Look what the wife left me

well I was at work for the last 12 hrs and when i came home I looked at our insert and the whole glass is black. Looks like the wife tried to have her first fire and im guessing it was smoldering for hrs. Looks like im gonna have to explain that she needs to get the fire burning hotter. There was 4 splits beside the stove when i left now theres only 1 and looks like almost all the wood in the stove was burnt up so maybee it wasnt all that bad.

I think she did pretty darn good! I still sometimes come home or wake up to glass like that.

I don't see the big deal. It happens. Clean the glass, get a hot fire going, and move on.

hey maybee il let her start the next fire maybee shes getting more heat outa it then me? i just figured with the glass like that there must have been alot of smoke pouring out the chimney but maybee im all wrong as im really new to fire burning myself

Ohh by all means get her involved. Your gonna a have a wife knowing more than you.(the burn) She could clean the glass... the glass is dirty for a reason! My Ol' lady likes clean glass & if needed she will do it.

My wife runs the Lopi not me, and she can start it in seconds...

The glass on my stove gets like that after a while even with good seasoned wood. I stopped worrying about it. As long as it's still putting out heat I really don't care if the glass is clean or not.

Looks like the same thing my wife did with the old stove but luckily I got home during the fire or smoldering sad excuse for a fire. If your burning good and hot you should not get black glass. I plan on taking some time and teaching the wife how to start a fire and how to maintain a fire this winter for times when I am not home. When I burn i get a white haze on the glass in some areas but not black glass and I still clean my glass with some Rutland creosote glass cleaner probably once a week because Im real perticular about the glass.

My wife would have the windex going before the fire was out. (we have a very clean house).
She'll toss logs in too when needed.
Good wife. I lucked out.

Awesome Orange at the dollar store works good on the glass. $1 per half gallon jug. Put it full strength in a spray bottle.

One more thing , it could be the wood and not the wife

I wouldn't worry to much. My wife is still afraid to operate our stove on her own. I think you are doing pretty good....

I've done a lot worse, I thinks it great that she wants to help!

Some interesting comments here. I must be one of the few with an intelligent wife.

You've clearly never operated a cat stove. I can crank mine down until the firebox is a smoldering mess, and the cat stays lit, chimney stays clean. The glass looks like hell after a slow burn like that, but that's how they're made to run, if you're going for a slow burn.

I'd thank her for the warm house and bring wood in again for her next fire. She'll get the technical expertise later, just like all of us did.

Your right however the stove in question dosent have a cat either! You must not have operated a non-cat stove.

Hmm... I thought those non-cats were the easy ones? (said with a smile)

However - I'm with those that say be happy the wife is willing to build a fire and give it a try. Those who have two (or more?) willing fire tenders in the home are fortunate. My wife is willing to do it "when she has to" and it is much better than when we started but she still views the stove as something to fear messing up (i.e. "what if I burn the house down").

Holy Smoke!!

The beauty of the non-cat, even if you mess up the fire will eventually clean up and burn just fine.

I actually expected to see a much blacker glass. They can get black as midnight and tarry if you really screw up.

They are pretty simple to operate but not totally fool proof lol.

I agree...."Ain't nothin but a little bitty thang". Much bigger fish to fry in the grand scheme of things.

I still have not cleaned my stove glass since last years wet red oak.

It will burn off in time.

Not lack of intelligence, just lack of desire. Same thing with a lack of interest in learning stick shift. She doesnt want to be bothered remembering the sequence for the bypass and air control and have to go look at the temp gauge periodically while chasing the babies around the house. Her "fear" is that she will forget and it runs away.

That, and a healthy dose of "that's mans work" like mowing and snow shoveling.

Time to sit down with her and give her a proper education on operating the stove. Thankfully she fell on the cool side for her first burn.

For my wife I had step by step directions printed out for her and what do do with the air and bypass at the proper temps. I was there coaching her along on her first burns. She worked from home when we had the Endeavor so she ran the stove better than me after a few weeks. The BK is super easy to run so she never has a problem with it.

Well said.

Better than her leaving the primary air wide open and over firing the stove . Great opportunity to spend some time with the wife, and best thing is you will be discussing wood burning! What could go wrong there?

My wife loves it when I criticize her, so I'd make sure to go ahead and point out the sooty glass immediately. I am sure your wife will enjoy the opportunity to improve her burning technique.