Hearthstone green mountain 60 problems

[Danknotts23]

Just installed a 3/2021 hearthstone green mountain 60. Tired to do the break in fire as soon as we shut the door the fire went out. Tried again got a small fire going with the door open started smoking in the box big time. Shut the door again and it went out. Our chimney is single wall black pipe to stainless 6” straight up through the roof 15 feet. There’s a great draft. Not sure what the issue is. Before purchasing the stove my wife did research and warned me about this stove. I liked to look so much I purchased anyway. Maybe I should have listened to her.

Thanks for your help
Dan

 

[begreen]

First, was the bypass open? Second, what is the wood moisture? If unknown, what species wood and when was the wood split and stacked?

 

[Danknotts23]

Yes bypass was open. Wood is Oak & split/stacked 6 months ago.

 

[bikedennis]

My first breakin fire I had the same problem. Mine was the lack of temperature differential. Too warm outside. Works perfect now that it's cold outside.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Your wood is far too wet. It might be ready next year. Sometimes oak will need more time than that.


This year you're going to have a tough time with your wood. Your least frustrating options would be pallets and or compressed sawdust logs. Finding truly dry wood is going to be hard, but you might want to put some more up to dry, as it takes a while. Get a moisture meter.

You may still have smoke roll out of the open door. It seems to be a common complaint on your stove and a shortish chimney doesn't help that.

 

[rijim]

Oak is 2 years to properly season around here; your dryer air may result in less time but not 6 months. Do you have access to any other wood supply? You will want to fresh split a piece and measure the moisture inside that split (not edges); you want to be lower than 20, mid-teens and lower is better.

 

[neverstop]

Was the primary air control on the bottom 100% open (pulled out)? Is the information card on the bottom of the stove covering the primary air inlet in any way? Is the baffle installed against the back of the stove or did it shift forward during shipment/install? Did you follow their break in procedure?

Maybe try pre-heating the flue with a heat-gun/hair-dryer positioned to shoot the air above the baffle through the by-pass then a rolled up piece of newspaper stuck above the baffle prior to lighting the paper/kindling to start the fire.

I have the sister/brother stove the shelburne and if I try to start a fire with logs laying E/W on the bottom of the fire-box it doesn't start well due to insufficient airflow from the primary air inlet The solution to starting fires per others' suggestions on here was to have a top down fire and elevate the wood off the bottom of the stove via small splits loaded N/S to allow for air flow. Chances are you'll have to cut splits to length due to the shallow firebox. However, the break-in should just be a bunch of kindling in a teepee and paper below it.

 

[Danknotts23]

Okay I’ll try this when I get home tonight. I will definitely try to locate dryer wood. So if the wood is too wet that will cause the fire to go out when I shut the door? Will give the top down burn method a try. I’m coming from a 1979 Jotul 118 so Im sure there’s a learning curve here. Green mountain is a good looking stove would like to get it working. Thanks

 

[neverstop]

Okay I’ll try this when I get home tonight. I will definitely try to locate dryer wood. So if the wood is too wet that will cause the fire to go out when I shut the door? Will give the top down burn method a try. I’m coming from a 1979 Jotul 118 so Im sure there’s a learning curve here. Green mountain is a good looking stove would like to get it working. Thanks

I'm coming from a 1977 Vermont Castings Vigilant, so we're probably in the same boat.

 

[Danknotts23]

I'm coming from a 1977 Vermont Castings Vigilant, so we're probably in the same boat.

Are you happy with the gm 60 once you got it burning correctly? Should I just head to lowes and get some compressed saw dust bricks and wood just to test how that burns?

 

[neverstop]

Are you happy with the gm 60 once you got it burning correctly? Should I just head to lowes and get some compressed saw dust bricks and wood just to test how that burns?

sorry for the confusion, I have the Shelburne not the GM60. I've just been told the firebox designs are almost identical, so problems may be consistent between the 2 stoves. I've also only burned 3 times, and had 1 successful burn. Temperatures around here have been quite high for November.

 

[begreen]

Yes bypass was open. Wood is Oak & split/stacked 6 months ago.

That's the issue. The wood is not dry inside. Oak takes a couple years to fully season. Try some known dry firewood from the store.

 

[Danknotts23]

Bought some wood from lowes tried the top down burn. Seems to be working. We did have black liquid drip from the legs of the stove which might mean we didn’t break it in good enough. I did see in the manual that it might happen for the next few fires.

 

[BrownT10]

Good looking stove. I seriously considered the GM80, but was concerned about flue temps in an oversized clay liner, so went with a non-cat. I came from an early 1980's VC Defiant so there is definitely a learning curve with newer stoves. It took a few weeks for me to learn the stove and best burn habits. Dry wood is definitely necessary with these stoves whereas my Defiant want too fussy. You will get there, it will just take some diligence.

 

[Danknotts23]

What’s Best way you have found to clean the glass if needed?

 

[BrownT10]

A damp paper towel or cloth dipped in ash cleans it off easily. Obviously not on a hot stove. Excessive buildup is an indication of wet wood. Some tends to burn off if you run a hot fire after a long burn.

 

[GM80NY]

I've had the green mountain 80 for a year now. This is what I've learned so far. I'm not a stove professional or anything and this is my first wood stove ever.

Flue temps: The manual says it may help to leave the stove door open for an hour or so before trying to light the stove. If you just go for it and you close the door completely too soon your room will get smokey lol. Cough cough.

I assume you've read the manual and know how the controls should be before you get to lighting. Lighting kindling bundles can be a pain but the key thing for me is leave the door cracked for longer than you think. If your kindling pile is flaming and the flame is whooshing around I will open the door very slowly and slightly until it stops (max maybe two inches) and let it burn for another minute or two. If you close the door and the flame goes completely out your wood "could" be too wet OR you didn't let it flame for long enough. I don't know if kindling really matters wetness wise, obviously not sopping wet. I bought "seasoned" wood this year SEP / OCT time frame (ash, oak, iron, maple,) all of it I've tested is 20% or lower with a moisture meter (Home Depot) which is fine.

Also the first year I used Stewarts kiln dried firewood cause I wasn't ready and I got the drips out of the bottom as well. There will be moisture in your wood regardless and if your stove doesn't get hot enough fast enough to kill the water steam before it collects on the walls it will drip a bit. That's my theory anyway. Regardless this is the second year and it dripped once a month ago and I wasn't leaving the door cracked long enough I think. I did do the break in fire as well.

I like the GM80. I am a technical person and enjoy figuring it out and getting the best overnight burns. Every morning I wake up and there are coals waiting for me to re light and I also love having it rolling and there's barely any smoke coming out of the chimney. I am not a serial hugger of trees but I do care about the environment.

If anyone has any questions about this stove don't hesitate to PM me.

 

[cabinwarmer]

Interesting.... I have never had "drips" coming from my GM60, second full season now. I have rarely needed to crack my door as well. I use a top down start, open the main 100% and close the main every 15 minutes or so until I activate the CAT. I almost have too much draw. I run the stove with my main just barely cracked. I will agree with the outside/inside temp. The draw required for the GM stoves is stronger then your older non CAT stoves, outside temp makes a big difference. I clean the glass every other day. Newspaper wet with ash works best, then I use Rutland stove glass cleaner to finish the job.

 

[cabinwarmer]

I would also recommend a digital flue thermometer probe. It is a game changer.

 

[Highbeam]

I would also recommend a digital flue thermometer probe. It is a game changer.

They’re pretty great.

 

[Jones93]

What’s Best way you have found to clean the glass if needed?

Hot fire is the only way to keep it clean on our gm 80 let her rip for an hour she’ll be clean

 

[SM-Jpn]

I have GM40. I've had the best success with the top down fire method. I use scrap wood for kindling, and within 1-2 minutes of lighting, I'm able to shut the door. I make sure I have a draft started as I build the fire, and I light it with a cheap butane torch. Here's what it looks like about 2-minutes after lighting. Once the tinder has caught fire and the flames are rolling up over the lip like this, I close the door.

I've never had a fire go out during lighting, and wonder if those are primarily related to problems with draft.

I also have a problem with consensation dripping down the legs -- especially in the back. It only does it until it gets up to heat. Once it's nice and hot, the drips stop. But if I let the stove and chimney completely cool down for a day or so, then it will drip the next time too. It's not just an issue of breaking in the stove for the season! I place folded tissues or paper towels to catch the drips as a part of my cold-start routine. I live in a humid climate (high humidity even in the winter), so I think that it's probably unavoidable.

 

[tabner]

I have the water dripping too. For me it was definitely most prominent on the first couple fires. In regular day-to-day operation i never get dripping now. However last weekend I was traveling and the stove was out for 3 full days. When i got home and lit it up, i had a small amount of dripping off one back leg until i got up to temp. I definitely don't think the drips are from the wood, as others have guessed. I think as BeGreen has pointed out, it's refractory cement curing. But it is strange that after 4 weeks of burning almost nonstop, i'd let the stove cool and get more water. I'm wondering if it has something to do with metal expanding and contracting as it heats and cools - so not all of the refractory cement curing runoff has a chance to escape on the first couple fires, then as the stove goes through more cooling and heating cycles it gets a chance to work its way out? no idea really.
@Scoutmaster-Jedi how many fires have you had? I think you will find the dripping stops eventually.

 

[tabner]

Interesting.... I have never had "drips" coming from my GM60, second full season now. I have rarely needed to crack my door as well. I use a top down start, open the main 100% and close the main every 15 minutes or so until I activate the CAT. I almost have too much draw. I run the stove with my main just barely cracked. I will agree with the outside/inside temp. The draw required for the GM stoves is stronger then your older non CAT stoves, outside temp makes a big difference. I clean the glass every other day. Newspaper wet with ash works best, then I use Rutland stove glass cleaner to finish the job.

This is very similar to my start up. I can close the door the second i light the newspaper if i want to, it just takes a few more minutes to get going. I also start closing the main air intake in stages prior to the CAT being active. By closing the air in stages i actually find i start engaging secondaries sooner and the CAT temp comes up quicker. I think this is just better combustion in the stove, rather than all the heat shooting straight up the chimney. Once fully up to temp i run either main air just barely cracked, or if it's below 25 degrees out, i can close it completely.
I think 5 mins with the door cracked is either wet wood or poor draft.

 

[ozarkoak]

I feel your pain. My first year burning was 30% moisture oak. It was hard. The heat output is cut in AT LEAST half, trying to start a fire is terrible, keeping the fire started is just as miserable. Now is the time to get that wood stacked. I was able to get oak from 30% to under 20% in 13 or so months. Bear in mind I live in North Arkansas so your drying conditions may be wildly different. What I did was full sun sun up to sun down, full wind in the area that gets the best wind. Crisscross stacking to keep a air gap between the rows. Stacking this way takes double the space but gives you the best chance of getting the wood dry. When burning green or not seasoned wood i noticed that at least half of the wood was burned before it stopped spitting water and started burning in a way that actually produced heat. Makes for burning double the wood, frustration, and not the most comfortable warmth. Hope you have a good Christmas.