Cleaning the INSIDE of gas fireplace glass

Hey hey! It’s about that time of year to turn on the fireplaces -- in fact we’ve already had the family room going at night a couple times. Gas fireplaces are wonderful -- we’ve had a wood burning one before (in an apartment if you can believe it!) and it was great but the convenience of gas can’t be beat.

Our current fireplace doesn't have glass, just the chain link and I LOVE that:

But in the past we've had the gas insert with glass on the front. After a few years I noticed how filthy the inside of the glass would get, but didn't think I could do anything about it. I learned how to clean the inside of the fireplace glass years ago and it comes in SO handy, especially this time of year. I always clean the glass in early fall before we light the fireplaces for the season.

It’s not hard to do at all and just takes a few steps. (These photos are from our last house with the gas insert):

I don’t know how the inside gets so yucky, but every year it needs to be cleaned:

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The first step is to make sure the pilot light is off! I don’t think it’s a big deal to open it up with it on but since you’ll be cleaning the glass and all, I recommend you just have it off.

To start you’ll tilt down the bottom grate like so:

This one I can’t remove unless I unscrew it, but it does give me access to the back side so I can clean the grates easier.

Inside and underneath on both sides of the firebox are two clamps. You’ll need to bend down and find them and then you just release the clamp:

Do this on both sides. This releases the glass front of the fireplace. It will tilt out from the bottom:

And then you can pull up on the whole piece of glass and just pull it off. The whole thing has a cleat at the top that sits under the upper grates:

So if you just pull up on the glass it should come off very easily. Be careful, it’s heavier than you think it will be but totally manageable.

You can also unhook the top grate if you want too:

You can do that with or without the glass installed -- it makes it easy to clean in the sink or with the hose outside.

You’ll want to lay the glass front side down so you can clean it. I try to use something without a ton of chemicals – I’m sure anything would probably be OK but I just worry about the chemicals with the gas/fire. You know, explosions and stuff. No biggie:

While I’m at it with everything opened up I’ll clean out underneath the fireplace a little and then replace the embers inside. Those are the fluffy stuff at the bottom -- you can see that after time they get kind of brown and yucky:

I bought this bag of embers years ago and it’s lasted me a long time. You can also find them here. I don’t replace all of them, just the ones on top:

It makes a big difference when lit -- lots of glow:

If you want a more modern look you can use glass isntead! They come in all different colors -- I love the clear glass option and this dark blue.

When you’re done cleaning the glass just hook the glass back on the top cleat on to the firebox, then you’ll need to clamp everything back in:

You’ll have to push hard to them secured but again, it’s not too bad.

When you’re done you’ll have a clean, sparkling fireplace!:

Ours was a mess -- the glass, the grates, everything was dirty from all the dust we’ve had around here. It’s nice to have it all finished up and looking good now!:

If you missed how I installed that herringbone tile you can catch up here.

If you have a gas fireplace did you know how to clean this glass? I had no idea till a friend showed us how to do it. It’s SUPER easy to do and it will take you about 10-15 minutes start to finish. I don’t know if these steps will work for every gas fireplace, but I’m betting they are all fairly similar.

I’ll show you a couple other quick tips to get your fireplace looking brand new again next week! (See how to use high heat paint on your fireplace here.)

Here's an image to pin if you'd like to try this project later!

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