Home & Specialist

Blackened Glass, Anyone?

DOES THE GLASS ON YOUR WOOD-BURNER TURN BLACK? HERE’S WHY AND HOW TO STOP IT HAPPENING.

Wood-burners or in fact any fire can be tricky to get the hang of. Your fire may be lit and seem to be burning ok but there is a chance you could be getting a lot more from your wood and from your stove. First, a little about the wood you’re burning. Around 80% of the heat energy in wood are gases known as volatile hydrocarbons. For these gases to burn, they must react with the oxygen entering your stove via the air vents. If you don’t let enough air into your stove, these gases won’t be able to burn and will be wasted up your chimney. Every year when your chimney sweep comes to visit, it is these compounds which are removed. You may find yourself constantly having to clean your stove glass of a black or brown film. Some of you may have given up and decided to live with a permanent smoggy screen on your woodburner. The black film found on your glass is made of the same compounds found further up your chimney and dirty stove glass is a great indicator that your stove is not being supplied the oxygen it needs to efficiently burn your wood. For the waste from your wood-burner to go up the chimney, the air must be replaced into the stove via the air vents to create a convection current. If the stove is being supplied sufficient air, the film will not form on the glass as any waste will be taken up and out of the chimney and so will not be able to reside in the woodburner to then condense on the glass. A common mistake a lot of us tend to make when operating our stoves is putting too much wood in. If your stove is over full with wood, you may find the black film

Some of you may have given up and decided to live with a permanent smoggy screen on your wood-burner

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forms even with your air vents fully open. Each stove is different and it will take time to know what your appliance needs. Play around with the ratio of wood to air and see what your stove responds to best. You will get more out of your wood and produce less waste by burning a smaller amount of wood hot than a larger amount of wood and letting it slumber. Assuming your stove glass is nice and clean, what you are looking to see is a nice, bright, yellow flame with lots of life and movement. Avoid the slow, romantic looking red and orange flame – If you see this, open your air vent a little until your flame comes to life. If you can’t see your flame you might need to give your glass a clean first. Grab a paper towel or a scrunched up newspaper page, run it under the tap and dip it in the ash (assuming your fire isn’t yet lit). Give the glass a wipe and the black should come off after a little scrub. This ash trick works just as well as any stove glass cleaner on the market. A little wipe with regular glass cleaner once the black is removed will leave your fire looking brand new. An even better way to know how your stove is performing than watching the flame is to get yourself a stovepipe thermometer. Stove or stovepipe thermometers are magnetic and can be attached to your stove (or stovepipe) so you can accurately see the temperature you are burning at. They have indicators to tell you both if you are burning too hot and risk damaging your stove (in which case you should reduce the amount of air entering the stove and, in the future, should avoid adding as much wood), and if you are not burning hot enough (in which case you should open your air vents and/or add more wood). I recommend everyone using a wood-burning stove should make use of this nifty gadget – without it, it’s akin to driving a car without a speedometer. Just make sure you note which thermometer type you are getting. Stove and stovepipe

thermometers each have different Each stove is different and temperatures for the indications they give. it will take time to know what your appliance needs Ultimately, the best way to get the most out of your stove is to make use of the next appointment with your chimney sweep. An experienced sweep will be able to check on how your wood-burner is performing and can advise you on burning habits tailored to your stove and its installation. Remember chimney sweeps tend to be rather booked up in advance during the sweeping season, or ‘silly season’ as we call it. Given the summer we’ve all just had, it’d imagine fires may be being lit rather early on in 2021.

By Kristian Jennings

Kristian of Jennings Chimney Sweeping specializes in Chimney problem diagnosis and is a member of the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps

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