4 Methods for Cleaning the Glass on a Wood Burning Stove

Firstly, for obvious reasons, don’t attempt to clean your stove’s glass door when it has recently been used. It should always be cool to the touch.

Also, be sure to avoid using any abrasive objects, such as metal scourers. Clean cloths, paper towels and kitchen roll are your friends — there are even dedicated stove glass-cleaning pads.

1. Scrunched up newspaper and leftover ashes

A time-honoured hack for getting sooty glass gleaming again. Scrunch some newspaper into a few balls, dip one in water, then dip it in cool stove ash and then scrub in a circular motion on the glass. Once the glass is covered in wet ash, wipe clean with a clean cloth or paper towel.

Yes, that’s right: the stove’s by-products can clean the glass effectively. Paper towels, kitchen roll or toilet roll also work well. We appreciate newspapers are less common nowadays!

Consider avoiding this method if you have coal ashes. Some of the leftovers might be quite hard and you could damage the glass.

2. Ceramic hob cooker cleaner

You’ll have success with any oven cleaner or degreaser for glass-ceramic cookers. Apply with a soft, non-scratch sponge or cloth to do away with the worst of the residue. Then, use a clean cloth or paper towel to get the glass sparkling.

3. Bicarbonate of soda

A chemical-free alternative to oven cleaning products is a baking soda paste and water. Follow the same steps — a good bit of elbow grease followed by a clean cloth or paper towel.

4. Dedicated stove glass cleaners

Since you’re very unlikely to have this lying around the house, this probably isn’t a useful answer— but there are dedicated stove glass cleaning sprays available. Maybe something to stock up on for next time.

Whichever method you choose, once the stove glass is clean, why not give it a good polish? An equal parts water:vinegar solution, applied with a piece of kitchen roll, will get the glass looking absolutely sparkling. Or you could just use a dedicated cleaning polish.

Keeping your wood burning stove glass door clean

Now you’ve got the glass gleaming again you want to keep it that way, right? The key is to create as little smoke as possible. Ventilation, low-moisture wood fuels, using the airwash feature and a little cleaning commitment will help enormously.

Adjust stove vents to ensure proper ventilation

Insufficient oxygen can lead to incomplete combustion, which produces more residue and soot on the stove glass door and flue. Adjust the vents on your stove to keep things appropriately ventilated and achieve optimum burning conditions.

Use the airwash setting on your stove (if it has one)

Most modern wood burning stoves have airwash technology. Activating this means the stove will draw in colder air from the room and circulate it over the stove’s glass window, helping to continually ‘wash’ it and keep it free of residue.

Use low-moisture wood fuels to minimise smoke

The lower the moisture content, the higher quality the wood fuel – a dryer wood fuel burns optimally and produces less smoke, keeping your stove door cleaner for longer.

Be sure to avoid any ‘wet’ wood fuels — that is, firewood with a moisture content higher than 20%. You can use a moisture meter to check the levels of any wood fuels you might have stored over winter.

Our Lava Log wood briquettes, with less than 12% moisture content, are a perfect high-performance solution for a clean, hot and long-lasting burn. Made from recycled compacted sawdust from our sawmill operations, they boast ‘Ready To Burn’ certification.

Stay on top of the soot

This is the answer no-one wanted to hear — sorry — but by doing little but often, you’ll have a less arduous, quicker job on your hands. The more soot that builds up, the harder it is to remove.

If the stove door is dirty, then you can bet the stove’s flue is similar. Make sure it’s swept regularly.

Time to stock up on wood fuels?

So, now the glass on your wood burning stove is looking like new, you need something to put inside, right?

In our e-commerce store, we stock premium ‘Lava Log’ wood briquettes, available to buy with fast, free UK delivery. Sizes include boxes (3 packs), half pallets (53 packs) and full pallets (105 packs). Each pack contains 6 briquettes.

These Lava Logs are made from recycled, compacted leftovers from our sawmill operations. They boast ‘Ready To Burn’ certification and less than 12% moisture, ensuring a hot, clean, sustainable and long-lasting burn.

We’ve even tested our Lava Logs against traditional firewood: after 2 hours 30 minutes of burning, they recorded an average temperature of 92°C, compared to 30°C for regular logs. This superior performance also makes them approximately 45% more cost effective than traditional firewood.

If you’re nearby, you can call in for a cuppa and pick them up yourself from our cash-and-carry — we’re at HG4 5JB, near Ripon, North Yorkshire — just off the A1.