Fisher Baby Bear door gasket question;

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Ginnah2

New Member
Jan 2, 2011
3
Northern FL
We just bought a Baby Bear Fisher wood stove. It does not have a door gasket. Does it need one? If so, where is the best place online to purchase that. Any idea about what the cost will be?
 
Try a search for ''Woodman's Parts Plus''. I deal with them in the real world, not on line, but they got all that stuff. believe Baby Bears need 1/2 inch rope gasketing, but I'm not positive. Jim @ Woodman's will know. Yes, you need one in the door to properly control the burn. GREAT old stove!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks so much for your amazing quick reply with the source for expert advice on the size of the gasket. Yes, we are Fisher lovers: currently in Upstate New York, we heat a 2000 square ft house (well insulated) with a Mama Bear and prior to that I had a Papa Bear for an inefficient cathedral ceiling stone house built duirng the Whole Earth Catalog/The Nearing's Living the Good Life Days.
 
don't think they were designed for use w/ gasket on the door.
 
Ginnah2 said:
Thanks so much for your amazing quick reply with the source for expert advice on the size of the gasket. Yes, we are Fisher lovers: currently in Upstate New York, we heat a 2000 square ft house (well insulated) with a Mama Bear and prior to that I had a Papa Bear for an inefficient cathedral ceiling stone house built duirng the Whole Earth Catalog/The Nearing's Living the Good Life Days.

Welcome to the forum,
This topic was already discussed in the "Everything Fisher" thread. The doors were called "Triple Seal Cast Iron Door".

Just curious if your Mama or Papa Bear had gasket material added to the door to make you wonder if the same design stove required a gasket. Perhaps someone added gasket material to your old stoves knowing other stoves required it to seal the door?
It should have a piece of channel iron welded to the stove front, and the door has a raised cast iron edge that goes between the channel iron, this is a triple sealing contact area considered air tight without gasket material.

Glass doors DO use gasket material providing a cushion for the door glass if closed abruptly.
Glass option was not available on "Bear Series" Papa, Mama or Baby Bear. Glass was available on Fireplace Series, Insert , or Pedestal Stoves.
 

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Coaly,

I checked the website and haven't quite found this yet, but how long of a burn time do you think that a baby bear can provide? I have been told 3-4 hours tops. WHat is your experience with their burn times?

Thank you.
-Ray
 
Someone else who burns one will have to chime in. I don't burn anything that small. I do have one I should hook up and try using the same chimney I use for the Goldilocks now. (not at the same time) That would give me a good comparison. (Thanks in advance for giving me a reason to try another stove!) Many factors are going to make a difference with other peoples installations. I have a 6" insulated chimney not on an outside wall that drafts so easy it needs next to nothing to keep it going. A larger masonry chimney on an outside wall, would require more loss up it, need to be burned harder, and not burn as long. So it's not just the stove. It may take me a while, I need to remove the Goldilocks to put in a NEW cook stove I'm ordering shortly anyway.

The Goldilocks I burn is slightly larger than yours with an approximate heating area of 1200 s.f. compared to your Baby Bear's 1000. They use the same length log, mines just sideways compared to yours lengthwise. I get all night (8 hr) burns consistently with it, and I don't load it to the top. I put about as much in it as you would fit in yours. (3 or 4 quartered pieces from a 10 or 12" dia. log) I load it before bed, give it some air to get it going good, and close it down to just cracked. That gives the longest burn. An exceptionally cold night giving it more air, it would heat for 6 hours, and need reloading. Big difference "heating" 8 hours with a stove and "burning" 8 hours with a stove. I can crank mine up to cook on, and go through a nights worth of wood in 2 hours. Wood consumption is relative to the air you give it. So filled, not burning hard, yours should leave you with coals in the morning to rake around, a little cardboard, bark, and splits and you should be up and going in minutes. The longer narrower firebox in yours may even give you a longer burn than mine.

I only burn oak, that makes a huge difference. White oak when it's the coldest. Wood from standing dead won't give you a long burn time either. It may look good, but the BTU is gone in old stuff. I want to try the same chimney, same wood with the two stoves. We'll see.
 
thank you for the information. I have been contemplating taking the Baby Bear out of the Barn (where it is stored in plastic) and placing it in the guest home. The Hearthstone is difficult to control the length of burn as some of the components are very worn and corroded (it either runs you out or has you putting more wood in it). I want to refinish it first though.
 
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