Looking for a Honey Bear Manual and Hearth requirements

[Cummins_Farmer]

Hello from the Midwest,
I have been poking around on site that is loaded with great info on Fisher Stoves. I am looking at getting a Honey Bear I found on Craigs List, but first I was curious if anyone could tell me what the minimum hearth requirement is. I have never burned wood for house heat before, but I'm getting tired of giving the electric company $450+ to heat my house.

Thanks Much, Robert

 

[CamFan]

Are you sure that is a honey bear? ours were double doors. That door looks like the what we called the toilet seat door for a TF88

if it is a honey bear the manual says min width is 32" and depth of 44" with 18" in front and 6" on each side. I am sending some stuff to Coaly today and if he does not have this manual I can send it too. That way he can put it with all the others he has.

 

[coaly]

Welcome to the forum;
We need a larger picture to verify your stove model.
The TF-88 has a door shaped like this;
Etched glass, and a very distinctive contour to the door face. Hence the "toilet seat" door.

Your door looks more like this, but not sure in the pictures;



***This model is the same size as the double door Honey Bear. None have surfaced with a readable tag to verify the model name, but I suspect it could be a stove I have recently found on a spec sheet, with no picture to verify, called the "Panda Bear". ***
I have not seen a Panda shown in a brochure, price list, or spec sheet. But the XL hasn't either.
I'll be searching ads in newspaper archives with some new key words to find the model pictured and verify it's model name.

CamFan was a welder at the Fisher South East fabricator, but not every fabricator made every model. He doesn't remember them making a single door Honey Bear size stove.......... so stand by................ Some models weren't made for long, and possibly only made by one fabricator, so their history is a work in progress.

What state was this located in? I'll check to see where the others that have surfaced are from to possibly narrow it down.

It will no doubt have the same clearances as CamFan posted above, being the same size stove. It should have a heat shield on the back of the stove mounted on 4 stand off bolts for these reduced clearances.

 

[Cummins_Farmer]

To me its not the TF-88. Here are some bigger pictures, it is located in Wisconsin. Plan on going to get it on thursday, hopefully the guy has the heat shield for the back laying around somewhere or else i will just fabricate one.

The ad says it 20" wide with a 18"x18" firebox.

How thick does the hearth need to be? It will be placed on a wood floor.


Robert

 

[coaly]

You're right, it's not the TF-88.

This is the shape of the rear shield. It's the same as the double door Honey Bear shown below;.



There is also a blower available that hangs on the back at the bottom and blows up the back, and forward across the top. They are variable speed. Blowers are available in black or brown. That stove is really sharp when painted with Metallic Brown Stove Bright. That was an option on the original.

Many had a tag on the pedestal that is only a sticker type with very small print. It takes a magnifying glass to read it. Possibly painted over in your case. There is a removable base type mobile home certified model when used with outdoor air kit. Here's a picture of the bottom of that model;

Convertible legs or pedestal

The base plate doesn't get hot at all. Ember protection is the main thing. Manuals for pedestal models state;

Hearth Extension or Floor Protector ;
1.) Provide a non-combustible surface to protect floor coverings. The minimum hearth extension area is to extend at least 16" in front and at least 8" beyond each side of the fireplace stove opening. also, the hearth shall extend over the entire surface beneath the stove and at least 10" beyond the rear of stove.

2.) The floor protector shall be made of at least 3/8' thick non-combustible material and must meet National Fire Protection Association, Uniform Mechanical Code, or local code specifications. Combustible materials that are saturated with flame retardant are not satisfactory.

Usually the carpet is removed, 1/2" cement board is laid over floor and covered with tile or brick face of choice.

They can also be installed so close to the wall, (with heat shields) you are limited by the single wall pipe clearance to combustible. (18 inch) Double wall is then required for reduced pipe clearance.

 

[coaly]

Here's a thread of interest with a couple members here with the same stove.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/honey-bear-with-removable-pedestal.104927/

Post #23 has a good picture of a riveted tag with clearances legible.

It should also have an awesome baffle like this in it;

 

[Cummins_Farmer]

I ended up finding a different Honey Bear for the same money in better shape. This stove was made December, 1984 manufactured by Gott Enterprise LTD. I bought it out of the Denver, Co area. (For Coaly if you wanted to know)


this tag is located on the side the right side of fire the fire box, looking at the stove

This has been quite the undertaking to get a wood burner in a good location for heat. Today I'm tearing up some Oak and Maple floor to get a base for the tile floor laid down, a couple of days ago we made a 30" wide door into a 10' wide door by tearing out a load bearing wall and putting an overkill header in. I'll take some pics once i get the tile laid and the house cleaned up a bit.

I'm guessing this stove still has the original paint job, it's even brown!! But my wife wants it to be black come summer time......we will have to see about that.

Robert

 

[coaly]

Congrats on that find !
Thanks for the good tag pics. The clearances on that tag are the same as this manual for the convertible Honey Bear made with double doors;
https://www.hearth.com/images/uploads/Honey_Bear_Convertible_Manual.pdf

The difference between residential pedestal and mobile home, is the residential pedestal is three sided and open in the back for air intake from inside dwelling. The mobile home pedestal is four sided and closed in for air to come up through the pedestal from outside under home.

Tell your wife it IS black. She must be going color blind. Nothing but Stove Bright Metallic Brown belongs on that stove.

 

[Cummins_Farmer]

Congrats on that find !
Thanks for the good tag pics. The clearances on that tag are the same as this manual for the convertible Honey Bear made with double doors;
https://www.hearth.com/images/uploads/Honey_Bear_Convertible_Manual.pdf

The difference between residential pedestal and mobile home, is the residential pedestal is three sided and open in the back for air intake from inside dwelling. The mobile home pedestal is four sided and closed in for air to come up through the pedestal from outside under home.

Tell your wife it IS black. She must be going color blind. Nothing but Stove Bright Metallic Brown belongs on that stove.

I am not color blind.... Wife here. Just like things to match.

 

[Cummins_Farmer]

Here are some pictures of our project, we just have some trim work to do and a little painting and that should wrap up the stove installation.
Before, the blue tape is the tile outline
During, we decided to take the brick chimney out on the most windy day but the warmest day of 30 deg. destruction went well

And almost done. The Honey Bear is doing pretty good, we can actually maintain 69 in the house when its only 5 outside and windy. that would have never happen before.

Robert

 

[coaly]

I am not color blind.... Wife here. Just like things to match.

Thanks for the update. Looks good.
Don't you dare paint it yellow