The manual for my new Jotul says not to clean the glass unless it has cooled. Now that winter is here, that will be some time in May or June if they mean cool to room temperature, so... If I clean the glass - I've been using the same cleaner as we have used for a glass top range which is recommended for stove and fireplace doors - how cool does it need to be? Is Jotul's warning because attempting to clean hot glass will damage ithe glass or is it to prevent burns to the person doing the cleaning? The doors are almost totally free of creosote, but fly ash and a cloudy deposit are present. Thanks for your help.
How Cool?
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When I had a front loader, by the time I would have the ashes cleaned up, the coals raked forward and loaded up, the door would be cool enough and you just need to use a damp paper towel to remove fly ash. (several layers thick though as the door will still be WARM).
I wait for it to be cool enough to not immediately evaporate the cleaning solution on contact..or cool enough to touch with my bare hand.
Hmmm . . . must have missed those words of caution when I read my manual . . . and I did read it more than a few times. Oops.
Frax, we're both in Maine . . . so we have to face the facts . . . unless Gore is right, I don't look for any great warming trend from here on in until sometime in March . . . with maybe the traditional January thaw thrown into the mix . . . and possibly, just maybe, a one week trip down to the Carribean if Mrs. Firefighterjake and I agree that our savings account looks healthy enough.
That said, while I may not clean my glass with the fire raging or even with large glowing chunks of coal in the firebox, I have oftentimes cleaned the glass when the glass was still warm . . . dare I say even hot . . . to the touch. I generally only use water and newspaper. The plus side: Charge it to the heat, but cleaning the glass is always wicked easy as everything comes clean in one or two swipes. The negative: It can be hot and can burn your fingers if you're not careful . . . generally I use the bunched up newspaper and even then have to sometimes re-wet the newspaper as I can feel the heat starting to come through the newspaper.
So my take . . . maybe there is another reason, but I would suspect the main reason for the warning is for Jotul to protect itself against morons burning themselves and then attempting to sue Jotul for not warning them that the inside of the glass could be pretty hot while attempting a cleaning when there is a fire or coals inside the firebox.
Final words: I would generally still say it is always safest to go with the manufacturer's recommendations over some idiot firefighter.
Frax, we're both in Maine . . . so we have to face the facts . . . unless Gore is right, I don't look for any great warming trend from here on in until sometime in March . . . with maybe the traditional January thaw thrown into the mix . . . and possibly, just maybe, a one week trip down to the Carribean if Mrs. Firefighterjake and I agree that our savings account looks healthy enough.
That said, while I may not clean my glass with the fire raging or even with large glowing chunks of coal in the firebox, I have oftentimes cleaned the glass when the glass was still warm . . . dare I say even hot . . . to the touch. I generally only use water and newspaper. The plus side: Charge it to the heat, but cleaning the glass is always wicked easy as everything comes clean in one or two swipes. The negative: It can be hot and can burn your fingers if you're not careful . . . generally I use the bunched up newspaper and even then have to sometimes re-wet the newspaper as I can feel the heat starting to come through the newspaper.
So my take . . . maybe there is another reason, but I would suspect the main reason for the warning is for Jotul to protect itself against morons burning themselves and then attempting to sue Jotul for not warning them that the inside of the glass could be pretty hot while attempting a cleaning when there is a fire or coals inside the firebox.
Final words: I would generally still say it is always safest to go with the manufacturer's recommendations over some idiot firefighter.
If/when it's hot, I use gloves to save the fingertips and I use dry paper towel dabbed onto some cold ash. When I need to do a more thorough cleaning, I do it in the morning after the door was left open long enough to cool while I remove some hot ashes.
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