Fisher Grandpa Bear stove gasket

[caseybright211]

Hello all! Wondering if anyone had trouble with installing stove gasket to fisher grandpa bear? I have seen many say you do not need it but with my specific stove I can hear the air coming in from all 4 sides of the stove. It needs stove gasket considering my wood goes crazy if not. It sucks as right now I can’t load it much at all or it will go up and all will be gone in a few hours.

When I added thin stove gasket it almost shut but not quite and I don’t want to force it but I really want to use this stove! lol. Any help would be great thanks!!

 

[coaly]

Doors without glass did not use gasket material. If the back of door is cleaned with a wire wheel, and the channel iron door seal is cleaned both in the center, and edges, this should give a 3 point contact all the way around.

If gasket cement has already been applied to the iron door seal, this makes a dusty mess removing it down to bare iron. The stove was designed to prevent the issues with gasket material. The secondary air leaks around doors should not make a huge difference.

It also depends if you have a round sealing rod with the early doors. Using gasket on any double door Fisher Stove may prevent sealing in the center.

A incense stick, or shaken out match will show where the air is leaking in with a good fire established.

Make sure the hinge pins are not worn and do not try to force the right side rotating latch tighter. Both handles should be at the same angle when latched.

If you close air intakes fully, wait a few minutes and crack door to see how many flames, or if it is only glowing like it should be with little to no flame.

 

[caseybright211]

Doors without glass did not use gasket material. If the back of door is cleaned with a wire wheel, and the channel iron door seal is cleaned both in the center, and edges, this should give a 3 point contact all the way around.

If gasket cement has already been applied to the iron door seal, this makes a dusty mess removing it down to bare iron. The stove was designed to prevent the issues with gasket material. The secondary air leaks around doors should not make a huge difference.

It also depends if you have a round sealing rod with the early doors. Using gasket on any double door Fisher Stove may prevent sealing in the center.

A incense stick, or shaken out match will show where the air is leaking in with a good fire established.

Make sure the hinge pins are not worn and do not try to force the right side rotating latch tighter. Both handles should be at the same angle when latched.

If you close air intakes fully, wait a few minutes and crack door to see how many flames, or if it is only glowing like it should be with little to no flame.

So I have already wire wheeled around door and it seems to not help. I have in fact opened the door after both knobs in front are closed all the way and it is a full flame, and I can hear the air coming in from the sides like a “wind” sounds about 5 feet away.

Again not sure where to go from here. My wood is seasoned very well but I still don’t think I should have to worry about the stove going up in flames and not even being able to use the air control knobs up front.

Thanks for your reply

 

[EatenByLimestone]

How tall is your chimney?

 

[caseybright211]

How tall is your chimney?

Starts in basement goes up approx 20 feet from the top of stove. Is 2’ over peak of roof. No damper put in but I do have a baffle installed

 

[coaly]

Need pics of door seal with doors open and back of doors.

Is the channel iron door seal flat against front plate? Most are welded with a few short beads. Others are fully welded around inner edge.

Something is not right.

Let’s confirm you have the 1 inch channel iron door seal first.

The raised portion on back of the door should be centered, making contact in the center of the web of the channel iron. The edges of channel iron contact the flat on the back of the door. This makes the 3 points of contact all the way around.

Opening the right door only allows you to see where the back of the left door is making contact on the door seal top and bottom.

Then open both doors, and only close right door. Now you can see the contact points of the right door on the seal.

 

[caseybright211]

Need pics of door seal with doors open and back of doors.

Is the channel iron door seal flat against front plate? Most are welded with a few short beads. Others are fully welded around inner edge.

Something is not right.

Let’s confirm you have the 1 inch channel iron door seal first.

The raised portion on back of the door should be centered, making contact in the center of the web of the channel iron. The edges of channel iron contact the flat on the back of the door. This makes the 3 points of contact all the way around.

Opening the right door only allows you to see where the back of the left door is making contact on the door seal top and bottom.

Then open both doors, and only close right door. Now you can see the contact points of the right door on the seal.

So looks like there is a small gap on the top left and bottom of both the doors. It’s small but it is not contacting or meeting even when I press it in. Maybe the doors are slightly warped but they don’t look it. Note when I push in the bottom it does push in as if it has more room to meet together.. hm.. would ceramic blanket work better than door gasket as I could control the thickness .. this is a bummer..

 

[coaly]

The back of the door has something on it. Wire wheel the back of doors where the knife edge of channel iron should contact it.

The edges of channel iron look rough. If they don’t clean up to a smooth edge, place cardboard strips in door seal to see if there is enough clearance for flat gasket in the channel. See if the door latches properly with one or two pieces of cardboard in it. Then you will know what thickness gasket will work.

This is a clean door seal;

 

[coaly]

When reconditioning seals or when doors are machine surfaced, do not remove more than .050 inches. The channel iron measured 1/2 inch from back of channel iron to edge. You can remove up to 50/1000 to make edges of door seal flat.



I have a granite surface plate for measuring flatness, and milling machine to surface door seals. Fabricators did not normally do this, but if a door from factory was rough, specs are here. Make sure the doors were drilled 1 3/4 to center of hinge pin hole as shown here; (a straight edge is used across back of door to measure hole center);



The doors are laid on stove on door seal with stove on its back. Doors are centered on seals, and hinge plates tack welded to stove. When correct, hinge plates were fully welded. So each stove is precisely fitted for each door. If someone changes doors for any reason, only gasket material will fix it without repositioning hinge plates.

 

[caseybright211]

The back of the door has something on it. Wire wheel the back of doors where the knife edge of channel iron should contact it.

The edges of channel iron look rough. If they don’t clean up to a smooth edge, place cardboard strips in door seal to see if there is enough clearance for flat gasket in the channel. See if the door latches properly with one or two pieces of cardboard in it. Then you will know what thickness gasket will work.

This is a clean door seal;

View attachment 327020

Are you sure they are supposed to look like that? Mine are as solid as can be. But what you are telling me is that I maybe can remove some of the flat part of the seal pictures in my picture? I only have an angle grinder lol. Don’t know if I wanna do that.

Thanks for all your help so far coaly I literally joined this forum because of you

 

[bholler]

I have worked on some that were just to worn to seal properly without flat gasket. But try everything you can to avoid that. First thing I would do after making sure everything is perfectly clean is check where it's loose with a dollar bill. Usually it's just in the center and adjusting the latch fixes it.

 

[coaly]

Only make the door seal edges flat with a flat file using a angled stroke, not straight across the edge, more along with the length of it.

The back of the door in that last pic looks fine.

Pull a door hinge pin to see if it is worn. Lifting on the door may show movement.

Another way to see where contact is made is an even, light coat of grease on the raised portion of door. Close it, and see if grease is transferred to seal, and where.

Normally there is no clearance for gasket. When latched, the door should touch channel iron in 3 places all the way around. Flat gasket about 1/4 inch thick should crush in the channel making good contact with the raised portion on doors all the way around.

It’s easy to check for warpage with straight edge, simply open fully and use a straight edge such as a framing square or level across the raised portion to see if door is straight and flat.

 

[caseybright211]

I have worked on some that were just to worn to seal properly without flat gasket. But try everything you can to avoid that. First thing I would do after making sure everything is perfectly clean is check where it's loose with a dollar bill. Usually it's just in the center and adjusting the latch fixes it.

Thanks bholler, so what I did was wire wheeled everything clean and

Only make the door seal edges flat with a flat file using a angled stroke, not straight across the edge, more along with the length of it.

The back of the door in that last pic looks fine.

Pull a door hinge pin to see if it is worn. Lifting on the door may show movement.

Another way to see where contact is made is an even, light coat of grease on the raised portion of door. Close it, and see if grease is transferred to seal, and where.

Normally there is no clearance for gasket. When latched, the door should touch channel iron in 3 places all the way around. Flat gasket about 1/4 inch thick should crush in the channel making good contact with the raised portion on doors all the way around.

It’s easy to check for warpage with straight edge, simply open fully and use a straight edge such as a framing square or level across the raised portion to see if door is straight and flat.

all sounds great thanks, I have found a solution as of now and will send pictures sometime in next day or so. Maybe it will help someone else

 

[caseybright211]

Okay everyone, so what I did is put ceramic blanket inside the groove and different heights of what I thought would work. I’m not sure what kind of ceramic blanket is right but I had a lot left over from my maple syrup arch. I got it from smoky lake maple. I used such a small amount and cut it to fit the width of the groove (again see picture).

It was originally too thick but the blanket seem to have layers on it so I could flake it off. I figured this would help because it would touch my hot firebox and not turn black or burn at all. In the Fisher stove it doesn’t even come close to a flame, so my next worry was “will it hold”. Well 24 hours in and 2 burns later. Absolutely no discoloration and even though it doesn’t look like it , I have about 6 pieces packed together in the seam and it doesn’t move at all, fall out or seem to be wearing out in any way.

Stove performance is EXACTLY what I was looking for prior to installing this. I have my air control open over a quarter turn and it burns very good so far. Held my coals well into the morning (previously it would be nothing due to too much air, I would have to start a new fire with kindling)..

I can always update in the future if someone wants to reply to this thread and let you know long term performance of this ceramic blanket.

Maybe this can help someone who wants a little more “airtight” door.


Thanks Coaly and everyone for your help. Got me to realize the problem and brainstorm for some good ideas,

 

[bholler]

Okay everyone, so what I did is put ceramic blanket inside the groove and different heights of what I thought would work. I’m not sure what kind of ceramic blanket is right but I had a lot left over from my maple syrup arch. I got it from smoky lake maple. I used such a small amount and cut it to fit the width of the groove (again see picture).

It was originally too thick but the blanket seem to have layers on it so I could flake it off. I figured this would help because it would touch my hot firebox and not turn black or burn at all. In the Fisher stove it doesn’t even come close to a flame, so my next worry was “will it hold”. Well 24 hours in and 2 burns later. Absolutely no discoloration and even though it doesn’t look like it , I have about 6 pieces packed together in the seam and it doesn’t move at all, fall out or seem to be wearing out in any way.

Stove performance is EXACTLY what I was looking for prior to installing this. I have my air control open over a quarter turn and it burns very good so far. Held my coals well into the morning (previously it would be nothing due to too much air, I would have to start a new fire with kindling)..

I can always update in the future if someone wants to reply to this thread and let you know long term performance of this ceramic blanket.

Maybe this can help someone who wants a little more “airtight” door.


Thanks Coaly and everyone for your help. Got me to realize the problem and brainstorm for some good ideas,

View attachment 327035

Ceramic wool will just crumble to nothing in a couple weeks. Did you do the dollar bill test to see if it was loose everywhere? Check the hinge pins?

 

[caseybright211]

Ceramic wool will just crumble to nothing in a couple weeks. Did you do the dollar bill test to see if it was loose everywhere? Check the hinge pins?

I took out hinge pins there seems to be no room, they all fit well. I did a match test and the smoke was being sucked in intensely all around. More so at the bottom than the top. If you look at the video above it seems as if the steel that is supposed to touch the very back does not (more so on the bottom than the top). Which is why coaly made a suggestion to grind down the rest to even it out and put a gasket in.

Also, if ceramic fiber crumbles to nothing how is my entire maple syrup evaporator which flames touch directly in perfect condition after heating it up to thousands of degrees continuously for hours and days at a time? Maybe you are thinking of something else?

 

[bholler]

I took out hinge pins there seems to be no room, they all fit well. I did a match test and the smoke was being sucked in intensely all around. More so at the bottom than the top. If you look at the video above it seems as if the steel that is supposed to touch the very back does not (more so on the bottom than the top). Which is why coaly made a suggestion to grind down the rest to even it out and put a gasket in.

Also, if ceramic fiber crumbles to nothing how is my entire maple syrup evaporator which flames touch directly in perfect condition after heating it up to thousands of degrees continuously for hours and days at a time? Maybe you are thinking of something else?

It won't crumble due to the heat. It will crumble from being repeatedly compressed. Ceramic fiber easily handles the heat