Fisher side vent

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ZCor

Member
Nov 26, 2020
10
Nebraska
Anyone familiar with the fisher grandpa bear that has a side vent? I’m only familiar with top vent or back vents and was wondering how side vents perform.

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All the original stoves were available with side, rear or top. They are the same as rear vent. Most of the very first single door stoves had side outlet with optional left or right hinged door, so the door opens against wall and is not in the way for loading.
 
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All the original stoves were available with side, rear or top. They are the same as rear vent. Most of the very first single door stoves had side outlet with optional left or right hinged door, so the door opens against wall and is not in the way for loading.
Is there any issues with draft with the side vent? A relative bought a house with this stove in it. They removed it and are going sell it but are giving me first chance to buy it. They are wanting $800 with all the pipe. I’m not very familiar with fisher stoves and it’s hard to find any information on the stoves with the side vents.
 
Stoves all have a flow design which is the direction of flow through the firebox. Fishers are a diagonal flow, the air enters low at one end, crosses the firebox and exits near the top of the other end. The least efficient is a top outlet. They lose more heat directly up the outlet without a baffle plate. When a baffle is added, an S flow of exhaust gases is created, allowing more time for heat in firebox to be absorbed by the stove.

You can add a baffle the same way as a rear vent. The idea of the step top was to keep the outlet above the top of the door opening to prevent smoke roll in opening doors. The height is the same as rear vent, so there are no issues.

The first steel plate stove Bob Fisher made for himself was a Papa Bear. That is the deepest single door stove made. To prevent it from sticking out in the room requiring a much larger footprint, he say it sideways across the hearth. He put a steel plate across the fireplace opening with a 6 inch hole cut in it, using the existing fireplace chimney.

As these stoves were made, customers could order any venting options for their particular installation. This could have been for a through the wall installation exiting the stove toward the sidewall and up the outside with an exterior chimney. In that installation, double wall pipe inside should be used. Rear vents were made for setting on a hearth in front of a fireplace. Many have legs cut down to fit under a mantle. Top vents were used for a straight up installation, or when setting on a pad with elbow at the chimney breech height.

Side and rear venting reduces pipe clearance to combustible walls, many times requiring close clearance pipe or heat shielding the wall to reduce single wall pipe clearance down to 6 inches from the required 18 inches without shielding.