Wood Burning Stove - Glass doors always smoked up!

[Richard]

We've got a Stovax (Blenheim) wood burning stove which was rebuilt a couple of years ago.

Whenever we use it the inside of the glass doors are covered in soot within only a couple of hours use meaning you can't see the "romantic" orange flames nor see when you need to put another log on it.

Most other people I know with wood burning stoves say they only need to clean their glass every couple of months or so - not every day like I do!

I've tried all type of wood (always seasoned) and kept the air vents in the doors open (and tried them closed) but nothing seems to make any difference. Could it be the chimney that's not drawing properly which would cause this (although I have to say it appears to be drawing fine)?

Any assistance or input greatfully received.

Richard.

[Howard Neil]

You say the stove has been rebuilt. Also, I cannot find any reference to a Blenheim stove on the Stovax web site. I therefore suspect that the stove is rather old in design.

Modern wood burning stoves have what is often called an "air wash" system. The fumes are diverted within the stove to ensure better burning and clean(ish) air passing across the inside of the glass, stopping a lot of the sooty coating.

It may be that the only thing you can do is change the stove. :-(

[Nathan Critchlow-Watton]

We have a Morso "squirrel" with the air wash system. Burning well seasoned hardwood (24 hours a day) it gets totally blackened after about a week. But when we are only burning it for an evening at a time, the glass will still have some light brown soot deposits after a night. Giving the store a really hot burn removes the majority of it. Household ammonia works brilliantly at removing the soot (plus your nasal hairs/mucous membranes), and for seriously recalcitrant "creosote" patches, I've used a razor blade in a holder (designed for removing paint from windows).

Good luck, Nathan

[Steve Firth]

We have an AArow stove in the kitchen which behaves in a similar way. It has an airwash system for inlet and I always buy well seasoned, dry wood from our local supplier and mix it with my own wood which is at least four years old. The glass still darkens overnight.

It's usually when the air inlets are closed to damp the stove down for the night that the problem occurs and the glass can be cleaned simply by letting the fire blaze up for a time so that it gets hot enough to burn off the coating on the glass.

[usenet]

We find that a straightforward sopay rag is all that's normally needed to clean the glass with, occasionally, a little rub with a nylon pot scourer. I reckon we clean ours every couple of weeks.

[Mary Fisher]

I don't believe them. I know someone who claimed that - with a super duper all singing all dancing modern stove with bells but when we stayed with them I caught her cleaning the glass in a morning ...

Mary

[andrewpreece]

I read some literature on woodburners a little while back. Some claim to have specially designed airflow so that cool clean air is draughted over the inside of the glass so as to keep the soot off. Whether it works or not I don't know, but does Sovax make such a claim for your model?

Andy

[Christopher Roberts]

I found on ours that an occasional good hot burn with a cleaner fuel got rid of the soot.

[Rod Hewitt]

"Christopher Roberts" wrote in news:jvGub.4609$ [e-mail]:

I have certainly seen some stoves that do keep amazingly clean. Try

They do tend to look just a little mucky (a slightly whitish film on the glass) when not fired up but come almost perfectly clean in use.

Rod

[missimos6]

Had one of these in our old house. Pre air wash design but if you let it g et going by opening the air intake at the bottom the soot will burn off, bu t it will be so warm that you can't get near it!! You won't be cold! If y ou want to see the flames you can use them with the doors open.

[Chris Hogg]

After 12 years I imagine he's probably solved the problem.

[Tim Streater]

Yes, our Esse is an airwash design and only soots up if both vents are completely in the closed position (doesn't necessarily mean they are both completely closed, of course).