Fisher Mama Bear - Door gasket?

[daveymw]

Hi All -

I'm new to the forum but have been lurking for quite a while and I've already gotten lots of information here, thanks for that.

We bought a farm in beautiful central Kentucky and there's an old house there we're using for a hunting camp. I just got a great old Fisher Mama Bear (single door) wood stove to put in the house. I'm replacing some fire brick and want to install a new gasket rope around the door. I bought 1/2" carbon impregnated fiberglass gasket rope and, when installed, I can't close the door properly.

I did a search and found the .pdf owners manual for the grandma bear stove on here and it didn't look like it had a gasket at all???

So - was there originally a gasket on this stove? The guy I bought it from says yes. Although there was no gasket on it when I bought it, It looked like a gasket was installed in the "U" channel around the opening on the stove-front rather than on the door, Is this correct? And what size gasket rope should I use for the door to still close properly?

Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks!

Dave

 

[webbie]

These stoves did not originally use a gasket.

If you were going to retrofit one, you would use a flat "tape" gasket which would glue against the flat part of the channel on the stove front. This would be 5/8 or 3/4" wide and usually specified as 1/4" or so deep...the thinner the better.

 

[daveymw]

Thanks Craig!

When closed without a gasket it seems the door wouldn't be completely "air tight", you can jiggle it a little, is this normal? If so, I'll just go with it as is, or would you recommend retrofitting with the flat tape to seal it up a little better?

If it helps any, this is one of the later Fisher stoves with a certification plate attached to the back listing clearances, etc.

Appreciate your help!

Dave

 

[Pagey]

Fishers are built like tanks. Dad is still heating with one from the mid 70s, and his mom was until he installed a new Lopi Liberty for her back in November. She's mastered the Liberty, but I think she secretly misses that old Fisher!