Do I need a new glass gasket?

It's always like this along the bottom.

Not neccessarily, have you done the dollar bill test on your door? That would tell you if its not tight.

Like the above poster said, it looks pretty typical.

the dollar bill test is for the door, not the glass.
for the glass you could do a leak test by getting the fire going and tracing the glass edge w/ smoke to see if there is any room air infiltration

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Like the above poster said, it looks pretty typical.
 
the dollar bill test is for the door, not the glass.
for the glass you could do a leak test by getting the fire going and tracing the glass edge w/ smoke to see if there is any room air infiltration 

Ah, you'd be right, I was thinking his door may have been leaking. How often does a glass gakset need to be replaced? I dont recall reading about anyone doing that.

basically as needed, if the glass is in contact with steel the possibility of expansion/contraction cracking the glass is much higher

if the glass is loose in the frame thats a good sign it should be replaced[/quote]

Sounds good thanks all!

My Manny gets exactly like that - only real place I get build-up. Cheers!

Doesnt seem like anything is wrong to me.

Glass gasket leaks usually result in streaking on the glass, in the area adjacent to the leak. Your soot is evenly distributed around the perimiter, so likely not a result of a glass gasket leak.

Pretty normal for a Hearthstone.

My Enviro is like that all the time.

I wish my glass stayed that clean!

If I can see the fire and it burns the way I want and think it should, I'm good. It's not a gas stove, there is going to be a little black here and there or it wouldn't look right What I see is cooling at the edge of the glass, heat taken away by the cast door.