Fisher Help for an amateur

[lookintolearn]

Hi All!

What a great forum! Never posted here before and I'm looking for some help. I tried to find my answers in previous posts without much luck, so I apologize if this a repeat. If so any help finding the previous thread would be very much appreciated. Anyhow, I saved a Fisher (i'm thinking grandpa bear model) stove from scrap and I would like to put it in my home. It's not UL listed, but my understanding is I can follow original install instructions and still be insurable. If theres a link to the manual that'd be awesome. Besides that, I was hoping some of you all could help me figure out if there is anything I need to do before install. I'm gonna refurbish the exterior by way of youtube video, other than that, I was looking at the doors and wondering if they need fiberglass insulating rope around the exterior. Other than that, I'm not sure what else needs to be done. Any insight would be very much appreciated. I've attached photos. It is an 8" stove pipe opening.

 

[coaly]

Your state adopted the 2018 International Building Code which the Mechanical Code requires all appliances to be UL Listed. This is only for a new installation, (which this also is) but many insurance companies require UL Listing Label on even existing installations.

There is no angle iron on the corners that become legs on this stove. That was the old style with angle iron corners before the III Series was made for UL approval. The new UL Listed models had bent corners like yours. The new Cathedral arched top doors as well as the older flat top doors like yours were available as an option only in 1979. That is your year of production.

After 1979 the flat top doors were discontinued.

So your stove body is the UL tested design. Other improvements for UL approved stoves was a smoke shelf baffle, and bottom and rear shields. When all these improvements were added, a UL Label was attached. This was just as UL became the National recognized standard testing.

There are 2 manuals for Grandpa uploaded at the top of the Fisher Forum home page, in the sticky section. One pre UL which had the angle iron corners, and one for UL Listed stoves from 1980.

There is a cover of the manual yours would have used showing both door and stove body options on the cover. I believe it is in the Fireplace Series Details thread you should go through that starts with the history of the invention of your stove. Your manual is the odd ball I don’t think I have, only a cover pic.

 

[lookintolearn]

coaly, that is awesome information, thank you very much for the reply! According to my insurance company, they'll insure as long as it meets the manual specifications, so I guess i'll track down the 1979 manual. Insurance also provided additional information that has to do with NFPA211 (see attached). Am I right in assuming my stove is a grandpa bear? Also, how about the fiberglass rope on the doors? As far as install, pretty cut and dry, run double wall to a triple wall ceiling box then out the top with double wall? I have a flat parapet roof, so run the chimeny up 18" past the top of the parapet? I guess I don't fully understand the UL requirement, if I were to get permits they requireUL but that's it, right? Thanks again!

 

[coaly]

It’s a Grandpa size Fireplace Series stove, but I can’t give you the Series number without knowing if it has a factory baffle, and shields. Here is a thread picturing the III manual from the time period when your stove was built, it’s not for sale; https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/what-model-do-i-have.143256/#post-1933492

Manuals have become quite collectable as other parts of the stove have become. It’s not uncommon to purchase an entire stove for the legs, feet or manual. I posted the common manuals in the sticky section, but not the rare ones or rare brochures that are downloaded, copied and sold as originals on eBay.

The problem with being Listed is this was when stoves were being tested to other test criteria. Different states didn’t recognize other labs testing procedures used in other states. There was no standardized testing. UL was then becoming the recognized national standard it is today. The manual has a listing number, but code is written that a UL Label “must be attached”. Not that the appliance needs to be Listed. So when a Label is missing, a appliance is no longer Listed.

No solid door Fisher uses door gasket material. There are tests to do when you think it is necessary. You will find all that information in the Forum using the search feature within posts on this Forum.

This is a common answer from an insurance salesperson. They will tell you they will cover this, and take your premium. In the case of a claim, an adjuster goes by the Standard and Code, denying a claim due to being a non-conforming installation of an unlisted appliance. The only way they have to cover it is having something in writing that they will cover a non-conforming installation. You will get a different answer from your salesperson as an adjuster when it counts.

 

[lookintolearn]

Such great information, thank you Coaly! I supposed the safe bet is buying a new UL listed stove... Any idea if there are different rules for installing a stove outside on a porch and running the chimney through the tin roof?

 

[coaly]

Such great information, thank you Coaly! I supposed the safe bet is buying a new UL listed stove... Any idea if there are different rules for installing a stove outside on a porch and running the chimney through the tin roof?

Nothing special, treat any combustible material the same. NFPA-211 gives all the safety criteria for clearances, reducing clearances for unlisted stoves, and venting.