Glass Cleaner

Rutland Glass Cleaner works the best for me. Leaves a silicone finish that ash doesn't stick to easily.

I use 000 steel wool every second or third fill. Its easy and cheap and only takes a half a minute or so. A forum member posted this a couple of years ago and I have been doing it ever since.

I use some cold ash from the fire with a damp cloth. Removes all deposits and leaves the glass clean

Sodium bicarbonate (Baking soda) on a damp paper towel seems to work for me. Its not too abrasive and isn't messy.

A little update from my previous post in this tread. Stove petered out the other night (wife was in charge...lol). Good timing, the weather warmed up a bit, decided to give it a good cleaning. I switched to wood today just to take the chill out. Weather is supposed to stay warm the next 2 days so looks like I'll be burning wood. I've been getting a nasty soot buildup on my mica when burning wood. I spoke with Larry T. about this issue and he told me the wood is probably green. Hard to believe, it's been sitting well over a year? The ash trick works wonders, but it tends to ruin the mica. It can't take much abuse. I was wondering if anyone ran into this problem? I was thinking about getting a custom piece of glass made for my Chubby hoping it would hold up better than the mica, probably big bucks! I suppose my options are burn the wood and get the soot. Burn the coal and sweat. Or let the oil burner kick on in warmer temps. What to do, what to do? I may just keep a spare set of mica for when I burn wood.

Three weeks into burning our new DS 1500, it was obvious a glass cleaning was needed. Haze and a little fly ash were getting very noticeable.

After reading this entire thread, I decided to try the non-chemical methods first. The idea of using ash on a damp cloth sounded a lot like the "hints from Heloise"-type cleaning tips my wife is so fond of--most of which are pretty darn effective--so I decided to give it a try.

Before this morning's shakedown and loading, I wiped the glass down with two applications of ash on a damp, wadded-up paper towel, with a rinse in between using a clean, damp paper towel with water only. Then followed with two rinsings with clean, wet paper towels and drying with a dry paper towel. I also used a damp towel (water only, no ash) to clean the outside of the glass. I couldn't believe how well this cleaned the glass. It was so clean, after I was done, it was hard to tell there was glass there at all from several feet away. And the whole process was low-mess...didn't even have any ash to clean up off the floor, and just a few paper towels to throw in the trash.

Back in the old days of burning a Franco-Belge, I had a "heat shield" to hang over the door opening when cleaning the glass. This was a piece of heavy sheet metal, sized to fit the door opening, with the top edge folded over into a "lip" that hung on the top rim of the F-B firebox opening. This kept gasses and heat in the stove while you let the door cool for cleaning. The local F-B dealer had this made at a local metal shop, and sold them as an accessory.

For the DS, I made my own "heat shield" out of three layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, folded over at two opposite edges to keep them together. After opening the firebox door, I held the foil blanket over the door opening and molded it around the lip of the door opening with my (gloved!) fingers. The foil appeared to be sucked inward a bit by the stove draft; anyway, it stayed in place throughout the 10-minute cleaning. The CO detector mounted just a few feet from the stove read zero the whole time.

I'm sure the glass won't always stay this clear; as many on here have pointed out, pitting and discoloration are to be expected over time. But the ash method is cheap, effective, and low-mess. I may pick up some of the Rutland cleaner several of you mentioned and give that a shot--leaving a silicone coating on the glass to protect from ash effects sounds like a good idea.

Attached are a few pics showing my "heat shield", and the view through my nice, clean glass!

Looks good. But I use a piece of newspaper on my glass. I just open the door, give a quick rub with the newspaper, then close it.

I got tired of cleaning the glass, it would get worst every year. I replaced it with a metal plate. I couldn't see through the glass anyway. I'm glad I did, the glass just fell apart while I was removing it.

I use 'HUGGIES" baby wipes, right after the shakedown, when glass is warm. Nonabrasive, and quick.
Cheers

I tried the coal ash method mentioned earlier in the thread and it worked phenomenally well. Kudos to whoever thought that one up.

Ditto on that D Seems to simplistic though!