Clean Wood Burning Stove Glass Doors Without Chemicals

How to Clean Wood Burning Stove Glass Doors Without Chemicals

Chemicals are everywhere, so if there’s a way to clean your wood burning stove glass doors without them, would you?  If you’re like me, you’re already using your wood stove to heat your home to save lots of money off your heating bill and to avoid fossil fuel as much as possible.  Besides, I LOVE anything and everything to do with firewood and wood stoves…it’s become quite a passion of mine, and after 8 years, I’ve got it down to quite the science.

I bought my first wood stove in 2007, a brand new Vermont Castings Defiant Non-Catalytic, Model 1610.   It was installed on Halloween, October 31, 2007, perfect time of the year cause our temps were really beginning to fall.  I was as ‘green’ as they come when it comes to wood stoves, and studied the manual and online forums for hours and days on end to make sure I knew what I was doing BEFORE I put that first piece of wood in the firebox.  I had no one around to show me, so I was totally on my own.  Yeah, quite a bit nervous too, thinking I might burn the house down. Fortunately, that never happened, and it took many, many fires and mistakes in that wood stove until I learned its temperament so the love affair could begin!

The first few days while learning how to operate my new wood stove, I was dealing with black gunk (creosote) so bad on the inside of the glass doors, I could no longer see the beautiful flames inside!  Talk about disheartening!   No worries though, it didn’t take me long to figure out what I was doing wrong, and how I could keep my wood stove glass doors crystal clear through every burn.

I was not one to spend money on any cleaning product, especially something with chemicals in it, to clean the smut off these doors.  Read somewhere someone tried vinegar, so I made a little spray bottle with a little vinegar and water.  Dang, that didn’t work either!  I was so upset that I threw the vinegar soaked paper towel into the wood stove, where ashes lay from the night before.  As I picked that damp paper towel out with the messy ashes now clinging to it, I thought I would give the glass one more shot!  AMAZINGLY, to my utter surprise, the ashes is what got the glass sparkling clean!  This is what I saw:

Before and After Cleaning Wood Stove Glass Doors with Firewood Ash

Here’s How I Cleaned my Wood Stove Glass Doors Without Chemicals

The only thing you’ll need are some paper towels and the cold ashes from your last burn.  NEVER clean your wood stove glass when it’s HOT!  No, I didn’t learn this the hard way…it’s just plain ole common sense!

Dip fairly wet, but slightly wrung out paper towel into cool-downed ashes so they cling to the paper towel

Firewood Ashes Act as Mild Abrasive to Clean Off Creosote

Rub Ashes on Glass to Remove any and all Creosote

Then spray with a mild mixture of very diluted vinegar and water and a couple of paper towels for a complete shine!  FINI!!!  Now you’re ready to start your next fire!  😉

Now keep your Wood Stove door glass clean by ONLY burning dry wood and HOT, between 550-600 degrees!  This will also keep your chimney free of creosote!

Let us know in the Comments below whether you’ve ditched the chemical wood stove glass cleaners for natural ash!  Try it once, and you’ll never turn back!

I know many people have had issues using this particular stove.  There is a definite learning curve, and I’ve mastered it.  My wood stove runs 7 days a week from end of September through May.  It’s read to go every morning at 5:30 and last load goes in around 9:00 at night! If you’re an owner of this model and still have problems, please let me know below!  I’d love to help you!  Getting ready to start my 9th year with this wood stove, and excited as a little kid at Christmas time!