Green Mountain 60 - Truhybrid - a dud?

[SOheat]

I am so disappointed with this stove for the price and marketing. Here's the email I sent to Heartstone:

Well, after a month or two of trying to make this stove work I have to tell y'all, I'm pretty disappointed. It's like a chimney box in our house. Our wood is extremely dry. The metal card isn't covering the intake. Our air flow is great, and I'm not an idiot and know how to use a wood stove.
​

It's a fight to get it going, and once it's cooking, it STILL smokes when we open the door.

On the plus side, it does heat our space very well, but that heat and comfort ALWAYS comes with a serious amount of smoke and ash entering our living quarters. We have a brand new custom built home, and our stove cannot be opened without smoke spilling out even if the door is cracked less than an inch. It's not a draft issue, or bad timing with opening the door, it's a problem with the Green Mountain 60. I've read reviews by numerous other customers that have this very same issue. Our draft is good, and even with doors and windows wide open and fresh air pouring in, your product smokes up our house. I'm not sure what I expect to get out of this email except to tell you how disappointed I am with this nearly 3000 dollar product.

We have an older hearthstone that chugs away with no problem and doesn't back draft. Do you guys do trade ins? How bout discounts for a new stove. I'm really unsure of how long I'm going to keep this thing.
​

Sorry for the negative email, but as a fellow business owner, I appreciate my customers being honest with me, so I hope you do as well.

Regards​

Potentially a design flaw? With the location of the baffle and catalyst, the draft is towards the front of the stove and up above the door window. Any time you even crack the door more than and inch, the smoke spills forward into your living space. This is even with the draft ripping up the chimney. It's terrible. I know people will say, well your wood is wet, or you have poor draft, but it's just not the case. I feel it's tough to get started without really babying the thing.

Bottom line, I would say you could get a much better product for the nearly $3000 price tag. Super warm. Super smokey.

Any takers on this one?

 

[begreen]

What is being described is a fairly standard design for many stoves. There are folks that have this stove that are not having these issues. Perhaps the stove is installed in a negative pressure zone? To help out we need a thorough description of the installation, the stove location and house description.

 

[SOheat]

What is being described is pretty standard design for many stoves. There are folks that have this stove that are not having these issues. Perhaps the stove is installed in a negative pressure zone.

Could be...I wouldn't call myself a wood stove " expert", but I do understand the tenets of burning wood. We are in a cleared wood lot, so relatively dense, 100' trees surrounding a clearing of 1.5 acres. I do agree that yes that would have an effect on the draft, but why the smoking anytime I even crack the door with the fire rolling with good coals?

 

[begreen]

Are you opening the air for a minute, then opening the bypass before opening the stove door?

Describe the flue system in detail from the stovetop to the chimney cap. Include any turns in the piping, etc. Also, what floor of the house is the stove located on?

 

[begreen]

I suspect this is not the stove, but something to do with the installation. Negative pressure would be my first guess but without more info I can't be more precise.

 

[cabinwarmer]

SOheat, my burning habits are such that I do a top down light, then mostly only open the front door when reloading to red coals. I do not open the door during burns that often. I have changed from my older stove when I did "top off" my splits during a burn. With the GM60, I just let the efficiency burn the load down to completion. FYI.

Dave

 

[begreen]

If one does need to open the door during a burn the recommendation is to open the air all the way first, wait, then open the bypass first, before opening the door.

 

[Highbeam]

If one does need to open the door during a burn the recommendation is to open the air all the way first, wait, then open the bypass first, before opening the door.

Especially with an efficient stove that has been chugging along with low flue temperatures and then you want to open a big honking front door. You need to get some heat in the flue so that it starts flowing and vacuuming out the smoke plus the big gulp of air caused when you open that loading door.

My BK is the same way, opening the door while fuel is still burning is almost guaranteed to cause some rollout unless some pretty fancy things are done. Mostly cracking the door to establish a high flow rate up the stack.

For reference, on the same chimney and hearth, my old noncat hearthstone had zero rollout issues. You could swing the door open anytime and it would just suck like a Hoover.

As efficiency goes up, less heat is wasted up the flue so rollout of smoke becomes more likely.

 

[DandL2311]

I am currently in my second season with our Green Mountain 60. It’s our first wood stove ever and we absolutely LOVE it! The directions specifically say that before opening the door, open the bypass, open the air flow all the way, crack the door momentarily, and then open the door. I can’t speak for SOheat, but we have never had issues with smoke rolling into our house.

 

[begreen]

Good to know, thanks for posting. If you have the time it would be great if you could post a short review with some pictures in a new thread. We are all learning about this series of stoves.

 

[RShim]

I am so disappointed with this stove for the price and marketing. Here's the email I sent to Heartstone:

Well, after a month or two of trying to make this stove work I have to tell y'all, I'm pretty disappointed. It's like a chimney box in our house. Our wood is extremely dry. The metal card isn't covering the intake. Our air flow is great, and I'm not an idiot and know how to use a wood stove.​

​

It's a fight to get it going, and once it's cooking, it STILL smokes when we open the door. ​

​

On the plus side, it does heat our space very well, but that heat and comfort ALWAYS comes with a serious amount of smoke and ash entering our living quarters. We have a brand new custom built home, and our stove cannot be opened without smoke spilling out even if the door is cracked less than an inch. It's not a draft issue, or bad timing with opening the door, it's a problem with the Green Mountain 60. I've read reviews by numerous other customers that have this very same issue. Our draft is good, and even with doors and windows wide open and fresh air pouring in, your product smokes up our house. I'm not sure what I expect to get out of this email except to tell you how disappointed I am with this nearly 3000 dollar product.​

​

We have an older hearthstone that chugs away with no problem and doesn't back draft. Do you guys do trade ins? How bout discounts for a new stove. I'm really unsure of how long I'm going to keep this thing. ​

​

Sorry for the negative email, but as a fellow business owner, I appreciate my customers being honest with me, so I hope you do as well. ​

​

Regards​

Potentially a design flaw? With the location of the baffle and catalyst, the draft is towards the front of the stove and up above the door window. Any time you even crack the door more than and inch, the smoke spills forward into your living space. This is even with the draft ripping up the chimney. It's terrible. I know people will say, well your wood is wet, or you have poor draft, but it's just not the case. I feel it's tough to get started without really babying the thing.

Bottom line, I would say you could get a much better product for the nearly $3000 price tag. Super warm. Super smokey.

Any takers on this one?

Appreciate this honest experience. I am deciding between this stove and PE Alderlea T5 which is non-Cat -(costs more and a bit shy of efficiency for the tax credit - but I keep seeing the same negative comments on the Green Mtn series). However, as a newbie maybe I am at an advantage as I do not have experience running a non-cat vs cat. stove... and if I follow directions to the T, I would hope and pray the smoke won't roll.

 

[tabner]

Appreciate this honest experience. I am deciding between this stove and PE Alderlea T5 which is non-Cat -(costs more and a bit shy of efficiency for the tax credit - but I keep seeing the same negative comments on the Green Mtn series). However, as a newbie maybe I am at an advantage as I do not have experience running a non-cat vs cat. stove... and if I follow directions to the T, I would hope and pray the smoke won't roll.

Can you describe what your chimney setup consists of? That will tell us a lot about the potential draft you might expect. I heat my home with a GM60 and it works well. But I definitely think it is a stove that wants high draft and a bit of a learning curve. I’ve never owned a PE but I think the consensus here is that it is a quality product with much more of a proven track record than the GM60 which is a newer stove. I think the PEs are known to be a little less draft sensitive as well.
Side note, with either option you will want very dry wood.

 

[RShim]

Can you describe what your chimney setup consists of? That will tell us a lot about the potential draft you might expect. I heat my home with a GM60 and it works well. But I definitely think it is a stove that wants high draft and a bit of a learning curve. I’ve never owned a PE but I think the consensus here is that it is a quality product with much more of a proven track record than the GM60 which is a newer stove. I think the PEs are known to be a little less draft sensitive as well.
Side note, with either option you will want very dry wood.

No chimney -YET. I will be a first time stove owner and the Stove & Chimney dealer will be installing according to spec. It will be a double wall 6" chimney going from first floor through a bit of attic space through shingled roof - and height determined by the experts. I gather the manuals for each stove will include specs for chimney height - so if certain stoves need a higher chimney then I would hope it will be done. But I will bring it up to them if I go with Green Mountain. My home is tucked into a west corner hillside - and while the wind may be raging down in the valley across the road...I often have no idea it is windy until I arrive and get of my car in a parking lot. My house is pretty well protected from high winds. I would hope that is a plus regarding a back draft possibility.