In my continuing review of the Ecofire Prima, well into my third season and almost 8,000 hours logged , the stove has paid for itself in Nat. Gas savings but, has not been without incident. First the 'GOOD',
The stove is very efficient, It runs circles around my previous Whits and Quads. I truly believe with tuning and super premium pellets, the 92% rating to be accurate. Last season was one of the coldest winters ever recorded here, the stove consumed 2.5 tons of super premium grade softies from October 15th - April 15th. The stove primarily kept the downstairs of my 1950 cape cod home (1427 sq. feet) with 2X4 walls very cozy.
During this same period last season, my Nat. Gas consumption for the Furnace, hot water and clothes dryer totaled a mere $265.00! In one of my earlier posts, I used a mathematical calculation using heating degree days to track daily pellet consumption and Nat. Gas consumption, as of the end of last season what I saved in gas over the last two seasons has paid for the stove!
The stove is easy to clean and replace most components when required. I found hidden in the stoves sub-menu, installer settings. This menu allows you to tweak blower output, pellet consumption and combustion air settings for fine tuning of the stove. I found this menu valuable and my stove hums after some tinkering with this option.
The BAD, all 3 motors have failed before 7,000 hours. The blower started making noise around 3,500 hours. After removing it, the flimsy housing fatigued where the motor mounts causing misalignment. I ended up dropping and damaging it, so I had to replace it. I did find a blower from an American made stove to rebuild it, so I have a spare. I found NO ISSUES with getting replacement parts and are priced about the same as our American made pellet stoves!
The stove uses a high tech low voltage DC pellet feed motor, It failed at 5,000 hours and hade to be replaced. The combustion blower motor bearing failed at 6,800 hours. What a bugger to replace this motor! I took the old motor apart to find a $4.00 bearing was the culprit. Amazon had the bearings, so I rebuilt it. I would have expected a stove of this caliber to have better motor technology. If your not handy with tools like I am, you will need to find someone that can service it!
The stoves interior also rusts during the off season, even after installing Damp Rid buckets in the interior. I have a low humidity home and run central A/C in the summer time.
In closing, the stove was a great investment and continues to warm my home. It is not perfect and as a retired automotive technology technician realized years ago that nothing is perfect. The Palazzetti was released in the US market before it's time and even though is popular in Canada, has not be here. The stove has a very European look and in my humble opinion, added to it's demise. I heard from anther member of the Forum that Palazzetti has stopped manufacturing the stove.
Overall IMHO the stove gets a 4 star rating.
The Piazzetta has picked up where Palazzetti left off, not as efficient but still a great stove. Hopefully this Italian stallion can find a firm foot in the US market!
The stove is very efficient, It runs circles around my previous Whits and Quads. I truly believe with tuning and super premium pellets, the 92% rating to be accurate. Last season was one of the coldest winters ever recorded here, the stove consumed 2.5 tons of super premium grade softies from October 15th - April 15th. The stove primarily kept the downstairs of my 1950 cape cod home (1427 sq. feet) with 2X4 walls very cozy.
During this same period last season, my Nat. Gas consumption for the Furnace, hot water and clothes dryer totaled a mere $265.00! In one of my earlier posts, I used a mathematical calculation using heating degree days to track daily pellet consumption and Nat. Gas consumption, as of the end of last season what I saved in gas over the last two seasons has paid for the stove!
The stove is easy to clean and replace most components when required. I found hidden in the stoves sub-menu, installer settings. This menu allows you to tweak blower output, pellet consumption and combustion air settings for fine tuning of the stove. I found this menu valuable and my stove hums after some tinkering with this option.
The BAD, all 3 motors have failed before 7,000 hours. The blower started making noise around 3,500 hours. After removing it, the flimsy housing fatigued where the motor mounts causing misalignment. I ended up dropping and damaging it, so I had to replace it. I did find a blower from an American made stove to rebuild it, so I have a spare. I found NO ISSUES with getting replacement parts and are priced about the same as our American made pellet stoves!
The stove uses a high tech low voltage DC pellet feed motor, It failed at 5,000 hours and hade to be replaced. The combustion blower motor bearing failed at 6,800 hours. What a bugger to replace this motor! I took the old motor apart to find a $4.00 bearing was the culprit. Amazon had the bearings, so I rebuilt it. I would have expected a stove of this caliber to have better motor technology. If your not handy with tools like I am, you will need to find someone that can service it!
The stoves interior also rusts during the off season, even after installing Damp Rid buckets in the interior. I have a low humidity home and run central A/C in the summer time.
In closing, the stove was a great investment and continues to warm my home. It is not perfect and as a retired automotive technology technician realized years ago that nothing is perfect. The Palazzetti was released in the US market before it's time and even though is popular in Canada, has not be here. The stove has a very European look and in my humble opinion, added to it's demise. I heard from anther member of the Forum that Palazzetti has stopped manufacturing the stove.
Overall IMHO the stove gets a 4 star rating.
The Piazzetta has picked up where Palazzetti left off, not as efficient but still a great stove. Hopefully this Italian stallion can find a firm foot in the US market!
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