New to forum, Have a grandpa bear and love it, Have a few questions

[wcso873]

Hello, I live in Southern Ohio and bought a house 3 years ago that has a Fisher Grandpa bear stove in the basement. Just started using it this year to heat my whole house. It burns alot of wood but it sure keeps the house warm. So far so good. I know nothing about wood stoves as this is my first time using it but im figuring it out as i go along. I do have a few questions about what i believe is the flue. Its like a butterfly valve that is in the large tube that comes out of the top of the stove. Should that always be left wide open when im burning? Also my stove has a electric fan that is made into the rear of the stove. Ive not read anything about that on the forums. Is it a add on? Any help would be appreciated! Also this is a great forum!!

 

[coaly]

Welcome to the Forum,
That is a manual damper in the flue pipe. If your stove is older with no baffle inside, (you can see right out the pipe from inside) you should be using it to slow the rising gasses down all the time. Once up to temp, you can usually run it closed fully. (across the pipe is closed, with the pipe is open) If you have a screen, with open door burning you slowly close the damper until smoke starts to come in. Open it just until it stops and this is the setting that you will save some heat from rushing up, yet enough draft to prevent smoke from coming in. There are manuals in Hearth Wiki under Fisher Stoves.
Pictures of the stove front and fan would be necessary to let you know what you have as far as model and fan. Unless it's a newer Grandpa with a rear shield, no provision was made for a fan.

 

[CamFan]

Coaly we sold a fan for angle iron mama - gpas. It had a clip that bolted to the top. a fan housing was hung from the clips and a blower mounted t the bottom of the housing. I think I still have the clips and probably only one housing. I will try to send a picture of it to you. I have problems posting pictures here, probably and age thing.

 

[wcso873]

The house was built in 77 and I believe the heater was installed when the house was new. I have been running with the damper fully open... Maybe thats why im burning through so much wood! And im trying to get the wife to send me pics of the blower. Can I run with the door screw controls fully closed?

 

[CamFan]

running the draft control knobs full closed would only work if there was enough air leaking around the door. You should be able to fill the stove at night lets say 10:30 and get up and have a good bed of coals at 6:30 in the morning. Open the caps and damper and add wood. Let it burn hot for 20-30 minutes and keep on. The amount you leave the caps open will depend on the draw of the chimney and air leaks around the door. Now it is not supposed to leak air around the door but this is not a perfect world. You have to adjust the air for your situation. I used to close them all the way and open each 1/4 turn. But I had a great drawing chimney. play with it until you do not have to struggle to start a fire in the morning or have to run around in you underware when you are awake. good luck

More scientific stuff will follow!

 

[wcso873]

Thanks for the help! I will mess with it tonight when i get home. Its usually a decent bed of coals in the morning when i get up and getting another fire started is very easy. Its pretty cool how they built this house around the stove. All the rooms have openings in the floor to allow the heat to rise up thru them. The people who i bought the house from were survivalists... Im talking hidden rooms and guns buried in the yard people. Very cool tho. I have baseboard heat and the heat bills have been killing me! I cant believe I waited three years to start using this!

 

[coaly]

Here's the pictures of wcso's stove and blower. Looks like you have a Grandpa III there. (Grandpa III will be 30" wide top plate, Grandma III is 25 1/2" wide) camfan will have to let us know if this is the type they sold for installation on the older box with angle iron corners becoming the legs.

I built my home with an open floor plan to heat as well. One 3 flue chimney up the center, so I have a flue accessible for upstairs, downstairs, and a boiler or water heater if I choose. And one self supporting ceiling box in the middle of a big kitchen that makes it easy to change out stoves. So far this winter I've only heated 1800 sf up with one Mama Bear in the kitchen. Didn't even buy coal for the main stove in the living room with all the storm damaged and standing dead trees.

 

[wcso873]

Thanks for posting the pics Coaly. I also saw where my stove was manufactured by the Dunn Bros.

 

[CamFan]

Here's the pictures of wcso's stove and blower. Looks like you have a Grandpa III there. (Grandpa III will be 30" wide top plate, Grandma III is 25 1/2" wide) camfan will have to let us know if this is the type they sold for installation on the older box with angle iron corners becoming the legs.

I built my home with an open floor plan to heat as well. One 3 flue chimney up the center, so I have a flue accessible for upstairs, downstairs, and a boiler or water heater if I choose. And one self supporting ceiling box in the middle of a big kitchen that makes it easy to change out stoves. So far this winter I've only heated 1800 sf up with one Mama Bear in the kitchen. Didn't even buy coal for the main stove in the living room with all the storm damaged and standing dead trees.

That looks just like what we used to sell. It was a good one.