Turn the fireplace off, let it cool completely, take the glass off the way your owner's manual shows, and work a fireplace glass cream over it with a soft damp cloth. Buff it dry with a clean cotton cloth. Skip the ordinary blue glass spray: fireplace makers warn against ammonia-based cleaners on this glass. And do it soon, because the white film gets harder to remove every week it stays on.
What's on your glass, and what to do about it
Hold a torch at an angle to the glass before you buy anything. What you see tells you which job you have.
| What you see | What it usually is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A milky white or grey haze, often worse near the top | Mineral left by the flame. Valor's guidelines link it to the sulfur in the gas, and say it can come and go | Clean it off now with a fireplace glass cream, following the steps below |
| A white haze that stays after two careful cleans | Film that sat long enough to etch into the glass | Stop rubbing. Ask the technician at the yearly service about the glass |
| Dust and a few fingerprints, no haze | The room's dust, settled on the outside | A soft damp cloth on the outer face, dried with cotton |
| Black soot | Not the usual white film | Don't light it again until a gas technician has looked at it |
| A crack or a chip, however small | Damaged glass | Don't use the fireplace. Enbridge Gas says to have it inspected or replaced |
The first row is the one most people find in late October. Valor treats it as a by-product of burning gas, so on its own it doesn't mean the unit is failing.
Why the bottle you use on windows is the wrong one here
On many gas fireplaces the window is ceramic glass, and the makers are strict about how it's cleaned. The cleaning guidelines from Valor, a Canadian fireplace maker, say in capitals not to use Windex or any ammonia-based cleaner on the window. On timing they're just as plain:
Clean the glass regularly as soon as you notice the buildup (white film).
The same sheet says a film left for a long time etches into the glass and may become impossible to remove. Regency's page on cleaning fireplace glass adds that the wrong cleaner can damage the glass for good or leave a smell when the fire is lit.
A few tips that circulate online don't fit a gas fireplace at all:
- The ash and wet newspaper trick is a wood fireplace method. Regency gives it only for wood units, and a gas fireplace has no ash to use.
- Paper towels feel soft, but Valor says most paper towels and synthetic materials are abrasive to ceramic glass. Dry with a soft cotton cloth.
- A razor scraper, a scouring pad or a powder cleanser scratches the surface, and Valor warns that any abrasion weakens this glass straight away.
What the makers suggest instead is a cream or emulsion cleaner sold for fireplace glass or ceramic cooktops. Regency's own steps also name an approved fireplace glass cleaner, or one that contains no ammonia.
The cleaning, start to finish
- Turn the fireplace off at the switch or remote, and turn the pilot off too if your model has a standing pilot.
- Wait until the glass and the frame are cold to the touch. Both makers say never to clean hot glass, and a warm pane also dries the cream into streaks.
- Find the owner's manual, or look up your model number on the maker's site. It shows how your glass comes off: latches under the bottom edge, clips at the top, or a frame held by screws.
- Lay a folded bath towel on the floor or a table and set the glass on it, flat side down. Regency asks for a soft padded surface, because a dropped or knocked pane can crack.
- Put a little cream on a soft damp cloth and work it over the inside face in small circles. The inside is where the film builds up.
- Wipe the cream off with a second damp cloth, then buff dry with clean cotton. Hold the glass to the light and repeat on any patch still cloudy.
- Turn it over and do the outside face, which mostly needs dust and fingerprints taken off.
- While the glass is out, brush dust off the logs or stones with a soft brush. Valor asks you not to let any bits fall into the slots of the burner, and glass beads can go through one dishwasher cycle if they're dried completely before going back.
- Put the glass and the safety screen back and make sure they're secure before you light it. Valor's guidelines say the same.
If the latches look stuck, or the glass is held by more than a few clips, leave it in place and clean only the outside. The inside can wait for the yearly service.
Never mix what's under the sink
If an ammonia glass spray or bleach is in the same cupboard, don't combine either one with anything else. Health Canada warns that bleach mixed with products containing ammonia or an acid, vinegar included, releases toxic gases. Fireplace glass needs neither of them.
Where your part ends and the gas technician's begins
Wiping the glass and dusting the logs is housework. The burner, the gas valve, the venting and the gasket around the glass are not. On its appliance safety page, Enbridge Gas asks Ontario homeowners to keep a fireplace in good operating condition with an annual service visit from a TSSA-registered HVAC contractor.
Book that visit before the first cold week, not after. If the technician is coming anyway, tell them about any haze that didn't come off, a gasket that looks flattened or torn, and anything you noticed while the glass was out. The same page says that if the pilot or the flame goes out, you relight it only the way the manufacturer's instructions describe.
A white film doesn't need a technician. A crack or black soot on the glass does.
Keeping it clear through the winter
- Look at the glass every few weeks while you're using the fireplace a lot. A thin haze comes off in one pass; a thick one takes three.
- Dust the mantel and the hearth before you clean the glass, so nothing falls on a pane you've just polished.
- Keep children's hands and the dog's nose off the front when it's on. Valor's sheet says not to touch any part of the fireplace while it's hot.
- Dust that lands on the logs between cleanings often comes in through the heating system. Our article on cleaning heating vents before winter deals with the grilles and the furnace filter.
- Glass on the windows of the same room fogs for different reasons. The window sill condensation and mould article covers that.
Mantels, ledges, furniture and the corners of the living room are what a deep cleaning goes after. If it's the windows themselves you want clear for the season, see window cleaning inside and outside.
