Heating capacity of Mama Bear

[acp104]

Hello,
I was hoping someone could give me an idea of how effective a Mama Bear will be at heating my shop. I have a pole building with a 45x32 (1440 sq ft) concrete floored area that I'm planning to wall off and insulate with about 2" of spray foam on the walls and underside of the roof (no ceiling). The side walls are twelve feet, and the roof pitch is average pitch for a truss built roof. Can anyone comment on how well they think a Mama Bear might heat this basically 1500 sq ft open area with high walls and insulated roof rather than ceiling? I think I 'm probably going to put a radiant tube heater in the shop, but thought it might be fun to have a wood stove in there as well. Would a Papa Bear or Grandpa Bear do the job if you don't think the Mama will?

 

[Don H]

The owners manual I have states:
Mama Bear heats 1250 - 1750 sq. ft. The Grandma bear is the same.
Papa Bear heats 1750 - 2250 sq. ft. The Grandpa Bear is the same.

I would consider that the square footage stated is based on an 8' high wall and your building has 12' high walls.

Also although I've never owned a Grandma or Grandpa I think I've read here that the design is not as efficient heating as the Mama or Papa Bears.

So my vote is for a Papa Bear

 

[coaly]

Ceiling fans to keep the heat down will help a lot. Otherwise it's going to be plenty warm 8 foot and above.
The approximate 1500 square feet heating area for Mama Bear was calculated for an 8 foot ceiling with insulated 2X4 walls in Seattle Washington.
Other factors are if you allow it to get cold inside and only use it occasionally. Then you need much more BTU than keeping it going 24/7.
Firebox size may become more important if you're busy and can't frequently load a smaller stove too. I'd favor the Papa Bear too. Grandpa allows some really large wood through the doors but you probably want to reduce to 6 inch and baffle it to prevent so much heat loss up the stack.

 

[acp104]

Thanks guys. I'm going to be on the look out for a Papa. It seems like the 2 door stoves are more common on Craigslist in my area than the single doors, which may be why I'm more interested in the singles.... Do you guys see more 2 doors as well?

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[Don H]

Around here it seems most for sale are fireplace inserts, and they don't sell well.

 

[coaly]

Yes, the original invention was to build a large firebox the size of Papa with a small outlet to conserve heat. People that were used to an open fireplace missed the flame and glow from their fireplace. When the need arose for fire viewing, the double doors were invented to view the fire and they became a huge seller. Back then they were using the existing large chimney flue built for the fireplace and were getting much more heat from their stove than the fireplace, so closing it for the night becoming a radiant heater was great. To increase efficiency, reducing the flue diameter proved to work with a correct chimney of that same size, but they couldn't manufacture them that way since they couldn't control the customer connecting to a larger existing chimney that needed more heat, which would cause problems. When the EPA regs came into effect, manufacturers had to make them with smaller outlets requiring the correct chimney. This allowed manufacturers to demand the correct size chimney and codes written that do not allow reducing (more than 1 inch) prevented many from modifying and reducing their old stoves. Hence the saturated market of the less efficient stoves and Inserts.

In your case you'll find a deep narrow box fits the wood better, so it's easier to stuff it full without falling out, and air moving between the logs front to rear can light and burn much more rapidly coming up to operating temperature quicker than logs across a wider stove.

A couple 3 bladed fans to bring the wasted heat down from roof will make more difference than stove size at ground level.

 

[coaly]

Around here it seems most for sale are fireplace inserts, and they don't sell well.

We get more double doors and Inserts around here too. If people would sell their Insert for a hundred or so I think they would move. (at the correct time of year) Then you have the problem that people think they can heat with their hundred dollar stove with their big fireplace chimney to let the smoke out........ now they have this heavy chunk of metal that needs big bucks to make work, so up for sale it goes. Glass doors go 400 to 500. I personally think they are worth it if you're in the market for such a thing.

 

[acp104]

I've got a fire place in my unfinished basement and have been keeping an eye out for a Fisher insert to fit it with the intention of installing it properly with an insulated flue liner. I'd strongly prefer one of the glass door ones. I saw a solid door one for sale on Craigslist last year, but the dimensions were just slightly too large for the opening. Did they make a slightly smaller version with glass doors? Seems to me like I read on here that they did, but I have the impression that they are rare....

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[coaly]

Yes, there are a couple smaller than the full size Insert. Sometimes people list them as an "Insert" not knowing they are the downsized version. If they picture the top, it will have a rectangular outlet. They were available with solid or glass doors. Not sure of the "Cub" Insert dimensions, but the door seal channel cut size is the same 16 X 10 5/8 for the Honey Bear Pedestal, H.B. Insert, Panda, and Cub that use the same smaller doors.

Honey Bear with 5.25 X 10.25 outlet.