Glass
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We have a "self cleaning" stove - basically the airwash over the glass burns off any crud. If you don't have that, I've heard that balled up newspaper and elbow grease does a pretty good job.
Occo370 said:
Occo370 this is the product we use and it works great and if the glass needs it or not I clean it every Sunday.
(broken link removed)
zap
I use glass cleaner if it is just a touch up and if it's a heavy build up I use the same prodct I buy for my Ceramic top stove called Cerama Brite. I think any ceramic cleaner/polish will work just fine. Never tried the newsprint/ashes, maybe I'll give it a whirl this eve.
Skier76 said:
I'm sure it cleans but steel wool on glass can't be brilliant for the surface! The point of the ashes and newspaper method is that it is very very mild on the glass itself while still removing the worst of the soot.
Perennial question with many, many threads on this topic.
Here's a summary of all the threads.
If you've got black on the glass . . .
1. Burn seasoned wood at the proper temp and in a short order a very good, hot fire will burn any black off the stove.
2. Scrape off with a razor blade.
3. Scour with wet newspaper dipped in ash.
Of course this doesn't help you out with the usual fly ash and occasional black spot you might get from a split resting up against the glass . . . in this case you can . . .
1. Use a commercial product sold at hardware stores and woodstove shops . . . or use a household commercial cleaner such as Windex.
2. Do the Adios Pantalones method and pee on the glass . . . no pictures needed though.
3. Do what I would guess a fair majority of us cheap spendthrifts do . . . take Shari's advice and dip a crumpled sheet of wet newspaper in ash and scour away. Usually things are clean enough for me that I can often bypass the "dipping of the ash" and just use wet newspaper . . . followed by a drying off by crumpled dry newspaper. This is generally done when the fire is low -- often in the morning before a reload. I figure if newspaper works well for the street bums, it should work well enough for me!
Here's a summary of all the threads.
If you've got black on the glass . . .
1. Burn seasoned wood at the proper temp and in a short order a very good, hot fire will burn any black off the stove.
2. Scrape off with a razor blade.
3. Scour with wet newspaper dipped in ash.
Of course this doesn't help you out with the usual fly ash and occasional black spot you might get from a split resting up against the glass . . . in this case you can . . .
1. Use a commercial product sold at hardware stores and woodstove shops . . . or use a household commercial cleaner such as Windex.
2. Do the Adios Pantalones method and pee on the glass . . . no pictures needed though.
3. Do what I would guess a fair majority of us cheap spendthrifts do . . . take Shari's advice and dip a crumpled sheet of wet newspaper in ash and scour away. Usually things are clean enough for me that I can often bypass the "dipping of the ash" and just use wet newspaper . . . followed by a drying off by crumpled dry newspaper. This is generally done when the fire is low -- often in the morning before a reload. I figure if newspaper works well for the street bums, it should work well enough for me!
Sooty clear ceramic (never "glass") on the front doors of many EPA stoves is a fact of life of wood burning......extreme 'airwash' or not.
You seriously heat with wood full time, the clear ceramic will soot up no matter how moisture dry ( ! ) the splits, or how hot the fire for an inital loading in the burn cycle, unless primary air always wide open.
At some time in the burn cycle, when using wood for your heat, primary air WILL be damped, the O2 to the fire lowered, the coals smouldering....ergo some soot. Always.
You then have a choice:" do want "tuna with good taste, or tuna that tastes good ?" (Chicken of the Sea ). Overheat the space, or use the stove as it was designed: heat properly.
Spending time continually cleaning the clear ceramic is a waste for most of us heating homes with wood stoves. Too much on the plate here.
The ceramic IS cleaned: for a romantic hour, drinks with guests, or maintaining the stove. Ask those who do.
"And that's all folks..................." (Bugs Bunny) :lol:
You seriously heat with wood full time, the clear ceramic will soot up no matter how moisture dry ( ! ) the splits, or how hot the fire for an inital loading in the burn cycle, unless primary air always wide open.
At some time in the burn cycle, when using wood for your heat, primary air WILL be damped, the O2 to the fire lowered, the coals smouldering....ergo some soot. Always.
You then have a choice:" do want "tuna with good taste, or tuna that tastes good ?" (Chicken of the Sea ). Overheat the space, or use the stove as it was designed: heat properly.
Spending time continually cleaning the clear ceramic is a waste for most of us heating homes with wood stoves. Too much on the plate here.
The ceramic IS cleaned: for a romantic hour, drinks with guests, or maintaining the stove. Ask those who do.
"And that's all folks..................." (Bugs Bunny) :lol:
Fjord - I disagree that sooty doors are just something to get used to. I believe it depends entirely on where the air enters your stove and how it is designed. Yes in many stoves there isn't sufficient airwash, or it is misplaced/misdirected in the firebox.
In our stove the secondary air enters by moving down the inside surface of the glass before mixing with the combustion gases - smoky air should never actually reach the glass in that circumstance and if it does any soot deposits are rapidly burned off. I have on a couple of occasions placed logs too close to the glass. They leave black soot marks but are gone completely in the same evening, usually within a couple of hours.
Yes, we damp primary air, which slows combustion, but you should never be damping secondary air totally as that is just sending unburned BTUs up the chimney as polluting smoke. Airwash is secondary air in our setup, primary air feeds in at the base of the fire.
In our stove the secondary air enters by moving down the inside surface of the glass before mixing with the combustion gases - smoky air should never actually reach the glass in that circumstance and if it does any soot deposits are rapidly burned off. I have on a couple of occasions placed logs too close to the glass. They leave black soot marks but are gone completely in the same evening, usually within a couple of hours.
Yes, we damp primary air, which slows combustion, but you should never be damping secondary air totally as that is just sending unburned BTUs up the chimney as polluting smoke. Airwash is secondary air in our setup, primary air feeds in at the base of the fire.
I find that a good hot fire running at near max temps for a few minutes can clean most of mine off pretty well. I'm not talking about overfiring here, just running hot.
Adios Pantalones said:No no- 50/50 urine and water, dip paper in that and ash.
Pee on the glass- that's just silly
Thats what I use. Works great. Although I have found that drinking vodka the night before makes it a stronger solvent.
Mesuno said:
0000 steel wool is the "softest" you can get. If you tried it with a Brillo pad, you'd be SOL. 0000 steel wool is a trick I learned when I detailed cars with a family friend. Buffers throw off a good amount of compound and it can be tough to remove from glass. So we'd use 0000 steel wool. I still use it on my vehicles today. It works amazingly well for getting bugs off the windsheild. Just don't use it on mirrors. Mirrors are a bit different and it will scratch that. Again, it has to be 0000 (quad zero). You can find the stuff in the painting section of most big box stores; near the sand paper.
I guess that makes sense - just remember seeing the damage done to a neighbours paint work after paying the local kids to wash her car. Not good 
I'm not sure how many people would have recognised the distinction between your 0000 and "steel wool"
I'm not sure how many people would have recognised the distinction between your 0000 and "steel wool"This stuff works amazing on the glass. Quick and easy and clear as can be.
http://www.amazon.com/Rutland-84-Hearth-Conditioning-Cleaner/dp/B00120NMNY
http://www.amazon.com/Rutland-84-Hearth-Conditioning-Cleaner/dp/B00120NMNY
Jags said:Adios Pantalones said:No no- 50/50 urine and water, dip paper in that and ash.
Pee on the glass- that's just silly
Thats what I use. Works great. Although I have found that drinking vodka the night before makes it a stronger solvent.
For a change of pace, take a B-Complex supplement about four hours before.
It'll give a beautiful sunrise/sunset tint to the glass. It's just gorgeous with the fire dancing behind it.
I second the Rutland cleaner. I bought a bottle last season, it's cheap and a little bit is all you need so I've still got plenty left this season. Just a small dab on a balled up newspaper is all it takes. Last season I got consistently sooty glass that needed cleaning every couple of days. I replaced the door gaskets last year and it helped but just a little bit. This year I also replaced the gaskets between the door and the glass and WOW what a massive difference. I burned all weekend and the glass doesn't have so much as a smudge on it. You might want to take a look at the gaskets, they're cheap and easy to replace and really made a HUGE difference for me!
Best of Luck!
AJM
Best of Luck!
AJM
Skier76 said:
Steal wool around cars finish, you have to be very careful...one reason tiny piece of the metal braking off sticking to the paint...then what happens you ask...rust on the finish.
Over time even on your glass if you keep using it you will make a frosted window in about a year...
Going Once...
Mesuno said:
In North American and Scandinavian EPA stoves there is NO secondary air adjustment, it is fixed....cat or non cat.
The engineered airwash is not always operating when the stove is used 24/7. Why ? Reality. Ash accumulation, larger splits burning slower, partially seasoned or damp wood, and simply the user's inattention over time when the stoves in a northern climate are used for heating. Damn we are imperfect beings !
Wood heating has some, but not rigid "rules". It is a learned art with any of the modern stoves. Soot and "dirty glass" happens. It is the nature of the beast, not the ideal.
Perhaps in an ideal situation e.g. short hot smaller fires where wood heat is not needed 24/7, you can have that philosopher's ideal "clean glass". Not here.
BTW: what is your stove ? The site has ads, hints on what to buy.
I'm not sure what the exact model is - my parents had them both installed a few years ago and I wasn't involved in the consultation. I've tried to work it out in the past but there is nothing as straight forward as a makers logo etc on the body.
Both stoves have both primary and secondary air adjustments - the secondary air is also the airwash. I believe (though without taking the stove apart it is hard to tell) that the secondary air circulates around the body of the stove before entering the firebox at the top of the glass. The fresh, preheated air keeps the glass clean.
You are right that we don't burn 24/7, so we do have opportunities to clean out ash, but the way the air enters the stove box (above the glass) suggests that ash build up won't affect the airwash. It is more likely to affect the primary air which enters beneath the fire grate.
In mid winter we will be running daily fires (from ca 8am until ca midnight) and the stove still usually has a bit of life come morning.
The website itself is a new project - I've been working on it for a while to learn how to build profitable websites. I've got to say it has been a steep but very fun learning curve! I knew nothing at all when I started a year ago and now I'm about to start building a second site on completely different topic. The site is making me around £10 per day now with relatively little active input - not far from my target of bringing in £500 per month with it.
Both stoves have both primary and secondary air adjustments - the secondary air is also the airwash. I believe (though without taking the stove apart it is hard to tell) that the secondary air circulates around the body of the stove before entering the firebox at the top of the glass. The fresh, preheated air keeps the glass clean.
You are right that we don't burn 24/7, so we do have opportunities to clean out ash, but the way the air enters the stove box (above the glass) suggests that ash build up won't affect the airwash. It is more likely to affect the primary air which enters beneath the fire grate.
In mid winter we will be running daily fires (from ca 8am until ca midnight) and the stove still usually has a bit of life come morning.
The website itself is a new project - I've been working on it for a while to learn how to build profitable websites. I've got to say it has been a steep but very fun learning curve! I knew nothing at all when I started a year ago and now I'm about to start building a second site on completely different topic. The site is making me around £10 per day now with relatively little active input - not far from my target of bringing in £500 per month with it.
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