Fisher mama bear

[metz]

Greetings,

I stumbled on this site recently and think it is geat.

I have been heating my 2000 sq ft home for the last 15 years with a Fisher mama bear stove. I live in Western NC in the moutains and live on the north side of a mountain. People on my road call my place the north pole. I burn a lot of wood. I have some acreage so I get alot of wood myself and also have an unelievable source for cheap locust so expense is not my main issue.

I went to my local stove dealer this afternoon to get some new fire bricks and got to talking. By the way he told me I was crazy if I bought the bricks from him and sent me to a local brick dealer for them. While I was there I told him my basic situation. He said that if I were to upgrade to a modern stove I would be amazed at how much wood I would save. He said Fishers are great for fast heat but I may as well have a conveyor belt constantly feeding my stove in comparison to the efficiency of modern stoves.

Honestly I had never considered replacing my Fisher up until now. If I could save myself alot of work preparing firewood and the cost of buying wood occasionally I would seriously considering an upgrade. Also, over night burns are something I had never heard of until I found this site. I am used to waking up to a pretty cold house in the morning.

The guy at the stove shop was steering me towards a Dutchwest 2479 and a Jotul F 500 Oslo. Anyone have an opinion on these?

What do you all think?

Thanks.

 

[metz]

:question: anyone?

 

[Lignums]

Allot of people seem to have really good luck with the Hearthstone Soapstone stoves. I have the Homestead model and it's a beauty. I have read allot of good things about their Mansfield ( heats 2500 square feet) model as well, but I have no expierience with that stove, it is way too big for my house, or hoose for you Canadianers oot there. ; )

 

[johnsopi]

A warm house in the morning would be the biggest for me.

 

[SlyFerret]

I finally asked my dad last weekend when we picked up my new Englander what the stove we had at our old house when I was a kid was. I knew it was a Fisher, but I didn't know the model. Turns out the stove I remember so fondly was a Mama Bear. My dad's comment on the stove while we were talking about it was how hungry it was. He couldn't remember how many cords he went through each year, but he said he remembered feeling like he had to feed it constantly. While he was taking a look at my new stove, I think he was a little amazed at how far the technology has come in the modern stoves.

I'm pretty new to wood burning, but I think the dealer is right. You might be amazed at the wood savings in a modern stove.

-SF

 

[nshif]

I have an old mama bear in my shop that I use when I need to be out there for awhile in the winter and the thing EATS wood compaired to my Quad. The same amount of wood that heats the shop for 4 or 5 hours would heat the whole house for the whole day and the house is twice the size of the shop.

 

[metz]

Thanks everyone. I think there is a new stove in my immediate future.

I have purusing this site and it looks like a lot of folks have Englander stoves. They seem to be alot less expensive than the Jotul and Dutchwest that I was looking at the other day.

Can anyone tell me if the Jotul or Dutchwest are worth the extra money?

Thanks.