New to the forum

[EMarlowe39]

Hi all! My name is Eric and I'm 30yrs old from southern nh, now living in dracut, ma. I own a fisher baby bear stove (B006 in side the door casting)the B I believe from reading the forum, is the patent and 006 being the 6th stove (correct me if I'm wrong please.) Great stove!! Magnetic Temp gauge located 2 feet up from the fire box reads 500. The door air control is best run at 2 turn open and the pipe manual draft control located 18" up from fire box I keep wide open to have minimal creosote build up. 6" stove pipe 4' feet long then elbowed into the wall with a 6" to 8" reducer into the chimney. I have tried adjusting to get a slower burn but fail miserably each time and the fire just burns out.

I also Have n old mill stove down stairs in the basement (size equivalent to the mama bear) that is great but I don't fire it up enough to have the controls down pat. It either burns out or way over fires and I get nervous. So if I fire it up I have to stay with it. 6" flue pipe 4' long and thimbles thru the wall with 16' of double wall up the side of the house.


Any tips to firing these two are appreciated!! Here are pics of the baby. I'll have to take pics of the old mill later tonight and I'll post them up.

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[raybonz]

Nice old stove! Your clearances look short to me though..

Ray

 

[EMarlowe39]

Thank you ray! Clearances as in where?

All combustible items are +4' feet away from fire box. If its the plastic box of wood you are seeing, the brick box under it is a storage container for the wood. I'll take a few more photos for you to seeif that is the issue you are seeing.

 

[raybonz]

Thank you ray! Clearances as in where?

All combustible items are +4' feet away from fire box. If its the plastic box of wood you are seeing, the brick box under it is a storage container for the wood. I'll take a few more photos for you to seeif that is the issue you are seeing.

You're welcome and welcome to the forum.. I am referring to the top photo.. Looks like your front clearance is too small as far as the hearth is concerned.. I believe there should be at least 16" from the front of the stove or am I wrong? Do you have the manual for the stove to see what is required?

Ray

 

[EMarlowe39]

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Ya know I'm not exactly sure. I do know however the fire Marshall/inspector was here 2-3 weeks ago and he gave it the once over and said everything passed. So that's a good question, not to mention the vigilante that was there prior was in the exact spot, so I put the baby bear in that spot as well.

I did take a picture of the storage containers that I have on either side of the hearth, which are posted above

 

[raybonz]

Sometimes the inspectors don't know what to look for.. Used to be that way here years ago.. My stove is much newer and it requires 18" from the glass on the door to the edge of the hearth..

Ray

 

[EMarlowe39]

I grabbed a tape and took some measurements,from the front leg to the face of the brick is just under 12". Then I have the hearth "extension mat" that extends about 20". So if it is too close the "mat" makes up or the loss I would guess, no issues since 1964 so I would think its ok.

 

[raybonz]

I grabbed a tape and took some measurements,from the front leg to the face of the brick is just under 12". Then I have the hearth "extension mat" that extends about 20". So if it is too close the "mat" makes up or the loss I would guess, no issues since 1964 so I would think its ok.

Eric I am only concerned with safety and hope others will post and prove me wrong. If that setup was in service since 1964 it's probably OK I just get concerned with what-if scenarios.. If there was a ceramic/porcelain hearth extension at least 6" from the current hearth that would be better.. At any rate I like those old Fishers they last forever! Have a good night..

Ray

 

[EMarlowe39]

Ohh no i hear ya, and understand exactly where your coming from. Always good to have a second opinion on things, and I appreciate it. I was concerned at first as well, which is why I added the "mat" (that's exactly what it is, porcelain) anyone else that is reading and knows please chime in. Anywho... Yea I love the fisher stoves, my father in law is the one that introduced me to them, and I'm glad he did. You as well have a good night.

 

[raybonz]

Ohh no i hear ya, and understand exactly where your coming from. Always good to have a second opinion on things, and I appreciate it. I was concerned at first as well, which is why I added the "mat" (that's exactly what it is, porcelain) anyone else that is reading and knows please chime in. Anywho... Yea I love the fisher stoves, my father in law is the one that introduced me to them, and I'm glad he did. You as well have a good night.

Your mat should be OK until a more permanent solution is found.. While I think the Fishers are good stoves I think you'd love the epa stoves for their long and clean burns and using 1/3rd less wood is awesome.. Even if your wood is free it is 1/3rd less work for the same amount of heat

Ray

 

[Jags]

Yeah, the hearth is supposed to extend 18" (or maybe 16, can't remember) in front of the stove. Ember protectors (as in your mat) don't really count.

They didn't build them any tougher than the Fisher line of stoves, but as Ray said, if you gave the new EPA stoves a test drive, I am sure you would fall in love.

Run DRY wood and keep the temps up and keep fiddling with the primary air settings to get it mastered and they will burn respectably, but no where near as clean or efficient as the EPA boxes do.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[coaly]

Welcome to the forum Eric.
The # is a door casting mark. Stoves were made at licensed fabricators across US and Canada, the doors were sent to them from Fisher to keep track of how many stoves were made for royalty payments. Different foundries had different patterns with those same numbers on each door from the same pattern. The Baby Bear was the third Fisher invented back in 1974, so it sure wasn't around in 1964........ Yours is more like 78 or 79 with the newer spring on bent handle, 5 fin draft cap and red "caution" tag.

Front floor protection is 16" from the front of stove. That's the stove front, not ash fender. All clearances are found from page 4 to page 10 in the manual here;
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/1803ed61c450729660b7c4c916156793/

Your stack temp is way high. Stack temp should be about half stove top temp. You mention a 6 X 8 reducer. I think you mean a 6 to 8 increaser. Are you dumping this small stove into a chimney larger than the 6 inch stove outlet?? It needs to be 6 inch all the way to the top, and preferably insulated. Sounds like you have a
larger diameter chimney flue that needs more heat allowed up than the correct size would need. The draft adjustment overnight should be around one turn with pipe damper all but closed. This stove did not require a pipe damper when designed, but it was also usually connected to an existing chimney or fireplace with large flue. (needing more heat let out) Performance and operation is not about the stove, it's all about the chimney. You should have coals in the morning. A Mama holds much more wood, so will have quite a few coals, Baby should have very few. Strive for 250* minimum all the way up the flue. This is the condensing point you want to stay above for creosote formation. Any more than that is wasted heat up the chimney ! Insulated liner in a large flue means you can maintain that 250* letting a minimum out, hence the best efficiency you're going to get.

The Old Mill is a Fisher copy. It must have a leak around door or it's getting air somewhere. Is this a double door stove? Fire should die when air intakes are closed. Can't tell you anymore about that without pictures

Moving this over to the Fisher Forum.
Feel free to post pics and ask questions about the Old mill in the Classic Forum.

 

[Dune]

Good catch on the stack temp Coaly. I thought that was way too high too.

 

[coaly]

Yeah, a Papa has plenty reserve to heat that kind of flue area, but not a Baby Bear. Of course it's not good for the efficiency of a Papa either. If his chimney is square 8 X 8 that's a 64 square inch area all the way up! Compared to the required 28 1/4" ! No chimney height given, so that becomes critical too. That's a lot of surface area for that small of a stove to heat. Even worse if this is an exterior chimney. With the right chimney driving that stove it's amazing how much heat comes off the little thing. But not when you have to let half the heat up the chimney to keep it going.

 

[EMarlowe39]

Thanks coaly. Since we just got 3' of snow dropped on us over night ill have to wait till spring to install a 6" flu. The chimney outside is 16-20 feet tall. Single story ranch. The temps I have running at the moment will have to due for now until I can move further with the chimney. Any lower and I create a lot of creosote. The old mill I have down stairs I only light when we are playing pool etc so ill hold off. Right now I need to relax. This shoveling stuff is for the birds