Has anybody got one of them wood burning fires?

[BobG]

Co's if you have, how the chuff do you get rid of that awful brown yuck that  fogs up the glass if you burn wood that's not seasoned properly or is a soft wood and so doesn't burn hot enough?

I tried oven cleaner last night. Sort of worked - but it burnt my hands to buggery in the process (that's the cleaner, not the fire!).

Tried vinegar and burned ash tonight  as I've seen that on a few websites. Bloody useless though. I tried scraping it off with a knife too tonight. Made thousands of lovely squiggly lines all over everywhere but didn't actually remove anything much.

This chuff better work - and keep its glass clean. It cost enough.

Any, (useful!) advice would be ever so welcome!

BobG

[MrFrost]

Message Nudga.

[BobG]

Cool. I will. Thanks!

BobG

[ch-ch rover]

The wood you are burning just needs to be dry

[Hounslowrover]

Got a wood burner in France and clean it regularly.  All I do is use a piece of newspaper dampned in water and dab it in the ashes from the grate.  Then I rub the glass with it.  Do this by changing the paper regularly.  As it cleans up, then use a clean paper kitchen towel to finish off.
I always do it when the fire is out and glass cold.

[South West Rover]

Get the vents open so the fire is roaring and the air wash should burn it off the glass.

[dumbroofer]

a dab of ghost chillie liquid should do it bob,works wonders on glass fronted cookers too. bloody hot when added to food so theres a bonus,or the bonus maybe it cleans things as well.

[BobG]

Thank you one and all. Really appreciate the advice. I'm new to this. The wood is not wet but I did cock up the air vents the first time I fired it up. That one was my fault. The second one though I had the vents fully open and I left the secondary full open all through the burn

I'm using dry softwood (smashed up pallets actually) as kindling. Could that be part of the problem? Do softwoods burn at a high enough temperature? What do you guys use as kindling? I got so much crap on the glass the second burn that you couldn't even see the flames. But, on reflection, maybe I didn't have enough wood burning to get a real good temperature going. If I try a big fire tomorrow, it's not going to bake this crap onto the glass even harder is it?

I was going to buy some more oven cleaner and some rubber gloves - but that's an expensive, and painful, way forwards!

Many thanks everyone

BobG

Later: Hounslow:I did try using kitchen roll wetted with vinegar and then dipped in the ash before rubbing like fury on the stuck on crap. It didn't make a blind bit of difference. Not a sausage. Would newspaper make a difference? If it's lots of rubbing involved, that's going to be a bit of a pig. There's 3 pretty big windows to do....

[Nudga]

Like I said Bob in the PM, don't worry about it. Once you have "run" the stove in, you can then burn it at full temperature (between 100 and 300 degrees C) and this will self clean.

[Hounslowrover]

Bob G , was told this in France to use just damp newspaper dipped in ash.  I do it when the window obscures most of the flame, every couple of days.  There is more rubbing needed on the darker parts around the edges and in the corners.  It works everytime for me.
I use any wood for kindling, such as smashed up pallets, old skirting board, anythihg small enough that burns.

[ravenrover]

I just use the "wiry" side of a Scrubber sponge with a little washing up liquid brings my fire glass up a treat. When we had a solid fuel room-heater I had to use a scrubber with a drop of jif and that worked too.

[Nudga]

I would advise to not use the wiry side of a sponge when cleaning your glass, this will leave swirl marks in the glass. i've seen this done loads of times and a new stove glass can cost about £60 to £80.

Glass cleaner or baby wipes usually does the trick.

[BobG]

Brilliant chaps. Thank you all ever so much. Who would have thought having a fire could be such a difficult art form?

I've had 2 small burns now - still gets bloody hot though. Awful crap on the glass both times. Another go with the oven cleaner this morning so it's looking pretty again now for the time being at least. Glad to hear that you use softwoods too. I spent ages over the last few weeks sawing up decades worth of accumulated crud  lying around in my garage. I've got loads of the stuff.

Anyone care to offer their thoughts on how much running in one of these things takes? The instructions don't mention it at all. Mind you, it's from the Czech Republic so p'raps they don't know about that there :D It's a 7 KW fire with a peak output of 9 KW.

Cheers

BobG

[silent majority]

Bob, some good answers on here, and I'm sure Nudga put you right. For everyday maintenance I use a dampened cloth dipped in the ash, works a treat.

However for that deep clean that you might want to do every now and again I bought a product called " stove glass cleaner" made by a company called HG. They may sell it in B&Q but I think I got it from Amazon. It works a treat and literally dissolves soot and tar. Just google it.

[Filo]

Lakeland usually sell good quality goods, you might want to try this

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/22679/HG-Stove-Glass-Cleaner


In fact looking at SM`s post it looks like the same stuff

[BobG]

Brilliant guys! I shall go google, and Lakeland, right now. I've been using bloody oven cleaner! Does the job, but the stink is horrid, the pain is worse and the danger is downright scary.

I had a bigger burn last night. Still not full throttle, but more. The glass still got covered, but not so deeply. I could actually still see the flames through the glass, darkly, at the end. And it cleaned much of the muck off the firebricks at the back. So, I suspect I might not have had a big enough or a long enough fire yet. I spoke today with the head techy at the place I bought it from. His belief is I need to burn it for longer. Trouble is, we shall both cook if I do

Thank you, everybody. This is a brilliantly helpful thread with just cracking contributions. Thanks again.

BobG

[moses]

Keep letting us know Bob, I am sadly hooked on your daily burner updates. I had to stop myself googling it to see if I could offer you some advice.
Can you tell I am in middle of a college assignement.

[not on facebook]

I have a wood burner out Here.it stands at Bottom ofte stairs and the fume Runs bascially reet up middle Of house upstairs and to chimmey on Roof.

In the winter Its bang on ,as at times all the house is too warm and hence to say does Its job.

[BobG]

Ha ha  Moses!!!

Ok. Today's installment then.

I wasn't going to light it today. Alex and I didn't get home til late and it was almost 9 o'clock before we'd finished our tea. But he asked, and I gave in. SO we gave it what i thought was a pretty big burn. But once it got going, it wasn't so big after all. 'About a quarter full' the bloke at the shop said. This wasn't. But it was twice as much as I've put in before. Burned like fury it did. Bloody hot I tell thee!

Still got some yuk on the glass, but it's definitely not as severe. I can't really tell properly until daylight tomorrow, but as I can still see the flames quite well, it's not so bad. So, conclusion is, fill the bugger higher and higher with the wood and let it rip! Only snag with that is, I'll have burned down Sherwood Forest in 3 weeks, and, Alex and I will be toast. I think I've bought one that's a tad too big for this place

So,more oven cleaner, choked lungs and burned hands tomorrow morning then

Cheers

BobG