I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

hr(bob) wrote:

I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann


Seems a cool draft might be enough to shatter the glass if it was hot
.... just uneven
cool down? We purchased tempered glass for our kitchen, which was very
reasonable.
Regular window glass would be dangerous, it seems.

I made the mistake recently of placing an empty pyrex pie plate on our
glass cooktop,
thinking the burner was off. We sat down to dinner in the dining room
and a minute
later heard glass break in the kitchen. The pie plate had just
exploded, all over the
kitchen, with long, sharp shards clear across the room. It would have
been bad
news, had anyone been standing nearby.

On Dec 7, 1:23*pm, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. *Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and *two *pin type hinges at the
outside points. *Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. *It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. *The glass is about 7/16" thick. *The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. *Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

DO NOT USE PLAIN GLASS!!

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door.
Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Do NOT use regular glass. Aside from less strength, it can break in large
shards that can be a danger if you fall against it. Shards that can pierce
your body and kill you. That is why doors must have tempered glass;people
have died from injuries.

Tempered glass is tough stuff, but glass is brittle and a lot of things can
cause a break. It may have had a tiny scratch two years ago and the right
amount of heat was enough to pop it. Uneven heating and/or cooling can do
it. A splash of cold water on a hot glass.

Gas grilles used to have glass windows so you could see the food cook. The
were eliminated because so many of the broke after a few months of use from
either a bump when letting the lid down hard, or rain drops when it was very
hot.

"hr(bob) " wrote:

I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.

Cap gun is weird- I've heard tempered glass go a couple times and it
was more like a shotgun. Most recent was a glass door on an
entertainment center. Nobody had touched it in several hours- and
no one was closer than 3 feet to it when it blew. Pretty dramatic
after you're sure nobody has glass in their eye.

-snip-
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass,

Glass is cool stuff. It might have gotten dinged years ago and just
sat there waiting for the right moment.

I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Wouldn't survive the first fire.

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

Go to a glass/fireplace shop and buy the right glass.

Jim

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:


It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!


I am the real ftwhd and I approve this message.

On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:35:17 -0800, ftwhd wrote:

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:


It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!

Must have been a heated incident.

On Dec 7, 5:21*pm, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:35:17 -0800, ftwhd wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

*It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!

Must have been a heated incident.

Thanx for the replies, I really wan't planning on using regular glass,
but was curious if others were as concerned as I was aboiut the
possibility of its breaking. I'll be calling my local glass company
tomorrow morning and see how their price compares with a piece of
glass from Sears Parts.

Bob H

hr(bob) wrote:
On Dec 7, 5:21 pm, Oren wrote:
On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:35:17 -0800, ftwhd wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:
It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.
Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!
Must have been a heated incident.

Thanx for the replies, I really wan't planning on using regular glass,
but was curious if others were as concerned as I was aboiut the
possibility of its breaking. I'll be calling my local glass company
tomorrow morning and see how their price compares with a piece of
glass from Sears Parts.

Bob H
I would also call the manufacturer to see if others reported similar
incidents with that model. Good luck!

hr(bob) wrote:

On Dec 7, 5:21 pm, Oren wrote:


On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:35:17 -0800, ftwhd wrote:


On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:


It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.


Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!


Must have been a heated incident.



Thanx for the replies, I really wan't planning on using regular glass,
but was curious if others were as concerned as I was aboiut the
possibility of its breaking. I'll be calling my local glass company
tomorrow morning and see how their price compares with a piece of
glass from Sears Parts.

Bob H


Just out of curiosity, how much are you expecting to pay for tempered
glass? We bought glass for
a kitchen project, approx. size 2' x 5'. It had to be cut in two
pieces, due to the pressed pattern.
The glass shop cut it to size, ground edges, returned it to mfg. to be
tempered. We picked it
up from the shop and installed it. Total about $50.

On Dec 8, 8:00*am, Norminn wrote:
hr(bob) wrote:
On Dec 7, 5:21 pm, Oren wrote:

On Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:35:17 -0800, ftwhd wrote:

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

Well obviously it lost its temper. You're welcome!

Must have been a heated incident.

Thanx for the replies, I really wan't planning on using regular glass,
but was curious if others were as concerned as I was aboiut the
possibility of its breaking. *I'll be calling my local glass company
tomorrow morning and see how their price compares with a piece of
glass from Sears Parts.

Bob H

Just out of curiosity, how much are you expecting to pay for tempered
glass? *We bought glass for
a kitchen project, approx. size 2' x 5'. *It had to be cut in two
pieces, due to the pressed pattern.
The glass shop cut it to size, ground edges, returned it to mfg. to be
tempered. *We picked it
up from the shop and installed it. *Total about $50.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sears wants $70 according to my son who checked it, I am calling them
today to see it that's right. Going to a local glass store also.

Bob H

"hr(bob) wrote

Sears wants $70 according to my son who checked it, I am calling them
today to see it that's right. Going to a local glass store also.

Local glass store will probably be cheaper. Thats gonna be a pretty
standard sized piece for them.

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.


No way to do that. We had screens like that when I was a kid, and I
remember several of them breaking, one on a day with no fire in the
fire place. If you want to fix this right, get a fireplace insert
with a screen to watch the fire through and real doors with no glass
in them that you can close. You'll get more heat from less wood.

On Dec 8, 11:33*am, "cshenk" wrote:
"hr(bob) wrote

Sears wants $70 according to my son who checked it, *I am calling them
today to see it that's right. *Going to a local glass store also.

Local glass store will probably be cheaper. *Thats gonna be a pretty
standard sized piece for them.

Went to local store, only $45. they cut the glass, then send it out
to be tempered. About a week overall.

Bob H

On Dec 8, 4:21*pm, Chris Hill wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "





wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. *Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and *two *pin type hinges at the
outside points. *Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. *It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. *The glass is about 7/16" thick. *The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. *Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

No way to do that. *We had screens like that when I was a kid, and I
remember several of them breaking, one on a day with no fire in the
fire place. *If you want to fix this right, get a fireplace insert
with a screen to watch the fire through and real doors with no glass
in them that you can close. *You'll get more heat from less wood.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

THis fireplace has outside makeup air, so the doors have to be closed
to pull in the outside air. There is fan-forced airflow around the
firebox and out the top to pride a great deal of heat with a fairly
low firebox temperature.

Bob H

Was it always left open when the fire was on? It should be. Only ceramic
glass can handle the heat of a closed fireplace.


"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Replace the insert with one that has ceramic glass.


"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 4:21 pm, Chris Hill wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:23:58 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "





wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

No way to do that. We had screens like that when I was a kid, and I
remember several of them breaking, one on a day with no fire in the
fire place. If you want to fix this right, get a fireplace insert
with a screen to watch the fire through and real doors with no glass
in them that you can close. You'll get more heat from less wood.- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

THis fireplace has outside makeup air, so the doors have to be closed
to pull in the outside air. There is fan-forced airflow around the
firebox and out the top to pride a great deal of heat with a fairly
low firebox temperature.

Bob H

Art wrote:
Was it always left open when the fire was on? It should be. Only ceramic
glass can handle the heat of a closed fireplace.




Who leaves the doors open? That's not only dangerous, but it prevents
the fireplace from doing useful heating. The glass can shatter, it
happens as this one did, but is rare. My grandmother's wood stove glass
shattered once, but it had worked fine for over a decade and the
replacement glass has been fine for around 15 years since that happened.

On Dec 7, 11:23*am, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. *Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and *two *pin type hinges at the
outside points. *Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. *It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. *The glass is about 7/16" thick. *The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. *Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Check the inside edge of the frame for a screw or burr that may have
stressed it on the small edge.

Tempered glass is more sensitive to strikes/stress from the edge than
face on.

I replaced a pane in a commercial window one time, the screws that
held the frame together were so close to the glass that the second the
screw thread touched the edge as I put it back together, it
shattered. I probably could have thrown a baseball at this glass head-
on and not broken it, but the smallest concentrated inward pressure at
the edge will shatter the whole pane.

RickH wrote:
On Dec 7, 11:23 am, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Check the inside edge of the frame for a screw or burr that may have
stressed it on the small edge.

Tempered glass is more sensitive to strikes/stress from the edge than
face on.

I replaced a pane in a commercial window one time, the screws that
held the frame together were so close to the glass that the second the
screw thread touched the edge as I put it back together, it
shattered. I probably could have thrown a baseball at this glass head-
on and not broken it, but the smallest concentrated inward pressure at
the edge will shatter the whole pane.




I've seen it happen with pinball machine playfield glasses. They can
take a heck of a smack of the steel ball hitting them from the inside,
people smacking their beer down on the outside, etc, but lean one
standing on edge against the wall and a grain of sand on the floor can
cause it to shatter into tiny shards.

RickH wrote:

On Dec 7, 11:23 am, "hr(bob) "
wrote:


I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann



Check the inside edge of the frame for a screw or burr that may have
stressed it on the small edge.

Tempered glass is more sensitive to strikes/stress from the edge than
face on.

I replaced a pane in a commercial window one time, the screws that
held the frame together were so close to the glass that the second the
screw thread touched the edge as I put it back together, it
shattered. I probably could have thrown a baseball at this glass head-
on and not broken it, but the smallest concentrated inward pressure at
the edge will shatter the whole pane.




The windshield on my older car broke twice from a very small point of
rust on the frame. This
occurred, beginning with a crack that slowly extended, twice within a
year. On the second
repair, the installer found the cause and corrected it.

On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:01:41 -0800, James Sweet
wrote:

RickH wrote:
On Dec 7, 11:23 am, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Check the inside edge of the frame for a screw or burr that may have
stressed it on the small edge.

Tempered glass is more sensitive to strikes/stress from the edge than
face on.

I replaced a pane in a commercial window one time, the screws that
held the frame together were so close to the glass that the second the
screw thread touched the edge as I put it back together, it
shattered. I probably could have thrown a baseball at this glass head-
on and not broken it, but the smallest concentrated inward pressure at
the edge will shatter the whole pane.




I've seen it happen with pinball machine playfield glasses. They can
take a heck of a smack of the steel ball hitting them from the inside,
people smacking their beer down on the outside, etc, but lean one
standing on edge against the wall and a grain of sand on the floor can
cause it to shatter into tiny shards.

The grain of sand comment it true; based on lessons taught to me. Any
little nick on the edge of tempered glass may cause the glass to
shatter.

A good reason why glass companies use rubber pads during transport to
a job.

On Dec 12, 6:31*pm, Oren wrote:
On Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:01:41 -0800, James Sweet





wrote:
RickH wrote:
On Dec 7, 11:23 am, "hr(bob) "
wrote:
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. *Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and *two *pin type hinges at the
outside points. *Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. *It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. *The glass is about 7/16" thick. *The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. *Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann

Check the inside edge of the frame for a screw or burr that may have
stressed it on the small edge.

Tempered glass is more sensitive to strikes/stress from the edge than
face on.

I replaced a pane in a commercial window one time, the screws that
held the frame together were so close to the glass that the second the
screw thread touched the edge as I put it back together, it
shattered. *I probably could have thrown a baseball at this glass head-
on and not broken it, but the smallest concentrated inward pressure at
the edge will shatter the whole pane.

I've seen it happen with pinball machine playfield glasses. They can
take a heck of a smack of the steel ball hitting them from the inside,
people smacking their beer down on the outside, etc, but lean one
standing on edge against the wall and a grain of sand on the floor can
cause it to shatter into tiny shards.

The grain of sand comment it true; based on lessons taught to me. Any
little nick on the edge of tempered glass may cause the glass to
shatter.

A good reason why glass companies use rubber pads during transport to
a job.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Got the glass and put it in, making sure there was nothing touching
the edges, just on the flat surfaces.

Tempered glass will break if there are differences in temperatures within
the glass of 630 degrees F. Keep your fire back 4" from the glass. Only
use with the glass doors completely open or completely closed. Not /\ /\.
I have seen tempered break without a fire, but sometime in the past ......


"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
I have a 15 year-old glass SEARS fireplace door, made up of four door
sections, each section is about 8" wide by 20" high, with a metal
frame around each door. Two doors on each side with a piano type
hinge between the pair of doors, and two pin type hinges at the
outside points. Last night, while reading on the sofa in the family
room, with the fire slowly getting lower as I was letting it burn down
for the night, I heard what sounded like a cap gun type of noise.
When I looked up, one of the four door glass panes had shattered into
small shards. It was obviously tempered glass by the way it broke
up.

I took the shards out of the frame today, and the frame is not warped
and shows no signs of anything that could have triggered the
breakage. The glass is about 7/16" thick. The fire was burning very
low, and there were no sparks or anything that I am aware of that
triggered the breakage. Before I shell out big $$$ bucks for a new
pane of tempered glass, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What would happen if I just replaced the glass with two thicknesses of
regular window glass?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and what did they do?

TIA,

Bob Hofmann