There are several ways to clean your wood burning stove’s glass. This article will provide you with a step-by-step method to ensure that your appliance’s glass is properly maintained.
Before proceeding with the following steps, always ensure that you use your wood burning stove’s Airwash system correctly and use good quality fuel as this will reduce the frequency with which you need to clean your stove’s door glass.
Before undertaking this cleaning operation, make sure that you wear protective gloves and allow enough time for your wood burning stove to cool fully. Do not clean hot glass.
Soot can often contain acidic particles that can cause corrosive damage to printed glass. Therefore, before applying the cleaning agent, remove any dust and loose soot with a moist cloth and buff dry.
For wood burning stoves with printed glass, it is advisable to use a less aggressive cleaning agent such as the Stovax Glass Cleaner – spray. Otherwise, if you have a heavily stained, clear glass wood burning appliance, Stovax’s gel cleaner, Stove Glass Cleaner – wipe-on, would be more appropriate. Please note that the gel cleaner is slightly abrasive and is therefore only suitable for stoves with a clear glass door.
Once you have decided which is the appropriate glass cleaner to use for your wood burning stove, apply a little to a soft cloth and rub it over the surface of the glass.
Ensure that cleaning fluid is applied carefully and not excessively as it is important that it does not come into contact with the rope seal around the edge of the glass.
Please note that if the rope seal does absorb excess cleaning agent; it is advisable to replace the rope as soon as possible to preserve the printed finish of the glass.
Please note that this article is only a guide, the steps may not apply to all Stovax wood burning products. Some wood burning products may be cleaned differently depending on the type of model. Please visit your local Stovax retailer for more advice and information.
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Posted by Dan on April 19, 2013
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My new stovax log burner’s window became coated with a hard varnish like substance. What should I use to clean it off? I’m afraid to light it again until I know more.
It sounds like you have a build up of tar on your glass. This is usually the result of burning low quality fuel.
It is highly recommended that you only burn seasoned timber with less than 20% moisture content. More information on identifying good firewood is available here.
Following the instructions above, and given in the video, should help you to clean your glass. We recommend you use a lint free cloth to apply the cleaning products.
Agree with Dan;s comments but you also need to understand how different woods burn, even if they are seasoned. For example, soft woods will season more quickly but need to be burned at maximum temperature to avoid tar on the glass. Obviously best that you burn well seasoned woods (ash being the best for economy and heat) but these are expensive and often difficult to find at reasonable prices. Best time to purchase is in the spring, when the market is flat, and build up a good store of well seasoned wood at a decent price which if you do it each year, will provide for years ahead. The worst thing is trying to buy good quality wood at a reasonable price in August. Further, there are unscrupulous suppliers whose first delivery will be good but then you are hooked to future unseasoned supplies. Last point, if it is tarring the glass, you can imagine what its doing to the flue and over time this can be a real problem. .
I have a stain that is not coming off my wood stove glass door. I tried to wipe the inside of the glass with my glove when it was hot and now there’s a stain that I can’t remove with Stovax stove glass cleaner. I’ve looked at the gloves and they’re supposed to be leather but I’m wondering if they maybe plastic….. eeeek. I’m hoping I can get this stain off. Any advise would be fantastic.
Good Morning Ceri,
Thank you for taking the time to send us a message. If you would like to send over an image of your stained stove and your contact details to my email address Dhyland@stovax.com, we can have someone from our technical department to contact you about your current issue.
Kind Regards,
Darcy.
I have a white crystal type deposit 0n the glass which will not growth a rarity of special cleaners and using lemon juice and WD40. best was WD40
Can I do anything?
Good Morning Paul,
Thank you for taking the time to send us a message.
Glass can be affected by some forms of smokeless fuel or treated wood such as pallets, window frames and doors which can cause a crazing on the inner surface of the glass. Smokeless fuel is man-made and some types contain additives which can have an acidic effect on the glassof your stove. The crazing looks like very small cracks or an effect similar to a spiders web but to the touch is very smooth. Normally it cannot be cleaned off but in most cases it is fine to still use as it does not affect the structural integrity of the glass. We would advise you to speaking to your fuel supplier and ask them to suggest an alternative smokeless fuel, or to speak to the Solid Fuel Advisory Service for more help on fuels. We offer some advice on which fuels are suitable in our Stovax manuals (depending on which stove or fire you have). I hope this helps.
Many Thanks,
Darcy.
Nice blog. The efforts you have put in to create the posts are quite interesting. Looking forward to seeing you soon in a new post.
The burning of wood inside builds up the smoke, ash, and dirt over the glasses surface. Not only it looks dirty but stops you from looking at the fire.
So cleaning the wood glass from time to time is the only option you have. Here are some of the ways you can clean the wood stove glass door.
how should you remove the door on a Riva 55 cassette? I want to replace door seal which is a bit tarry!
Good Morning John,
Thank you for taking the time to send us a message.
As we have to post a few copies from a manual, we thought it best we email it to you instead.
We hope this helps,
Darcy
Are you no longer making the Stovax GEL glass cleaner – have been trying to find it now online for past 6 months to no avail?
Thanks
Hi, why can I not find any clear glass gel anymore. It is brilliant at cleaning log burner glass. The spray is no where near as effective
Can you advise me if I can still get the gel? if so from where please?
Regards
Andy Schmid
Hi Andy, thanks for your comment. We no longer supply the gel glass cleaner unfortunately, only the spray. You can use any suitable glass cleaner though. However as I’m not sure what model you have, please make sure to only use non-abrasive glass cleaner on printed glass.
Thanks, Chris
Hi
I have found that Cillit Bang black mold remover cleans my Stovall glass like new just spraying in and leaving for 5 mins then cleaning with newspaper brings it up like new.
I have been told that using cillit bang can make my glass crack when the fire is then lit?Surley this glass is very tough and resistant from chemicals?
It seems a lot less effort than brilo pads.
Hi Dave, in line with our cleaning and maintenance guidance, we’d usually only recommend using non-abrasive glass cleaners such as our own Stovax spray glass cleaner (available via your retailer) or non-abrasive glass cleaners from other brands are fine too.
Thanks, Chris
Hi Folks, we had a visitor stand close to the glass door of our stove. Unfortunately the fire was on at the time and some of the back of their top burned onto the glass. Thankfully visitor was ok. But I can’t remove the stain. It’s a really tough stain – looks like the fibres of the top melted onto the glass door – any advice greatly appreciated . Thanks, Michelle
Hi Michelle, thanks for your comment. If it’s melted onto the glass you will struggle to remove it through cleaning, so we’d have to recommend replacing the glass as being the only real option here unfortunately.
Best wishes, Stovax & Gazco
Hi, we had a situation where we tried to clean the glass when it was hot with a cloth that had plastic fibres which then melted onto the glass. The stovax spray did not touch it. We were successful in the end by using bicarb and a little white vinegar and a lot of scrubbing. It took about 30 minutes but the glass is as new and that was 3 years ago now.
Good luck.
Thanks for your advice guys ! I will try bicarbonate and white vinegar on it and see how it goes – fingers crossed.