Any ideas why...

[nayoung31]

With our stove going like the fires of hell the bottom of the glass got black. I reloaded, the glass was fine, had been using the stove most of the day but had let it sit for a few hours prior to this reload. It was still at about 300. Once I got it up again and had secondaries going, I shut the air down and it really took off. However, this is when the bottom of the glass started to turn. Top was fine.
I tested the door this morning, seal is tight. Maybe I didnt leave enough air between the wood and the fire was too smokey? Or maybe I inadvertantly covered the air intake (which is right below the door in the middle)?
I haven't been having dirty glass issues since it got colder and have been using the stove consistantly so I don't get what was different...anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

 

[branchburner]

With my stove, the bottom half of the glass gets dirty if I fully shut the primary air in the early stages of a fire. Once the fire is in the middle-to-late stages, making less smoke, I can shut it down and keep the glass clean.

The air wash works by directing primary air down over the glass. If you close the air too far, some stoves will get sooty glass, even with a good, big fire. If I need to shut the air to slow down the fire, I just wait a bit, then open the air fully for a quick glass cleaning, and then adjust the air to wherever I want it.

I used to clean my glass with ash, paper, water, etc. But now I clean it only with hot fires.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Generally speaking, dirty glass is one of the first signs that your wood is not quite as dry as it should be.

As branchburner states, hot fires have a tendency to clean them. If that fails, damp newspaper dipped in ashes works like a charm. Just wait for the stove to cool down a bit first unless you have hands with no feeling.