Going to be building new house, Fisher Mama bear questions

I would hold out for a newer EPA stove. the old fishers are nice and well built, but your going to burn through 2x as much wood for the same amount of heat as well as have to get up at night to keep the fire going. I got my napoleon for 550$ brand spanking new on clearance and it doesnt seam to cheaply built to me.

No way on earth would I even consider that stove. For almost the same price you can get a pretty darn nice EPA stove and get more heat from less wood.

I agree with the fisher comments, When I had a moma bear, I used to heat the chimney of my house real well, never worried about creosote and went through a whole lot of wood, I switched to a VC Defiant which is still nowhere near efficent as modern stoves and cut my wood usage by about 1/2, the only thing I miss is that my chimney doesnt heat up anywhere as well now as it did with the Fisher.

Fisher was a good stove for the time . . . and it still has a good look about it.

That said . . . there are a lot of benefits to burning with a newer stove.

1. You will burn less wood . . . less wood burned = less time spent cutting, splitting, stacking and moving the wood from outdoors to the stove and more time spent fishing, hunting, ATVing, hiking, etc.

2. You will get a nice view of the fire with most stoves . . . nice view = romantic moments in front of the stove . . . or simply having a nice focus point in the room . . . no need for a fireplace.

3. You will burn less wood . . . less wood burned = your yard doesn't have to look like the yard to a pulp and paper mill.

4. You will burn cleaner . . . burning cleaner = cleaner chimney, less cleaning is typical (although you still need to check the chimney) and you get that good feeling knowing you're being "green."

5. You will burn less wood . . . but get more heat as most of the stoves in your budget would be secondary burners and what you will find is that it will "re-burn" the smoke resulting in more heat.

6. You will have a new stove with a known burning history . . . not a stove which may have been used and abused and just painted to cover up any signs of over-firing.

7. You will burn less wood . . . less wood burned = less money spent on buying wood or fuel for the saws, splitter, ATV or tractor, etc.

8. You will have a new stove for about the same, perhaps a slight bit more money than a 30-year-old stove . . . prices right now are pretty decent with the event of Spring . . . and couple that with the tax credit . . . it's almost a no-brainer.


As for dependability . . . hmmm . . . if I had a choice of buying a brand new stove with a warranty . . . or buying a 30-year old stove without a warranty and potentially 30 years of fires and who knows what type of usage . . . nah . . . again . . . a no-brainer for me. The steel stoves you would be looking at for the price point are nearly bullet-proof . . . just like the Fisher . . . only they've got one thing extra going for them . . . they're using welding techniques and product that is a lot newer to put these fireboxes together . . . not to mention the fact that they're probably being made at one facility vs. the Fishers which were allowed to be built at several shops. As for the construction, I would argue that the newer stoves have a few "extra" parts -- notably the "glass", baffle and secondary burn tubes . . . and yes there is a potential for these to be damaged (especially if folks are not careful) but I would say that overall very few people have problems with these items being damaged that often.

Hello Exdark, Hope you are able to harvest/process some of the tree tops remaining before you get your house built or even get a stove. Cut and down wood only lasts so long (4-5 yrs at the max?). Get some of it up off the ground and hopefully covered.

Sounds to me like you need to educate yourself on stoves. Your considering a Mama Fisher but you think the best is a Woodstock Fireview? Do you realize that the Fireview is a CAT stove. The difference between those two stoves are further apart than night and day. Read the reviews on this site, learn about the stoves and learn about wood. It won't take too long. I was in a similar situation as you about 10 years ago. I didn't know anything about burning like I do now. I wound up having to trash my first install and upgrade to something much better. That had a price tag of around $4000 before I was done. I have a ZC fireplace which is basically a stove in the wall with the brick around it to look just like a fireplace. Don't take to lightly what these guys on here suggest. They're the best at this stuff I've ever read. If you don't understand what they're telling you then try to learn so do understand where they're coming from. Your in a good position right now, no commitments yet. Learn and start cutting and properly seasoning wood now. That's where I would start. Figure out where your going to store it, can you keep it dry enough, what kind of wood will you be using, how much will you need to be a good two years ahead (especially with a Fireview), what kind of equipment do you have for harvesting and how much time do you have to do it and most of all - do you enjoy it Good Luck

You best do some more research as you just put down a very good stove that will blow that old " pc of crap" Fisher away.
Your building a new home, and your going to put an old, inefficient pc of crap in it?
And having "plenty of wood" lying around is not excuse to justify using said older stove. Let alone wasting wood. Less used, is less processed, and less work.
Seems to me your rushing into this thought process, and already know what you want to do.
Keep researching and get yourself better informed & educated. Then you can make a sound decision and feel confident in that decision.
You do realize Summers Heat is Same as Englander right? Insert foot in mouth.