Efel Kamina door glass questions

[J-Peg]

So we bought a house this past summer, and it's got a fireplace in the living room and an old Efel Kamina in the den. I grew up with a fireplace, so I got a good handle on that. But the Efel? Not so much.
I got online and read up on how to operate it (because I'm a nerd and that's how we roll.) But the door gasket needed replacing. So I replaced it. That part went well. But the gasket around the glass was all dried and brittle so I decided to replace that too. So I took out all those glass strips (13 of them), at which point I discovered that one of the metal retainers that holds the glass in place was all rusted and bent. I also discovered that the gasket material I ordered was the wrong size, but I figured out how to make it work. I cleaned all the glass pieces really good and put it back together (had to shim the messed up retainer with gasket material on the back side.) Looked pretty good.
But the first time I used it the glass sooted up almost immediately. Looking at the soot pattern it looks like it's leaking at the top where that retainer is bent. It also looks like it's leaking from between the panes. The door edges are sealing well and it draws amazingly well so the problem is mostly about looks. And I really like looking through the glass at the flames, so I plan to dig back into it come spring. With the correct size gasket material this time. I've looked online and there are a few parts for the old girl still out there, but those retainer strips ain't one of them. It wouldn't be hard to make one though.

But I could use the advice of some more experienced folks about a few things.

What kind of metal should the retainer strip be made from? It's inside the door, right there in the heat.

I know the glass is going to soot up somewhat no matter what I do, but what's a realistic expectation for how much I can stop it?

And should I just buy a single sheet of stove door glass and replace all those individual strips to get rid of that source of leakage?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[coaly]

If this is a Kamina T, it is a coal stove. That model will have a thermostat on the side.
The strips are supposed to leak between the panes. That is where it gets secondary air above the fire for coal and provides air wash for wood to keep clean. They are not supposed to be tight so it they can grow as they expand. You need all the right parts and gasket material. The glass strips serve a purpose, not just to see through.

 

[J-Peg]

Thanks for your response.
It's not a T model, it's a standard woodburner.

So I need to keep the glass strips. Good to know.
And I was already planning on getting the right gasket material when I redo it. But the retainer strip is unavailable, so I have no choice but to improvise on that part of it.

So realistically, if everything about this stove were working properly, how clean could I expect the glass to stay?

 

[coaly]

Make sure the glass isn't pinched too tight. Only tighten to a friction fit so the glass panels can slide up and down a bit with fingers pinching them on both sides. It's easy to crush them down too tight. The theory is the glass grows lengthwise and not much widthwise keeping the joint open.
The hotter you burn, the cleaner the glass will stay. A slow low burn can carbon it up fast. Don't get discouraged, when they get hot enough, I've had the film flake and peel off. I had a Surdiac with the same type panels and I could make the glass black very quick if I tried, like when starting it. It wipes off easy with a damp rag before it gets baked on. I kept a kettle of water on the stove so I had hot water, then when the door is open and at it's coolest, I would wipe it with hot wet rag. If it had been burned hot enough it was flaked and crispy and wiped right off. The steam helps clean it too. It got a bit brown around the edges at times, but the center stayed clean burning it hot. The stronger the draft from chimney, the lower the pressure in stove and the more air comes in between panels keeping the smoke off glass. Closing a damper too much to slow draft slows the air through glass making a mess. So you can do things wrong to make it dirty before you learn the tricks to keep it clean. Now that you know how it works, you'll notice it stays cleaner at the crack between strips and tends to get hazy in the center of each glass where it doesn't get much airflow. Two tight panels together will get dirtier where there is not enough air leakage.

 

[J-Peg]

Well, the glass is definitely pinched too tight. I didn't know that it was supposed to leak so I tried to seal it up as much as I could. I'll loosen up the retainer strips until I can slide the panes around a little bit. And since I actually want some slack in there, I probably can do without replacing the mangled up retainer.
I also tend to close the damper pretty far, so I'll start opening it up more and see how that works.

Appreciate all the help.