Stove glass keeps cracking

black_magic

Hi. I'm hoping somebody can help me out. I have a Stanley Erin solid fuel stove and the glass in the door keeps cracking. It has been replaced six times last year, and four times this year so far (not including the one I will be replacing tomorrow morning!:(). If anybody has any ideas/experiences of this happening I would really appreciate the input. Thanks in advance.

Spocker

What kind of glass are you using, and are you replacing it yourself? The one time I needed the glass replaced in my stove, I was able to take the door off, and brought it back to my supplier for him to do it.

Stove/treated glass should not crack, and certainly 6 times in a year is far too much

black_magic

Hi Spocker,

Yes the glass is treated and I replaced it myself. I have been in touch with Stanley who have never heard of the glass cracking so often, so it remains a mystery!

Spocker

What are you burning in the stove, is it excessively hot?

black_magic

Smokeless coal, 3 buckets a day. No not excessively hot.

irishgeo

Spocker wrote: »

What are you burning in the stove, is it excessively hot?

Are you stove only coal? Have you checked with Stanley about the correct coal to be using.

black_magic

Hi irishgeo,

Yes stove only. I have used coal for the last 20 years, and it's only in the last 2 that the glass has kept cracking. I will check with Stanley about the correct type of coal. I may try burning briquettes instead to see if that makes any difference.

Calahonda52

My guess is that the glass is being fixed in too tight of there is some sharp imperfection in the door under the surround.

Are you replacing the rope or whatever is used to "bed" the glass.The glass needs to be able to move relative to the door as the temperature changes.

Is the glass the correct size?

Looking at the exploded part list here
http://stovespareparts.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/erin-sf-b.png
Its pretty tricky looking and I would say easy to over tighten or get out of alignment

D_D

My parent's stove's glass kept cracking because there wasn't enough draw of air through the stove.

The seal between the flue of the stove and the original clay flue of the house was poor, so there was no 'suction' of air created, carrying heat away from the stove.

This meant the stove was too hot and the glass kept cracking.

Not sure if that is the issue here though.

my3cents

Things to check

Glass size? Is it too big so its expanding against the screws or parts off the stove door. Is it too small so its not seated correctly?

Screw sizes? Are they long enough so you don't have to tighten them too much to get any thread to bite, clean threads before replacing glass so you can feel how tight you are tightening them - Stanley provide the cheapest screws that are often barely long enough.

Washers? Are they causing any unnecessary pressure and are they the original ones?

Fire rope? Has it been replaced and is it holding the glass off the door metal? Be extra careful where the rope starts and finishes if you overlap it there you provide a high spot that may cause the glass to crack?

Door? Not damaged or excessively warped. You might just have a bad casting or one that has changed shape over time as castings do. Our home cooker has a very warped top plate from new so I know not all Waterford Stanley parts are perfect.

I have also noticed that if you do "bend" the glass to fit a warped frame or over tighten the screws then it doesn't break straight away so it can be hard to associate the problem with the cause.