Why choose self-cleaning glass?

Self-cleaning glass sounds like a dream come true, but what exactly is it?

Are you fed up with cleaning the glass panel on your wood-burner? With self-cleaning glass you don’t have to clean the glass as often because it takes much longer to get soot deposits.

You can install a self-cleaning glass panel even if the old one was of standard vitro-ceramic glass. And finally, self-cleaning glass works just as well for an insert fireplace as for a wood-burner or a pellet stove.

To help you enjoy all the benefits of a self-cleaning glass panel on your insert fireplace or stove, we advise the following:

-Ensure you install the glass the right way round. A label on the panel will tell you how to install it.
- Use your device at high temperatures regularly, because if you don’t use it at full power soot deposits inside and on the panel will develop more quickly.

The benefits of self-cleaning glass

- Better distribution of heat throughout the rooms in your home

- Savings in wood due to improved combustion

- Cleaning is more efficient because the soot deposits come off the glass more easily

The drawbacks of self-cleaning glass

- It costs more than standard glass because the glass undergoes a special treatment during manufacture.

Some advice to help you use this type of glass correctly:

-The temperature in the wood-burner or fireplace insert needs to be high enough for the soot deposits to come off by themselves. A device operated at low power will become soot-stained even though the glass has been specially treated.

-Make sure you are using the right kind of fuel, preferably wood that is hard and sufficiently dry.

-But beware, wood that is too dry (ie very light in weight) is also detrimental to satisfactory combustion. Remember to check the wear and tear of the seals, which could cause poor air circulation inside the combustion chamber leading to abnormal soot deposits on the glass.

How does it work from a technical point of view?

Most of our glass comes from a company called SCHOTT, which is known throughout the world for its innovations in the area of glass technology. The glass we refer to as “self-cleaning” is a vitro-ceramic glass that has been specially designed to distribute heat more evenly throughout your home while consuming less energy than standard glass. The surface treatment is based on tin oxide, and enables up to seven times more radiation from the fire to be reflected back into the combustion chamber.

The increased heat inside the device allows the soot deposits to come off more easily, in a process known as pyrolysis, which you may have heard of in connection with cleaning the oven in your kitchen. But it also means that the soot deposits won’t come off unless a certain temperature is reached in your device. Science, not magic!

So now you have all the information you need to select a self-cleaning glass panel for your wood-burning heating device and to optimise the operation of your wood-burner or pellet stove.

If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact our customer service team:

• By email : info@capska.fr
• By telephone 02 31 58 20 70 Monday to Friday (9am - 1pm , 2pm - 5pm)