Dirty stove glass

[pelicanafloat]

 

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

I'm sorry ... I was perhaps blowing, or would that be 'puffin' my own trumpet

 

It was meant to be taken slightly TIC. As for not understanding the relevance of my posts ... no need to apologise, I doubt anyone else does including myself!

[Offcumden]

Our stove is a Villager Puffin too

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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

Sorry ours does not have a back boiler

I have found this

http://jhalfie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sweeping-villager-puffin-stove.html

 

Which may be useful

HTH

John

[canals are us?]

I wouldn't use anything that can scratch the glass as any scratches will only make the glass get dirtier. I was advised to use a glass scraper, the type where you use Stanley knife blades in a holder to remove excess paint on glass. Being a manufactured blade nice and flat to scrape off the crud without scratching the glass.

 

James

[Pete of Ebor]

I've got a Morso badger at home and I find that the glass only blackens when I shut the air vent down, so I don't shut it. I run it wide open all the time. I burn only wood (offcuts & pallets and logs if I can get them free...) I don't burn 'solid'. When the glass does black-up, I usually find it clears itself again over a day or so once the stove is cranked up, and if I do have to clean it, washing-up liquid and water on a soft sponge followed by kitchen paper usually does the trick. I wouldn't use brillo or even cif as ther are both abrasives and will scratch the glass, and once it's scratched, it will be much more difficult to clean properly.

[Ex- Member]

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

 

We do too, or did last year, in fact last winter we burned nothing but Kero and we were getting it under 60ppl

 

We were topped up with regular diesel when we came on the water 8 weeks ago, and there was still loads of Kero in the tanks though so until we use up the bow tanks we'll be diluted so should burn nice and clean. I will add Kero to diesel in the future though maybe 20l per 200l fill, I reckon the stove burns hotter and cleaner with neat Kero though, but I just can't be bothered to collect and transport it to the boat and then have to fill up when we can have it delivered and filled and not even sniff it. So occasionally filling with 20l of it will have to do.

[Neil2]

If your stove doesn't have a top vent then it isn't designed to burn wood, it's a coal burning stove and you will always struggle to keep the glass clean with such a stove.

 

Basically coal burns with air from below, wood with air from above which helps to keep the glass clean. Some stoves are made with different top venting which is deliberately designed to keep the glass clear, they are known as self cleaning stoves but in my experience most stoves with a top vent will keep the glass clean.

[junior]

Sorry ours does not have a back boiler

I have found this

http://jhalfie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sweeping-villager-puffin-stove.html

 

Which may be useful

HTH

John

That's quite interesting, and definitely the stove I have as it shows the hinges at the bottom of the door rather than the sides as all the pictures of the Villager Heron show.

[peterboat]

 

We do too, or did last year, in fact last winter we burned nothing but Kero and we were getting it under 60ppl

 

We were topped up with regular diesel when we came on the water 8 weeks ago, and there was still loads of Kero in the tanks though so until we use up the bow tanks we'll be diluted so should burn nice and clean. I will add Kero to diesel in the future though maybe 20l per 200l fill, I reckon the stove burns hotter and cleaner with neat Kero though, but I just can't be bothered to collect and transport it to the boat and then have to fill up when we can have it delivered and filled and not even sniff it. So occasionally filling with 20l of it will have to do.

Yes it does burn hotter my wispergen uses it too. The wispergen has to have its glowplug timing lowered to ignite it so it must be more flamable and when I serviced it the carbon build up was half what it was like on diesel which is the same as the bubble.

 

Peter

[Ex- Member]

Yes it does burn hotter my wispergen uses it too. The wispergen has to have its glowplug timing lowered to ignite it so it must be more flamable and when I serviced it the carbon build up was half what it was like on diesel which is the same as the bubble.

 

Peter

 

Rightt, that explains why the stove pot seemed to stay so clean of carbon compared to previous years on red. I recall having to adjust the flame as well. I might try to get a bit more Kero in with the diesel then this winter.

[cheshire~rose]

Sorry ours does not have a back boiler

I have found this

http://jhalfie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sweeping-villager-puffin-stove.html

 

Which may be useful

HTH

John

 

Thank you for that.

 

We arrived at the boat last night and before we lit the fire I had a look - we have no baffle plate and I suspect that is because we have a back boiler. The heat is directed across the forward sloping surface of the boiler in place of the baffle plate.

[cheshire~rose]

I've got a Morso badger at home and I find that the glass only blackens when I shut the air vent down, so I don't shut it. I run it wide open all the time. I burn only wood (offcuts & pallets and logs if I can get them free...) I don't burn 'solid'. When the glass does black-up, I usually find it clears itself again over a day or so once the stove is cranked up, and if I do have to clean it, washing-up liquid and water on a soft sponge followed by kitchen paper usually does the trick. I wouldn't use brillo or even cif as ther are both abrasives and will scratch the glass, and once it's scratched, it will be much more difficult to clean properly.

 

Extra fine grade wire wool will not scratch glass. It is something I used to use when restoring classic cars to remove the build up of grime around the edges of very old windows. It is also useful for removing paint (after you have scraped most of it off with a stanley knife blade.

 

I have been using brillo pads to clean the glass on various stoves I have owned since the 1970's. when we had a Rayburn stove in our living room. I have never had any problems with the glass becoming cloudy or being any more difficult to clean over time. Clearly brillo pads are must coarser than extra fine wire wool. If people are that bothered about potentially putting scratches in the glass then I would say get some 0000 grade wire wool to use instead. We had a new glass a couple of years ago as the old one cracked and it looked so lovely I decided to used extra fine wire wool instead to try and keep the glass looking good. I kept it up for a winter season. Not only was cleaning the glass a much longer process with the fine wire wool but within a few months the glass did not look any different to the old one. I have reverted to brillo pads!

[Beaker]

 

Extra fine grade wire wool will not scratch glass. It is something I used to use when restoring classic cars to remove the build up of grime around the edges of very old windows. It is also useful for removing paint (after you have scraped most of it off with a stanley knife blade.

 

I have been using brillo pads to clean the glass on various stoves I have owned since the 1970's. when we had a Rayburn stove in our living room. I have never had any problems with the glass becoming cloudy or being any more difficult to clean over time. Clearly brillo pads are must coarser than extra fine wire wool. If people are that bothered about potentially putting scratches in the glass then I would say get some 0000 grade wire wool to use instead. We had a new glass a couple of years ago as the old one cracked and it looked so lovely I decided to used extra fine wire wool instead to try and keep the glass looking good. I kept it up for a winter season. Not only was cleaning the glass a much longer process with the fine wire wool but within a few months the glass did not look any different to the old one. I have reverted to brillo pads!

 

This will be our fifth winter with a woodburner at home, all I've ever used to clean the glass is a damp cloth dipped in the wood ash, soot and creosote comes off very easily.

 

Then a quick rub up with dry kitchen roll or newspaper, and Robert's your mother's brother.

 

ETA I wouldn't use this method if burning solid fuel, as there could be abrasive bits in the ash.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Beaker

[bigcol]

Another thing I've noticed that folks order replacement Glass from the manufacturers,stove company or eBay

 

but you can just pop down to a local glass merchants they will cut to size for a fraction of the money that manufacturer's charge.

 

Col

[Keeping Up]

How cool does the glass have to be before it is safe to use a damp cloth on it?

[Ex- Member]

How cool does the glass have to be before it is safe to use a damp cloth on it?

 

On our diesel bubble we don't wait for it to cool, just do it as soon as the door opens quickly with quite a damp to wet cloth, a nice sizzle and a big puff of steam LOL but clean glass. If we waited for the glass to cool the flame would turn Yellow and when you shut the door the glass would simply turn Black again and you're back to where you started.

 

Wood & coal stoves burn much hotter though, but once a coal or wood stove is up to temp it'll not smoke too much like yellow flamed diesel, so you would have time for the glass to cool possibly.

 

The glass should be able to cope with cold water going on it when it's hot.

[cheshire~rose]

I only allow it to cool enough that I do not burn my fingers when the brillo pad transmits the heat to them!