I just returned from a ride over to Woodman's. Fortunately it's not that far away maybe an hour and a half . But it was sure hard to find. I installed a new air flow meter and it's so far so good. I'll keep you posted.
Ravelli RV80 - Problem: Air Flow Meter
- Thread starter BrianJ
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
why do these meters go bad? 1st season and worked at end of 1st season but got the 09 meter flow error after a few days of running this season.
That’s about how long mine lasted before it failed. From what I have read here and on other sites, these electronic board flow meters are a common configuration in automotive and other applications. Resistors with known values changing resistance as the module heats up due to lack of air flow. That’s a very basic description of how these solid state components work to interpret air flow. When anyone of the components fails, the unit faults. I am surprised by the apparent frequency of failures of these debimeters. In my experience with these basic components under these conditions I would expect a very low failure rate and a long service life, unless they are using the lowest quality of components, which is not the norm for European manufacturers.
Is there any place to buy revalli parts online? Only thing I hate about the stove is trying to find parts. I always maintain my stoves myself. Hate to pay service fees. I did find how to reset the service hours but took me awhile.
Woodsman is where l order my Ravelli parts from. They are the closest dealer to me that stocks ample parts. I do all my own service on everything I own. Unfortunately Ravelli parts are not in great abundance in this market. I have done well by woodsman for the few things I’ve needed. How did you reset the service hours?
Thanks. I will keep a copy with mr Ravelli files. Getting all the needed drawings and schematics has been a seek and search process. Technical documentation has not been readily available but I am in pretty good shape after a couple of years.
Well it ran for a total of 8 hours, 4 hrs for 2 mornings. Now getting the 09 error with new meter. Starting to regret buying this stove. Requested a service call. Pathetic for only running 1 season.
That is certainly discouraging. As I looked back in the thread I didn’t notice if you mentioned thoroughly cleaning the stove ports and cavities, heat exchange area, as well as the exhaust discharge area and pipe. I believe you mentioned you have one full season of use so a deep cleaning would have been in order. It is my understanding if the flow meter is working properly, a true error message would indicate a restricted flow through the stove. I took my Francesca down completely cleaned everything including exhaust pipes last season when I had this problem. Didn’t do any good, that’s when I decided last thing was the flow meter itself. If it didn’t work I guess the main control board would have been next, or most likely I would have mothballed the stove and purchased something more reliable. I won’t pay 1,000.00 service charge on a 2,000.00 stove, and that’s what the incompetent crooks would charge around here. I bought the stove on sale, cash and carry, installed and set up myself. Ran great for half the first season then the auger gear motor failed. I replaced the unit with a Dayton equivalent and its been running fine until the flow meter issue the middle of last season, the second season we’ve had it. We’ll see what this year brings. I would not recommend this brand to anyone based on my experiences. Keep us posted on how your service call turns out.
I did a full deep cleaning. The stove was working at end of last season so don't know what is going on. The only thing I did not do was remove the exhaust blower.
Exhaust blower shouldn’t be an issue. I did remove mine to clean but there was barely a coating on the impellers. Will be interesting to see what the “service expert” finds. I’m thinking they try changing out the control board or possibly something got mucked up in the settings.
Has anyone figured out what the solution is. I had the same issue at start up with my Ravelli rv80. I did a deep clean and cleaned the the flow meter. It runs for about 4 hours and then get the same 09 error code.
I love this stove. Its the fifth day without cleaning and the windows still clear and it's burning great!
Last edited:
If people are willing to mail me their broken air-flow sensors, I will attempt to figure out if they can be repaired, with better quality parts. Send me a message through the "Conversation" feature of this forum (envelope icon next to your user name, upper right of the page), and I will send you my mailing address.
Ravalli came out with reprogramming bypass for the air flow meter to have the RDS work properly. Ravelli could never figure out why the air flow meter fails
I reprogrammed my rv100 C based on the numbers ravelli gave me. Stove runs good but I can't run it on Power 4 or 5 because I get hot smoke error which I never got before when the air flow meter was working properly. I'm pretty discouraged at this point. Thinking about buying a new motherboard to see if that solves the issue.
This thread is worrying me.
I was thinking of buying a new Ravelli RDS stove.
I like the concept behind RDS - but if its implementation is not reliable or just bug ridden , I will have to find an alternative.
What is the consensus ?
What is the basic problem ?
I was thinking of buying a new Ravelli RDS stove.
I like the concept behind RDS - but if its implementation is not reliable or just bug ridden , I will have to find an alternative.
What is the consensus ?
What is the basic problem ?
Last year around this time I got the 09 air flow meter code. I pulled the sensor and looked at it under a microscope like Joe did. I found corrosion on one of the thermistors and was unable to get a good resistance reading through it. I called up North Forge Home Heating and got a new air flow meter and installed it. That seemed to fix it, weather it was actually a bad air flow meter or just needed to be cleaned, who knows. One year later, 09 air flow meter came back. So I called a Ravelli tech in the area to come take a look. He did find some minor blockages behind the lower anti-explosion doors and cleaned it all out. Did a thorough cleaning of the stove and fired it up. Code came on right away. He happened to have a new motherboard in his truck so he swapped out the motherboard. Code still present. He tested the continuity of the wire harness that connects the air flow meter to the motherboard and found no issues. Tried to order a second air flow meter but can't seem to find any in stock anywhere.... which leads me to think it's a bad part and in high demand. Moral of the story, don't jump to trying a new motherboard just yet. Do some more tests first.
I've heard a lot of talk on here about the vacuum switch effecting the way the stove operates. I was under the impression that if there was no vacuum (due to blockage in the vacuum line) that it would disconnect power to the pellet feed screw and not allow any more pellets to be dropped. So it seems to me that if it was a bad vacuum switch the unit wouldn't run at all. Instead of running in a limp mode like mine currently does while beeping code 09 every 10 minutes.
If anyone has a source for air flow meters or a better fix. I would love to hear back from you.
Thanks in advance!
I've heard a lot of talk on here about the vacuum switch effecting the way the stove operates. I was under the impression that if there was no vacuum (due to blockage in the vacuum line) that it would disconnect power to the pellet feed screw and not allow any more pellets to be dropped. So it seems to me that if it was a bad vacuum switch the unit wouldn't run at all. Instead of running in a limp mode like mine currently does while beeping code 09 every 10 minutes.
If anyone has a source for air flow meters or a better fix. I would love to hear back from you.
Thanks in advance!
I can’t even find replacements right now. It seems all the distributors are sold out and they aren’t able to get anymore.... which is crazy to me. I also heard if you make it work without the air flow meter you risk a major fire hazard.
The application of this device is for both performance and safety. The safety aspect air flow is also monitored by the vacuum switch. The meter is used by the RDS system setup by my understanding. I would suspect if your stove is so clogged and dirty that it has become a hazard, I would think you would see a performance drop prior to that point, or possibly a different alarm might come in. We clean ourRavelli Francesca burn pot every time the stove is shut down, ie, daily. A quick vacuum is done regularly. Flame trap plate removed and upper tubes cleaned regularly. We’ve burned about 1.5 plus ton per year over 3 seasons. In the summer when I tear down the unit and pipes, I don’t have a lot of ash in the stove channels and moderate ash in the bottom of the stove pipe tee. I personally wouldn’t have any concern running the stove without the air meter, assuming it will run properly without it initially. Note I only burn high quality softwood pellets. Tried one bag of hardwood once. Never again.
Last edited:
If people are willing to mail me their broken air-flow sensors, I will attempt to figure out if they can be repaired, with better quality parts. Send me a message through the "Conversation" feature of this forum (envelope icon next to your user name, upper right of the page), and I will send you my mailing address.
I think the airflow sensors fail because the hot-side thermistor "drifts" in ohmic-value-versus-temperature, as it ages, compared to the cool side thermistor. Both thermistors are the same part, but the hot one ages more than the cool one because it is always higher in operating temperature. The higher temperature accelerates the aging drift. I think if the two thermistors are replaced with a new matched pair, of better quality thermistors which have a lower aging drift, the airflow sensor can be repaired.
From a functional opinion, the airflow sensor is only there for maintaining efficient stove operation, it is not for any safety functions.
I think the airflow sensors fail because the hot-side thermistor "drifts" in ohmic-value-versus-temperature, as it ages, compared to the cool side thermistor. Both thermistors are the same part, but the hot one ages more than the cool one because it is always higher in operating temperature. The higher temperature accelerates the aging drift. I think if the two thermistors are replaced with a new matched pair, of better quality thermistors which have a lower aging drift, the airflow sensor can be repaired.
From a functional opinion, the airflow sensor is only there for maintaining efficient stove operation, it is not for any safety functions.
Last edited:
Similar threads
