Broken Glass ?!?! ( Lopi Leyden )

[Vermontster]

So, I get home late from work and start a fire, the stove is still warm, but not hot (i had been gone for about 15 hours). the fire is going good, for an hour or more, the back is closed up and the vent is wide open, the thermometer is reading about 300 degrees on the stove pipe.

I hear a noise, hmmm then another, "clink" like glass.
I look and my stoves window (on one door) has broken, in two places! Sort of V-shaped running left to right.

Anyone have their glass break before? Is there anything in particular that causes this? It seems like the worst safety hazard ever! Imagine - the middle of the night, the glass breaks and coals and embers just fall every where!

damn Lopi.... I would love to get my money back

 

[savageactor7]

A few folks have busted the glass by torquing over length logs into them. But your break sounds unique ...like a bad recipe for stove glass. I'd give the dealer a call first see what up....no manufacturer want to put stoves out like that.

 

[ashpanannie]

I am so sorry that happened! How long have you had your stove? Did that door ever close with any difficulty, like the gasket being new and very tight?

This is the first time I've had a stove with glass. I admit worrying when I hear a chunk of wood roll off my stack and smack that glass. Could something like this have happened?

I try to be very careful when loading wood in a hot stove and never soft pitch it in there or use that door to push wood into place. I wouldn't think your temperature would have caused this. Perhaps there was a flaw in that glass from manufacture, but I can't see how one would determine that.

 

[Vermontster]

Thanks for the replies...
The stove is about a year and a half old.
It's my primary source of heat it runs 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, I often won't actually "light" a fire for weeks, months on end, it is just constantly going (last night when the glass broke, it was 2 below zero), I burn 5-6 cords a year.

I never use the front doors maybe once a month, I always use the top load, and the ash door. I had read a long time ago about the hinges being flimsy, so I vowed to limit the use of them.
(and the doors haven't been opened in a week or two or more as of now)

The stove was still in the first fire of the night (but burning for at least an hour or maybe even two) so there was only smaller pieces of wood in it, so I can't imagine there was anything "physically" to cause this.

 

[Drumaz]

Sorry to hear about this. What a drag I just went through a "glass" breakage on my Jotul. I tightened mine too much. It's actually ceramic. Called around locally for a replacement and then got on here.. which I should have done first. www.onedayglass.com was recommended. This place is GREAT!! All you do is send them a template and they send you a piece of neo-ceram back. Turn around was about a week (It had to go from WA to CT) and the price was much cheaper than anything locally and from the manufacturer as well. Others here seem to have had good experiences with them. Cost me about $75 for the "glas", cutting and shipping.

 

[Corey]

Hummm...assuming the glass was good, there is not much 'thermally' that you can do to get it to break. All the modern ceramic stuff has practically zero thermal expansion, so even putting water on it while it's red hot doesn't have much of an effect. I suppose they could always have a 'bad batch' as mentioned but that would seem pretty rare. Usually the cause of broken glass is a physical impact such as closing the door on a log or a log rolling forward into the glass. Though you mention your fire was pretty well burned down when it happened.

I also notice you mention you don't open the front door for weeks on end. I'm curious, when you do open it, does it open normally or does it ever seem like it 'springs' or 'pops' open. My thought is the possibility that over the heat/cool cycles of the stove, the metal of the door frame may somehow build up some stress at it expands and contracts. This may then transfer stress to the glass and somehow break it.

Generally when glass breaks, if there is a "V", the tip of the "V" will usually point to where the glass initially broke. So if the "V" points right to the edge of the glass, you might look and see if there happens to be a screw or other piece of metal right up against the edge of the glass. This may cause it to break as the metal expands or contracts. I guess the bottom line is the glass doesn't expand with heat, but the metal certainly does, so there needs to be a slight buffer space between the glass and the metal. If you do notice the door 'springs' open when it hasn't been open for weeks, this may be even more critical.

I'd definitely hit the dealer up and see if they will replace the glass. If not, http://www.onedayglass.com/ has been mentioned as a good place to get replacement glass - just make sure you're getting pyroceram, neoceram, or some other transparent ceramic, not tempered or 'safety' glass.