FISHER Grandma and Grandpa Bear Details (Fireplace Series)

Well we had our plans set to pick up a papa bear but found this gem close to home (grandpa bear).
It has some surface rust on the ash fender, and some of the bricks are cracked but all in all it's in good shape.
It got dirty and soaked on the way home, so I gave it a quick clean and had a small fire, with it's rear hanging half out of the garage, to dry it off.

It has a baffle plate already in place.....
It came with the fireplace mesh front (don't plan on using that much), four bear paw feet (not sure if that's proper for a grandpa of this generation? but my wife likes them, and that counts for something) and the guy even insisted I take his antique poker/shovel/broom set.
$250.....thought that was an ok deal.
I'll be happy to push the jotul F118CB out the back door of the cabin and put this old beast to work!

That sounds like a good deal. Just curious, why do you hate the 118 so much?

Apparently the original 118 was a great stove...the new EPA version has such a tiny firebox that we either get 2 hour max burn time with some real heat output or we have to choke it down so much, to try and get some burn times out of it, that it throws no real heat.
Looks great, but it's all for show......

The old 118 was great, I'm surprised it doesn't do better. I'm running my Fisher Grandma right now. It's heating great! Your Grandpa should run you out of your cabin.

Yeah it seems the F118CB isn't like the original! After having a disappointing weekend installing the stove and then being semi-chilled through that night, we came home and did some research.
It seems there are more people unhappy with the new Black Bear than there are fans.....wish I would have read the reviews BEFORE buying that stove, oh well, live and learn.

Anyhow, I'm highjacking the thread now!

Nice looking Grandma
I'd rather be roasted out of the cabin then huddled around a stove wanting more heat

Interesting thread. I bought an old house about 7 years ago that came with a fisher. I've tried to replace it with a newer stove twice now and it quickly gets put back where it belongs. I heat the entire house with it (2,000 sq ft.). It looks like I have one of the Virginia made stoves. I have the doors under the top hinges with the bent handles. The width of the stove at the top plate is 27 3/4. I will be making a new baffle soon. I'm also considering adding secondary burn tubes. I'd much rather improve this old stove than get a new one. "They don't make them like they used to" definitely applies to steel stoves. The fisher puts out more heat than anything else I've used. I just wish it used less wood and had fewer ashes left over to shovel out every day.

Hi I am new to this forum.
I live in France and converted my Grandma Bear so that it heats water for rads. This was done back in 1993 and has worked well since then. The boiler is angled so that it forms a baffle but not as much as the baffle was and it does not touch the sides and leaves a gap of around 3ins on both sides, otherwise the boiler would not go in. The question is would it be a good idea to fill in this gap either with steel or firebricks. I am in the process of changing a few bricks that is why there are none in the photo.

Regards Mel

France? Wow! Is it that common for Fisher stoves to make it overseas? That's pretty amazing.

Wow! Thanks, I had no idea they were, or still are made elsewhere. Cool!

Thanks for that bit of info Coaly. One more bit I now need. I cannot find the old baffle I took out strange because I have the old fire bricks and as a rule never throw anything out. I may have used it to weld up some holes on the Land-rover. I cannot remember the depth of the thing. That is from front to back. I remember there being cut outs on the front corners but not the size of them and that it is 23 in wide and around 1/4 in thick. I ask this as I have to remove the boiler for a while as I am changing the heating pipes. Not really a winter job but needs must. I will use thick stainless steel for the boiler side extensions. Thanks again.

Regards Mel

Hi
I have trolled through the posts and Coaly has already answered my questions. New baffle made in place and fire working the farmhouse is now nice and warm. In all it took longer to go and buy some new bricks than do the job. I had forgotten how much heat the grandma bear gives out as a lot of the heat went on heating the water for the rads.

Regards Mel.