ESW Add-on 28-3500 Keeping glass clean

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freeburn

Feeling the Heat
Jan 5, 2008
391
USA
Anyone with the Englander add-on have trouble keeping the glass clean? How often do you clean your glass? What's your average flue temp?
 
I have a 28-3500. I have been using it for three years now. My first year I had a heck of a time keeping the glass clean. What I found out from talking to people on this forum was that my fires were not hot enought. Once I learned and became comfortable my fires got hoter and now my glass stays clean. Every now and then it may have some stuff on it but when I reload and bring up the temp it cleans it back off. I do not know what my flue tems are becuse I have no gauge. I am planning on getting one soon. I do have a magnetic thermometer on the firebox by the front top leftside of door. I usually keep that around 400. I only have that just so that I have someting to tell me what kind of heat I am puting out at the registers. I know that at 400 it's cranking out the heat.
 
biggest thing is dry seasoned wood *second biggest thing is dont cut the wood 25+ inches long so the edge of the round or split is right up close against the glass,my average flue temp once up and going is 350-450
 
I keep my flue temp 350 and higher, but I still get black around the outsides of the glass. I tried getting the fire piping hot inside, but did not "burn off". Does that have to happen after a while of burning. I'm clean again with the ashes on the wet paper towel trick, but I don't like to do that too often because it get's the gasket all wet. I assume it will disintegrate after a while of doing that.

How do you get long burn times then if you have to keep your temps so high? How about over night? My wood is well seasoned and most of it is still around 16". I try to stack it toward the back of the firebox so that it burns and kind of reburns under the baffle.
 
freeburn,

I don't have a thermometer to monitor my flue temps I just use the look of the fire. I do have a magnetice thermometer on the front of the box just to use as a reference to tell me what my output temps at the register (not temp just amount of heat). For example I know that when my thermometer is showing 400-450 degrees that I am getting a lot of heat out of the register. I bring my firebox temp temp up to about 400 degrees and hold it there. (using my external thermometer) At that temp it pretty much burns anything that may by on the glass off. I had a little black on my glass yesterday and I got up this morning and it was crystal clear. If you keep the wood away from the door and the temps up usually you don't have too much of a buld up. When I fisrt started using my 28-3500 my window was always black then I started to raise my temps and now it stays clear

On the burn time once I get my box temp up it I lower my top damper down to almost a quarter away fom being closed and open the bottom damper maybe one round. It seems to hold my temps steady and I get 6-8 hour of solid heat and then I get residual heat for a while after that.
 
freeburn said:
I keep my flue temp 350 and higher, but I still get black around the outsides of the glass. I tried getting the fire piping hot inside, but did not "burn off". Does that have to happen after a while of burning. I'm clean again with the ashes on the wet paper towel trick, but I don't like to do that too often because it get's the gasket all wet. I assume it will disintegrate after a while of doing that.

How do you get long burn times then if you have to keep your temps so high? How about over night? My wood is well seasoned and most of it is still around 16". I try to stack it toward the back of the firebox so that it burns and kind of reburns under the baffle.

wood placement and size makes a difference i think there can also be too short and doesnt get the heat near the glass area
mine will get dirty and i simply use fume free ez off oven cleaner spray and a old towel ,works great and takes about 15 seconds to clean no biggie.for overnight i load her up to the gills (6- or so 20-24max inch long pieces/splits of hardwood),screw in the ash damper and then open her just a crack ,then i slide the main air to the right so its only 1/8-1/4 of the way open.and its ready to burn for 8+ hours.took me a season to learn how to use it correctly ,but its super easy now
 
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