Is this glass too dirty?

[CountryGal]

I want to know if I'm expecting too much when it comes to the air wash feature on my Country Striker.

Here's a picture of my top-down fire this morning.

Another one of my stove and hearth. What do you think?

BTW, now that I am the fire builder in our house (I am woman!! I build fire!!), I am loving the top-down! Most of the time
I just have to rake the coals to the front, add a large split, put a piece of kindling in the front and we're off! That video
really sunk in for me. Paul is happy! He comes home from school to a warm house every day.

 

[budman]

He-- no,you should see mine. :lol:

 

[bokehman]

I guess it depends on the unit but it also depends how you load it and with what. With mine if I fill it right up and light a hot fire the glass stays clean but if I feed the fire the glass fogs up quick.

 

[MrGriz]

It doesn't look too bad to me, but you might want to check the gasket on the right side of the door. Sometimes that build up signals a leak in the gasket.

Great looking hearth!

 

[Todd]

Dirty glass bugs me, so if that was my stove I'd check the door seal and or burn a little hotter.

 

[harmerd]

My Jotul Castine has tendency to have a little on the lower corners, and they are equal in size and shape. This leads me to believe that its a design/flow. It shows up after a few days, then after a really hot 550-600 it crystalizes and falls away for the most part. After about two weeks I wiped the window with a damp paper towel(when cool) to get the fly ash off and everything just brushed off. The window is just like new. Clear and clean. I haven't run the stove up to 700(too stinkin hot for me not for the Mrs.) plus as others talk about so I don't know if one fire will eliminate this little streaks.

I'll look at the gasket just incase, but the stove is new this year.


D

 

[CountryGal]

My gasket seems tight but I haven't done the dollar bill test yet---I imagine I have to do that when the stove is cool and I've had a fire going pretty much 24/7 the past week.

 

[sgcsalsero]

Hey C-Gal, what kind of heat do you get radiating off all that stone ??? .. looks like a great setup there. Most of my dirty glass is from damping down on overnight burns, that and the not-so-dry wood I'm ashamed to admit I use.

 

[CountryGal]

It's manufactured stone but it does get warm (not hot) to the touch, and I'm sure adds to the warmth of the room. See the brick to the right? That is brickboard and that used to be what was behind the stove before we had it redone. I decided to leave it up there as I couldn't find matching pine for the adjoining wall to patch it and it doesn't really look bad.

 

[Hogwildz]

Looks great! And that ain't sheet for dirt on your glass. Don't sweat it. Any dark or black will burn off with a hot fire. The fly ash, that will have to be wiped off when its cool. If your stove is not running away, and you not having trouble controlling the fire, door seal is most likely. As these are 2 tell tail signs of a leaky gasket. It wouldn't hurt to check though, if that would ease your mind.

 

[begreen]

I agree with hog, it doesn't look like anything to get alarmed aboutr. If that is just an hour after the fire has started, it may be smoky kindling or newpaper soot. But if you are seeing that after a steady 600 deg. hot fire, it may be worth checking out, especially if the soot shows up consistently on one side. Do the dollar bill test and pay particular attention to the side that the glass is darkest at. Sometimes soot indicates too much air coming in where it shouldn't.

What temps are you normally seeing on the stove top?

 

[CountryGal]

I try and keep the stovetop around 500, less than 600--because that says 'overfire' on my thermometer. I tried using the ash method for cleaning last spring and couldn't get all of it off. Used the cleaner that the dealer gave us and it wouldn't get it off either. I keep reading hot fire--but what temps are we talking about here?

 

[Cearbhaill]

BTW, now that I am the fire builder in our house (I am woman!! I build fire!!), I am loving the top-down! Most of the time
I just have to rake the coals to the front, add a large split, put a piece of kindling in the front and we're off! That video
really sunk in for me.

I'm a lady and the fire builder/wood wrangler in my household as well and I am enjoying every minute of it.
Husband hasn't the time or inclination to observe how our insert responds to certain wood and weather conditions- I can't imagine how he isn't fascinated by it, but he's not. He wouldn't know a secondary burn if it leapt out and licked his face!

So I'm doing the trial and error/how hot is too hot/when to cut the air back observations and learning how to operate the insert with what I hope to be optimum heating results. I'm heating an entire house all by myself and it feels grand!

I do top down fires also- it's a total point of pride that I can load everything up, strike one match, and not have to open the door again for six hours. I seem to have a bit of a knack for it, although it's probably just that I am patient and will take the time to stack things up 'just so'.

Go lady firebuilders!!

 

[Todd]

I try and keep the stovetop around 500, less than 600--because that says 'overfire' on my thermometer. I tried using the ash method for cleaning last spring and couldn't get all of it off. Used the cleaner that the dealer gave us and it wouldn't get it off either. I keep reading hot fire--but what temps are we talking about here?

I wouldn't worry til your thermometer is over 700 for a steel stove. If any part of it starts to glow red, then it's overfiring.

 

[WarmGuy]

I haven’t done the dollar bill test yet---I imagine I have to do that when the stove is cool

Not if you've got money to burn (ha ha).

That amount of dirty window is pretty common for me. Recently I've had much less buildup on my window since I'm burning a lot hotter (Regency 2400 insert). I get it up to 500-600, and even if I leave it damped down from then on, I don't get much buildup.

You can also play wit the positioning of your logs. Pushing them back might help. Do you tend to build the fire on one side (as I do)?

 

[begreen]

I try and keep the stovetop around 500, less than 600--because that says 'overfire' on my thermometer. I tried using the ash method for cleaning last spring and couldn't get all of it off. Used the cleaner that the dealer gave us and it wouldn't get it off either. I keep reading hot fire--but what temps are we talking about here?

It sounds like you may have a thermometer meant for placement on a single wall flue. The temp scale is low for stove top use. Your stove can burn at 600-650, stovetop temps, all day with no risk of being overfired. Open that stove up and let it burn a load or two of wood at 600 degrees. I'll bet that glass just about cleans itself.

 

[CountryGal]

Aha! Do they make a stove top magnetic thermometer with stove top burn ranges? My manual does not give overfire temps, so I was going by the thermometer. I'll probably have to open windows at 600-650 because right now it's keeping my living room at 70 and sometimes I have to put the pedestal fan on to cool down a bit.

 

[CountryGal]

And, FYI I have double wall pipe coming out of the stove. I want an accurate stove top thermometer if possible as I don't want to have to use a probe.

Here's an example of why I was confused:

Rutland Magnetic Stove Thermometer is a highly accurate instrument for monitoring stove performance. Tells at a glance the potential for creosote build-up. It has an accuracy range from 100°F to 900 °F. Installs vertically on a single wall pipe or on the cook top surface of any wood or coal stove.

 

[JBinKC]

My Jotul Castine has tendency to have a little on the lower corners, and they are equal in size and shape. This leads me to believe that its a design/flow. It shows up after a few days, then after a really hot 550-600 it crystalizes and falls away for the most part. After about two weeks I wiped the window with a damp paper towel(when cool) to get the fly ash off and everything just brushed off. The window is just like new. Clear and clean. I haven't run the stove up to 700(too stinkin hot for me not for the Mrs.) plus as others talk about so I don't know if one fire will eliminate this little streaks.

I'll look at the gasket just incase, but the stove is new this year.


D

I very much agree with what you are saying the corners of the Castine get dirty no matter how hot you burn. Its easy enough to clean off. I also think it is a potential design flaw but I finally figured out how to avoid it. Burn seasoned debarked wood and keep the wood at least 3" away from the glass. It emits less smoke on the initial fire up. Practical no but at least I figured what is required.

 

[adrpga498]

My Jotul Castine has tendency to have a little on the lower corners, and they are equal in size and shape. This leads me to believe that its a design/flow. It shows up after a few days, then after a really hot 550-600 it crystalizes and falls away for the most part. After about two weeks I wiped the window with a damp paper towel(when cool) to get the fly ash off and everything just brushed off. The window is just like new. Clear and clean. I haven't run the stove up to 700(too stinkin hot for me not for the Mrs.) plus as others talk about so I don't know if one fire will eliminate this little streaks.

I'll look at the gasket just incase, but the stove is new this year.


D

I very much agree with what you are saying the corners of the Castine get dirty no matter how hot you burn. Its easy enough to clean off. I also think it is a potential design flaw but I finally figured out how to avoid it. Burn seasoned debarked wood and keep the wood at least 3" away from the glass. It emits less smoke on the initial fire up. Practical no but at least I figured what is required.

BINGO, good dry wood on start-up does the trick. Avoid smoke at starts and class always stays clean.

 

[CountryGal]

Well I called my stove dealer and asked at what temperature is overfiring. Got the answer about the stove glowing. I said so what temperature would that be? They need to say it. He said 900 + and I can safely burn at 600-650 but 500 is optimal.

 

[WILDSOURDOUGH]

Kinda the same story here-
My solution to the dirty glass is to keep the wood and kindeling away from the glass.
If the wood touches the glass, the glass gets black. If its just close- the glass gets brown or just fly ash clings to it.
A real hot fire will burn it off, or I just clean it after the fire goes out- every few days.
Way-to-go GALS !

 

[hfjeff]

In my opinion that is way too dirty. I clean mine about every 3 days. I like it crystal clear, but my stove is new this year. I don't always burn that hot either. Many times I let it get down to 200-300 before firing back up, but that is when I rake the coals to the front and crack the door open to burn them up. My airwash works very well and I don't have a problem with it. I try to avoid a lot of smoke. If I let it get too cool and then load it up and it begins to smoke a lot, I crack the door for 10 minutes and it takes right off again with flame.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Hey CG, I have the same stove as you, and see the same marks as you have. Suggestions already mentioned above help... burn a little hotter, dry wood, build a little bit away fromt the glass, etc. What I've noticed is to open up the air a little will help a lot with keep the glass clean. Never had to use more than a paper towel with a wet corner and some ash. Still, the little bit of dirty glass at the lower corners is somewhat normal for me no matter what I do.

-Kevin