Stove Glass Getting Dirty

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mrgoodwrench

New Member
Nov 19, 2005
15
Stuarts Draft, Virginia
Hello again,
Ever since I started this Harman, the door glass gets dirty after about 24 hours. It's always in the same place. The rest of the glass stays perfectly clean. Is this because of a leaking door gasket, or glass gasket? The door feels like it has a tight seal when I close it. Below is a picture of the problem. It's the dirty spot on lower to middle right of the door glass. Thanks for any input. It cleans easily in just a few minutes, but for what I paid for this stove, I don't think I should be having this problem this early on.
Thanks.
 

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mrgoodwrench said:
Hello again,
Ever since I started this Harman, the door glass gets dirty after about 24 hours. It's always in the same place. The rest of the glass stays perfectly clean. Is this because of a leaking door gasket, or glass gasket? The door feels like it has a tight seal when I close it. Below is a picture of the problem. It's the dirty spot on lower to middle right of the door glass. Thanks for any input. It cleans easily in just a few minutes, but for what I paid for this stove, I don't think I should be having this problem this early on.
Thanks.

"Clean Glass" on wood stoves does not really mean that the glass stays perfectly clear - BUT it is about 10x as good as the old stoves, which you not see through at all!

This could be a couple of things - but the gasket is suspect. Check the door latch - is is adjustable? Sometimes it take a few weeks from when the stove is new for the gasket to seat properly.

Use the dollar bill test - when the stove is cold, place a bill in the area near the glass stain....close the door and the bill should be tough to pull out.

It is also possible that there is some "imbalance" in the design of the air flow in the stove, which is not really a defect, it just IS - in other words, I've seen a lot of stoves burning and it is rare to see one where the glass is clean after a day or two of burning. Sure, you can see the fire..and that's the idea.
 
I have owned a wide variety of Harmans and find the glass stays very clean unless it's a large glass like the Advance. I'm assuming that's the P68 and would expect it to stay clean for more than 24 hours. The P61 was great and rarely needed cleaning. I currently have the XXV model and have cleaned the glass once this year.
 
Wow. If you think that's dirty glass, you should see mine! If I ever get another camera I'll post a pic. I'd be happy with what I see in your photo, but I guess others' standards are higher. Looks like I've got some door work to do...
 
Well, I don't think its a gasket problem. My dealer delivered me a door/glass gaseket kit with my new stove. I open up the P61A box and there is already a door installed from the factory. So yesterday I open up the extra door/glass gasket kit, put it together. I then take off the door that was on the stove, and replace it with the newer one. Guess what, after about 18 hours it's already getting dirty in the EXACT same location. I do notice dirt/ash in the air wash slit right in front of the area I'm having a problem with. I'll post a picture of the newer door when I get home tonight.
 
My experience has been that clean air leaking into a stove tends to create a clean spot on the glass if it is heavily sooted. You may have a problem with the smoke from the fire getting deflected back onto the glass, or if there is anything in the path of the air wash to make it deflect away from that one area. It may be something as small as a burr on the inside of an air hole, or a small piece of debris in the wrong spot.

Corey
 
Here is a pick of the extra Door/Glass kit I installed. It's doing the same as the one that came with the stove. Hmmm.....not sure what to make of it.
 

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I definetly would be happy with that. I had a pellet stove a few years ago and by morning it was way worse than that. You may want to try tinkering with the air wash port on that side. (nothing permanent, do want to void the warranty) Try less air or more air on that side. Might just work!
 
I believe it was Jonas who once mentioned that burning just about any pellet stove on low was guaranteed to smoke up the glass fairly quickly (with rare exception). Are you burning on low?
 
Mo,
I am running on a lower setting. Feed rate of 2 right now, room temp. mode set to about 75 deg. I might have to run a test at about 75% stove output and blow 2 bags of pellets. My wife would like to have it 78 deg. anyway. I'm off to the basement.....fill up the hopper. Full speed ahead!
 
I'm glad I found this forum....I'm having the same type of problem with my new Harman Advance. As you can see by the picture, I'm getting it a lot worse, you're seeing 8 hours since cleaning in this picture. Always the same place. I'm waiting for a return call from the dealer, bad thing about Harman is they don't give you a number to call if you can't get your dealer to address a problem. (You'll have to click the picture, I don't know how to post it bigger)
 

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My countryside gets dirty all the time. I just wipe it with a wadded paper towl then fling it in the fire a few times a day. I think this clean glass thing is a simple matter of overstatement by manufacturers responding to consumers concerns / desire for glass fronts. Like any other advertisement they all tend to exagerate their claims. It has a lot to do with what you are burning and how hot you are running the stove. I burn cheap field corn and it gets about double dirty compared to the best pellets. In all its not so hard to live with really.
 
My new Harman P-68 glass gets dirty in the same place as your P-61. It's only one week old. It still is quite a bit less than the Harman Advance that I had previously.
 

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