Bought a Grandpa Bear Today

[rtrev37]

So I’ve been thinking of replacing my Fisher with the Drolet HT2000 due to features like the Fisher yet I just discovered that there is a clearance of 53” from the top of the stove to the ceiling that is required. I am short by 7” on the second tier and 5” on the first.. so not sure what to do. It’s either buy it and put up a heat shield on my already low 78” ceiling above the stove or just keep the Fisher. Frankly I have not seen anything else I like in the $1400 range...

A second thing to consider about these new EPA drives is they are not as forgiving when placing wood that is somewhat dry. They require fully dried wood or will burn like crap as I heard others mention but then again most do.

So if I decide to get the new HT2000 stove, I’ll put the Grandpa Bear 3 for sale. But still undecided how how a heat shelf will look at the entry of my doorway where the stove will be. Any comments or suggestions welcomed. Another point of view is always helpful.

 

[Todd67]

The Grandpa Bear stove is painted. I'll be taking it to my neighbor's house tomorrow, then putting in new firebricks.

 

[coaly]

The Grandpa Bear stove is painted. I'll be taking it to my neighbor's house tomorrow, then putting in new firebricks.

Getting too old to carry it over to your neighbors with the brick in it? Bet you took the doors off too!
Let us know how it works if you downsize the chimney! As well as the smoke space square inch above baffle.
I haven't seen a freshly painted Grandpa in a while, I'm sort of in suspense here.

 

[Todd67]

Getting too old to carry it over to your neighbors with the brick in it? Bet you took the doors off too!
Let us know how it works if you downsize the chimney! As well as the smoke space square inch above baffle.
I haven't seen a freshly painted Grandpa in a while, I'm sort of in suspense here.

It could be a combination of getting too old, feeling the aches & pains in my body from 20 years in the Army, and working smarter, not harder. Also, he wants to put the stove on a pallet and haul it to his house (a half mile on a farm road) with his skid steer & pallet forks. I have a feeling that the "bumpy" ride might knock some firebricks out of place. And yes, the doors will ride in my truck, next to the firebricks

We didn't get the stove moved yet because the family gathering that he went to that day lasted until almost dark. So the stove is still in my garage. I still have to bend the right side handle upward a little bit, and pictures will follow as soon as I get it out of my dark garage.

As far as the baffle plate goes, I haven't made the cardboard template yet, but I was thinking a 3" gap between the front edge of the baffle and the stovetop bend would be sufficient. We still have to uninstall his old cast iron stove. He drives a dump truck 5-6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so it's been difficult for us to coordinate a day/time to get the work done at his house. I think we will have to modify or rebuild his hearth because of the differences between his old stove and this Fisher.

I'll post pics of the progress, once the work begins.

 

[Todd67]

@coaly , this Grandpa Bear has the original firebricks in it, judging by the fact that the previous owners had it for 20 years and had no knowledge of any new bricks installed, or any other work done on the stove.

So here is my hand drawn diagram of the firebrick layout in this Grandpa Bear. Please pardon the notebook paper, I'm no architect


This stove has only one visible marking on it, and that is the upside down letter B on the upper right rear corner. Could this be a Dunn Brothers stove?

 

[Todd67]

I had to trim about 1/8" to 1/4" off the long side of one brick along the back, the right side and the left side because the original firebricks all measured 4 3/8" wide, not 4 1/2" like the new bricks. The bottom bricks fit left to right, but I might end up trimming some off the edge of the front bricks. I didn't try fitting the bottom bricks in from front to back yet.

 

[Todd67]

I finally got the Grandpa Bear painted and moved over to my neighbor's house. We used my truck to move the stove rather than his skid steer.

 

[Todd67]

This is the old stove that's been heating his house for decades, along with a wood furnace, a very old wood furnace.

 

[Todd67]

I'll try to bend the right door handle next year, to get it to match the angle of the left door handle. The door closes and seals properly (no gasket, and never had one).

 

[Todd67]

I finally got this Grandpa Bear installed yesterday. His class A chimney is 8", so we used single wall 8" stove pipe and a clean-out tee on the back of the stove. His stove pipe goes straight up through the roof.

The stove works perfectly, and my friend is extremely pleased with his "new" Fisher stove.

 

[shagbarkhick91]

could you post a few photos of the screen with details on the back and dimensions. I have been searching for almost 6 months and cannot find one i suppose it is time to build one.

Thanks!

 

[coaly]

Are you looking for the time period correct screen, or any Grandpa screen?

Original would be this;


Here is another later style for flat doors that will work, not time period correct; This is "Contemporary"



You DO NOT want the newest style for arched top doors, they sit on hinge plates and do not work correctly with flat type doors. (You CAN use the old style that locks on with handles on any style doors, but not this newer style with older flat top doors;



This type will hang on the upper hinges of old style doors, but the bottom hinges are farther apart, not allowing the bottom of screen to hook on the lower hinges. They do not lock on the stove opening with latches like the old style.

This is a mismatched screen on an older stove that does not latch behind lower hinge ears correctly.

I searched more like 10 years or more for one. Pay to play when you find one. They come up for sale on eBay occasionally.

 

[Osage]

During t cold months they built 100 per shift and ran 3 shifts at times. They would get 120,000 lbs of steel a week when busy.


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Have a friend that I grew up with that was an engineer for Hesston Corp during the time when they manufactured Fisher's.
He told me that at peak production they were building 400 per day.

 

[Todd67]

400 stoves a day is impressive!

 

[Don H]

Was that 400 complete stoves or 400 stove bodies?

 

[Osage]

Was that 400 complete stoves or 400 stove bodies?

I'm unsure. He did not say.

 

[Todd67]

As big as Hesston was, it's my guess that they could build 400 complete stoves per day.

 

[coaly]

That would be complete.
They welded the vent from the inside, fabricators building boxes did not vent until needed in the configuration the customer wanted, welded outside.
Their ash fenders were also stamped with a large H on the front. That was another thing done during finishing by other fabricators.