fpx36 Travis Dirty Glass

Burner73 said:

Yes wood is dry and well seasoned.

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I suspect you're in denial on that, that your wood isn't as dry as you think.

LLigetfa said:

Burner73 said:

Yes wood is dry and well seasoned.

Click to expand...

I suspect you're in denial on that, that your wood isn't as dry as you think.

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+1

Wet Wood.

Sorry man it's your wood

For me, no matter how dry the wood or how hot the fire, if I close the air ALL the way down, I'll get dirty glass. I'll always keep the air at least 1/4 open, try that.

If I totally close off the air overnight on my stove and my wood is not perfectly dry I get the glass to smoke up a bit. I just keep a wet cloth handy and some stove cleaner. Usually 1X per day when the glass is cool I wipe it down. It takes about 30 seconds and usually wipes clean w/ water. If you do this you can avoid a thick, black, dark build up.

Another tip - on start-up i wait until the paper is burnt and the kindling is burning pretty good before closing the door. This prevents a lot of the smoke at start-up from washing across the glass and coating it w/ that yellow/brown haze.

I shut the air down completely and don't have a problem with the glass. But I also have a 28ft stack straight up. Drafts a little 2 well
Only time I have a problem is if a log fall into the glass.
I had problem last year as my wood was not seasoned.
Gotta her her good an hot before shuttin her down

Burner73 said:

ok..ok..still don't think so but I trust you guys

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Just trying to help you out. How long did you dry your wood? Where did you stack it? What type of wood are you burning?

The type of wood can make a difference and also different types of woods take longer to dry. You can dry out pine in as little as 2-3 months if you keep it dry. Oak can take 2 years. Most other woods fall in between. If you keep your wood stacked and dry where air can circulate around the stack it will dry out a lot faster.

If it has been stacked and drying for 1yr+, that is ideal. If it has 6mo-1yr you should still be okay, but maybe not for th oak. <6mo and well, you take your chances and it is not uncommon to have smokey, smoldering wood that can muck up your glass - particularly if you try to burn it w/ low air.

I have the 44 Elite. This is my second year with it. Just yesterday I commented to my wife about not having the same glass issues as we had last year. I attribute it to buring more seasoned wood - although I thought lasts years supply was decent, the wood I have now is much better seasoned.
I also don't shut the air down all the way, leave about 1/4 open.

As for cleaning the glass, my routine is dip a paper towel in water, then into the ash and use that to clean the soot off the glass. Then a quick squirt of windex to finish it off. Works well for me.
I have never had the fire wash burn off the soot on the window - has any of the FPX users actually ahd this occur?

I have a temp gauge and a Ir gun but now I can tell by the look of the fire.
I usually will not shut the air down before 450deg.

I am still learning 2

I can burn off the haze on the glass but if it's black I gotta clean.


I have learned that wood stoves are like Chicks
They all have a sweet spot and as soon as your learn where it's at It will get Hot and Purr for a while

Got Wood said:

Just yesterday I commented to my wife about not having the same glass issues as we had last year. I attribute it to buring more seasoned wood - although I thought lasts years supply was decent, the wood I have now is much better seasoned.

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Ja, same here. The wood that I'm burning now was processed before the wood I burned last year. It has to do with how I laid it up in my shed (first in, last out).

I'll post pix when I get home; but a CLEAN window is somewhat subjective, so I'll show you what mine looks like. It's kinda like when people talk about how long an overnight burn is, or how long between reloads, it all depends.

I have the 36 with a 12ft. stack and this is my 3rd year learning and running it (thanks again to everyone here). I buy/burn Almond which they say is 1+ yr. season'd so I take their word for it. The wood has the "checks" in it, so I think it's dry, never any hissing or moisture/vapor and when I cleaned the chimney this past fall, I barely had any flaking so I think I'm doing pretty good and being efficient.

I noticed the seal on my door was beginning to wear down and it was mostly from me trying to make the window all "pretty" when I cleaned the window. It would happen because I'd bump the seal up and off a little bit so then I'd press it back down to get it back in place. I think in the process of me pressing down, I was actually pushing too hard and compressing it past where it made a good contact with the frame causing more than necessary air to enter and having more issues with dirty glass. Even though I'd do the dollar bill test, it seemed fine, but usually dirtier than I would expect and last year I was cleaning the glass what seemed like 2-3 times a week. This year I kinda leave the edge of the seal alone and hardly clean that close to it at all, except maybe to brush some occasional ash from the window with just a dry hand towel, that's worked for me so I have only cleaned the glass once. If I do something to get the blackened window, then I use Easy-off and just wipe it right off. Uh, I never could get a hot fire to just burn off the black when I really goofed.

Also, here's my other burning tips that I've learned I do for the FPX. I took out the grate and just use the square andiron, I don't let the wood burn too close to the window if I can help it. My IR gun sez I'm cruising between 450-650 and I usually go ~ 3-4 hours between loads.


Updated with pix!

I don't have the same stove, but when I say my glass is clean, I mean it is crystal clear. My stove is rarely perfect like that after burning, but if I have been burning reasonably dry wood at a reasonably high temperature, I get minimal build-up. Like I said, it might take 30 seconds to wipe clean with a damp cloth. I'll use a spot of ceramic stove top cleaner on any spots where I get a little build up every now and then. I typically wipe clean my glass 1X per day, but I am a neat freak like that. You can even do it with the stove running if you open the door, let it cool down for a bit, and are careful.

Updated with pix!

I have a brand new fpx 44 elite. After the first burn it has a rainbow colored haze on it. Any idea how to get it off so my glass will be clear again?

what does the damper setting have to do with the dirty glass??? thanks

Oven cleaner will work for the nasty black or wet a towel and dip it in to the ashes then rub the glass clean.

If your getting dirty glass your wood is not seasoned.
I only open the dampner/By pass when starting from cold and when re loading.
When stove is cold it's full open and full air 5-10 min good fire going 0-150deg
close the dampner about 3/4 way 3/4-1/2 Full air ( helps to get the box warmer faster as not all the heat is going straight up 150-350deg
Blower kicks on @350 stove top Dampner closed air closed Cat glowing up to 500- 550 Cruze for about 3 -4 hrs lead her back up at about 300 deg


My house is very open floor plan and so far I have been able to keep the family room (stove room) 73-76 1st floor 67-68 and 2nd story 65-66
I am very impressed that the 44 elite can heat 4200 sqft. I know that I can push it to get more heat but so far it's not needed and it's -6 deg with -25 wind chill

I have just been trying to judge how hot it is burning. What is the more scientific way?