I bought a house with a 5 year old Quadrafire 3100 wood stove. The glass is badly pitted, it's like wax paper. I'm replacing it (to the tune of about $180 or so). How can I keep this from happening again? Is it just a cost of running a wood stove with glass in the door, you have to replace the glass every couple of years?
Instead of glass, use heavy steel. Most get covered with soot and you can't see anything anyway.
after replacing glass,do a 3 hour burn in(continuous) and than remove the glass and clean completely with an ammonia free cleaner.
Your stove just had cheap glass. Pyrex or other glasses will not stand up in wood stove use. You need to buy custom high temperature panels, which are expensive but will last forever. Neoceram or Robax are a couple of brand names. They are marketed as "stove glass", but are actually transparent ceramics.
It's custom shaped, AFAIK the only source is the manufacturer. And I've heard from others that a 5 year life span is not unusual in that it becomes pitted so it's no longer transparent.
How does that prolong the life of the glass? Does keeping it clean help it to last longer?
HEARTH & GRILL CONDITIONING GLASS CLEANER - Item # 84 - Safe Non-Acidic Formula
I"ll have to look for that. The current glass is pretty badly clouded. I even tried scraping it with a razor blade. Cleaners. Steel wool. Even a shot of carb cleaner. Nothing made any difference. It's not carbon or creosote buildup, that stuff came off pretty easily. I talked to the manufacturer, and they and the wood stove place down the street both say it's not uncommon for the glass surface to pit over time so that it takes on the appearance of waxed paper. Wood ash is caustic, and I understand that they can etch the glass if the glass isn't kept clean.
I'm wondering if something like this can be avoided by just keeping the glass clean?
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