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Dirty stove glass


junior

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I'm sure this has been asked a million times so apologies, but I've tried using the search function and it's useless.

 

Is there a way to keep the glass clean in my SFS. I clean it when it's cold and for about 2 mins after I light it I can admire the warm glow. Then it goes black and remains black.

 

One of the things I was most looking forward to in winter was watching the glow of the stove in the evening.

 

Help?

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once it is alight properly you can open the door to allow the glass to cool down a little (make sure you have adequate ventilation when you do this) then clean the glass with a brillo pad - wipe it over with a clean wet cloth and close the door.

 

Depending what you burn and what sort of stove you have it will affect how long ot stays clean for. Our stove is a puffin and it does not stay clean for very long (little draught travelling across the glass area)

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We clean the glass then get the stove going, when the stove is up to temp then quickly clean again, we just use water with Microfibre cloth. If you do it quick enough no Yellow flame occurs so no sooting up of glass. It will stay clean for a long time as long as the stove burns cleanly.

 

I am talking about a diesel stove, Bubble Stove in our case.

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once it is alight properly you can open the door to allow the glass to cool down a little (make sure you have adequate ventilation when you do this)

 

Is it due to the confined space of a narrow boat that you must ensure ventilation After all, when I had my house I had an open fire in which I used to burn logs and coal

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On our Squirrel I do it cold with CIF bathroom cleaner; the thin stuff rather than the cream seems to disolve the muck a bit better. I let it stand a few minutes (the door is off the stove and horizontal at this point) , then clean it off with the newspaper pages I'm going to light the stove with.

 

When the stove is lit, I find that top air helps to keep the glass from sooting up again.

 

Iain

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Our SFS will stay lit from early winter to April. The glass can 'soot' up sometimes, and I've found it very easy to clean - I simply open the door wide first thing in the morning (when the fire is coolest) and wipe over the inside face with a piece of kitchen towel just dampened with white spirit.

 

This removes the soot & tar extremely effectively, and just takes a few seconds. Close door, admire fire for rest of day

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I think it depends on what you are burning, and how many vents your stove has. Some only have a vent at the bottom.....mine has 2 above the glass as well. Apparently if you get black glass, you can burn off the soot by charging the fire up a bit as well...I'd think wood probably makes it worse than coal...Have you played around :)

 

 

We also occassionally open the door, clean it with a brillo pad and close it again.

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I hardly ever clean my stove glass but the airwash works very well. The glass is double glazed so helps keep the glass hotter. I burn wood, smokeless coal or house coal on it. I sometimes get a slight discolouration on the bottom of it that I wipe off with some wet kitchen paper.

 

My neighbour's had squirrel stoves and their glass was filthy even using the same fuel as me.

Don't use anything course on the glass as you will scratch it.

I was fed up of filthy black glass in a villager stove and is why I bought a woodwarm stove.

 

Jamescheers.gif

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I'm sure this has been asked a million times so apologies, but I've tried using the search function and it's useless.

 

Is there a way to keep the glass clean in my SFS. I clean it when it's cold and for about 2 mins after I light it I can admire the warm glow. Then it goes black and remains black.

 

One of the things I was most looking forward to in winter was watching the glow of the stove in the evening.

 

Help?

 

What are you burning? and what make is your stove?

 

We normally burn wood on a bed of hot coal and we don't normally get this. (Morso Squirrel)

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I would never use anything wet on a hot glass door, am too afraid it might crack the glass! A friend advised the use of a nice hot teabag as a wipe followed by kitchen roll to dry. It works reasonably well and I will do this in the morning before turning up the heat, or waiting till the fire has gone out. If desperate for a clear view I open the door and polish the glass with a brass rubbing brush.

 

When I light the fire, I leave the door slightly ajar to allow for increased supply of air to keep the smoke away from the glass and only shut the door when the fire is igniting ok. Oh, and another thing, if you place coal on the fire such that it smothering the combustion, smoke will soot up the glass, so just after placing more coal on open up the air supply till fire has settled down. If your chimney is emanating a lot of smoke, it indicates incorrect combustion (well, it seems that way to me) ....enjoy the view :)

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We had a similar problem with with a Squirrel stove that was building up concrete like deposits on the top of the baffle plate as a result of burning excel and similar brands.

To such an extent that it was impossible to move the baffle plate. Further examination showed that there was no airflow behind and over the plate,

It took over an hour release the plate and clear away the build up.

Any sooting on the glass quickly burns off and there is now no build up of the concrete like residue

Edited by Offcumden
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Thanks for allthe replys.

 

The stove is a Villager Puffin or Heron so i've been told. It only has one vent at the bottom so opening the top vent to keep it clean is not an option. I burn Supertherm coal only, no wood (apart from the kindling to get it going).

 

It seems that trying to KEEP it clean is not possible, but opening the door regulaly to cool and then cleaning, is the only way forward.

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Thanks for allthe replys.

 

The stove is a Villager Puffin or Heron so i've been told. It only has one vent at the bottom so opening the top vent to keep it clean is not an option. I burn Supertherm coal only, no wood (apart from the kindling to get it going).

 

It seems that trying to KEEP it clean is not possible, but opening the door regulaly to cool and then cleaning, is the only way forward.

 

Bump

Just checked your stove has a baffle plate so my previous answer may be relevant

John

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Bump

Just checked your stove has a baffle plate so my previous answer may be relevant

John

Yes I saw that. I do have a baffle plate but it is not removable. It seems to be welded in place. When I first bought the boat and went to test the stove for the first time, the smoke didn't go out the chimney but filled the cabin. After sweeping the chimney with the big bog brush I tried again with the same result. On closer inspection I found that about 20 years worth of chimney deposits were sat on top of the baffle plate and that it was almost impossible to remove. Eventually after much swearing it was cleared sufficiency with the use of fingers and short twigs (next time I will try a hoover).

 

A forum member who happened to be on the boat told me that the baffle plate should be removable, but after close inspection and some hitting with a hammer, it was decided that it's welded in and will be staying in the stove. I can live with it but just need to make sure the top of it is regulaly cleared.

My squirrel used to get sooty very quickly...but I reduced the amount of wood kindling and paper and it was fine.

 

I used firelighters and just coal...but know this doesn't suit everyone.

 

I rarely have to use kindling as i've kept it going for the last week or so with just coal, so I'm pretty sure that kindling is not causing the dirty glass.

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Our stove is a Villager Puffin too

 

It does not stay clean. As you say there is no top draught to assist.

 

As I say, once the stove is alight I will open the door to allow it too cool then clean with a brillo pad.

 

It is probably best to do this at a time when you are hoping to be sitting there enjoying the warm comforting glow of the stove as it will dirty up again by the next day.

 

We often don't bother but, if like you, we want to see the glow then we clean it in the early evening so we get full benefit.

 

We burn Excell on ours (no wood) but I think it is the combination of it being a very small stove with not much clearance between the buring area and the glass and there being a lack of top draught.

 

If anyone else has the same stove and is able to keep the glass clean then I am all ears! I have asked many boaters how they keep their glass clean but none of them seem to have the problems with them that we do with our stove so we just live with it. It is a great stove for such a small one and it is no hardship to clean the glass with a brillo pad once a day - if you do it early evening before you sit down to relax then you will get the best out of your stove


We had a similar problem with with a Squirrel stove that was building up concrete like deposits on the top of the baffle plate as a result of burning excel and similar brands.

To such an extent that it was impossible to move the baffle plate. Further examination showed that there was no airflow behind and over the plate,

It took over an hour release the plate and clear away the build up.

Any sooting on the glass quickly burns off and there is now no build up of the concrete like residue

 

I will investigate this with our stove - does this still aply with a back boiler?

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Yes I saw that. I do have a baffle plate but it is not removable. It seems to be welded in place. When I first bought the boat and went to test the stove for the first time, the smoke didn't go out the chimney but filled the cabin. After sweeping the chimney with the big bog brush I tried again with the same result. On closer inspection I found that about 20 years worth of chimney deposits were sat on top of the baffle plate and that it was almost impossible to remove. Eventually after much swearing it was cleared sufficiency with the use of fingers and short twigs (next time I will try a hoover).

 

A forum member who happened to be on the boat told me that the baffle plate should be removable, but after close inspection and some hitting with a hammer, it was decided that it's welded in and will be staying in the stove. I can live with it but just need to make sure the top of it is regulaly cleared.

 

 

I rarely have to use kindling as i've kept it going for the last week or so with just coal, so I'm pretty sure that kindling is not causing the dirty glas

s.

Must admit I thought mine was welded in place as welllaugh.png

I cleared the top of the plate first but then realised that that the build up of sh1t had gone down the back and blocked up the airfow.

The Villager website shows the baffle plate as a replaceable spare so it may not be welded in place

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Our stove is a Villager Puffin too

 

It does not stay clean. As you say there is no top draught to assist.

 

As I say, once the stove is alight I will open the door to allow it too cool then clean with a brillo pad.

 

It is probably best to do this at a time when you are hoping to be sitting there enjoying the warm comforting glow of the stove as it will dirty up again by the next day.

 

We often don't bother but, if like you, we want to see the glow then we clean it in the early evening so we get full benefit.

 

We burn Excell on ours (no wood) but I think it is the combination of it being a very small stove with not much clearance between the buring area and the glass and there being a lack of top draught.

 

If anyone else has the same stove and is able to keep the glass clean then I am all ears! I have asked many boaters how they keep their glass clean but none of them seem to have the problems with them that we do with our stove so we just live with it. It is a great stove for such a small one and it is no hardship to clean the glass with a brillo pad once a day - if you do it early evening before you sit down to relax then you will get the best out of your stove

Then you need eyes too ... I wrote earlier that we manage to keep our (Villager Puffin) glass clean.... not absolutely spotless but good enough to be have a cheerful glow

I will investigate this with our stove - does this still aply with a back boiler?

 

Also, we give the chimney a sweep once a month, and we make sure the baffle plate is removed - just lifts off - and any debris cleared. It is a lovely little sotve :)

 

I did wish I had fitted a back boiler to it so we can have a warm towel rail during the autumn but the idea didn't get to the planning stage so too late now

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some oven cleaner for stubborn stains

 

didn't know you could scratch Glass with a brilo pad/wire wool?

 

Col

It's not the getting it clean that is the problem, it is the keeping it clean when lit that is the problem.

 

However, I have done what several suggested earlier in the thread and left the door open for a few mins to cool and then cleaned. So far 2 hours later the glass is clean. So the problem seemed to be that I was cleaning it before use, and it would get all dirty during the lighting process.

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Our stove is a Villager Puffin too

 

It does not stay clean. As you say there is no top draught to assist.

 

As I say, once the stove is alight I will open the door to allow it too cool then clean with a brillo pad.

 

It is probably best to do this at a time when you are hoping to be sitting there enjoying the warm comforting glow of the stove as it will dirty up again by the next day.

 

We often don't bother but, if like you, we want to see the glow then we clean it in the early evening so we get full benefit.

 

We burn Excell on ours (no wood) but I think it is the combination of it being a very small stove with not much clearance between the buring area and the glass and there being a lack of top draught.

 

If anyone else has the same stove and is able to keep the glass clean then I am all ears! I have asked many boaters how they keep their glass clean but none of them seem to have the problems with them that we do with our stove so we just live with it. It is a great stove for such a small one and it is no hardship to clean the glass with a brillo pad once a day - if you do it early evening before you sit down to relax then you will get the best out of your stove

Then you need eyes too ... I wrote earlier that we manage to keep our (Villager Puffin) glass clean.... not absolutely spotless but good enough to be have a cheerful glow

I will investigate this with our stove - does this still aply with a back boiler?

 

Also, we give the chimney a sweep once a month, and we make sure the baffle plate is removed - just lifts off - and any debris cleared. It is a lovely little sotve smile.png

 

I did wish I had fitted a back boiler to it so we can have a warm towel rail during the autumn but the idea didn't get to the planning stage so too late now

 

 

Thanks for your advise - I did read your post which gave advise on how to clean the glass and some advise on how to help keep it clean. Nowhere did you state that your stove was a Village Puffin and so I could not have known that. It didn't actually say that your glass always stays clean either so forgive me if I did not understand the relevance of your post

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It's not the getting it clean that is the problem, it is the keeping it clean when lit that is the problem.

 

However, I have done what several suggested earlier in the thread and left the door open for a few mins to cool and then cleaned. So far 2 hours later the glass is clean. So the problem seemed to be that I was cleaning it before use, and it would get all dirty during the lighting process.

 

That's exactly it. Whilst the fire is getting up to temperature the fuel isn't burning cleanly, usually denoted by Yellow flame. As soon as temp is reached the Black smoke disappears.

 

Our Bubble will stay pretty much clear for weeks when we run it continuously, we only started using it this week and keep having to switch off as it's quite warm here in Wiltshire.

 

If you have a build up of Black Grime on the glass a good soak in soapy water for a couple of days will clear it.

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We clean the glass then get the stove going, when the stove is up to temp then quickly clean again, we just use water with Microfibre cloth. If you do it quick enough no Yellow flame occurs so no sooting up of glass. It will stay clean for a long time as long as the stove burns cleanly.

 

I am talking about a diesel stove, Bubble Stove in our case.

I burn kero in mine and it seems to stay cleaner longer? maybe its because it has no Bio content? also it lights better, only use it when its very cold as its in the bedroom :)

 

Peter

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