Green Mountain 80 Review

[GM80owner]

I've seen some questions on the new Hearthstone Green Mountain 80 wood stove. My wife and I bought one to replace our old Nashua and have been using it all season. Now we've been heating with wood for almost 30 years up here in Vermont so we've got plenty of experience.

The GM80 comes as advertised. It's a great cast iron unit and we only have 2 reservations:

1. The best way to get it going quickly is to leave the door open a crack to improve the draft. We've always had good draft with our old stoves but I figure it's the hybrid version that tamps down the draft a bit. Easily overcome by leaving he door open a crack until it starts to roar, then close it up and enjoy the heat.

2. It seems to build up ash much quicker and needs to be cleaned out more frequently than previous stoves we've used. Aggravating but the performance out weighs this inconvenience.

Things we really like:

1. With both of us working we can load it up in the morning and come back 10 hours later and it's still heating nicely. This cuts down on the amount of kindling we've needed to use in the past.

2. I figure with this new stove we will burn roughly 1 to 2 full cord LESS wood this year than previous years. I have been blocking, splitting, stacking and burning wood for decades and this will allow us to save time and money moving forward simply by burning our wood more efficiently.

3. The spacious interior allows for packing this stove for much longer than the hours we are gone. Previously on cold winter nights I would have to get up once or twice in the middle of the night to re-stoke. Not necessary with this one. It's currently 12 below as I write this and we are toasty warm.

4. We got $800 off as a point of sale efficiency rebate and Hearthstone offered a $300 discount because it was a new product and they wanted to get them on the street. So it was affordable for us.

5. The natural draft of this stove pushes the air towards the front of the stove as opposed to what most stoves do pushing the draft out the back of the stove. The beauty of this is it keeps the door window clean all the time from soot and allows us to not only enjoy the heat but the dancing flames as well.

We have friends that burn soapstone and pellet stoves and they kick themselves in the ass when they come over for changing from cast iron.

Sorry for the wordy post, but reading some threads I decided to register and chime in with my 2 cents regarding this stove.

Barry

 

[begreen]

Thanks for posting. It's good to hear about this stove. So far a lot of the trepidation about 2020 compliant stoves seems unfounded. Most are turning out to be good performers.

PS: Did you post a quick review in the Stove Reviews section database?

Stove Reviews

www.hearth.com

 

[Woodspliter]

I was at the local hearth store is winter and instantly gravitated towards and wondered if the heat as good as they look. Went home and did more research and noticed the need an 8" flue and that wont work for me. I decided to run the harman for a little longer and see what else comes out with the 2020 compliance

 

[Nigel459]

Great review, thanks for posting. I've been running the GM80's little sibling, the GM40 and I really can't say enough about it either. Great versatility, long burns, and contemporary aesthetics. My review of the GM40 is coming soon after burning for most of the season now...

I do wish it were side loading with andirons for those times I want to stuff it as full as possible for a longer than 12hr burn... yes I've had 12hrs+ with locust in the little 1.3cf box. I'm in Canada, otherwise would have tried a woodstock keystone. No complaints with the GM, I'm glad it caught my eye. It ticks all the boxes for me.

It's an easy breather so I did have to put in a flue damper to get the advertised burn times.

Pic of after a 12hr low burn with black locust... lotsa heat still with the soapstone for an easy relight...

 

[webby3650]

We have friends that burn soapstone and pellet stoves and they kick themselves in the ass when they come over for changing from cast iron.

They deserve a kick in the ass!

 

[ManitobaSky]

Thanks for the review, I’m dangerously close to getting Dad talked into replacing his old smoke dragon. This would give him any other option without replacing his 8” chimney.

 

[GM80owner]

Thanks for the review, I’m dangerously close to getting Dad talked into replacing his old smoke dragon. This would give him any other option without replacing his 8” chimney.

The installers said that is the biggest drawback with this stove. Not enough 8" chimneys out there and if you reduce it down to 6 it defeats the whole purpose of the stove.

You're dad will love it. We burn from our garage (which is my man cave basically), and it convects up the steps to the kitchen and heats the house. The bedrooms in the back are kept cool which is how we like it.

Thanks for the responses. Interesting stuff all.

 

[paddy mac]

Hi. New to this site. We are considering a Green Mountain stove to replace an old Blaze King from the early 80s. We have the existing 8" flue and are wondering if going to a GM 60 would make sense considering it's a 6". OR if we should go with the GM 80 considering we have the 8" flue already installed. We have central heating so it's more of a suplimental heat / ambiance situation for us so the smaller the stove the better. the houes is large tho - 4k square feet. thanks!

 

[begreen]

Probably the GM80. Both would work for the stated purpose, but it will depend on where the stove is located and how open that area is to the rest of the house. If the stove room is large, high ceilinged and open to rest of the house then go larger. Other factors would be ceiling height and frequency of power outages.

 

[Draughts15]

I've seen some questions on the new Hearthstone Green Mountain 80 wood stove. My wife and I bought one to replace our old Nashua and have been using it all season. Now we've been heating with wood for almost 30 years up here in Vermont so we've got plenty of experience.

The GM80 comes as advertised. It's a great cast iron unit and we only have 2 reservations:

1. The best way to get it going quickly is to leave the door open a crack to improve the draft. We've always had good draft with our old stoves but I figure it's the hybrid version that tamps down the draft a bit. Easily overcome by leaving he door open a crack until it starts to roar, then close it up and enjoy the heat.

2. It seems to build up ash much quicker and needs to be cleaned out more frequently than previous stoves we've used. Aggravating but the performance out weighs this inconvenience.

Things we really like:

1. With both of us working we can load it up in the morning and come back 10 hours later and it's still heating nicely. This cuts down on the amount of kindling we've needed to use in the past.

2. I figure with this new stove we will burn roughly 1 to 2 full cord LESS wood this year than previous years. I have been blocking, splitting, stacking and burning wood for decades and this will allow us to save time and money moving forward simply by burning our wood more efficiently.

3. The spacious interior allows for packing this stove for much longer than the hours we are gone. Previously on cold winter nights I would have to get up once or twice in the middle of the night to re-stoke. Not necessary with this one. It's currently 12 below as I write this and we are toasty warm.

4. We got $800 off as a point of sale efficiency rebate and Hearthstone offered a $300 discount because it was a new product and they wanted to get them on the street. So it was affordable for us.

5. The natural draft of this stove pushes the air towards the front of the stove as opposed to what most stoves do pushing the draft out the back of the stove. The beauty of this is it keeps the door window clean all the time from soot and allows us to not only enjoy the heat but the dancing flames as well.

We have friends that burn soapstone and pellet stoves and they kick themselves in the ass when they come over for changing from cast iron.

Sorry for the wordy post, but reading some threads I decided to register and chime in with my 2 cents regarding this stove.

Barry

How large and what style is your house? I was considering a PE Summit but they guy at the store said it may be too big and would recommend a cat stove. I'm wondering if a hybrid would be more a better choice. I'm in Northern MN, 1500 sq ft main level elevated ranch style house.

 

[mellow]

Hi. New to this site. We are considering a Green Mountain stove to replace an old Blaze King from the early 80s. We have the existing 8" flue and are wondering if going to a GM 60 would make sense considering it's a 6". OR if we should go with the GM 80 considering we have the 8" flue already installed. We have central heating so it's more of a suplimental heat / ambiance situation for us so the smaller the stove the better. the houes is large tho - 4k square feet. thanks!

Another direction to consider is the Blaze King 40, It would use your existing 8" and could burn low and slow for super long burn times so less loading. You already are familiar with BK.

 

[begreen]

How large and what style is your house? I was considering a PE Summit but they guy at the store said it may be too big and would recommend a cat stove. I'm wondering if a hybrid would be more a better choice. I'm in Northern MN, 1500 sq ft main level elevated ranch style house.

It's hard to believe that one could have too much firepower in MN unless the house is superinsulated. FWIW, I was told the T6 would be too large for our house. The local stove shop owner refused to order me one. Fortunately, Tom Oyen intervened after reading about my quest here and sold me a floor model from his store. The rest is history. The T6 is definitely not too large for our house. It's 42º outside and I am running on a full load of softwood fuel. I also have a close friend that has a 1600 sq ft, single-story, well-insulated, open ranch style house up north of us. His winter temps are 10 - 20º colder than ours. I advised them to get a Summit and they have been very pleased with it. They have heated with wood exclusively there with the Summit for the past 7 yrs. The large capacity of the stove affords them the reserves they need when temps dip into the teens. During milder weather, they run partial loads. That said, a cat stove could also work well for the house, especially during milder weather. During cold weather, the stove will be pushed for heat, regardless of the technology.