Stove top sometimes gets red

IR temp gun is invaluable and super fun to mess with to boot.

It seems odd to me that if you're running super hot, like red hot that you'd be having your glass get sooted up. The air wash on my PE keeps my glass quite clean?

Squisher said:

It seems odd to me that if you're running super hot, like red hot that you'd be having your glass get sooted up. The air wash on my PE keeps my glass quite clean

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Thats interesting. I burn dry wood and even when im burning 24/7 I will get a thin layer of grey ash that can wipe off with a finger.

I'll get a bit of build up over time but I've only cleaned my window three times since I started burning this stove this fall, and it stays quite clear on its own. Here's a pic I just snapped. Gotta be pushing two weeks since I cleaned it? This seems to be about how it stays all the time.

It's rare for my stove to go right out and if it does, it's even rarer that it would be left to cool right down enough to clean the glass. So I do like that it stays so clear on its own, otherwise I'd have to live with filthy glass because I don't see that I'd want to have to shutdown and cool right off to clean it.

I don't know how different the boxes may be between the summit and your guys model, if at all? Just seems PE's are renowned for their clean glass and so far that has been my experience. So was interesting to me that the OP would be clearly into over fire territory and have dirty glass. Was just wondering if that would be a clue for the experts as to what may be happening?

Squisher said:

It's rare for my stove to go right out and if it does, it's even rarer that it would be left to cool right down enough to clean the glass. So I do like that it stays so clear on its own, otherwise I'd have to live with filthy glass because I don't see that I'd want to have to shutdown and cool right off to clean it.

I don't know how different the boxes may be between the summit and your guys model, if at all? Just seems PE's are renowned for their clean glass and so far that has been my experience. So was interesting to me that the OP would be clearly into over fire territory and have dirty glass. Was just wondering if that would be a clue for the experts as to what may be happening?

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Yeah thats pretty clean glass, good job. I can see a little bit bottom right but thats it. I wouldn't say grey on the glass is dirty but would if it was darker creo looking. I dont think Ive ever had to physically remove any creo off the glass like folks do on a blaze king but do have to wipe it down from time to time.

I find if it does get smudged up at all, most of it burns off during the hot part of the load. Now that it's been brought up the bit that's on there is bugging me. Lol. I'll have to time it to let it go out and cool off sooner than later now.

I used those sponges after an apartment fire years ago. They do work, but I remember them being fairly expensive. Might work for you, but I need to second the poster above that suggested ashes.

Here's what I do: on the morning of ash-emptying day, which is once per week, I don't reload the stove first thing. There are some coals and the stovetop temp is 100-200. Sometimes I open the door fully to help the 'glass' cool off, sometimes I just leave it and go drink some coffee and read Hearth for a while....

When I care to, I empty my ashes and then gather up a crumpled up shet of newspaper, dampened, and two or three paper towels. I dip the damp newspaper in some ash and wipe the top third or so of the glass. Depending on how hot the glass is, the wet ash/glass crud mix will dry up rapidly, or maybe less so. Anyway, wipe a section with the wet ashy newspaper, then quickly switch to the dry paper towel. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The whole glass cleaning part takes maybe a minute and a half. It is NOT necessary to let the stove go cold. If I skip the drink coffee and read hearth part, I can have an empty ash pan, clean glass, reloaded stove, and the mess cleaned up, all in 15-20 minutes.

Your mileage may vary.

mogasse said:

Thanks for the tip, i'll surely try it next time i get dirty. As for the sponge, I did it this morning and got bored before finishing the job completely. The glass is quite clean, but I fear i did some damages when I "scratched gently" with my glove earlier on. We'll see.

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......so, what are your temps for the pipe and various positions on the stove top? those IR guns are a hoot. you can easily get caught up trying to get a temp on almost everything. i just bought a new stove pipe thermometer and its almost 90 degrees lower than the IR thermometer over the same spot...well, right next to it anyway.

I'm interested in what the temperature typically has to be when you start to see the stove glowing? I have never seen this happen with neither my pre EPA nor my EPA stoves and we have run some of them very very hot for a very long time at various points in their lives. I'm not asking anyone to test this but I'm just curious as to what stoves that start to glow are heated to?

On my Alderlea T5, I started noticing I was losing control of the burn this season while shut down and temps going over 700F consistently even with less than a full load. I let it go on for a several weeks as we've had mild weather and I've only run small loads. But when cold weather actually hit and I really loaded it up, I then saw a dull orange glow around the flue collar and it firmly put my condar stovetop thermo deep into the red zone (800!) My IR maxes out at 950F? and it was registering above that in the immediate area of the flue collar. The stove did not turn into a puddle of molten metal, crack, or warp in the process but glowing red is concerning...

Last weekend I decided to sweep the pipe and replace the door gasket. Problem solved. I have full control of the burn again, no more red zone on the stovetop temp and burntimes have returned. For the OP....Report back to us on dollar bill test results. Door gasket and glue is inexpensive, and part of stove maintenance. Might be worth just replacing what you have to try it.

I'm using Rutland cleaning and conditioning paste from Home D., works great. Ash method works as well, I'm just afraid to scratch it with random hard coal that might get in a mix. And it's messy, My stove is in a living room and my wife is a neat freak. If you screwed up and it's covered in hard black creosote you can gently remove it with sharp blades for knifes or special paint removing knife you can get at any store. Your glass will be like HD screen.

pma1123 said:

On my Alderlea T5, I started noticing I was losing control of the burn this season while shut down and temps going over 700F consistently even with less than a full load. I let it go on for a several weeks as we've had mild weather and I've only run small loads. But when cold weather actually hit and I really loaded it up, I then saw a dull orange glow around the flue collar and it firmly put my condar stovetop thermo deep into the red zone (800!) My IR maxes out at 950F? and it was registering above that in the immediate area of the flue collar. The stove did not turn into a puddle of molten metal, crack, or warp in the process but glowing red is concerning...

Last weekend I decided to sweep the pipe and replace the door gasket. Problem solved. I have full control of the burn again, no more red zone on the stovetop temp and burntimes have returned. For the OP....Report back to us on dollar bill test results. Door gasket and glue is inexpensive, and part of stove maintenance. Might be worth just replacing what you have to try it.

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That is hot! Even when the stoves are cranking, they rarely get above 700 which explains why I've not seen mine glow.