Wood stoves are not something that you would see in homes these days as they are becoming quite rare. But hardly anything can beat the cozy feeling you get on a wintry day with a wood stove burning in the room giving off a gentle crackling sound while dissipating warm air.
Wood burning stoves are a great alternative to traditional fireplaces. They serve the same purpose with much less clutter and need less maintenance than a fireplace and chimney.
However, there is one unavoidable thing that occurs in a wood stove – that is the staining of the glass door. All wood stoves have a glass door that serves the important purpose of allowing us a view of the burning wood.
That helps us keep track of the status of the available fuel. But continuous exposure to direct fire can cause the glass door to blacken over time.
So, if you are on the lookout for safe and effective methods of cleaning wood stove glass, then do read on.
How to Clean Wood Stove Glass?
A wood stove is a very elegant appliance to begin with and added to that is the glass door which lends it a very sleek and sophisticated look. But if you allow it to blacken with soot from the burning wood, it wouldn’t quite look the same, will it?
Having stained woodstove glass will make it hard to see inside, which can be quite inconvenient. You might end up opening the door repeatedly to check if there’s enough wood left in the stove.
To avoid all this, all you need to do is get rid of the soot. A clean woodstove glass door should always be maintained for safety reasons as well. Fortunately, you can get rid of the black soot stains from the glass door very easily.
Here is how you can do it:
Damp Newspaper
After the stove has cooled down, open the glass door and take a damp newspaper to wipe down the inside. A single sheet of newspaper can tear on contact with water so you can fold it twice or thrice in order to gain a thicker cleaning surface.
Make sure the folded newspaper is only damp but not soaking wet. For better results, dip the damp newspaper in a bit of wood ash. The ash accelerates the process of cleaning the soot from the glass. This may be because ash is a very fine abrasive and helps in scraping off the black soot without harming the glass surface.
Once you are done removing the soot, get some mild cleaning agent or a glass polish and use more folded newspaper to complete the cleaning process with a lustrous finish.
Damp Cloth
A damp cloth can clean a wood burning stove glass door well enough but the only problem is that it may leave some hazy buildup on the glass in the form of dried water marks. They can make the wood stove appear quite clumsy. So it is better to use a damp cloth only when the soot buildup is very less.
Additionally, you can use a cloth to clean the glass door of a wood burning stove if you have not used the appliance in a long time and want to give it a clean before using it.
Vinegar and Water
Vinegar and water solutions are quite handy when it comes to cleaning soot stains from glass lanterns. So there is no reason why the same would not work to clean glass on wood stove.
Mix equal parts of vinegar and water into a spray bottle. Spray generous amounts of the solution onto the inside of the glass door and wait for 5 mins. Then use a paper towel to wipe away the soot stains. You may need multiple rounds of spraying and paper towels for this.
Finish the cleaning with a polishing agent but make sure that it is nothing combustible or has chemicals that will accelerate the burning of wood.
Ceramic Glasstop Cleaning Agent
For deep cleaning purposes, you can use conventional glass stovetop cleaning agents on a wood stove glass door. Apply an appropriate amount of the cleaning product and clean the glass thoroughly with a non-abrasive sponge or microfiber cloth.
Use another cloth to scoop up the residual soot and cleaning solution.
Don’t miss:
Do Wood Stove Fans Really Work
Cheap Ways to Heat a Room
Alternative Heat Sources without Electricity for Power Outages
Forced air furnace vs Radiator heat
Wrapping Up
Cleaning of woodstove glass is fairly easy but you should still be careful while doing so. Make sure you let the stove cool down before you try to clean the door. To avoid excessive soot buildup, clean the stove regularly or in between fires. Also, if there are air vents available, be mindful of not blocking them.
Burning dry and low moisture content wood can control soot buildup and it is recommended that you do not allow the wood to smolder. Smoldering of wood can cause excess smoke which will directly lead to dark soot stains.
Hopefully, these methods and precautions will help you to maintain a clean wood-burning stove glass so that you can fully enjoy every fire you make!