Hello Everyone,
I am hoping that someone on here may be able to point me in the right direction. I recently purchased a used GCI60 off of a friend that purchased a house with it in it. Had a chimney guy install a liner and hook up the stove. For about a month the stove ran decent. I have a 1400 sq ft ranch and it would keep the house about 68 on the far side on colder nights on heat level 3 and I was probably burning about 1.5 bags to 2 bags a day. However I was running with the dampener wide open fan trim usually about a 4. it was apparent I wasn't getting quite enough air flow.
I have been reading forums on here and thought I might try to improve the efficiency by adding an OAK, well being my chimney is now the center of an addition it took a while to get a 3" hole through the old metal chimney firebox, a couple inches of foundation/chimney, and a couple 2x10's. Ecstatic when I finally had myself a hole to the basement (was going to run the pipe to an outside wall eventually) I fired the stove up to see the difference with more air flow than was ever available before. Ran great for about 30 minutes and then all of sudden the flame got very lazy and sooty almost like someone just turned a switch, within the following 20 minutes the glass was black with soot and the flame was almost out. I shut it down.
When I cleaned the stove (had been previously cleaning the stove every 3 days or when I had about an inch of ash build up inside the firebox) I did not notice anything out of the ordinary and I have been through the cleaning process multiple times trying to make sure there is no blockage anywhere. I am pretty confident there is not. Upon trying to restart I was greeted with the flashing #2 light (loss of vacuum). I have checked to ensure all the fuses are still good, and checked most electrical components I could, blew through the red and black air hoses to make sure they are all clear. I also replaced both the door and ash pan gasket.
I jumped the low vacuum switch and the fire starts, but it is a very lazy smoky flame and it is apparent the switch is working properly, because of the flame characteristics seen when it starts. I purchased a new combustion blower, because I figured that was about the only thing left to be wrong. Just put the new one in today and I am seeing the same behavior. I have a call in to a technician, but no one can get here in under a month and that amount of down time will be very expensive.
The only thing I think I may have overlooked is the air pump? I am not sure what the difference in functionality is between the combustion blower and the air pump? And for that matter I guess I have no real way to know that the combustion blower is turning on/getting power because it is inside the fireplace when on (you can only hear the convection fan running)? When testing this do techs usually run wire leads out the side to a multi meter? I would love to hear what you guys think could be the issue, as I have come across some great information in other threads.
I am hoping that someone on here may be able to point me in the right direction. I recently purchased a used GCI60 off of a friend that purchased a house with it in it. Had a chimney guy install a liner and hook up the stove. For about a month the stove ran decent. I have a 1400 sq ft ranch and it would keep the house about 68 on the far side on colder nights on heat level 3 and I was probably burning about 1.5 bags to 2 bags a day. However I was running with the dampener wide open fan trim usually about a 4. it was apparent I wasn't getting quite enough air flow.
I have been reading forums on here and thought I might try to improve the efficiency by adding an OAK, well being my chimney is now the center of an addition it took a while to get a 3" hole through the old metal chimney firebox, a couple inches of foundation/chimney, and a couple 2x10's. Ecstatic when I finally had myself a hole to the basement (was going to run the pipe to an outside wall eventually) I fired the stove up to see the difference with more air flow than was ever available before. Ran great for about 30 minutes and then all of sudden the flame got very lazy and sooty almost like someone just turned a switch, within the following 20 minutes the glass was black with soot and the flame was almost out. I shut it down.
When I cleaned the stove (had been previously cleaning the stove every 3 days or when I had about an inch of ash build up inside the firebox) I did not notice anything out of the ordinary and I have been through the cleaning process multiple times trying to make sure there is no blockage anywhere. I am pretty confident there is not. Upon trying to restart I was greeted with the flashing #2 light (loss of vacuum). I have checked to ensure all the fuses are still good, and checked most electrical components I could, blew through the red and black air hoses to make sure they are all clear. I also replaced both the door and ash pan gasket.
I jumped the low vacuum switch and the fire starts, but it is a very lazy smoky flame and it is apparent the switch is working properly, because of the flame characteristics seen when it starts. I purchased a new combustion blower, because I figured that was about the only thing left to be wrong. Just put the new one in today and I am seeing the same behavior. I have a call in to a technician, but no one can get here in under a month and that amount of down time will be very expensive.
The only thing I think I may have overlooked is the air pump? I am not sure what the difference in functionality is between the combustion blower and the air pump? And for that matter I guess I have no real way to know that the combustion blower is turning on/getting power because it is inside the fireplace when on (you can only hear the convection fan running)? When testing this do techs usually run wire leads out the side to a multi meter? I would love to hear what you guys think could be the issue, as I have come across some great information in other threads.
An air pump to me is the 10 horse screw compressor I have in the shop... Sounds to me like the combustion fan plenum is loaded with fly ash, the fan blades have failed or the venting is full of ash and needs cleaned. The inside of any unit can be clean but past the interior, they can be filthy and blocked up.![[Hearth.com] GCI60 Troubleshooting Help!](/talk/data/attachments/271/271941-095a8c1b89acbdf97f658ad8c3a4ba0d.jpg?hash=d_0DRkawsI)
![[Hearth.com] GCI60 Troubleshooting Help!](/talk/data/attachments/272/272008-f1dc2d57fe1c1290e7af0189a3a5753a.jpg?hash=tyGJNXRRyn)
![[Hearth.com] GCI60 Troubleshooting Help!](/talk/data/attachments/272/272011-9776ec2d6a9495f9977babadaf79652a.jpg?hash=isG3aI_DWw)
