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  1. maverick06 Minister of Fire

    joined: Sep 27, 2008
    640 posts
    media, pa
    There are so many threads and comments about keeping glass clean... Who keeps the dirtiest glass??

    I burn dry wood, and I burn it pretty hot. The stove design just loves to soot up the window. (wood is bought c/s and sits stacked in my yard for 2 years, so its at least that old). I get a reasonable and as expected amount of creosote in the chimney every year at the anual cleaning, so I feel I am doing things right, just have a stove that likes to stay dirty. So I dont bother cleaning the glass anymore.

    I havent cleaned the windows in the last 5 cords of wood.


    Anyone have me beat?

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    loon likes this.
  2. NextEndeavor Member

    joined: Jan 16, 2011
    196 posts
    Southern Iowa
    I probably got the award during my first year apprenticeship with the help of wet oak. Now with good fuel and some experience, no problem. If I cut the air down too far too soon for a long burn, it will cloud up dark. Getting the next reload to hit 600-650 and its very clean except a quarter inch around the edges. 550 stovetop won't do the trick, must hit better than 600.
    Hearth Mistress likes this.
  3. NextEndeavor Member

    joined: Jan 16, 2011
    196 posts
    Southern Iowa
    Taking another look at your picture, does that stove have an "air wash" ?
  4. Hearth Mistress Minister of Fire

    joined: Jan 24, 2012
    579 posts
    Point Pleasant, PA (SE PA)
    I can't beat that but I would cry if my glass looked like that! :eek: I love to sit and watch my fire at night, that is my "me time" and with that glass, you can't see anything. Do your door gaskets pass the dollar bill test? Is the inside of your stove that black too? I'm not questioning your process, I just can't imagine a stove glass being that dirty burning wood that seasoned. Even when I get a little burn mark from a log moving overnight too close to the glass, the next hot fire burns it right off. So sorry your stove does this :( That is awful!
    n3pro likes this.
  5. nate379 Minister of Fire

    joined: Sep 21, 2010
    4,003 posts
    Palmer, Alaska
    I clean the glass in the spring but it gets no where near that. It's black at the bottom corners and that's about it.
    Hearth Mistress likes this.
  6. Paulywalnut Feeling the Heat

    joined: Nov 29, 2012
    387 posts
    Kennett Square, PA
    I must have clean glass. I wipe the film off every day that its not burning real hot.
    Dark corners.. gotta go.!
    Blue2ndaries and Hearth Mistress like this.
  7. maverick06 Minister of Fire

    joined: Sep 27, 2008
    640 posts
    media, pa
    yeah, I used to get very agitated with it getting dirty, finally just gave up. The doors pass the test. Have talked to people who have the same stove, seems pretty common. Even a really hot run wont clear it! The inside of the stove is good, bricks are always nice and clean too.

    Now, to be honest. The fireplace is in the room adjacent to where we usually are, so i have a fan blowing across the face to get the heat into the right room. Thats not helping the glass, but it was like this regardless.

    Maybe i will take a notion and clean it this weekend :)
  8. BrowningBAR Minister of Fire

    joined: Jul 22, 2008
    7,103 posts
    Doylestown, PA
    My glass on all three stoves don't blacken for the most part of the burn season. They get foggy. I'll occasionally get blacken areas around the bottom of the glass on the 30 and black spots on the Defiant and Encore when a split leans up against the glass.

    I will get more blackening during milder weather for a variety of reasons.
  9. Paulywalnut Feeling the Heat

    joined: Nov 29, 2012
    387 posts
    Kennett Square, PA
    You know about wet newspaper and ashes from the stove right?
  10. Bub381 Minister of Fire

    joined: Feb 4, 2011
    839 posts
    Mid-coast Maine
    All i get on the Fireview is fly ash,the Rangeley cruded the lower corners but i burned low and my wood only seasoned 8 months so my fault.
  11. lopiliberty Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 7, 2011
    565 posts
    Mineral County, WV
    Can't believe nobody has said this so here it goes "Anyone who owns a Blaze King":eek:. My glass never gets black but it clouds up enough sometimes that I can't see through it so in the morning when the stove is not hot I take a damp paper towel and wipe it clean. I swore this year I wasn't going to let the cloudy glass bother me, but I'm the type of person who has to have everything clean and the fact that I paid for a stove with glass so I could watch the fire.
  12. jharkin Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 21, 2009
    2,060 posts
    Holliston, MA USA
    My encore, even burning 3 year old wood will blacken the windows on a low overnight burn. It will burn off in the morning but can look nasty in shoulder season.
  13. pen Super Moderator

    joined: Aug 2, 2007
    6,069 posts
    N.E. Penna
    Unless I do something wrong, it will simply get a foggy coating of ash on it that just wipes off with a damp rag. The only darkened areas at all is at the bottom of the glass on the corners from time to time.

    Guess I can't compete :( (wait a second) Guess I can't compete ==c
  14. Beetle-Kill Minister of Fire

    I have to shine a Mag-Lite in the glass, just to make sure I have a fire. :rolleyes:
  15. Highbeam Minister of Fire

    Even the Blaze king doesn't get that bad, I can always watch the "fire" through the middle/top of the window. The BK glass gets dark from the bottom corners up to make a triangle where the entire top of the glass is clean and each side of the window is 50% blackened. It's not just a tint, film, or fog but actual crusty bubbly creosote. When it gets hot, the thickest stuff will bubble clean and leave clear spots for a short while in the extreme bottom corners. We call those dragon eyes.

    To clean real black junk you must use more than ash and paper, you must use more than a chemical, you actually have to scrape it off with a blade. Nothing else will touch it.
  16. EatenByLimestone Minister of Fire

    joined: Jul 12, 2006
    4,114 posts
    No pics, but the 30 keeps my basement warm and I haven't cleaned the glass for 2 years. It's not black, but sort of a frosted appearance.

    Matt
  17. jharkin Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 21, 2009
    2,060 posts
    Holliston, MA USA
    I get the same black creosote buildup... Mostly in the shoulder season when doing a lot of long slow burns... On a vc it affects the top half of the glass and the left door worse than the right. The bottom third stays clear from the heat of the coal bed. The rest I burn off when firing a reload.

    This time of year its burning hot enough to never get that bad.

    Even nastier is the crust on the inside of the top griddle. Its a good quarter inch of black buildup that never seems to burn off.....

    But my chimney stays pretty clean :)
  18. NE WOOD BURNER Member

    joined: Dec 30, 2012
    150 posts
    Old Granpa Fisher has not seen Glass that clean in his life. I keep him dirty and only open the screws if I want him to eat some wood. When I open the doors and put the screen up Its about that dirty looking through the mesh.
  19. WhitePine Feeling the Heat

    joined: Sep 18, 2010
    498 posts
    Who keeps the dirtiest glass??

    That would be a friend of mine whose catalytic wood stove has a solid door, or so I thought. It turns out there is a window in the door, but not a glimmer of even a roaring blaze can be seen through it. It's usually not roaring though. He keeps the stove choked down to the point the chimney smolders all day long.

    I worry about him.
  20. HotCoals Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 27, 2010
    2,035 posts
    Rochester,Ny.
    What a interesting way to get people to admit their class gets dirty..lol.

    Anyways as always..the BK wins this contest also!
  21. pen Super Moderator

    joined: Aug 2, 2007
    6,069 posts
    N.E. Penna
    Here's your prize.

    [IMG]

    pen
  22. NE WOOD BURNER Member

    joined: Dec 30, 2012
    150 posts
    I would not worry. I think i may up my storage maybe 1,000 gallons with hot water tube from Grandpa burn only dry wood and batch burn. If I burn all dry wood i wonder if I will have gray spots on my plastic lenses.
  23. BrotherBart He Who Moderates

    joined: Nov 18, 2005
    21,925 posts
    Northern Virginia
    Cleaned the glass in the 30 in November sometime. A cord and a half ago. Still clear as, well, glass.
  24. HotCoals Minister of Fire

    joined: Oct 27, 2010
    2,035 posts
    Rochester,Ny.
    Thanks but could I have a new box of razor blades instead? lol
  25. FPX Dude Member

    joined: Oct 4, 2007
    161 posts
    Sacramento, CA
    just cleaned because I dint like da shadows since november but could've gone longer image.jpg

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