Dirty Glass

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bobforsaken

bobforsaken

Member
Oct 2, 2009
180
Maine
I'm a bit of a noob and I have a, hopefully, quick question.

The glass on my XXV starts to get dirty after a few hours of burning. Its barely noticable.. but after a day its very noticable, even when burning good pellets like Oki's.

The pattern always seems to be the same. The glass gets dirty starting at the bottom right by the hinges continues up towards teh top of teh glass,, then the continues along the top. (an Inverted and backwards L)


The center of the glass never seems to get dirty, nor does the bottom edge or left edge of the glass.

Is there a problem with one of the right most ports of my airwash or is this a bad door gasket seal in the lower right that is causing this? FYI.. I noticed some fraying of the door gasket in the lower right where the gasket ends come together. I used some Hi-Temp RTV and it looks like the seal should be good now, but I've noticed no difference in the glass. Its a minor issue, but I hate shutting down the stove every day or two to clean the glass.
 
One other thought... I've been running my stove on Room Temp mode, which I'm sure causes a lot of change in the flame hight and intensity. Also, I've never adjusted my feed rate of of 4. Is this a problem of running the stove at a low burn.
 
Hi Bob

I am having the same problem. I own a Breckwell insert and switched over to the Oki's from the horrible Inferno pellets- and the glass gets so dirty. The man at Home and hearth said I needed to clean out vent and check if there is any obstructions. I clean the glass everyday and it gets tiresome. I just bought some Cubix and barefoot, but I dont think its the kind of pellet you use. I also have my setting on 4, low feed. If any one here has remedies for this problem, would really appreciate it.
 
the only time my harman gets any greyness to the glass is on a low burn, and even then its only in a few spots......i run in stove temp so maybe the consistent burn helps in that matter opposed to the room temp you run with the up and down of a fire
 
Thanks Hemi... Room temp mode adn a low burn certainly can be contributing... but does the consistent "shape" of the deposits indicate anything? I have a feeling that its due to a poor seal where the door gasket comes together. (by the lower right hinge). Like I said the deposits seem to shoot from the lower right of the glass and then along the top of the glass.
 
Bobforsaken said:
Thanks Hemi... Room temp mode adn a low burn certainly can be contributing... but does the consistent "shape" of the deposits indicate anything? I have a feeling that its due to a poor seal where the door gasket comes together. (by the lower right hinge). Like I said the deposits seem to shoot from the lower right of the glass and then along the top of the glass.
Click to expand...
that i'm not sure of, but mine also gets the greyness in the same spots....upper left and right corners
 
my harman does the same thing. it seems to sprout from the lower corner screw holes and then make like a weather balloon shape and then goes across the top. I burned a few bags of Barefoot and this was noticeable but not that bad. Now i'm using PureFlame and it's really bad. I'm going to email a pic to my dealer soon but it comes off super easy with windex for now.
 
I think it's normal to get some build up on the glass after a day of burning even with great pellets and burning on high. It's the type of build up you have to watch out for! Light gray or whitish is good. Dark brown or tar, greasy black is bad, incomplete burn.
 
I'm on my 2nd season with my St. Croix Hastings and this year I'm burning cleanfires and notice the glass dirtying up after a day of burning also, a lot more than with last years pellets. Flame doesn't seem lazy or anything. It does get dirty quicker when burning on low, but even with these low temps in the northeast, I'm still getting dirty glass. I probably won't go with cleanfire next year.
 
I always get an upside-down U that is brown in color within 2 days of cleaning the XXV. I wonder if a more poweful blower would keep the glass entirely clean.
 
Dirty glass seams to be a problem for all stoves of all makes, good pellets or bad the glass is going to get dirty. Your just going to have to clean it every couple of days.


bill
 
You burn a soild fuel your glass will get dirty. Most stoves air washes come from bottom up when the air gets about half way up the glass it gets pulled to the back of the stove causing the top not getting as much air on the top half. Also air takes path of least resistance which is the center line of the glass causing upside down frowns. On your XXV it pulls the air from left to right not getting as much air to the right side causing the L. My Mt vernon AE looks like yours after a WEEK!!!!!
 
ylomnstr said:
I'm on my 2nd season with my St. Croix Hastings and this year I'm burning cleanfires and notice the glass dirtying up after a day of burning also, a lot more than with last years pellets. Flame doesn't seem lazy or anything. It does get dirty quicker when burning on low, but even with these low temps in the northeast, I'm still getting dirty glass. I probably won't go with cleanfire next year.
Click to expand...

The issue shouldn't be whether or not the glass gets dirty, but do the CleanFires give you good heat? I'll swap cleaning the glass once in a while for a lot of heat.

Yeah, a nice clean window is nice for the guests to see, but at the end of the day, it's all about heat output.
 
Finally figured out what was wrong. Some of the pellets werent shooting into the burnpot til my bf told me that he didnt know that the pedestal that holds the burnpot wasnt in all the way (meaning pressed up against the back). I thought I told him it came out but anyway. The pellets that werent shooting in were the ones that was causing the glass to get all dark and dirty fast. But now that the pedestal in flushed back in the right spot- the pellets are burning all the way and it stuff on the window is a grayish color. The heat also feels hotter. We're using Okie's and Cubex.
 
Bobforsaken said:
One other thought... I've been running my stove on Room Temp mode, which I'm sure causes a lot of change in the flame hight and intensity. Also, I've never adjusted my feed rate of of 4. Is this a problem of running the stove at a low burn.
Click to expand...

I've just gone through a couple of days using stove temp mode. The glass was definitly cleaner running in Stove Temp mode, but after about 2 days it needed cleaning just the same.

Settings: Feed rate of 6, Medium Stove Temp Blower, Temp setting 3.

The outside temp has been relatively similar from day to day. What I found was this.

with Okies: Between 66 and 69 Degrees.. 2 Bags lasted 2PM to 11:59PM the next day. (34 Hours)
With MWP Between 67 and 72 Degrees.. 2 bags lasted 12AM to 4PM the next day (40 Hours)


Now I won't make a blanket statement that the MWP are hotter than the Oki's because i'm sure the Temp had changed enough to make the difference in temps... but both kept it pretty warm and lasted much longer than I've seen with Room Temp. Also I'm guessing the difference between the two (34 vs 40 hours) may have been a bit more like 36 vs 38 with the difference being the effective feed rate due to MWP being larger pellets on avg. I was tired at 11:59 PM and wanted to go to bed so I put in the MWP with a small pile of Okies left in the hopper (I though it was maybe an hours worth.. but maybe it was two).

Still MWP definitely went Toe to Toe with the Oki's in terms of heat and may be more economical to run during the cold temps. The MWP definitely has more ash (visible ash) and the glass was dirtier slightly.. but for 45 bucks/Ton less, I'm pretty pleased with the MWP.
 
It's always a good idea to run your stove on "HI" everyday for at least a 1/2 hour... it will help burn off soot and creoste accumulations and kep your stove running clean.
 
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