Polished my Glass...

[WES999]

The viewing glass (clear ceramic really) had developed a hazy spot that would not clean up with standard
stove glass cleaner, negatively impacting the viewing experience.

I ordered a 3" backing plate, polishing discs for a right angle gringer, and some cerium oxide glass polish and went to work.
As you can see from the before and after pics the glass now looks like new.

The polishing does take some time so you must be patient. I found it best to polish for 5 or 10 min
take a break and let the glass cool down (it gets hot form the friction) and then polish some more.

 

[BruceNorEast]

Wow! Looks great, nice job!

 

[Sconnie Burner]

I like to keep up on keeping the glass clean so I will take a piece of 0000 steel wool (finest available), to it every 3rd or 4th morning when the stove is at its coolest before the morning reload. Its a trick I learned to remove light paint overspray off of car windows at work. I tried it on a small spot of my glass and it cleaned the soot of without leaving any hairline scratches.

If you don't feel comfortable doing without scratching it please don't try it though.

 

[BruceNorEast]

A good idea to add to the toolbox, thanks Sconnie Burner.

 

[Charles1981]

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser has always worked for me but I do it very frequently (every 4-7 days as needed).

 

[Sconnie Burner]

As you get comfortable with the steel wool you will realize you can actually get pretty aggressive with pressure. Just keep an eye out for scratching. Some glasses my not be created the same and may get scratched more easily. The reason I use this trick is because it can still be warm when doing it. Chemicals tend to evaporate too fast or get baked on.

 

[fraxinus]

Since the coating that reflects heat back into the fire box is on the inside of the glass, what does cleaning with any abrasive not specifically recommended do to this coating?

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Didn't realize there was such a coating. I guess I'm not too concerned about it in my case. Eventually with enough other methods of cleaning the glass it would eventually wear off anyways? A little bit of cool white powdery ash from the stove on a bit of wet newspaper does the fairly well too. Just not as spotless. And the yellowish haze the OP has doesnt like to come off that way.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Since the coating that reflects heat back into the fire box is on the inside of the glass, what does cleaning with any abrasive not specifically recommended do to this coating?

I've never heard of such a coating either. If there is it obviously doesn't work very well as most of the heat generated from the stove seems to radiate out through the glass.

 

[bobdog2o02]

I was unaware of any coating, I have been doing the 4-0 steel wool for a few years. I get the razor out when necessary too....

 

[WES999]

Here is some info in heat reflective coating:
(broken link removed to http://www.neg.co.jp/cgp/products/01_2.html)
I doubt my stove has it, so I an not worried about removing it.
That haze was etched into the glass, the Rutland cleaner or ash and water wouldn’t touch it.
I probably spent a good hour or so polishing to get rid of it.

 

[fraxinus]

Here is some info in heat reflective coating:
(broken link removed to http://www.neg.co.jp/cgp/products/01_2.html)
I doubt my stove has it, so I an not worried about removing it.
That haze was etched into the glass, the Rutland cleaner or ash and water wouldn’t touch it.
I probably spent a good hour or so polishing to get rid of it.

 

[fraxinus]

My understanding has been that all of the "glass" used in wood stoves has this coating. A good deal of heat does radiate out into the room, but even more, as WES999's link illustrates, is reflected back into the fire box. This is an important element in maintaining high temperatures and optimal efficiency in modern stoves. It's also the reason why wood stoves without glass are, as far as I know, no longer manufactured.

Cleaning with ashes or a proprietary cleaner and burning dry wood do keep the glass pretty clear and I'm boderline obsessive about cleaning frequently. I'm finding, however, that after some years of use, there's a milky haze I cannot remove. I would love to restore the glass to "like new" condition, but not if it's likely to compromise the operation of the stove.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

According to Wes999's link above the coating is on the outside of the glass, and one of the things they say it is designed to do is keep the glass itself hotter "to help reduce adhesion of soot". So, putting the coating on the inside of the glass would have the opposite effect.
I have never heard of this before and have doubts it is common on all stove glass, and even if you polished the inside of this type of glass, it would not effect the coating on the outside.
(broken image removed)

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Also, I've replaced stove glass before and there was no instructions about putting one side or the other on the outside. Putting a coating like this on the wrong side would have the opposite effect keep the glass cooler rather than hotter.

 

[begreen]

The coating is not on all stove ceramic glass. It may be more common on European stoves. I think Jotul is one of them. According to a thread conversation last winter Travis stoves do not have this coating.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/how-to-tell-which-side-of-glass-has-the-thermal-coating.118509/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/the-impact-of-ceramic-glass-on-your-stoves-heat-transfer.41318/

 

[wahoowad]

I too would get the hazy white/yellow develop and it was different than a haze from less-than-dry wood. it would not come off with the usual windex and/or stove ash cleaning method. I finally bought a woodstove glass cleaning product even though I was skeptical. But it worked great. It acted like oven cleaner and seemed to eat away the haze. I only need to use it about once a season.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

I know I got a new door for our mansfield last year, and they said to make sure the glass retained it's in/out orientation..

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Thanks for this thread! Just spent some time on the door of the Oslow which was "etched" and fogged, despite best efforts it wouldn't clean up with various polish's. An hour and a half later (at a Saturday pace, coffee, work, play with dog, work, coffee, wander around, etc...) there was a night and day transformation. I'm psyched!

Polishing pads, pad holder for the drill, and enough Cerium Oxide to polish every stove door in the county, $28, results, fantastic!

 

[RSNovi]

I just noticed on my Jotul C350 that the glass is labeled this side out.