Glass Window Cleaning?

I use a wet paper towel with a dab of ash. Then wipe it clean with a wet towel and then a dry towel. A nice hot fire with seasoned wood will also clean it off.

Ahhh...starting in early this year. The old "glass cleaning" is one item where the horse has been beat to death, ground up for hamburger, cooked, served, run through the garbage disposer, .... well, you get the picture. A few threads for light reading:

balls for cleaning hot glass!
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31616/

Again- How to keep your glass on your wood stove clean
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31227/

How Do You Clean Your Pellet Stove Glass When It’s Hot?
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29531/

Clean glass with news paper
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/29305/

Idea for cleaning inside of glass
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/25282/

Glass cleaner
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/22806/

glass cleaner
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/16328/

Cleaning glass window on door of woodstove
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/16008/

Any tips on how to keep glass clean?
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/15583/

Breckwell BigE/Cleaning glass
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/10069/

Insert or stove glass cleaner
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/12865/

Stove Glass Cleaner
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/9287/
Cleaning hot door glass
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/6767/

Need Recipe for door glass cleaner
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/6231/

Door Glass Cleaning: Anyone Thought of…
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/3943/

Clean that Glass…
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/3816/

Glass cleaning Techniques
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/2933/

Glass Cleaning Periodicity
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/726/

Cleaning Glass – while it’s hot?
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/509/

Cleaning Hot Glass?
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/154/

Culling through all the posts, you’ll find several recommendations – including, but not limited to: (roughly in order of ‘most mentioned’ to least…[ ] comments are mine)

Moist newspaper dipped in ash [works well except for heavy black deposits]
Windex with newspaper or paper towel [works a little better on heavy black deposits]
White Vinegar/water w/ newspaper or paper towel
Damp paper towel
Damp rag
Rutland Stove Glass Cleaner
Formula 409 [good for heavy black deposits]
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
Burn stove hot – what ever is on glass just comes off [good for heavy black deposits]
Castrol Super Clean [good for heavy black deposits]
Bottled Water w/ paper towel [one of our ‘high class’ woodburners?]
Fast Orange hand cleaner (without pumice)
Orange citrus cleaner/degreaser
Easy off oven cleaner [haven’t tried, but should work VERY well...you can also cut butter with your chainsaw!]
10 tablespoons of ash + liquid hand soap, stir to make paste, scrub on glass with toothbrush
Toothpaste or soap and baking soda
Razor blade [be careful not to scratch ceramic]
Spit on newspaper/towel, dip in ash
Rutland White Off
“any type of alcohol” on a rag [just be sure the stove is out!]
“some sort of stainless steel sponge thing”
“my soggy wet underwear” [no clarification on what they were wet with, but I’d hate to think what you could come up with if you’re looking for a cheap source of ammonia]

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

I use Rutland Glass and Grill Cleaner. Home Depot about $5.

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Ah - maybe that is where the 'bottled water' cleaning came from. I suppose you could get a mineral film on the glass from repeated cleanings. Though most 'bottled water' is simply municipal water which has been filtered (wouldn't remove hardness minerals) and ozonated to kill biological activity. Most hardness minerals are left in the bottled water - or even intentionally added afterward to preserve the 'taste', plus your body needs calcium, magnesium, iron, etc anyway. If you are really worried, distilled or reverse osmosis water may be the way to go.

blueflame75 said:

Wow, This is a great forum.

I had a Regency F2400 installed over the summer and have just finished some burn-ins the last couple of weeks. Does anyone know of a good (cheap) way to clean the glass on Woodstove doors? I read to use newspaper and ash...haven't tried that yet.
-dan

Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question . . . "good (cheap" way to clean" the glass . . . "I read newspaper and ash" . . . and there's your answer . . . good, cheap and effective . . . newspaper and ash.

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . maybe it takes a really, really long time to do so . . . over a year of burning and using hard well water and no issues or haze.

blueflame75 said:

Wow, This is a great forum.

I had a Regency F2400 installed over the summer and have just finished some burn-ins the last couple of weeks. Does anyone know of a good (cheap) way to clean the glass on Woodstove doors? I read to use newspaper and ash...haven't tried that yet.
-dan

Click to expand...

Let the fire get hot every now and then and it will self clean.

I never cleaned my glass hot, I usually get a hot fire going. I will need to try it if company is coming over and the glass is dirty with the stove hot.

I use rutland glass cleaner and windex. Spray glass with windex and use the glass cleaner on a paper towel, just wipes right off.

firefighterjake said:

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . maybe it takes a really, really long time to do so . . . over a year of burning and using hard well water and no issues or haze.

Click to expand...

Hey... I'm just repeating the advice I received here cause it made sense to me. The water here corrupts everything it comes in contact with so I took that suggestion seriously. Now that we have a stove with a glass window for viewing we like to keep it clean clean.

savageactor7 said:

firefighterjake said:

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . maybe it takes a really, really long time to do so . . . over a year of burning and using hard well water and no issues or haze.

Click to expand...

Hey... I'm just repeating the advice I received here cause it made sense to me. The water here corrupts everything it comes in contact with so I took that suggestion seriously. Now that we have a stove with a glass window for viewing we like to keep it clean clean.

Click to expand...

We have very hard water here too, haven't had a problem with haze on the stove glass - although we have on kitchen glass. I'm guessing that because the stove glass is really a ceramic (not like typical glass), the minerals might not be an issue?

pmac said:

savageactor7 said:

firefighterjake said:

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . maybe it takes a really, really long time to do so . . . over a year of burning and using hard well water and no issues or haze.

Click to expand...

Hey... I'm just repeating the advice I received here cause it made sense to me. The water here corrupts everything it comes in contact with so I took that suggestion seriously. Now that we have a stove with a glass window for viewing we like to keep it clean clean.

Click to expand...

We have very hard water here too, haven't had a problem with haze on the stove glass - although we have on kitchen glass. I'm guessing that because the stove glass is really a ceramic (not like typical glass), the minerals might not be an issue?

Click to expand...

And perhaps it's also due to the high heat???

savageactor7 said:

firefighterjake said:

savageactor7 said:

blueflame75 we're on a well and someone here warned us about using well water because of the hard 'stuff' in it can haze the window permanently. Every morning before reloading we use a paper towel soaked with bottled water. All's it take is a minute but you have to use leather gloves. You can even do it when it running full bore too...but why make it harder than it is?

Click to expand...

Hmmm . . . maybe it takes a really, really long time to do so . . . over a year of burning and using hard well water and no issues or haze.

Click to expand...

Hey... I'm just repeating the advice I received here cause it made sense to me. The water here corrupts everything it comes in contact with so I took that suggestion seriously. Now that we have a stove with a glass window for viewing we like to keep it clean clean.

Click to expand...

It makes sense . . . and I know what you're talking about . . . the heating coil that we used to heat our DHW from the oil boiler was always getting destroyed from the hard water . . . but no issues with the glass in the woodstove.