Why has my wood burner glass cracked?
Stove glass, or ceramic glass, is extremely resilient when it comes to high temperatures but unlike regular glass, ceramic glass cannot be toughened. This leaves it especially vulnerable to breakage involving impact.
In this article, we will dive into common causes of stove glass cracking and what you can do to prevent this.
Fitting Stove Glass
Stove glass is usually held in place by clips or screws in the door of your stove. When your stove heats up, the metal surrounding the glass expands and if the screws/clips are fitted too tight, this will cause the glass to crack immediately.
It is essential that when fitting stove glass, no tools are used and the fixings should only be ‘hand tight’, an important thing to remember is that these fixings are only there to keep the glass in place.
Applying a self-adhesive gasket to the outer edge of the glass before fitment can add a layer of protection and actually act as a cushion between the stove glass and the steel frame. Self-adhesive gasket can be found here.
Impact
If anything comes into contact with your stove glass at force, this could cause impact damage. Unfortunately, even a faint hairline crack after impact, could weaken further once the stove has heated up and completely break.
Impact damage can be caused by a number of things for example, overfilling the firebox could cause logs to fall into the glass and closing the door too hard can cause too much impact on the glass. Handling your woodburner with care can prevent all of these things.
Usage
Putting too much fuel into your stove can cause overfiring, this is when the inside of the box heats up much faster than the outside, causing pressure and leading to the glass breaking or cracking.
This can cause irreversible damage to your stove, causing the metal to warp, leaving your stove weak and more susceptible to further damage. In the worst cases, overfiring your stove can actually lead to chimney fires.
This is easily avoidable, keep an eye on your stove and if parts of the metal in your stove start to glow red or it sounds like more oxygen is being sucked into the stove than usual, it’s definitely time to stop fuelling and give the stove time to cool down.
Do I have to replace the broken stove glass?
Unfortunately, sometimes there’s no way of avoiding stove glass breakages but it is essential to replace the glass as soon as possible. Not only is high-quality stove glass crucial for the efficiency of your stove, but using your stove incorrectly can be very dangerous. Breathing in the smoke and gas that emits from your stove can be extremely damaging to your health and can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.
We recommend stove glass (or ceramic glass) from the market leader Schott Robax, this is the highest quality on the market and can withstand temperatures of up to 760°C. Replace your custom stove glass today with https://www.stoveglassshop.co.uk/.
We cut your glass to size and dispatch the same or next working day, ensuring you get your replacement as soon as possible, at an affordable price.