Cleaning Glass While Stove Running?

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Enigma869

Enigma869

Feeling the Heat
Aug 27, 2011
282
Massachusetts
Aside from the obvious dangers of setting something on fire, do any of you clean your glass while the stove is running? I LOATHE dirty glass (and it seems to get dirty more quickly on my P68 than my Accentra Insert). It's obviously a pain to shut the stove down and wait for the cooling off period. Just wondering if there is another (safe) alternative to cleaning without shutting the stove down? When the stove is cool, I usually just use a wet (with water only) paper towel to clean the glass. I've been told by more than one stove dealer that Windex (or any typical window cleaner) is very bad (long term) for the glass because of its ammonia content. I did buy some ammonia free Windex, but it seems that water has the same effect, without any chemicals. I'd be interested to hear what anyone else does to keep their glass clean in between shutting their stoves down and cleaning them thoroughly. They need to invent a Glass X type of product for pellet stoves that make ash bounce off like Teflon ==c
 
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No.
 
I too use just the damp paper towel 99% of the time. But I would NEVER clean the glass while the stove is running, you run the risk of cracking the glass with the extreme temperature difference. I would think..
 
Agree - never clean when running. I use to be crazy about the glass as well, but learned to get over it. I just care if heat is coming out. :ZZZ
 
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I've given mine a wipe with a DRY paper towel on a few occasions. Use light pressure and dont expect great results. It'll get rid of any light coating of ash, particularly the stuff in the upper right corner, but don't expect it to touch burnt on crud. Go light, do it quickly and don't expect much.
 
i use a dry flannel cloth. i usually wipe it down when cleaning, but it's still warm.
if you let the fire die down i think you could do this pretty easily. then shut door and let the pellets drop again and relight themselves.
though i don't know how a bottom feeder behaves. the top feeder with the quad burn pot gives a bit of flexibility in this regard.

my glass responds well to the dry cloth method if i don't let it go too long.
 
Dry paper towel as stated above don't expect much for a quick clean
 
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I use a dry paper towel to give it a quick wipe when I scrap the burn pot and used glass stovetop cleaner to clean it when I shut it down for cleaning.

Sam
 
Dry paper towel when hot. Stove glass cleaner once a month during cleaning.
 
i use a folded up towel and quickly wipe the ash build up, I find when I use a little Rutland to polish the glass after I clean it (from a cold complete clean) the ash on the top part of the glass wipes right off with the towel.
 
My answer is WHY? It's putting out heat, right? You didn't put those stupid ceramic logs in there to please your wife, did you? Just let it burn, for crying out loud!

PS: I have two sets of logs if anyone wants to buy them. ;em
 
tjnamtiw said:
My answer is WHY? It's putting out heat, right? You didn't put those stupid ceramic logs in there to please your wife, did you? Just let it burn, for crying out loud!

PS: I have two sets of logs if anyone wants to buy them. ;em
Click to expand...

Absolutely not! I never fell for the dopey, ceramic log thing. Even though I had zero pellet experience when I purchased my first stove 4 years ago, I just knew those things would be useless, and get in the way. I also have to applaud my dealer for warning me that everyone who actually does purchase them learns to hate them pretty quickly. In terms of your initial question...the "why" part is quite simple. I hate looking at filthy glass, whether it's putting out heat or not. It's flat out ugly. If I weren't having a houseful of people tomorrow, I could probably just live with it, but it's not going to happen for me. I just shut the stove down for an hour, will wipe clean and fire The Heat Monster back up. I appreciate all the feedback. I did open the door while running and found that removing ash with a dry cloth is a pointless task, which I believe was P38X2's point.
 
It's almost pointless ;)

I agree with the quick wipe when there's peeps over. It sometimes helps avoid the question "Why is that like that?...I thought pellet stoves were clean burning?" To which I usually respond by threatening to shank them with the Harman scraper tool........the BLUNT side ;)
 
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one of the best Cleaners is ash...dip your newspaper in the ash and clean...ash cuts right thru it.
 
Crisis averted. Shut stove down for one hour. Glass was still quite warm, but it was good enough to wipe down with a wet paper towel and clean the glass, completely. The house dropped to 72 degrees on the second floor and 71 degrees on the first floor. That's the only down side to a pellet stove...it actually makes warm temperatures feel not as warm, when that constant heat isn't blowing out. She's fired back up, and the glass is looking FAR more acceptable, for another day or two!
 
DRY newspaper works great for me.
 
KodiakII said:
DRY newspaper works great for me.
Click to expand...


Interesting. I don't think I've actually purchased a newspaper in about 15 years (sad...considering I used to read three a day). I assumed all that ink on the newspaper wouldn't be a very effective cleaning agent.
 
Enigma869 said:
Crisis averted. Shut stove down for one hour. Glass was still quite warm, but it was good enough to wipe down with a wet paper towel and clean the glass, completely. The house dropped to 72 degrees on the second floor and 71 degrees on the first floor. That's the only down side to a pellet stove...it actually makes warm temperatures feel not as warm, when that constant heat isn't blowing out. She's fired back up, and the glass is looking FAR more acceptable, for another day or two!
Click to expand...

I don't know if all stoves work the same but with my oaked CB1200i I can go from a full burn dirty stove to a full burn clean stove in cold weather in an hour and fifteen minutes. By turning the thermostat to off, let the stove shut down then simulate a power failure by unplugging the stove and then plugging it back in. Doing this 2 or 3 times with cold outside air going thru the stove cools it off to the point that it's cool enough to do a full weekly cleaning and be back online before the house even knows it. Another advantage of having outdoor air going into the stove instead of heated house air.
 
Enigma869 said:
Interesting. I don't think I've actually purchased a newspaper in about 15 years (sad...considering I used to read three a day). I assumed all that ink on the newspaper wouldn't be a very effective cleaning agent.
Click to expand...


Don't have to buy any. They start showing up here like clock work every Thursday, and don't stop until Saturday. The ink doesn't seem to be much of a factor.
 
Enigma869 said:
Interesting. I don't think I've actually purchased a newspaper in about 15 years (sad...considering I used to read three a day). I assumed all that ink on the newspaper wouldn't be a very effective cleaning agent.
Click to expand...

Newspapers are probably the single greatest thing to clean a car windshield, so I bet it would work pretty swell on almost any glass surface.
 
Garden hose or pressure sprayer works.

Eric
 
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Every day while stove is running I do a quickie with a dry paper towel
 
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