Cleaning Glass on a wood stove

[Thor]

Whats the best way to clean glass on a wood stove? Manual says to use normal glass cleaners. Do they mean like windex or a glass product specifically for wood stoves? It also states to not clean glass with materials that will scratch glass. Looking for examples of what not to use. Is it OK to use a razor blade?

 

[binko]

I have been using Windex for years with no issues.
One thing I find is applying the Windex when the glass is still really warm ( If you can't touch it-it's too hot.) helps loosen the film and removes much easier.

 

[Shmudda]

Use wet newspaper it removes the dirt and grime better than Windex ever will. For really dark and burnt on stains dab it in ash powder and rub, removes the toughest grime

Craig

 

[BrowningBAR]

damp paper towel + ash

 

[tfdchief]

damp paper towel and ash works better than anything I have ever used. Most of the time a dry paper towel gets what little I have. The old smoke dragon needs paper towel and ash more than the new EPA stove.

 

[HotCoals]

I have a BKK...they should come with a 1000 razor blades.

 

[Woody Stover]

No Windex. Contains ammonia and is not recommended. Stove glass cleaner or vinegar and water solution.

 

[chris2879]

Just a wet paper towel. I clean it once a day to get the whitish film off the glass. I figured if I keep up on it I will be better off in the long run. I bet some of it would burn off when reloading in the morning but I really like seeing the fire clearly!

 

[chris5150]

Do any of you clean your glass when it is warm? I am afraid of cracking it.

 

[HotCoals]

Do any of you clean your glass when it is warm? I am afraid of cracking it.

I do with the blade..not sure I would with water..dunno.

 

[flyingpig]

Quite a while back, in desperation to find a wet towel, I grab a Clorox wipe near by and found that it works very well. Also dip it in the ash for really tough spot and never found any situation it doesn't work. Never look back.

 

[ArsenalDon]

Do any of you clean your glass when it is warm? I am afraid of cracking it.

Cannot crack the glass when hot by using water....why? It is not glass, it is ceramic and I have used a wet paper towel when it was so hot it still almost lit the towel on fire...so no worries there

 

[ArsenalDon]

If it gets really bad and nothing works...use soft scrub...it will not scratch but gives a bit more abrasive power...make sure you do it when the window is cooler...you will be there a while when the creosote is caked on...I am a clean glass fanatic...I give it a quick wipe down with a dry paper towel every time a see a bit of haze on it and it stays clean. When I need to clean it I do use the wet newspaper or paper towel and a bit of ashes as an abrasive.
I used to use soft scrub daily...but I think it still left a residue that attracted particles...it is much better these days.

 

[madison]

Rutland Stove Glass Cleaner/Polish, leaves a "RainX" like slickness and cleans the class quickly without etching.

Wet paper and a little ash does work, but I would only caution that if you have dirty wood, ( your ash contains clinkers etc during cleanouts), the silicates can be abrasive.

 

[Jon1270]

Cannot crack the glass when hot by using water....

Ceramic glass is vulnerable to thermal shock just like standard silica glass, but the amount of water in a damp paper towel is unlikely to be enough to cause a problem. Don't try splashing water on it, or even spraying it with a spritzer bottle. Failure due to thermal shock is explicitly excluded from my stove's glass warranty.

For removing ash, just a wet paper towel (stove cool) has worked for me. The stickier brownish deposits, of which I get few now that I'm running my stove hotter, come off easily with the water+ash trick. It helps to wipe on some damp ash and let it sit a minute or two to soften the brown deposits before wiping it all off with more water.

 

[Wood Duck]

If I get sooty glass I find it help a lot to burn nice and hot for a while to turn the soot to ash. The ash then wipes off much more easily. I use a damp cloth. If I need a little extra power I dip the cloth in ash and use it like you'd use ajax cleanser.

I avoid cleaning the glass when the glass is hot. I have wiped warm glass with a damp cloth with no ill effects on the glass.

 

[firebroad]

The ash method works for me. As long as I am burning dry wood, I don't get much soot, and a good hot fire will usually eliminate any haze; but when I had to burn less-than-ideal, I used either ashes or CeramaBryte that is made for ceramic cooktops. Cheaper and less messy that the rutland, and works the same.

 

[raprude]

Rutland glass cleaner.. a bottle lasts for a few years. It seems to leave the glass easier to clean next time.

 

[rijim]

For me, wet paper towel on cold glass once every couple of weeks is all it takes.

 

[tbuff]

As said in some of the prior posts, wet rag and ash is the best cleaner. I have the Rutland stuff, but only use it when I close the stove up and open for the season.

 

[firefighterjake]

Wet newspaper 98% of the time does the trick . . . burning with well seasoned wood and burning at the right temps typically means there is only some fly ash and smoky haze on the "glass." If need be I use a bit of fine ash with the newspaper.

I often clean the "glass" while it is still quite warm . . .

 

[wingsfan]

I use the wet paper towel and ash,,,Cleans so good it is hard to tell there is glass in it at all.

 

[savageactor7]

Because our well has hard water a poster here advised readers to use bottled water with a paper towel. We were told the hard water would over time leave the glass cloudy.

While I have cleaned it when the fire was roaring once or twice. The other times were in the morning before reloading we just wipe it down with a wet paper towel.

 

[jdp1152]

Usually just a quick wipe with a wet paper towel and follow that up with a dry one. Glass is still pretty warm, though not steaming off the water too bad.

I've used a wet paper towel on the outside during full fire/heat when I burned some fleece from my shirt sleeve on it. Those microfibers weren't budging, so I got the fire going even stronger and used a metal spatula to get most of it off. The rest just burned off in an hour or two. That wet paper towel didn't stay wet very long though. I kept dipping or swapping it out.

 

[120inna55]

As others have suggested, for a light film, nothing beats ash. Instead of using wet paper towels, though, I use a soaked sponge that I dip in ashes. Then, just rub it all over the glass. I do it while the glass is hot or warm, so the result is a white ash film when your done with the first step. Then I rinse the sponge and just wipe that white ash film off with the sponge. I follow this up with a dry clean terry cloth towel. Of course the only time I have to do this is when I've let the fire go out. The slow smolder is what deposits the film. Otherwise, using seasoned wood with proper placement of the wood to allow for good air flow ensures the glass stays perfectly clean during operation.

Before I knew any better, my glass would get very dark/black because I was using green/wet wood. That rookie year for my stove was a learning experience. I did learn that plain old Easy Off oven cleaner worked great on that black glass. Just spray it on the hot glass, wait about 5 minutes, then wipe it off with a wet sponge.