My Fisher Honey Bear won't stay lit. Needing tips.

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sunflowers&curls

New Member
Nov 4, 2020
7
Georgia
The condo I'm renting came with a Fisher Honey Bear stove and was built in '82. I asked my landlord how to use it and he told me how easy it was to use (his words were "light it and go").

I've been trying to get it to stay lit now for 3 days and...NOTHING! The flames will start out great and then 30 minutes later, they're completely fizzled out. Last night was my final attempt at keeping the flames going by using paper, pinecones, kindling and fire starter purchased from my local grocery store to build the fire, then add my actual logs.

It still went out!

I stopped opening the doors so often and kept one of them cracked for about 10-15 minutes which seemed to help for a brief moment, but eventually, the flame still dies down. I make sure the dials are open on the stove, but I did just realize that one of the dials is stuck shut, so that could have something to do with it as well. What can I do to get that dial open? WD-40?

Help me out please! This is how I intend on heating my condo for the fall and winter. I've included pictures as well for reference. As for the dial that is stuck shut, it's the right one.
 

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What moisture content is your wood at?
 
Wet wood is my guess. Is it seasoned
 
Sounds like you may want to try some biobricks and see how they burn. BTW, stoves like cold weather so trying to run them on drizly 50 degree night can be a challenge. If the biobricks work out you may be able to mix some of your wood in with it. if you open the door and you hear hissing or see liquid bubbling out of the ends of the logs you have wet wood and might as well see if it cheaper to buy biobricks or pay for the primary heating fuel.

One big question is did the landlord tell you when the chimney was last cleaned and inspected?. A partially plugged chimney can cause stove operation issues.
 
The air damper needs to open. You’re only getting half the air needed, and none to that side.

First pry off the bolt head cover in the center. A good penetrating oil is best, such as PB Blaster, or the best, Kroil. The air damper, or “draft cap” spins on the bolt in the center that remains stationary. If it doesn’t move, removing the bolt would be the next step. I can give you detailed instructions if that needs to be done.

I would first remove center cap and remove door so you can lay it down flat. Then fill around bolt head with penetrating oil. Let soak overnight. Heating the aluminum damper knob could help, but most have a steel insert like a nut in the cap to prevent wear.

Do you have a moisture meter to check wood? You need that, as well as a thermometer on the pipe.

Details on your chimney are needed for anyone to give you information on how to run it, or troubleshooting a problem. Check your wood moisture content and get that air damper working first. Then grease both draft cap threads to keep them turning easily, and grease hinge pins as well.
 
Just noticed you’re in Georgia. What was the outside temperature when you were trying to run the stove? Really need chimney specifics as well to determine if it will even work at warmer outdoor temperatures. Is this your first wood stove experience?
 
What moisture content is your wood at?

Wet wood is my guess. Is it seasoned


The kindling is oak and it seems pretty dry. I got it from a freshly cut tree about a month and a half ago. My actual logs came from Kroger. After speaking with my mom about it, she thinks the logs may have something to do with them not burning well due to them being pine (apparently they're full of sap).
 
Just noticed you’re in Georgia. What was the outside temperature when you were trying to run the stove? Really need chimney specifics as well to determine if it will even work at warmer outdoor temperatures. Is this your first wood stove experience?

Most days it may be between 50-59 degrees and it'll be warming up to the mid 60s this weekend, but the temperature in my condo has been ranging from 45-56 degrees inside (no central heating running). I unfortunately don't have chimney specifics besides that it's a long chimney from what I can see.

And yes, this is my first wood stove and I'd been looking forward to using it since I moved in. I hadn't used any type of fireplace since childhood, so I'm a bit rusty about these things.
 
The air damper needs to open. You’re only getting half the air needed, and none to that side.

First pry off the bolt head cover in the center. A good penetrating oil is best, such as PB Blaster, or the best, Kroil. The air damper, or “draft cap” spins on the bolt in the center that remains stationary. If it doesn’t move, removing the bolt would be the next step. I can give you detailed instructions if that needs to be done.

I would first remove center cap and remove door so you can lay it down flat. Then fill around bolt head with penetrating oil. Let soak overnight. Heating the aluminum damper knob could help, but most have a steel insert like a nut in the cap to prevent wear.

Do you have a moisture meter to check wood? You need that, as well as a thermometer on the pipe.

Details on your chimney are needed for anyone to give you information on how to run it, or troubleshooting a problem. Check your wood moisture content and get that air damper working first. Then grease both draft cap threads to keep them turning easily, and grease hinge pins as well.

There's no damper on it surprisingly. My dad was coaching me over the phone on how to find it and I looked all over thoroughly for it and...nothing. I did figure out that when I leave my patio cracked for proper ventilation, it helps with any smoke that blows back and once I get a nice, albeit short lived flame going, the smoke goes up the chimney as it should.

As for the bolded, what would be a good lubricant? Would WD-40 work or should I get something a bit more heavy duty? It's completely screwed shut.
 
There's no damper on it surprisingly. My dad was coaching me over the phone on how to find it and I looked all over thoroughly for it and...nothing. I did figure out that when I leave my patio cracked for proper ventilation, it helps with any smoke that blows back and once I get a nice, albeit short lived flame going, the smoke goes up the chimney as it should.

As for the bolded, what would be a good lubricant? Would WD-40 work or should I get something a bit more heavy duty? It's completely screwed shut.
Reread my post. I didn't refer to a flue pipe damper. I'm referring to the air damper that won't turn.

The right knob that won't turn was patented by the inventors father, Baxter Fisher as an air damper. They are sometimes called draft caps, intakes, or dampers.

A flue pipe damper is a chimney control. Depending on chimney being high as you say, you probably don't need one. a higher chimney creates more draft, but it also cools as it rises, so that negates the benefit of a much higher chimney. It is a control that slows the velocity of rising gasses, slowing the intake air coming in. This affects the stove, but is not a stove control. It is a chimney control.
 
The kindling is oak and it seems pretty dry. I got it from a freshly cut tree about a month and a half ago. My actual logs came from Kroger. After speaking with my mom about it, she thinks the logs may have something to do with them not burning well due to them being pine (apparently they're full of sap).
If kindling was from a green tree, it's not anywhere near ready in a month or two.

Get a moisture meter. Split a log or already split piece so you can insert the probes into the freely split side. It must be under 20% moisture content. Do not test the ends.

One way was to check the ends for wagon wheel cracks. This is an indication of shrinkage as it dries, but is not an indication of moisture content inside the wood.

East coasters will throw you in jail for burning pine or soft woods. Learn with hardwoods, seasoned at least a year. Oak will take two.
 
The kindling is oak and it seems pretty dry. I got it from a freshly cut tree about a month and a half ago. My actual logs came from Kroger. After speaking with my mom about it, she thinks the logs may have something to do with them not burning well due to them being pine (apparently they're full of sap).
Absolutely nothing wrong with burning pine. It dries fast and lights easily. Assuming it is dry because you bought a bundle of it at a store is a very big and probably inaccurate assumption.
 
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Most days it may be between 50-59 degrees and it'll be warming up to the mid 60s this weekend, but the temperature in my condo has been ranging from 45-56 degrees inside (no central heating running). I unfortunately don't have chimney specifics besides that it's a long chimney from what I can see.

And yes, this is my first wood stove and I'd been looking forward to using it since I moved in. I hadn't used any type of fireplace since childhood, so I'm a bit rusty about these things.
OK, I'll start with what makes a stove work, then you will understand what needs to be done and how to operate it.

First, the chimney is the engine that drives the stove. It is more important than the stove itself;

Heated exhaust gasses lighter than outside air rise up the stack creating a low pressure area in the chimney, pipe and stove. This allows atmospheric air pressure to PUSH into the stove. The pressure differential is related to the temperature differential inside and outside of the chimney flue. This pressure differential is measured as draft. This feeds the fire oxygen as the air rushes in to fill the void created by the chimney. So you can see why a stove will work better when cold outside, with a hot flue inside the chimney. This is the reason for insulated chimneys or chimney liners. An outside chimney cools faster than an indoor chimney.

So you need paper and cardboard to preheat the chimney with kindling. Some chimneys need twisted up paper to get the draft started. ** The object is keeping the internal flue temperature ABOVE 250* f. to the top of the chimney when smoke is present.** Below that temperature, water vapor from combustion condenses on flue walls, allowing smoke particles to stick, forming creosote.

Now you can see why an insulated flue stays warmer inside, uses less wasted heat to stay hot, becoming more efficient, so the stove has more heat to radiate heat to the inside of the building.

Chimney diameter is very important, and even more so with a smaller stove. The outlet on your stove is 6 inches. If connected to an 8 inch chimney, that drops flue temps by 1/2. So it becomes impossible to keep the chimney hot enough to the top when smoke is present with a larger flue than necessary.

The magnetic surface thermometer you use will read pipe surface temperature, which is about 1/2 the actual inside flue gas temp. Remember the thermometer reads 1/2 the actual inside temperature. So the color zones on the thermometer correspond to keeping a normal height chimney, the correct diameter hot enough to the top. They have a cold zone; below 250, normal; 250 - 500, and hot; above 500. Running in the cool zone will create creosote, normal is where to keep it, hot is wasting fuel up the chimney. It's a guess as to how much cooling each chimney has to the top. That you learn by checking creosote formation frequently and getting it down to one cleaning a year.

Read the owners manual. That has a lot of operation tips as well. You can use the manual for the Combination Honey Bear in the manual thread in the sticky section at top of Fisher Forum home page. They were for mobile home use with a different intake, but operation is the same.

Open both intakes 2 or 3 turns. Light paper and cardboard with kindling. If it roars up stack, close intakes to slow it down, you want the heat in the stove to heat larger wood to get it going, not all up the stack. As it heats up, one turn each is normal as it comes up to temp, then adjust for correct pipe temperature (300 - 400* pipe surface temp) Usually cracked open to 1 turn is the adjustment range. This all varies by chimney, wood, outdoor temps, weather conditions, (high or low pressure area moving over) and many other factors.

No, you don't light a stove and go. That's like asking how to drive and being told to turn the key and go.
I explain what makes the stove go, so you know why it acts like it does and what to do to correct it.
Many people ran stoves for years but never knew why they reacted the way they do when a control or a weather change happened. The colder it gets outside, the harder it will naturally burn, it's a learning process.
 
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I'll put my money on a dirty soot loaded chimney and vent pipe. You cannot have combustion when the exhaust system is clogged.
 
Reread my post. I didn't refer to a flue pipe damper. I'm referring to the air damper that won't turn.

The right knob that won't turn was patented by the inventors father, Baxter Fisher as an air damper. They are sometimes called draft caps, intakes, or dampers.

A flue pipe damper is a chimney control. Depending on chimney being high as you say, you probably don't need one. a higher chimney creates more draft, but it also cools as it rises, so that negates the benefit of a much higher chimney. It is a control that slows the velocity of rising gasses, slowing the intake air coming in. This affects the stove, but is not a stove control. It is a chimney control.

Ah, you're right! I did gloss over the part of you mentioning the dials/damper controls...not a damper flue.

This is great information. Thank you!
 
I'll put my money on a dirty soot loaded chimney and vent pipe. You cannot have combustion when the exhaust system is clogged.
That is entirely possible as well
 
OK, I'll start with what makes a stove work, then you will understand what needs to be done and how to operate it.

First, the chimney is the engine that drives the stove. It is more important than the stove itself;

Heated exhaust gasses lighter than outside air rise up the stack creating a low pressure area in the chimney, pipe and stove. This allows atmospheric air pressure to PUSH into the stove. The pressure differential is related to the temperature differential inside and outside of the chimney flue. This pressure differential is measured as draft. This feeds the fire oxygen as the air rushes in to fill the void created by the chimney. So you can see why a stove will work better when cold outside, with a hot flue inside the chimney. This is the reason for insulated chimneys or chimney liners. An outside chimney cools faster than an indoor chimney.

So you need paper and cardboard to preheat the chimney with kindling. Some chimneys need twisted up paper to get the draft started. ** The object is keeping the internal flue temperature ABOVE 250* f. to the top of the chimney when smoke is present.** Below that temperature, water vapor from combustion condenses on flue walls, allowing smoke particles to stick, forming creosote.

Now you can see why an insulated flue stays warmer inside, uses less wasted heat to stay hot, becoming more efficient, so the stove has more heat to radiate heat to the inside of the building.

Chimney diameter is very important, and even more so with a smaller stove. The outlet on your stove is 6 inches. If connected to an 8 inch chimney, that drops flue temps by 1/2. So it becomes impossible to keep the chimney hot enough to the top when smoke is present with a larger flue than necessary.

The magnetic surface thermometer you use will read pipe surface temperature, which is about 1/2 the actual inside flue gas temp. Remember the thermometer reads 1/2 the actual inside temperature. So the color zones on the thermometer correspond to keeping a normal height chimney, the correct diameter hot enough to the top. They have a cold zone; below 250, normal; 250 - 500, and hot; above 500. Running in the cool zone will create creosote, normal is where to keep it, hot is wasting fuel up the chimney. It's a guess as to how much cooling each chimney has to the top. That you learn by checking creosote formation frequently and getting it down to one cleaning a year.

Read the owners manual. That has a lot of operation tips as well. You can use the manual for the Combination Honey Bear in the manual thread in the sticky section at top of Fisher Forum home page. They were for mobile home use with a different intake, but operation is the same.

Open both intakes 2 or 3 turns. Light paper and cardboard with kindling. If it roars up stack, close intakes to slow it down, you want the heat in the stove to heat larger wood to get it going, not all up the stack. As it heats up, one turn each is normal as it comes up to temp, then adjust for correct pipe temperature (300 - 400* pipe surface temp) Usually cracked open to 1 turn is the adjustment range. This all varies by chimney, wood, outdoor temps, weather conditions, (high or low pressure area moving over) and many other factors.

No, you don't light a stove and go. That's like asking how to drive and being told to turn the key and go.
I explain what makes the stove go, so you know why it acts like it does and what to do to correct it.
Many people ran stoves for years but never knew why they reacted the way they do when a control or a weather change happened. The colder it gets outside, the harder it will naturally burn, it's a learning process.

This is great information. Thank you!
 
Sounds like you may want to try some biobricks and see how they burn. BTW, stoves like cold weather so trying to run them on drizly 50 degree night can be a challenge. If the biobricks work out you may be able to mix some of your wood in with it. if you open the door and you hear hissing or see liquid bubbling out of the ends of the logs you have wet wood and might as well see if it cheaper to buy biobricks or pay for the primary heating fuel.

One big question is did the landlord tell you when the chimney was last cleaned and inspected?. A partially plugged chimney can cause stove operation issues.

He told me it was cleaned and inspected after the last tenant left. My cousin will be coming over to show me how to properly use it and give it a good look.
 
Good for you. With a little education you should be fine. To me it’s crazy to allow a tenant to use it at all. Personally I wouldn’t trust anyone not to burn the building down.
Obviously you wanna use it properly but I don’t see most people being so diligent.
 
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Good for you. With a little education you should be fine. To me it’s crazy to allow a tenant to use it at all. Personally I wouldn’t trust anyone not to burn the building down.
Obviously you wanna use it properly but I don’t see most people being so diligent.


I would never allow any of my tenant's to have ANY solid fuel appliance at all. I don't even allow kerosene heaters in any of my rentals (I have 3 single family homes btw). One, my insurance carrier would never allow it and two, the risk of accidental loss for me is to great. They are all insured against loss (dwelling) but my renters have to provide their own personality insurance and I require a copy of it as stated in the lease agreement. Central furnace ONLY and they pay the fuel bill, not me.

My experience is renters in general are less than stellar when it comes to respecting property they don't own. I imagine there are exceptions but I've been a landlord for 30 years so I have a lot of experience with renters.
 
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I’m just remembering the first house I rented as a “adult” had a open fireplace that the landlord let me use. And the wood was from the landscaping company I’m sure it wasn’t seasoned. Never had a problem. But still!!
 
I’m just remembering the first house I rented as a “adult” had a open fireplace that the landlord let me use. And the wood was from the landscaping company I’m sure it wasn’t seasoned. Never had a problem. But still!!
None of mine have 'fireplaces'. In fact, the last one I bought and remolded, I remove the fireplace entirely, drywalled the opening, blocked the chimney and called it good. The all have condensing furnaces in them so no flue pipes needed.... or wanted and the HWH is electric.