Fine folks, I'd like to share something and ask for thoughts.
After reading thread after thread about using ash to clean the glass I decided to try this method.
Previously I was using two products that Rutland makes. One was a spray called "Fireplace Glass Cleaner" and the other was a paste called "White Off". Both of these worked well enough but they both cost something whereas the ash costs nothing.
The first time I tried ash to clean the glass I was amazed at how well it worked even when I was purposely damping down the air control completely and getting some good soot and stuff baked on all over the glass.
If I had to give I guess I'd guess that the ash actually worked better than the two products purchased previously and I started trying to think through that and figure out why it worked so well.
The more that I think about it I think the effectiveness is possibly/probably due to one of the general rules regarding solubility which is "like dissolves like". In other words the compounds that collectively make up the soot and stuff on the glass are the same that make up the ash and thus when those compounds are dissolved into the water that is on the paper or paper towel they also aid in dissolving the dirt on the glass. Since the ash is much more soluble initially in water than the soot and stuff, by starting with the ash the ash then accelerates the dissolving of the soot and stuff.
Anyways, its just one theory on this but I would like to ask the experts what they think; I'm completely convinced that the ash works much more than water would alone and much more than something that simply is abrasive (like silica or sand) and there has to be a basic reason why it works so well compared even to products specially purposed for cleaning the soot and stuff off of glass. I maybe taking my assorted chemistry classes too far with this one theory but that's for you folks to tell me so I'm asking the question with the hope to learn the answer. Thanks As Always!
After reading thread after thread about using ash to clean the glass I decided to try this method.
Previously I was using two products that Rutland makes. One was a spray called "Fireplace Glass Cleaner" and the other was a paste called "White Off". Both of these worked well enough but they both cost something whereas the ash costs nothing.
The first time I tried ash to clean the glass I was amazed at how well it worked even when I was purposely damping down the air control completely and getting some good soot and stuff baked on all over the glass.
If I had to give I guess I'd guess that the ash actually worked better than the two products purchased previously and I started trying to think through that and figure out why it worked so well.
The more that I think about it I think the effectiveness is possibly/probably due to one of the general rules regarding solubility which is "like dissolves like". In other words the compounds that collectively make up the soot and stuff on the glass are the same that make up the ash and thus when those compounds are dissolved into the water that is on the paper or paper towel they also aid in dissolving the dirt on the glass. Since the ash is much more soluble initially in water than the soot and stuff, by starting with the ash the ash then accelerates the dissolving of the soot and stuff.
Anyways, its just one theory on this but I would like to ask the experts what they think; I'm completely convinced that the ash works much more than water would alone and much more than something that simply is abrasive (like silica or sand) and there has to be a basic reason why it works so well compared even to products specially purposed for cleaning the soot and stuff off of glass. I maybe taking my assorted chemistry classes too far with this one theory but that's for you folks to tell me so I'm asking the question with the hope to learn the answer. Thanks As Always!
