Dielle pellet stoves- anyone familiar?
- Thread starter Manly
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We had a nightmare experience with a Dielle, Grecale model this past month. Installed on 12/19 the thing never worked properly. Within 2 weeks of installation the entire brand-new stack was coated in creosote and we had creosote liquid dripping under the stove. We had to burn 2 bags A DAY and was generating a couple of gallons in volume of partially burnt pellets.
After much back and forth the shop gave us a Ravelli RV-120 (I could have chosen other brands/ models but the hearth pad and area can’t handle a stove wider than 24”). They installed the new stove yesterday and so far a much better product and experience.
I think the inherent design of feeding pellets up into the burn pot is a major flaw. Despite multiple attempts to adjust the auger feed rate we couldn’t get it to slow down enough for the pellets to burn properly. The stove uses a belt drive system. I heard years ago about an American brand having a push design that didn’t work well.
The stove controls don’t have manual settings so you can’t make fine adjustments. (A service tech can - but the stove shop doesn’t have enough guidance from the manufacturer to make these adjustments) The stove takes about 20+ minutes to start and 2 hours to cool down. We could barely get the house to 68 degrees when we had to shut it off for cleaning (2X daily) - the temp would drop 6+ degrees in the meantime and then the stove would struggle to get back up to 68 degrees.
I think about 25% of the problem was attempting to use our old stove’s exit pipe - not wanting to drill a second hole in the house.
The company ripped everything out including all the brand new piping because of creosote contamination and reinstalled it.
A hour ago we shut the Ravelli down after 20 hours of running and there was just 1/2 - 3/4 cup of ash in the pan. A quick vacuum, a refill of pellets and 10 minutes later the stove was running again. Pure bliss compared to the Dielle.
We did have the installers drill a new hole for the Ravelli so it’s a straight run out of the house then with a T joint and a run of pipe 10 feet up.
I heard the Ravelli’s are picky about pellet type/quality and we’re prepared to baby it. The fellow that did the install owns the same model and was able to give us guidance.
I can’t completely blame the Dielle, but I know of another homeowner with the exact same problems- the creosote buildup caught fire in the T joint in the house, flames coming from behind the stove.
In a word: NOPE
After much back and forth the shop gave us a Ravelli RV-120 (I could have chosen other brands/ models but the hearth pad and area can’t handle a stove wider than 24”). They installed the new stove yesterday and so far a much better product and experience.
I think the inherent design of feeding pellets up into the burn pot is a major flaw. Despite multiple attempts to adjust the auger feed rate we couldn’t get it to slow down enough for the pellets to burn properly. The stove uses a belt drive system. I heard years ago about an American brand having a push design that didn’t work well.
The stove controls don’t have manual settings so you can’t make fine adjustments. (A service tech can - but the stove shop doesn’t have enough guidance from the manufacturer to make these adjustments) The stove takes about 20+ minutes to start and 2 hours to cool down. We could barely get the house to 68 degrees when we had to shut it off for cleaning (2X daily) - the temp would drop 6+ degrees in the meantime and then the stove would struggle to get back up to 68 degrees.
I think about 25% of the problem was attempting to use our old stove’s exit pipe - not wanting to drill a second hole in the house.
The company ripped everything out including all the brand new piping because of creosote contamination and reinstalled it.
A hour ago we shut the Ravelli down after 20 hours of running and there was just 1/2 - 3/4 cup of ash in the pan. A quick vacuum, a refill of pellets and 10 minutes later the stove was running again. Pure bliss compared to the Dielle.
We did have the installers drill a new hole for the Ravelli so it’s a straight run out of the house then with a T joint and a run of pipe 10 feet up.
I heard the Ravelli’s are picky about pellet type/quality and we’re prepared to baby it. The fellow that did the install owns the same model and was able to give us guidance.
I can’t completely blame the Dielle, but I know of another homeowner with the exact same problems- the creosote buildup caught fire in the T joint in the house, flames coming from behind the stove.
In a word: NOPE
My problem is that I can’t stand the 1800’s colonial design look of all the American stoves. Our first stove, an Austroflamm, was a ‘modern’ design back in 1993.
What I noticed this past fall while searching for the new stove was the consolidation going on in the business. The “Allure 50” from Harman (if I remember correctly) was a top choice for me but then the model disappeared from the company’s website. Some of the manufacturers are now a part of a conglomerate group and still the designs haven’t been modernized in any way.
Because of this I wanted to try a European model.
My stove is in my living room (it heats our top level of our raised ranch) and my style is more mid century modern/beach house. Granny legs and squat black stoves are definitely out.
I’m very happy now and to the dealer’s credit they did all they could to help us out. Great group of people.
Dimensional size and styling is why we purchased the Ravelli. Same reason the Dielle caught our eye. Glad you had a good experience with the dealer. They were not very helpful when I had component failures the first couple of seasons running the stove. Good advice here and self repair was a better option in my case. May your Ravelli run long and strong.
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