Idea to solve the door glass blackening

[Softwood]

I have a Regency CI2600 catalyst wood stove insert, beautiful, only problame is it gets blackening door glass in every fire. I don't use it 24 hours so that's part of reason. I am thinking to add a removable glass, similar size as the door glass, on the door frame, of course, inside the stove, just lean against the door glass, will need to install four long screws, two up and two down, half way into the door frame so it can hold the portable glass from falling into the stove. Ideally, this removable glass should get close to the door glass as much as possible so the smoke won't get contact with the door glass. After each fire, I can easily remove the portable glass, lay it on ground, spray a layer of Imperial wood stoove door glass cleaner, wait 5 minutes and wipe it off. I could make three or five pieces of this glass and clean them all at once. What do you guys think? Do I need to go for a speical glass with high melting point? Any concens on drilling four holes on the door frame? I will use a long screw and screw it half way onto the frame, leave 1" outstand, so I don't think there is any concerns of air leaking or whatsoever, but I might miss something. Handling of the glass should be careful but it's not a problem I think, just with enough cautious like you handle the glass vase.

 

[DAKSY]

Personally, I would say that's a bad idea on SO many levels.
1. Your woodstove door is not meant to be modified in any
way, unless it was tested with those mods in a controlled environment.
2. The "glass" you need is actually Neoceram & it costs more than $1.00 per square inch.
You have maybe a 12 x 20 piece in the door...
3 - 5 pieces? Do the math.

You might want to check your wood with a moisture meter to be verify it's
dry enough to burn clean. That may keep your glass cleaner.
Run your stove hotter, if you can. & the glass should self clean...
Others may chime in here...

 

[Diabel]

Remove stove door, lay it flat, spray it with glass cleaner, wait 5min, wipe it and reinstall it.

 

[bholler]

You have a hybrid stove you have the ability to run it fairly low and slow which will get the glass dirty or higher which will keep it clean. If you want clean glass just run it hotter. And make sure you wood is dry

 

[jetsam]

Wait for a cold day. It cleans itself then.

 

[Softwood]

the wood is dry, I do have a moisture meter and usually the reading is about 18%, and I "bake" the wood right in fron of the door every time before put it in. No matter what, every time I start a new fire, I can see through the glass there are smoke circulating down onto the glass, I know that is self cleaning design guiding the air onto the glass in an attempt to clean but it turns to put a thin layer of soot onto the glass as the glass is cooler. As I said, I don't run the stoove 24 hours, so the start/run ratio is pretty high in my case.

Removeing the door for cleaning, I get tired of that, put it back onto the two hinges which you cannot see is a little pain.

thanks guys for your thoughts. I think I will give it a try, doesn't cost me too much.

 

[Diabel]

You know and it was mentioned before, you will have to source out ceramic glass. I would not attempt this.....

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Sounds like an awful lot of extra work, but if you are willing to do it but I don't know how good of an idea it is. Why don't you try using Rutland glass conditioner on it, it is the best glass cleaner that I have ever found, it leaves a slight silicone layer on the glass so it stays cleaner longer.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

 

[moresnow]

the wood is dry, I do have a moisture meter and usually the reading is about 18%, and I "bake" the wood right in fron of the door every time before put it in. No matter what, every time I start a new fire, I can see through the glass there are smoke circulating down onto the glass, I know that is self cleaning design guiding the air onto the glass in an attempt to clean but it turns to put a thin layer of soot onto the glass as the glass is cooler. As I said, I don't run the stoove 24 hours, so the start/run ratio is pretty high in my case.

Removeing the door for cleaning, I get tired of that, put it back onto the two hinges which you cannot see is a little pain.

thanks guys for your thoughts. I think I will give it a try, doesn't cost me too much.

How/what is your routine for checking moisture content?

 

[rdust]

Way to much time and effort for no reward. I stopped cleaning my BK glass on a regular basis years ago. I usually clean it when the seasons starts and maybe when I clean the chimney at the mid point.

 

[Highbeam]

How/what is your routine for checking moisture content?

yep, classic wet wood problem.

 

[mgssrs]

I clean mine every time it cools down. Two wet pieces of paper towels. The first one I dip in some ash and scrub the glass. Then wipe it with the second one. It gets perfectly clean.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I clean mine every time it cools down. Two wet pieces of paper towels. The first one I dip in some ash and scrub the glass. Then wipe it with the second one. It gets perfectly clean.

I don’t clean my glass every time but this method works very well. I keep a roll of blue shop towels under the sink so when the glass gets real dirty it’s a few minutes of light scrubbing and presto....clean glass.
Like many have suggested. Burn hotter, burn dried wood, and try the wet towel ash scrub before you destroy your stove door.

 

[DickRussell]

Ditto on the replies that say make sure the wood is dry and run the stove hotter. A dirty window is a sure sign that both conditions aren't met. I, too, run my stove only part time (supper time to 10-11pm), but I make sure it runs hot. Before the next startup, all it takes is a few seconds with a slightly dampened piece of paper towel, maybe 3x5", to wipe off the thin film of ash left from the previous burn. Only a very small area next to the latch, where the glass is cooler from thermal conduction to the cooler handle, gets darkened. Usually a good fire next time takes care of that. If your glass is getting covered with black goo, imagine what your flue pipe looks like.

The science behind has been well understood for decades. Here is one paper, going back to 1970: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...fplrp130.pdf&usg=AOvVaw026Rap7ufhi9XKDowkhEkZ
(or Google on "thermal decomposition temperature of wood product compounds."

From the first page of text, there is this:

"In reporting the exothermic reactions in wood, Kollmann (44) defined three phase points:
(1) Flame point, 225° to 260° C., at which decomposition gases will burn if an ignition source
is present.
(2) Burning point, 260° to 290° C., at which burning occurs with a steady flame. (The decomposition
becomes exothermic during the burning point and causes a self-induced flash.)
(3) Flash point, 330° to 470° C., the range of spontaneous ignition."

For those in the US, 260, 290, and 330 C are 500, 554, and 626 F. Those temperatures are for combustion, with air present. By 450 C (842 F), all the compounds in wood have undergone pyrolysis anyway. "Pyrolysis is the heating of an organic material, such as biomass, in the absence of oxygen. Because no oxygen is present the material does not combust but the chemical compounds (i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) that make up that material thermally decompose into combustible gases and charcoal." Just about any organic compound comes apart at a sufficiently high temperature.

 

[kennyp2339]

I think I only clean my glass once a year, right after I clean the chimney after the end of the burning season, dirty glass is not a deal breaker for me, I dont need to see every square inch of my firebox, just enough to see when wood needs to be reloaded.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Wondering if my tried and true method would work on a woodstove view glass like it does on my biomass stove. They both get hot, real hot but I'll open the door when the feed is idling and take a natural bristle paint brush ( not a plastic britle brush as it will melt on the glass and make a heck of a mess) and wipe the glass with the brush from the top downward to the bottom.

That removes 95% of the soot on the glass and takes maybe 15 seconds total. I do that almost every day now and have been for a couple years. The brush will slowly burn away and when it's too short, get another. I use the cheap 'chip' brushes from Menards or HF. You can buy them in quantity and they are dire cheap.

 

[xman23]

In the early years mine was totally blacken every day. And I cleaned it as I wanted that fire view. Thats the name of the cleaner i use. Now the glass stays perfect and I do almost nothing. a bit of white haze occasionally. Same stove, same me, same wood. Whats different, seasoned 3 years old oak. And we know how to run the stove.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Wood stove, pellet stove, corn stove, they all produce the same combustion by products, ash, soot and fly ash (and creosote with wood fires and nitric acid vapor with corn) but basically all similar in interior deposits in the firebox., so it stands to reason that ash/soot removal from a view glass should work with any combustion process.

 

[Supersurvey]

My Hampton HI200 is prone to dirty glass unless I burn about 1/2 to 3/4 air open.

 

[BigJ273]

This is a disaster waiting to happen. Drilling holes into your door frame??? All over some dirty glass??