Brought a Coal Bear Home

[Todd67]

It was worth the 6 hour round trip for a Fisher stove model that I've looking for since 2012. Brought it home yesterday and put it in my garage to get it ready for a good restoration. I plan to use it to heat my garage, and only burn wood in it (unless Coaly can get me some new liners)

The snow flurries started today (yes, October 21st), so I coated the stove and parts with PB Blaster tonight so it can start to loosen the rust.

Here is the only picture that the previous owner posted on his CL ad. More pics to follow as I make progress on this stove.

 

[coaly]

Firebrick it for wood. Coal is extremely hard on metal chimneys and pipe, plan on replacing the cap every other year depending on coal used. If you are using coal, consider a masonry chimney. It also drives up the price of installation with a barometric damper.

Coal stoves require replacement of grates and liners periodically. When Fisher went out of business, very few replacement parts for the coal basket and grates existed. Most have homemade grates and liners and only the stoves that have burned only wood have grates in good shape. By 2000, most customers needed the parts that come into contact with coal or fly ash and most were scrapped when parts couldn't be found. That's what makes them rare today. Most were installed in basements so nickel or brass is more rare than black. Very few were plated.

Pros and cons of coal burning; Anthracite coal is a very consistent burning fuel without the temperature spikes of wood. Once lit, shaken a few times daily and stoked, they burn constant until left to go out in the spring. In a garage or shed you may want to only fire it when you're going to be there. It takes a few minutes to establish a coal fire, but hours to start radiating constant heat. Not the fuel for quick heat like wood.
As stated above, fly ash is very corrosive to metal and even masonry. The ash is alkaline, so it can be used to correct ph of acidic soil. It is great for soil conditioning, but has no fertilizing value. It is primarily a coal burner which takes wood cut shorter than a Bear Series stove.

The Coal Bear is a stoked stove, meaning you shovel or pour coal on the fire compared to a hopper stove that feeds itself by gravity as it burns down or you shake it. Advancements in coal burners now include thermostats and hoppers to self feed. Most have glass doors to see the fire so you know when you have a blue secondary flame (very important to keep coal gas ignited and not build up until you open the door and oxygen ignites the gas with a violent poof) They are best for people with at least some coal experience since seeing the coal fire with door shut is different than when door is cracked open to peek in. There are many tips to filling properly by keeping a shallow hole in the fire to maintain a pilot light of sorts, to firing with different size coal (the fines in the bin) for when a slower burning fire with less heat is needed. Preferably a horseshoe shape fire, with less in the center, or mounded, not flat or level ! Control is difficult without glass and you only learn with practice.

I was contemplating making patterns for liners and grates years ago, but never had much of a need for them. It's something I could produce and have a few sets for years without moving them. Just not profitable.

No manuals have surfaced, but coal burning is pretty standard with any coal burner, so I can walk you though that if needed.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks for all the information Coaly!

The grates in this stove are in good shape, but the liners are bad (all but one). My guess is that it was used with wood more than it was with coal. I think the grates would look at bad as the liners if it was used to burn a lot of coal. After further consideration, I have no plans to burn coal in this stove. I'll use it as a wood stove, but it won't be this winter.

That being said, I will line the fire box with the proper bricks on the bottom and sides. I've considered putting two pieces of 1/4" plate steel in the bottom, above the grates, with the grates rotated solid side up. Two pieces of plate steel will be easier to fit in the bottom than a full size sheet. Then put fire bricks on top of the steel floor to protect the stove's moving parts from heat and Ash. I'll keep the coal liners in the ash pan as keepsakes.

The front of the grates are at the top of the picture, with the stove laying on it's back on a pallet






T.H. on the bottom

 

[coaly]

Is there a shield on the back and bottom? If not, that be the reason it has no UL tag. When tested, only the stoves with shields on bottom and back passed or were tested. So if anyone wanted a stove for use on or near non-combustible surfaces there was no need for a UL listed stove, so they could get them without shields for a lower price. That's what makes many Fishers unique. Customers could deal directly with the fabricator in the showroom and sales floor and the salesman could customize the stove for their use or installation. You came back days or weeks (or months) later to pick it up. So if you needed a Papa Bear with 8 inch outlet for a larger fireplace opening, and lower legs to fit under a mantel, you could get a stove with shorter legs (only if non-UL for non-combustible surfaces) and 8 inch vent top, rear or either side. That's one of the reasons we find so many oddities today.

That is going to clean up very easily. I wouldn't be surprised if wetting it with PB Blaster and rubbing it down with Scotch Bright is all the prep work it needs. Then wipe with mineral spirits and let dry before painting. I fire outside for final cure.
Since these are high and fit a hand truck reasonably well, I don't they are difficult to move at all. A longer Papa is the worst, since it takes a 4 wheel dolly or a hand cart with someone on the other end to counter balance or put a plank through the door opening or vent pipe to lift and steer. Leverage and wheels, they all move easy. Getting my Kitchen Queen into the house and across a tile floor was a challenge like moving about 4 of these connected together at once.

 

[Todd67]

Yes, it has the shields on the back and bottom. I'm going to clean up the bottom and the legs before I stand it up to work on the back. Its too heavy to keep laying it down and standing it up. I wish it didn't have the shields on it because I have no way of painting the back and bottom of the stove, which means that rust can continue to spread and weaken the plate steel. I'm considering removing the shields, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Don't be surprised if I decide to keep this coal bear in my house as a conversation piece, and to preserve this interesting and unique stove. Then I'll have to find a mama bear to heat my garage

Does your coal bear have the heat shields? I'll attach a pic of my stove bottom, but as of now, I don't have a picture of the back of my stove. The bottom shield is two sheets of metal, placed about an inch from the bottom of the stove.

 

[coaly]

Surface rust on the bottom doesn't weaken it. Even stoves that have been stored outside for years that are pitted deep on the top are plenty strong and it doesn't seem to cause warping or cracks.
Mine has the same type shields.

 

[Todd67]

Ok, thanks for reassuring me that yours is made the same way. I'll leave the shields on, to keep it original.

I was considering a Kitchen Queen about 6 years ago, after chatting with you about the KQ you have, but my wife and I agreed that cooking on the mama bear would suffice during power outages, or when we cook a stew or soup on the mama bear. We had an electric kitchen range when we bought our house, and we finally switched over to a propane kitchen range a few years ago. It was a lot easier to move into the house than a Kitchen Queen

 

[Todd67]

I finally got my coal bear stood up on it's legs today. There is a rear heat shield but there is no UL tag anywhere on the stove. I couldn't even find where a UL tag might have been at one time. No stove number either. Just the initials T.H. welded on the bottom.

 

[Todd67]

I posted in another thread that I found a number stamped on the front upper left of the stove, PA 0092. No UL tag, even though it has the bottom & rear heat shields.

 

[Todd67]

@coaly , does your coal Bear have any markings on it?

I thought I asked you before but maybe I didn't.

 

[coaly]

It has a tag, I'll have to check if it has a stove number welded on the bottom shield.

 

[Todd67]

It has a tag, I'll have to check if it has a stove number welded on the bottom shield.

Ok. I'm curious to know if maybe mine has the PA0092 stamped on the from because it doesn't have the UL tag.