of Woodruff key / wedge  as I can feel a 'flat' on the actual axle with a very small screwdriver.


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## Lake Girl (Feb 27, 2016)

IIRC, there is a nut holding the blade on the "replacement".  What year is your stove?  Must be an earlier version...


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## Monica in France (Mar 1, 2016)

No idea.
I've had it for 3 seasons now.
The first owner for 5 or 6.
But I think it was standing around for a long time before that. In a depot , in the showroom ?
A friend who purchased a similar stove 10 years ago has a firmware dating  well after the one installed in my stove.


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## Doug richard (Mar 8, 2016)

The room fan is acting up again. It's weird it works perfect after the stove had been off for a few hours cleaned and restarted. Once it's been running a few days it seems that once it goes into modulation the room fan won't kick back up to high speed for work mode.  Most of the time I will wake up in the morning to the stove burning but the room fan not running at all.  When this happens I get the hot smokes message. If I reach in and bump start the fan it sometimes will get going again and work fine and the hot smokes messages goes away.  I'm at the point where I want to call a pellet stove repair guy but I feel like he won't have a clue what it is either and I'll just be wasting time and money.


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## rich2500 (Mar 9, 2016)

did you ever pull the fan and oil it, if not I would try that, if that don't fix it sounds like it's time for a new fan


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## Doug richard (Mar 9, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> did you ever pull the fan and oil it, if not I would try that, if that don't fix it sounds like it's time for a new fan


I pulled the fan and motor and cleaned it but never oiled it. It has a  bronze bushing on each side and just wasent sure what to oil and what kind of oil to use.  If you could tell me that would be awesome. I will try that next.


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## rich2500 (Mar 9, 2016)

Lightly oil the bushings and I know the motor bearings are sealed but a drop or two of oil on each bearing will work its way in. I use 5 w / 20 motor oil because it's made to withstand heat.


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## Doug richard (Mar 9, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Lightly oil the bushings and I know the motor bearings are sealed but a drop or two of oil on each bearing will work its way in. I use 5 w / 20 motor oil because it's made to withstand heat.


Sounds good, thank you!


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## Lake Girl (Mar 11, 2016)

rich2500 said:


> Lightly oil the bushings and I know the motor bearings are sealed but a drop or two of oil on each bearing will work its way in. I use 5 w / 20 motor oil because it's made to withstand heat.


Should be using 3-in-1 oil for electric motors ....   Bearings may be shot on the room fan and can be changed out.  608 bearings but get a good brand!  Search the forum for 608 bearings...


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## rich2500 (Mar 11, 2016)

Motor oil has worked for me a many years on furnace blower motors, a/c blower fans, Pellet stove fans etc etc.


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## Doug richard (Mar 11, 2016)

Lake Girl said:


> Should be using 3-in-1 oil for electric motors ....   Bearings may be shot on the room fan and can be changed out.  608 bearings but get a good brand!  Search the forum for 608 bearings...


Thank you! Just picked up some 3-in-one today. I will let you know how it goes!


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## Lake Girl (Mar 11, 2016)

Beyond bearings on the room fan ... there's only a capacitor or the board


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## ChrisC-Worc (Dec 18, 2016)

Doug richard said:


> I The motor is super easy to take out.


Doug - could you explain how you remove the motor.   I can easily access it by removing the side of the stove, but I can't figure out how to take it apart to clean it.   Any help is greatly appreciated - I am also having the room blower not going / hot exhaust issue.


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## lowcostheat (Dec 19, 2016)

We have been selling the Ravelli Ecoteck models for five years and all of ours are the earlier models with the ball bearing EBM Pabst motors. If you have a question, the Stove model and year is needed and a picture is helpful so we as technicians don't waste our time trying to figure out what you have setting in your living room when we are a thousand miles away and you are 10 feet. I will help if I can!


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## ChrisC-Worc (Jan 5, 2017)

Thanks for the comments lowcostheat, I realize I didn't provide any input on my issue.   I have a Ravelli Francesca, 1.5 years old.     It is a similar fan to what Doug has, and a similar issue with it not rotating smoothly (it would stop as soon as I stopped pushing it).   

I was able to find the blower online, EBM Papst QLN65AC Series Crossflow Blowers .  It was straightforward to remove the motor once I took the side of the stove off and convinced myself that it was OK to pull hard after watching this video - How to flip the motor on a crossflow blower.   Once I had the motor and fan out, I lubricated the bronze bushing with some 3 in 1 and a little bit of PTFE paste that I happened to have around.  When I reassembled it it spun much better, but nothing like in the 2nd youtube video where he spins it at 3:05 mark and it looks to spin with no friction.  I could spin it for maybe 2 revolutions.   I didn't clean the shafts well, if I take it apart again I will.  Attached are some photos.

I'm debating ordering the replacement fan to have it handy, but will probably try to clean and oil it one more time if it gets stuck again.   It doesn't seem like it should happen after 1.5 years.


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## lowcostheat (Jan 5, 2017)

Yay! ask for pictures and we get plenty, thanks. Our stoves are of the earlier more costly motors, (ebm pabst)


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