Fisher Goldilocks won't draw

[weedguy]

I've just replaced my oil burner with a 1980 vintage Goldilocks and can't get it to burn hot.

I've used the same triple wall chimney as the old stove: about 15 ft. of 6 inch triple wall through a tall attic and out the peak of the roof for 4 more ft. Also about 6 feet of single wall interior. I've checked and it's all clear.

The draft adjustment mechanism seems to be unique to this stove with a single knob adjustment controlling an interior air intake from the bottom front of the fire box. With everything wide open, and clear, I can't get it to heat-up to anything more than about 250 degrees.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Weedguy
Salmon, Idaho

 

[Jags]

Wet wood would be my first knee jerk reaction.

 

[weezer4117]

just a few questions based off of your summary: what kind of wood are you burning? is the wood "seasoned?" is your chimney 21'? have you checked for any onstructions inside the firebox damper? when the stove is opened up all the way do you have good flames? do you get any smoke inside the house? these are all things that will help me maybe diagnose the problem. WG

 

[weedguy]

Thanks for the replies,

The wood is lodgepole pine and Douglas fir killed in a fire 4 years ago. It has been stacked under a roof since being cut in September and October and was dry or nearly dry when cut. I don't have actual measurements on the length of the chimney, but the inside pipe is about 5 feet, the attic is about 10 feet and the pipe goes about 4 feet above the peak of the roof. About 20 feet total. Above the ceiling it is all 6 inch triple wall.

I used my shop vac and a screw driver to scrape and pull out all the old ash I could from the air intake. Looking from below up into the firebox, the opening is clear and measures about 14 inches by 1 1/2 inches with draft adjust full open. Compared to my old Earthstove in a previous life this is HUGE.

If I leave the doors open, the fire burns nicely, just like a fireplace. When I close the doors, the fire slows down to the "all night" mode, even though the draft control is still wide open. My stack temperature a foot up the chimney never goes above 250.

:-S Weedguy :-S

 

[Jags]

Being split for a mere 3 months still leads me to the wood. Yes, it is possible to find dead trees and get them split and seasoned in a few months, but that is quite the exception, not the rule.

If there is no obstruction, with a previously used (and proven stack) and the stove components are working as advertised and when you feed copious amounts of air to the fire it works, I'm still sticking to the wood as being the most likely issue.

Do you have the ability to get a small amount of wood from another source? Maybe a neighbor or from the grocery store? That would confirm or deny my suspicions.

 

[weedguy]

Jags,

I know the wood sounds suspicious, since there is little else, but we are using the same wood from the same pile in another stove in the back of the house and it is working fine. Here in the arid west wood dries pretty fast as long as it's out of the weather.

Weedguy

 

[Jags]

Jags,

I know the wood sounds suspicious, since there is little else, but we are using the same wood from the same pile in another stove in the back of the house and it is working fine. Here in the arid west wood dries pretty fast as long as it's out of the weather.

Weedguy

Gotcha.

Is there a possibility that you are getting into a negative pressure situation? Anything else fighting for internal air, like clothes dryer, power vent stuff, etc.?

Have you checked the cap to make sure it is not plugged up with creo?

 

[weedguy]

Jags thanks for the replies,

Yeah, I tried opening an outside door.....nada. Today I took the right door to a welding shop and had them drill several large holes behind the phony draft adjustment that is there to make it function like the one's on all the real Fisher stoves.....nope. The thing sure doesn't use much wood!!

If I hold a match in front of the new holes, air is going in. I also tried the match under the large draft under the front of the stove and air is also going in there too.

I have an expensive new cap on the chimney and thought to take a look at it as well. There is about 8 inches of clearance between the top of the pipe and the cap. Should be enough?

Got any recommendations on a brand of new stoves? I've about had it with this POS. :shut:

Weedguy

 

[Jags]

I would think that your cap spacing is fine as long as it is open or that the cap screen is not plugged up.

As far as new stoves go - heck there is a long list of quality stoves to choose from. You would need to start by deciding a few key characteristics of what you are looking for.

Size (fire box), steel/cast/soapstone, cat/non-cat, etc. From there you will get plenty of suggestions. I would start a new thread for that.

 

[weedguy]

OK, so I've finally got something positive to say about the Goldilocks.

I took both doors to a welding shop and had them drill a bunch of holes behind the "air adjustments" on each door. I then bolted the flap on the bottom of the stove shut (where the air intake was designed to be). I basically turned the 2 phony air adjustments into real and adjustments, AND THEY WORK!!

We are thinking that the faulty design on the Goldilocks allowed plenty of air in, but it was directed up the inside of the doors, across the top of the fire box and up the chimney. The holes in the doors now direct the air at the fire like all the real Fisher stoves you guys have been talking about.

Major lesson here for anyone else who might find one of these old Goldilocks stoves.

Thanks for the help guys!!

 

[coaly]

WOW, Major lesson is to NOT drill air holes in your manufactured housing stove doors !

Sorry I'm a year late, but raising the base off the floor would have allowed it to draw air up through the pedestal as designed. The flapper door under the ash shelf that you thought was the original air intake is an ash clean out door ! The left knob is connected to the threaded rod that goes through the door. This should push on a welded tab on a flapper that goes all the way across the stove front. This is called the "Bear-O-Matic Draft Control" {tm}. This stove WAS designed as a Mobile Home or Manufactured Housing stove to bring outside combustion air up through the floor, through the pedestal, into the firebox via the adjustment flapper. Mobile Home Codes require all oxygen burning appliances to have an outside air source. Drilling holes in the door, now allows inside air into the fire and up the chimney. This defeats the purpose of the Mobile Home listing tag on the back. If sold, and installed in a manufactured home, this is modified beyond it's intended use. The new owners will not be aware of this. I recommend removing the UL listing tag since it no longer has an external combustion air source as designed. This stove works well when installed correctly with the air intake pipe supplied with stove. Kit is #1468 "Outside air inlet with rodent guard screen". I have this factory kit new, and can make copies as needed.