Why glass doors?

BB hit it on the head. It was broke a few years back when a relative tried to stuff it full and get the door shut in a hurry. The edge of a log hung out and wouldn't budge, so the glass gave way and put a crack in it. This time I dropped a heavy object against it while replacing the gasket and took a small chip outta the inside of the glass. I worry I have compromised the integrity of the glass, so for the ease of my mind, I will replace the entire pane since I don't know what effect a hot fire will have against the chip. Plus, a local place here in Grand Rapids will do the job in 1 hour including new gaskets for $100-125............I will pay it to ease my mind..........But both times it was replaced were due to human error.........Good luck with whatever decision you make !

I've got to agree with JonG's original post. It's a mystery to me why manufacturers don't offer solid non glass/ceramic doors at least as an option. After a few years of heating 24/7 with wood, the romance of flame viewing has pretty well disappeared. I know the ceramic is supposed to radiate more heat, but I'm a bit skeptical about this. I've never seen a glass doored stove in which the glass did not eventually become smoked over - perhaps because of less than perfect operation but no one operates a stove perfectly all the time so dirty glass seems to be inevitable. As far as gauging the state of the fire, experience, heat output, a thermometer, even the rate of steam production from a teakettle are just as reliable. Finally, breakage will always be a concern where it is simply a non-issue with cast iron. (And, not to begin a new thread, why are so few stoves side loading? The whole coals rolling out, breaking glass because of wood next to the front doors would not happen with side loading.)

Having grown up with wood stoves that had cast iron doors (old VC Defiant, Franklin stove, Westinghouse somethingorother), I can tell you I prefer the glass doors. Its easy to see when you need to add wood, looks cool, radiates a ton of heat and in the unlikely event you lose power it lights the room.

The glass is very tough...cast iron is pretty brittle too...any impact thats going to break those windows is going to be hard enough to chance craacking your cast iron doors too.

Ceramic is tough
it is the same kind of Material that the Vision Clear cookware, stove tops and cookware, to missile nose cones and glass casserole pans are made of and cookware gets banged around.

Ceramic can withstand temps ranging from minus 400F. to plus 1400F.

We sell Ceramic glass cut to fit at our store.
IMO It cuts easier that Regular glass because it is not as brittle
90% of the time we replace glass for stoves that are RENTERS of the home and they slam the door into the wood or bang into it with something.

when it is an homeowner they usably bring in there kid and point to the kid when I ask how it broke.

We charge $.50 an inch for cut to fit glass.
if they bring the door in we install it for free plus a few dollars for gasket material.

Hearthstone used some kind of InferRed Ceramic to Radiate more Heat. but I cant seem to find any info about it and how it is supposed to help

enord said:

glass also projects radiant heat & can be replaced with metal if need be?

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The problem with replacing with Steel is the stove has not been tested with a steel front. and this would VOID all Manufactures warantee and UL listing.

BrotherBart said:

hearthtools said:

enord said:

glass also projects radiant heat & can be replaced with metal if need be?

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The problem with replacing with Steel is the stove has not been tested with a steel front. and this would VOID all Manufactures warantee and UL listing.

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That is why you wrap the glass in a safe package and put it up in the top of the closet for later.

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Putting the Glass in the Closet keeps the stove's UL listing?
LOL

What's wrong with you that you don't like looking at the fire burning ;-)

In all seriousness, while I do love watching my fire burn, especially the secondary burn (see note below), I find the value of being able to monitor the fire beyond value, especially when you're talking about a new stove where you are trying to learn.

I think I could probably do it based on stove temp alone, but being able to watch for secondary burn starting or stopping, smoldering wood, etc. let's me react very quickly when need be.

Note: Last night I spent a good 20 minutes watching the secondary burn "fireworks" in my stove. It was a good ways into my burn, and I'd had some good constant secondary burn going, but it had gotten to the point where I thought it was all done, and I was going to have to crank the air up. Then I noticed a pattern. Every 18 seconds or so, a small tongue of flame would shoot up from a split in the front right corner, then as if a match had been lit, the entire firebox would explode with secondary burn, starting in the one corner, then spreading throughout the box until the entire box was full, then it would wink out. I got to the point where I was laying on the floor counting 18 seconds waiting for the next "explosion" of secondary burn. Way cool.

Tying this in to your post more, without glass, I would have never known the secondary burn was still going on, and if I had cracked the door to peak at the fire, would have thought it was done, and would have turned the air up...something that didn't need to be done.

I never get tired of watching the fire. It's more entertaining than TV. But to each his own. I find the glass helpful in monitor what's going on in the stove. Do I need more wood, is there at least a flame, no smoldering. etc. The bigger the glass the better I like watching the fire. It's like having a big screen Tv.

I'll bet that psychologically, seeing a nice fire or glowing coals adds five degrees to the perceived temperature of the room.

that one post way up is interesting about the andirons..I do not have them in my Avalon Olympic and wish I did. My parents VC Vigiliant has them..Sometimes I leave the door open a crack to assist the fire starting and splits ahve fallen out on the hearth! No I try to load the stove more in the N/S direction

WarmGuy said:

I'll bet that psychologically, seeing a nice fire or glowing coals adds five degrees to the perceived temperature of the room.

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Absolutly! ;-)

I was told Hearthstone uses the InfraRed Ceramic to HOLD the heat INTO the stove
It reflect the heat back into the fire and less radiation on the the hearth.
The infrared is supposed to stay cleaner also.

WarmGuy said:

I'll bet that psychologically, seeing a nice fire or glowing coals adds five degrees to the perceived temperature of the room.

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And relaxing too. I bet blood pressure goes down a few points as well.

hearthtools said:

I was told Hearthstone uses the InfraRed Ceramic to HOLD the heat INTO the stove

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Yep, it's counterintuitive but true. There are minor variations between brands, but generally the characteristics of ceramic glass are very similar to insulating firebick. Compared to painted steel/iron, it's much less conductive (0.6 vs 26), has a little lower immitance (.75 vs .92+), but holds more heat per pound (.2 vs .12).

I don't think that's an answerable question, there are too many design-dependent variables. I think we can say that glass front would give a hotter firebox. Beyond that...