Fisher stove questions from a newbie

[hawkfan9]

It's been a heckuva week. I am on my 2nd used woodburning stove this week. When I got the first one home, a Blaze King, I discovered that I was duped by the seller. It was total junk inside, and I didn't know it until learning more about the stove here.

I just purchased a Fisher medium sized stove. As you can see in the photo's, it has 2 glass doors and an 8" topside flue. Inside, the firebrick is missing around the sides. I will replace those tomorrow.

Question 1: What model is this? It's not the largest, so I'm thinking it's the Grandma stove???

Question 2: The door has no gaskets on it. Is this normal, and if not, what gasket size should I put on it? The local store has 5/8" gasket for doors.....will this be sufficient?

Question 3: There is an internal baffle, as shown in the pictures. It doesn't stick out really far from the back, and maybe just barely extends beyond the 8" flue exit. Is this sufficient to make this stove create heat?

I'm using this to heat my 1700 square foot shop w/ 12' ceilings, fully insulated. I have just installed brand new 8" chimney, schedule A insulated DuraVent 8" SS pipe and 8" black solid/welded stove pipe (Ventus?). It is a straight shot up through the attic space and roof, and is done properly. It made the other stove draw very well.

Question: Do I need to install a dampener inside the black stove pipe, or will the two dampeners on the sides of the stove be sufficient to control the fire.

I know this is a lot, but I'm a mess right now trying to get heat for my shop. I work in there full time, and have been using a radiant heat driven by propane for 12 years. Just recently, the propane shortage drove the price from $2.19 a lb. to $6.79 a lb., causing my monthly heat bill to go over $1000.00. Now, I can't even get propane delivered.

Thanks for any help.

Jeff

 

[coaly]

Looks like a Grandma IV. Should have a tag on the back of rear shield. (shield not on stove)
Nice find, they are one of the more desirable and not cheap !
Width measurement will confirm that it's not a Grandpa. Pictures can be deceiving.
The 5/8 gasket is fine if it fills entire groove, yes glass doors use it on the doors. Glue on with Rutland Stove and Gasket Cement.
That is the factory baffle.
Color was Stove Bright Metallic Brown, still available.
I would put a damper in the first pipe, but not required.




The curl at top is for a blower mounted at shield bottom to blow forward.

Notice no damper shown on this literature.

 

[hawkfan9]

Thank you so much for the information on my stove. This forum is truly incredible, and I appreciate the knowledge here.

I just returned from the stove store, and I have 5/8 gasket, a 8" flue damper, and all the proper firebrick.

Where would I be able to get that Stove Bright Metallic paint from? I wish to keep this original looking, and I also want to protect it. My plan is to use it for the rest of the season "as is", and take it to be soda blasted in the spring. I've got a local guy who soda blasts old wood and metal working machines that I rebuild to remove rust, and it does a great job without damaging the surface.

Is this an agreeable treatment for this stove?

I do have the heat shield, but there are no tags on the bag side. Since I'm installing this in the center of my shop, would it radiate more outward heat without the shield on? Or, should I install it? Is there a good blower to get that works with this stove that you can recommend?

Last question.....the factory baffle is pretty thin.....definitely not 5/16" thick. Should I replace it with a thicker one for better performance, or am I wasting my time?

Jeff

PS My wife just walked by and saw the photo's of the beautiful version of my stove you posted, and now wants it in the house, after I make mine look the same......can't win to lose.

 

[coaly]

She's right. That particular model has been one of the highest priced selling stoves on eBay. Somewhere around $1450.

CamFan on this Forum has the original blowers and actually made the stoves (welder) at the Georgia fabrication plant. Click on one of his posts, and click on his member name below avatar and "Start Conversation". Specify brown, he has black as well. You would only need the shield if using the blower.

That baffle was called the "Smoke Shelf Baffle" and was designed to reduce smoke on the double door stoves and does that very well. They were a little larger, just covering the pipe outlet on the solid door Goldilocks, so I'd imagine it's a smoke issue keeping the air wash intake working strong when you increase baffle size. It tends to roll the smoke back into the fire and burn the particles, so you don't want the smoke pushed near the glass either. I agree it's small, and would like to know if the glass stays as clean if it were to cover the vent outlet.

Most stove shops sell Stove Bright, but may have to special order that color. It will take 2 cans.

Yes, I'd have it blasted as you suggest. The photos don't do that metallic color justice. They are really sharp.

Here's a Grandpa from Craigslist. Notice the wider doors;


Here's an eBay photo showing the color better; This is a Model III with smaller glass.

It sold for $1626 about 4 years ago.

 

[coaly]

Here's the result painting black with a brown door; This is not original.
Courtesy Finest Fishers;




Metallic Brown has a purple hue that shows in different light.

 

[hawkfan9]

Coaly

I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this stove. Great forum, and friendly folks.

I picked up a damper at the stove store, popped it in my flue, and installed everything. I bought gaskets for the doors, but I needed heat asap, so that will wait until Monday. I'm going out of town on business, and that'll be the last thing I do before leaving.

The stove works great!! I fired it up, and got a small fire going in it, and let it warm up. Then I loaded it up about halfway, and boy, oh boy, it throws the heat!! Here it is with a bed of coals and 3 splits in. It ran the temperature in my shop from 34° to 60° in just over an hour. I was impressed, to say the least. Exactly what I need up there. Now, I just need to learn where to set the flue damper and the side dampers, once I get the gaskets on the doors. Right now, it's an air express because of the doors.

I am a planemaker/furniture maker by trade, and it's hard to work with sharp tools and be accurate with frozen hands, so I am very happy now.

Jeff

PS I paid $300. I guess I did good.

 

[coaly]

Glad to hear some good news.

You can adjust for no gaskets, but you won't get as long of a burn as you will when sealed good.
With the air leaks, closing the damper about 1/4 to half will slow the draft, in turn cooling the flue. This will cause less temperature differential and not as low of pressure in the flue, thereby slowing the air trying to rush into the stove. Once you get it sealed up good, you'll probably run the damper more open. With leaky doors, you may be able to use the sliders in front for air instead of the sides. They are air wash for keeping the glass clean.

You have fans to get some of that heat at the ceiling down to you?

 

[hawkfan9]

Thanks for the pointers. That's pretty much what I figured out today as I was playing with it to see how to slow the burn just a bit. I think the door gaskets will make a pretty big difference. Right now, closing the flue down to 1/2 is the only way to slow it down.

This is a woodworking shop, and I have a very good air filtration system at the ceiling above my workbench which turns the air over in the shop once every 10 minutes, or so. I had it on it's lowest setting, and it did a great job of moving the hot air above to down where I needed it. The stove was able to heat my shop from freezing up to 60° in less time than it would take for my propane radiant tube heater to do the same.

Gaskets go on the doors Monday, and then we'll see what changes it makes.

I am much appreciative, and now will be on the lookout for another of these, perhaps the papa bear for the shop, and I'll pretty this one up and put it in the house. The bigger unit must be able to do an ever better job on those super cold days we've been having in northern Illinois. Today was a balmy 17° compared to the long streak of below zero days we've been having.

One question I thought of after having run it all day today.....What is the correct temperature range for the stove, as well as the flue above it? At one point, it got cranking, and the stove was at 700°, and the flue was at 550°. My thermometer has the 700 degrees being too hot. Is it? I don't want to do any harm to the stove.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[coaly]

The thermometer is for the pipe temp, and 600 to 700 is normal for stove top. With that much single wall pipe, you will notice it drops a lot from bottom to top. 250* is the temp you want to keep above. (condensation point where smoke particles stick) The key being above that temperature all the way to the top of the flue. You have a chimney designed to stay hot inside with an insulation wrap around the inner flue pipe, so you won't loose too much heat from the bottom of chimney sections to the top. If you can achieve half the temp of stove top where it connects to chimney, you're doing good. With your higher ceiling, it would take double wall connector pipe to prevent cooling that high.
A Papa Bear would have been the best solution for your shop with a 6 inch chimney. Connecting one to your 8 inch chimney allows the exhaust gasses to cool as they expand in the larger area. This cooling has to be made up for by leaving more heat out, to maintain the 250* all the way up. 6 to 8 doesn't seem like much, but the square inch area goes from 28 1/4 to 50 1/4 multiplied by the height. That's a lot more area to heat and is the difference between a more efficient heating appliance and the ability to view the fire. All the single door Fishers use 6, and Fireplace models 8. Many are connected to reduced 6 inch flues and work fine, but if it becomes an insurance or code issue, reducing is technically not allowed. The early double doors were for fire viewing with a screen, and that's the reason for the larger vent to avoid smoke inside. If you were starting with this stove, and asking what to use, I would advise a 6 inch chimney and it would be set up for a newer stove if you wanted to change to one at a later date. Papa holds more wood, less cutting holds up to 30 inch, and the long firebox is more conducive to front to back burn. Not as pretty, but just makes sense.

 

[CamFan]

What a great exchange of quality information. On both ends. Good luck with the papa