Everything Fisher

Shmudda said:

Coaly,

My parents have a Grandpa Bear in their home that my grandfather bought in the mid-late 70's. It's an early model based on your description of the tightly wound handles and 4 fin air damper knobs.

The question I have here is: the stove is in the basement of a ranch home, and the chimney is very short, just one story up, so total chimney length is about 15-20 feet or so. They want to begin using the stove again as it hasn't been used since 1993. We were going to get the chimney lined and that's where the question is, do we need to get an 8" or can we use a 6" diameter stainless steel liner? I was thinking of reducing directly out of the stove to 6", add the intermediate swing damper in the vertical flue before it 90's into the chimney and go with a 6" diameter stainless steel liner thru the masonry chimney to the top.

Click to expand...

NFPA 211 Solid Fuel Code requires stove outlet size all the way.

Many people do reduce the outlet size of the Fireplace Series. I'm not saying it won't work, but by code and the manufacturer instructions, you're not supposed to.

The firebox of a Papa Bear, having only a 6 inch outlet, is larger than the Grandpa firebox. The stove was designed with the smaller outlet for a reason. To heat, and not let the heat up the chimney. The Grandpa and Grandma "Fireplace Series" were designed to be able to view the fire. Wide, double door, big flue to eliminate chance of smoke rolling in with screen in place. The trade off of having a "Fireplace" is the loss in efficiency of the first and best designed model that started air tight stoves. The large box, small flue Papa Bear.

I would personally put in a 6 inch liner to be able to use my stove of choice that would have a 6 inch outlet. But that's personal preference.

One of these ?
Another imitator. The top step is higher than a Fisher. Fisher hinge plates are thicker (1/2") too.
They could have at least bought draft caps from Baxter or Bob.
They are exactly between the size of a Grandma and Grandpa. (20 and 24 inch log, these take 22)

the doors are also straight across the top.

Sounds like these guys may have even copied the door change from straight to arched. Or did Fisher copy their newer arched style door. hmmmm

The stove pictured above measures; 29 3/4" wide, 24 1/4" deep, 31 1/2" high.

Back to Everything Fisher !

Fisher Poster and metal Dealer Sign

Welcome to the forum; A pre 1980 Grandma.
Fisher sold a coal grate accessory. They didn't work well, and it's sales never took off.

You can elevate the coal on a grate to try to burn it, but don't expect much. You have to keep all the ash from under it, so it gets air up through the grate. The larger the coal pieces, the more air between the pieces and the better you will do. A stove is designed for burning wood in an inch of ash on the bottom, or coal suspended on a grate. It's not a coal stove. If you can achieve the critical high temps to ignite the coal, once the glowing mass cools below that ignition temperature, you're not getting the fire back. You will be shoveling out a mess.
If you could build a grate system that contacts the doors when shut, and be over the air intakes, so all the air comes in below the coal, reduce the outlet to 6 inch, you'll have a coal stove. A good coal stove would have an ash pan on the bottom for easy cleaning. You couldn't burn it with doors open, since all the air wouldn't be directed through the coal.

Coal needs to be on a grate with the air coming from underneath. As in the oxygen has to come up through the coal bed. Rising hot gasses from combustion going up the chimney is what pulls the air through an air intake, normally under the fire, where the ash pan is, and up through the coal. Coal expels a flammable gas as it heats up. A secondary air source is needed above the fire to mix oxygen with the coal gas to allow it to ignite and burn with blue flames on top of the coal bed. Otherwise this gas is wasted.
Fisher also made a "Coal Bear" that was a tall furnace type stove more for basements. They must have been tested with Bituminous soft coal, because they burned poorly with Anthracite hard coal.
Below is the Coal Bear; Notice the two primary air intakes on the ash pan door below the grate, and the single secondary intake in the loading door above the grate for secondary coal gas burn.

Thanks, I was a coaly before I collected Fisher Stoves. That's the guy who fires a steam engine. For what it's worth, that's probably the only Coal Bear you'll find on the internet too.

Pictures of Nickel Protective Shields (optional on nickel doors)

Speaking of imitators;
Last week my wife had an eye appointment close to a stove shop. So I walked over to kill some time. One they had burning was a Lopi Liberty. I stood there laughing, and a young sales guy came over. I told him "They had a 1976 Grandpa Bear there, with a glass door" ! Of course he didn't get it. Probably didn't even know what a Grandpa Bear was....... anyway, since there were very few 3 piece top double door stoves made, (they started bending the one piece tops well before 1976 double door stoves), this brand new Lopi looks just like a very early Grandpa ! The top has the step, and the top is made with individual plates, with rounded corners just like the very first stoves ! I thought it was comical that here's a brand new stove built with the identical look of the very first air tight stoves.
So after my wife was done with her eye check up, I took her over to see it. I didn't tell her which one I was showing her..... on the way in, I said to the sales guy, "Here's my wife; I'm going to have her walk through the whole place and have HER tell you which stove I would buy as my favorite". Big store, 50 to 75 stoves!! She looks at all of them, walks over to it, points at it, and says "probably this one. It's a Fisher". Priceless. The guy says, "man, that's love". I told her, careful, it's warm, feel the top plate thickness. She squeezes the overhang between her fingers and say's "wow 5/16! The sales guy walked away like he was afraid she knew more about it than him.

So I did some research on the stove, and found it has earned the EPA cleanest rating of all stoves so far. Single glass door, firebricked firebox, firebrick OVER the fire like a baffle plate, then secondary burn tubes across the brick. So it's air comes in at the top, and it burns like a cyclone across the top. They didn't have the fire going hard enough to achieve this correct combustion, so burning just like an old Grandpa made it all the funnier.
There's video on You Tube of one burning. Search Lopi Libery and you'll find it. Anyone stuck on the nostalgic Fisher look that doesn't care for the new stoves needs to check them out at a local stove shop ! The step size, the step angle, the leg angle, even 5/16 steel plate top.

I took my grandson there Saturday to see it. HE picked the one I would buy too.
Grandpa Lopi.

Thanks Craig! That wasn't on the thread or in the Wiki section.

Here's something else from the past; The red is gone in my beard, but not on the stove shop floor! This was taken today in the stove fabrication shop behind the Showroom.

Good price, you'll have more invested in the barometric damper than the stove!
You can cap the back off if you want to use a manual damper. OR you can use 8 inch stove pipe and a Baro damper out the back. If you want the correct Fisher part, I can give you the email of someone in CA that has a few. They are new without the box.
Below are some pictures of the damper and the divider box that should be inside the stove;
They are the same stove; before and after.

The finished product; (courtesy of Finest Fishers) Grandma with Barometric Damper on rear;

EARLY Papa Bear with side vent.
This is as close as it gets to the look of the original first one made.
Notice the first type of cast door without trees. Marked Fisher - Stove.

The dash is quite large and was the trademarked name filed February 12, 1975 by Bob DBA Fisher Stove Works.

Close up of the first cast door type, and first stove type. (Papa Bear side vent) The sides and top are straight showing no signs of abuse. A light sanding of surface rust in a few spots and this one will be ready for new paint. Firebrick inside marked "SUMA'S Made in Canada".

Finally found the news article containing how the Baby Bear came about that was mentioned in the Fisher Stove Story. Complete with a picture of Bob in 1974; Enjoy

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...J&pg=6673,3613830&dq=fisher-stove-works&hl=en