Five ways to clean your wood-burning stove glass

Stove-Glass-Cleaner-for-Woodburner

Wood-burning stove glass will always get dirty. Though using your airwash system properly can help you to minimise the amount of soot and dirt that settles on the glass, with wood or coal being burned at high temperature in such close proximity, it is inevitable that some clouding will still happen.

Given that darkening of the glass in unavoidable you will need a way to clean it that will restore it to its sparkling former glory.

Cleaning wood-burning stove glass is one of those things that has created a series of unusual methods and tips that different people swear by. Once you find one that works for you, you are likely to stick with it.

Here are some ideas for removing dirt from your stove glass:

Damp cloth
The first port of call is a damp cloth. As with all the other cleaning methods discussed in this article, it should only be undertaken when the appliance is cool. Simply wipe the dark cloth on the inside of the glass in circular motions. In some cases, this will be sufficient to remove the dirt.

Newspaper dipped in ashes
At first, ashes might seem like a bothersome byproduct of your woodburner. In fact, they can be very useful. We discussed some uses for wood burner ashes previously on this blog, and one of those uses is cleaning stove glass. Once the ashes are cold, dip a piece of newspaper into them, then apply it to the glass in a circular movement. Devotees claim this is an effective way to remove soot. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.


Vinegar
Vinegar is a useful cleaning product around the home, and many people use it to clean their stove glass. Again, you just need to take a piece of newspaper, dip it into the vinegar, then apply to the glass using a circular motion. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Bicarbonate of Soda
Probably our least favoured option on the list, but worth a try if the others aren’t working for your stove, is bicarbonate of soda or baking soda. Simply add a small amount of water to it to create a paste, then apply to the glass. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Stove glass cleaner
An easy way to remove soot from your stove glass is to use a specialist stove glass cleaner. It is hard to beat this when it comes to convenience. The product comes in a spray bottle. You just need to squirt it onto the glass using the instructions given by the manufacturer, which usually recommend a clean with a damp cloth beforehand.

Buy stove glass cleaner now.

27 thoughts on “Five ways to clean your wood-burning stove glass

  1. I use a glass scaper for the stubborn stains after I’ve gave it a wipe with newspaper glass always comes up like new ?

  2. Spray bottle,news paper,clean water.place 5 sheets paper under open door spray water on glass 2 mins scrunch paper wipe glass .light fire . Almost no cost once a week for 15 years. Bet you don’t publish this . Yours swindling joe

  3. Main cleaning means = elbow grease and whatever hydrates the dried layer of gudrons.
    First atack with some above mentioned product then wet cloth/ paper towel to remove

  4. Whip the glass out, then glass scraper follow with Jif and green scourer. Ten minutes from crusted on tar to sparkly clean.

  5. I use a piece of kitchen roll folded up then soaked in water, dip it in ash then rub the glass. If the stain is stubborn, getting the water and ash into a paste works great. Only use ash from a wood fire, not coal as the coal ash can scrape the glass.

  6. For the really baked-on black grime I used a conventional oven cleaning gel applied carefully with some paper towel (using rubber gloves!), left it for 2 hours, and then wiped it off with a
    combination of paper towels and wet wipes, sparkling result!

  7. I use a damp sponge,dipped in wood ash,and just wipe away.some stubborn areas eventually give way,then wipe over with tissue,usually takes less than a minute.

  8. I’ve tried all.. newspapers with ash, steelo, baking soda with vinegar etc.. also scraped it with blade but my glass still didn’t come out clean.. hmmm. Anymore solutions

      • I was told by the ppl who installed our wood burner to never ever use anything wet to clean the glass as it dribbles down & destroys the wick

  9. I use glass spray first then clean it with fine wire wool then use dry newspaper brings it up like New

  10. I use a damp cloth only or, for more problematic stained glass, I use damp cloth with hob cleaner in circular motions on a pretty cool stove glass. Works wonders. Then buff dry with a clean dry cloth.

  11. I can’t get the glass clean! After using specific glass cleaner for out multi burner, the glass is
    “milky”. Have tried ash on damp paper and that doesn’t work either. Any ideas?

    • Hi Jo

      Was it particularly bad to start with? Those methods usually do the trick. We can only suggest experimenting with different techniques and levels of elbow grease to see if you can get it completely clean.

      Thanks,

      Gr8Fires

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