got my fisher all installed

[cb550chopper]

so far kinda let down 5 hours into it and my house is cold. my dads king circulator is definitly hotter and hes using the same wood as me

heres some pics of it installed anyone have any pointers to help me out

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hey, is that one of the stoves that I posted a link to?

What stove temps are you running it at?

 

[cb550chopper]

im not sure on stove temp i guess i need a thermometer. im messing with dampener no luck so far.i hope it starts making my house a sauna or im selling it im kinda let down how hard it is to load the fire sits way in the back ive burn the hair off both my arms. my dads king takes all of an hour and ther house is 70 then if he keeps it ripping it will make 80 easy and its in his basement another thing i like is his can be cleaned with it burning hot just pull tray empty and go. im trying to love this stove i just need some guidance the guy i got it from bout it new in 82 he used it 2 season and said he hated it and he just put it in his shed then too it out and repainted it and went threw it its like new

no its not one of the ones you sent me thanks tho i herd about this threw one of my buddies his dad had just redid it and wanted to sell it he said 200 bucks its yours so i jumped on it

any help on with the front vents and the damper whats the best way to set it for optimum heat

 

[hilbiliarkiboi]

BMW = burnmorewood. These stoves will produce the btu's.
Papa should accept some looong splits. Search Coaly"s posts for setting air inlets.
Dry wood? How well does it draft? How big an area are you trying to heat?
How large is previous heating appliance?

 

[BrowningBAR]

Never used a Fisher, but hilbiliarkiboi is correct. Coaly knows everything about fisher stoves and how to make 'em run.

 

[Tendencies]

My opinion you have to have a damper or all your heats going up the stack, I open my damper wide open for loading/starting a fire and then turn to 3/4 closed or better when up to speed, as for caps, mine are at 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn each and it will roast you out of the house, as it gets really cold here I have had them almost a full turn each. But she's really screaming then. Also check the post's concerning a baffle as well, have them in both my Papa and my incert and made a huge difference.

T

 

[cb550chopper]

my chimny seems to be drafting fine. but my 18-tr made my house just as warm if not warmer than this thing and it was a million times easier to load and use. id rather my windows open than to be low 60s in my house with this pig. this thing is like a big block truck getting 4 mpg and will barely do the speed limit lol. it was pretty much out this morning and i stuffed it last night and i closed up the vents mostly and closed the draft, this morning i got the room directly above the stove too 70 the others are like 62 the 18-tr has the room above it at 73 the rest at 68 i dont get it this stove is pretty horrible so far. i may sell it to try to get an ashley or a king stove

 

[cb550chopper]

i have my vent wide open and the dampers like 3/4 closed

 

[cb550chopper]

i just put a bunch of smaller splits in it opened the vents and mostly closed the damper try to get this thing to throw heat. anyone ever put theres up on cinder blocks my knee is getting raw from kneeling on the concrete every couple hours to look into it

 

[BrowningBAR]

i just put a bunch of smaller splits in it opened the vents and mostly closed the damper try to get this thing to throw heat. anyone ever put theres up on cinder blocks my knee is getting raw from kneeling on the concrete every couple hours to look into it

Not sure if that is the best way to create a stable platform for a big box of fire.

 

[BrowningBAR]

my chimny seems to be drafting fine. but my 18-tr made my house just as warm if not warmer than this thing and it was a million times easier to load and use. id rather my windows open than to be low 60s in my house with this pig. this thing is like a big block truck getting 4 mpg and will barely do the speed limit lol. it was pretty much out this morning and i stuffed it last night and i closed up the vents mostly and closed the draft, this morning i got the room directly above the stove too 70 the others are like 62 the 18-tr has the room above it at 73 the rest at 68 i dont get it this stove is pretty horrible so far. i may sell it to try to get an ashley or a king stove

Isn't this stove a LOT bigger than the Englander?

You really need to get a thermometer on that stove, otherwise you are just guessing.

 

[cb550chopper]

its twice the size

 

[coaly]

BrowningBAR; I wouldn't go that far. I have LOTS of questions for the right person. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

cb550chopper;
Heat output goes by firebox square inch size, and heating surface square inch area with outlet size, baffle, and chimney draw factors. You have the largest firebox, largest heating surface and smallest flue outlet that relates to the most heat output you're going to get.
Not sure of your terminology of what you're doing. Presuming you have a damper in the first piece of connecting pipe, this should only be wide open when lighting or opening the door. The intakes on the door, or draft caps should be spun open about 2 turns to light it. Once lit, they can be closed down to about 1 turn, and the damper closed half way. Once fire is stabilized, you can load with full size splits, and close the damper more and more as it gets hotter. If you open the draft caps a full turn, with the damper open, it should sound like the roar of an oil burner. Unless it's super cold, or you're cooking on it, you don't need that kind of fire. For overnight, the draft caps are normally set about 1/2 turn open with the damper closed or just cracked a little open, depending on chimney draft and damper plate style. (depending on the size of the holes in the damper plate.)
Since this stove was not used for so long, and sat in the humidity of summer, those bricks have probably absorbed quite a bit of moisture from the atmosphere. Water is the only thing that quenches fire. Moist brick between the stove body and fire has a tremendous effect on stove temperature. The heat simply doesn't get to the stove sides. Once the moisture is out of the brick in the form of steam, you may see a difference.
The legs are the correct length to be able to sit the stove on a hearth, and kneel in front of it on the floor. That was a normal installation, and the way they were designed to be used. Keeping them low was necessary to be able to run the pipe horizontal out the back or side to have pipe clearance under the fireplace mantle. (and be low enough to elbow up the existing fireplace flue, something you can't do with a newer top vent stove built today, hence the need for rear and side vent Fisher's today) Your installation would normally use a top vent model. On your basement floor, simply set up a hearth style pad with block or brick to raise the stove.

A baffle plate inside the stove is the best improvement you can make to lessen smoke and direct more heat to the top surface instead of the vent pipe to the rear. (It should still drive you out of the basement with or without the baffle)

Is the chimney flue 6 inch all the way up? It should be the same size as stove outlet all the way. If larger, this reduces the efficiency and changes the above suggested settings. You will need to allow more heat up the stack to achieve the same results.

If you're dissatisfied with the stove, I'd be more than happy to "refund" your $200 and remove the stove for you.
( I'm not the seller, I have a home for a couple stoves like this one! )

 

[cb550chopper]

after doing exaclty what everyone said i figured the stove out, but as stated in other thread i had a chance to double my money and i found a like new ashley stove from a friend for a cool 75 bucks

and yes i have 6" duravent stainless chimney with 10" outside all the way up

 

[Dell]

My Papa is in the basement and heating almost 3000 SF of a cut-up 2 story cape cod with no fans or anything (i.e. not an open floor plan). I have a damper, but have found burning with it wide open is best for me - it is tied into a 8" x 8" terra cotta flue within the original chimney and closing the damper slows down the draw too much. I can tell appropriate intake settings by the amount and smell of smoke coming out the chimney. When it's burning right I see little to no smoke at all. I have found that i can still burn overnight (7 - 9 hours) with my damper wide open and air intakes backed down to approx 1/2 to 3/4 open, as long as I have built up a nice bed of coals. I continue to experiment with the settings and it depends on the weather of course. 80 to 95 degrees in the basement nearest the stove, 70 - 75 on main floor, and 65 - 69 on the 2nd floor, where we sleep. Can't imagine anyone complaining about heat output. I usually leave a basement window open and sometimes 2 or more on main floor open, sometimes a door. Tough to imagine a stove being any simpler to operate (2 air intakes on the stove) and maybe a damper. I prefer a hotter cleaner fire than a choked down creosote creating smolder, so sometimes I'll stoke it once in the middle of the night, around 2 - 3 o'clock and have a nice solid fire for when I awake.

I purchased an infrared laser thermometer online for $55 - one of the best purchases I have made. I typically check the flue pipe and stove top for accurate temps, my spring thermometers both broke on me within 2 years. Also use it to check car engine temps, insulation, and beer temp!!

I do burn a good bit of wood, about a wheelbarrow full per 24-hour day of red oak. But I have 10 cords ready...and it was free...except the fuel/oil for chainsaw and splitter.

 

[esox]

My grandpa in the basement of a 1400sq ft ranch has been working just fine. Have it over a year now. Strictly heat from the stove. No fans. We dont like it hot in the house so the basement is 74 at peak and the upstairs is between 64-66 at the far end and 68 above the stove which is just fine for us. No damper in the pipe. I can all but close the controls, just a tweek open when going to bed a 9 and waking up at 5ish and still have a good bed of coals without having to use any kindling for a restart. Same goes for the daytime as the wife gets home around 3 and no problem starting. Just add wood and open the controls for about 30 minutes. I have a lot of poplar so I burn it when I'm around and also use the splitter to make small splits for restarting. Better than 2xs for getting things goin. When I'm going for the overnight and daytime burns I'm using ash and oak. This stove is about as simple to use as it gets. A creosote problem of course but I've improved on that with a better chimney cap and burning a hotter fire with the poplar as I said when I'm at home. I do plan on upgrading in the future with a newer, cleaner burning stove and I'm leaning to the Blaze King Princess or the Woodstock fireview which should give me about the same results or better for burntime and reduce the need for me to climb up on the roof every 2 months. However, this old Fisher is pure horsepower and I have no complaints.

 

[coaly]

Dell, That's because a 6 inch flue is 28.26 square inches across, and you have to heat 64 square inches, to get the same draft. So your chimney has twice the volume inside to heat of what it should be. That was also the normal installation into an existing chimney or hearth, so the early manual doesn't mention a pipe damper. (only for the double door models during open door with screen burning) The more efficient Fisher Stove came before the smaller insulated efficient chimney ! That's when a damper is needed to slow it down.
It would be interesting to find out the temperature of the last flue tile at the top. If it's over 250* you're wasting more up the chimney than necessary.

 

[Dell]

Coaly - thanks as always for the knowledge. You have an impressive amount of experience and I appreciate how technical you are. Yes, I have been figuring the same on the area of my chimney. I am considering installing a 6" diameter SS chimney liner and insulation in my chimney to check out the difference - likely a project for next year. I will see if I can take any temp readings from the top tile, but I try to keep my inside flue pipe off the stove between 250 and 400 degrees to prevent huge heat losses up the chimney. Even with the damper open we are toasty, so I am still reaping lots of heat, but I realize I am not burning as efficiently as you are with the double walled insulated 6" pipe (I wish I had it, had it at my last house and it was so nice). I noticed considerable difference with new firebrick and the addition of a baffle two years ago. One other point is that my chimney is on the exterior wall on the south side of the house as opposed to a central chimney which I believe would provide slightly more flue insulation than my setup.

 

[Dell]

" I do plan on upgrading in the future with a newer, cleaner burning stove and I'm leaning to the Blaze King Princess or the Woodstock fireview which should give me about the same results or better for burntime and reduce the need for me to climb up on the roof every 2 months. However, this old Fisher is pure horsepower and I have no complaints.[/quote]"

Esox - Nice! I also think of upgrading all the time, but not yet. Plus I will take a year to compare/reasearch all my choices. I love the pure horsepower quote.