Questions About Fisher Pedestal Models

[Todd67]

Can someone please list the details on all the Fisher pedestal stoves, and how to tell the difference in them, with pictures? It looks like the Goldilocks and Honey Bear are four firebricks wide. Was there a Grandma Bear model on a pedestal.

I've heard of the Teddy Bear, but I've only seen the owner's manuals for the Honey Bear and the Goldilocks. Are there other pedestal models or variations?

It looks like the Goldilocks only came with solid cast iron doors. But the Honey Bear was available with both glass doors or solid doors.

The Honey Bear is only to be used with wood, but the Goldilocks mentions using wood or coal in the owner's manual. Did the Pedestal stoves have a rear flue, or just the top 6" flue?

Did any of the pedestal stoves use Grandma Bear doors and measure 5 firebricks wide?

Did other models have the Bear-O-Matic draft control that is listed in the Goldilocks manual? I was thinking that the Teddy Bear also had that as well, but there is no mention of a Teddy Bear model in the owner's manuals. Did some models have drift caps on the sides of the stove rather than the front?

It appears the Honey Bear had an air inlet control rod under the ash fender. What other models had this feature? The Honey Bear was available on a pedestal OR on legs. Did other models give this option?

I just want to know what I'm looking at when or if I see one for sale. What makes it so confusing is seeing stoves for sale that sometimes aren't the model that the seller thinks it is. Thanks in advance!

 

[Todd67]

This link talks about an early Honey Bear, with pics.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/brown-honey-bear.167451/#post-2246561

 

[Todd67]

This link is a good discussion about a Grandma stove with Goldilocks doors

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/gradma-bear-i-think.159055/#post-2133947

 

[coaly]

Goldilocks was the first pedestal style stove design by Fisher. It was designed with the Bear-O-Matic air control which is a flap across the bottom front which opens into the pedestal to allow ALL air flow into firebox up through pedestal. Designed for mobile home use which requires outdoor air intake. In conventional housing, optional balls under floor plate raise the stove 1 inch to allow indoor air into the pedestal. For years this was the only pedestal stove made. Solid doors only, glass doors did not exist in stoves until after 1980.
Double shield on the back with top outlet only due to close clearance in mobile home type installations and also requires double wall 6 inch connector pipe. Dura-Vent supplied intake and exhaust parts sold as an installation kit along with floor protector pad. doors were brass or nickel plate. Draft caps on brass models were solid brass.
When opening left door, intake flap opens fully. Burning with screen in place in Fireplace mode, the air flap remains fully open to prevent depressurization and indoor oxygen use of tighter factory built housing.

Teddy Bear is the same size firebox with intakes through door for indoor air use. Same double shield on rear. They look identical to Goldilocks with doors closed. Same size doors, close to Grandma in size but with intake opening behind intake dampers for indoor air use. 7 inch top vent only.

The Honey Bear was designed as a much smaller stove with glass doors. They are also built with thinner steel plate than other Fisher Stoves. 3/16 walls with 1/4 inch top (instead of 1/4" steel plate construction throughout with 5/16" tops). The first type had air intake through the door with a slider and holes above glass for constant air wash. This was the only intake. The second style has a slider bar above and below doors with intake holes above and below door that direct airflow over glass. They came with a small poker type tool to open and close sliders. Most were "Brass and Glass" and optional solid doors were available. Optional Metallic Brown was also available. Single rear bolt on shield with curl facing forward at top allows optional blower to connect to lower rear.

Later, the Honey Bear was available certified for mobile home use called the Convertible Honey Bear. This had a removable pedestal that could use bolt on legs as well. The air intake on these models is a pull rod under the ash fender which allows air flow across the entire front under doors like the air wash on full size double door stoves. 6 inch top outlet only.

Some fabricators made the Honey Bear with a single door. Most made the double door model, so they are more common.

The ash fender on all Honey Bear models normally has holes in the outer corners and no channel iron trim. There are a few examples of Honey Bears with common ash fenders.

 

[coaly]

Never pay attention to what a seller believes they have.
There is a seller on eBay right now calling a Fireplace Insert an "Adirondack Edition Grandma" that heats up to 3999 square feet !
This is what inspired me to start the Everything Fisher thread which started this Forum. The first post in that thread identifies any Fisher Stove.
The owners manual link to their stove model ends all argument.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks for the information!

Was a grandma bear ever made with a pedestal like this one? It has 5 firebricks across the back and GM doors. I haven't seen this model in any of the owners manuals. It's more money than I care to spend, but it's an interesting stove anyway.

 

[Todd67]

Coaly, are you getting my private messages on this forum? Just wondering...

 

[Todd67]

So, is this a Honey Bear?

 

[coaly]

A very early one before air was designed above and below doors.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks coaly! My wife was asking what each pedestal model looked like, so I am trying to show her the difference between the three.

 

[coaly]

Teddy and Goldi are the same box. No glass. Teddy has regular through the door air, with 7 inch outlet. Goldi is through pedestal only with 6. Double shield on the back is the same.
Honey is much smaller.
Honey started with the sliders on doors, then went to sliders incorporated into the stove front above and below doors. With air through stove, not doors, there were solid optional doors available.
Later they were mobile home approved with a pull rod under ash fender with removable pedestal.

 

[Todd67]

Thanks for the details! It's a little confusing without pictures and dimensions for comparison.

 

[coaly]

Honey Bear doors are tiny compared to the full size stoves.

The solid doors have no trees, only Fisher in a small circle.
The handles are the same as the full size stoves, so they appear much larger on the small stove.
The top is also 1/4 inch thick.
Here are the solid doors. They were available on the Honey Insert as well.

They have a sticker type UL label on the pedestal with microscopic print, you literally need a magnifying glass to read.
I think the brochure shows the dimensions.
The single door Honey was later, with the pull rod. Only made at a few if not only one fabricator. Most of them have a brass door, I have the only one I've seen in nickel.

 

[Todd67]

That stove does look tiny compared to the spring handles.

 

[CamFan]

The earlier stove with the grandma pedestal. Someone cut the angle iron legs off and put that pedestal on. Not produced


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Todd67]

The earlier stove with the grandma pedestal. Someone cut the angle iron legs off and put that pedestal on. Not produced

Thanks! I emailed that seller about the angle iron legs being cut off and he never replied to me. I didn't want the stove, I just wanted the back story on the stove.

 

[Draft]

I just bought this honey bear for a great deal. It has solid doors and is in great condition with a little tlc in the near future. I am curious as to how rare this particular honey bear model is as I can't find any info on this solid door vs the glass doors. The only thing I see wrong is the missing backing plate and information tag. I am also looking for specs on firebrick and fire rope for this honey bear as well. It does has the steel baffle plate in the outlet pipe. Any info you have is greatly appreciated as I would love to know more history on this particular model. Thanks!

 

[Draft]

I will have better pictures when I get it home after a 3 hrs trip

 

[coaly]

Welcome to the Forum Draft!
No sales numbers are available for different models, but since the Honey Bear was designed with glass doors first, the only way you find a solid door is if someone bought the optional solid doors before they went to the integral intakes below and above doors, and before the pull slider for the Convertible model.

As far as door gasket, does it have the regular 1 inch channel iron on stove front and raised section on door to make contact in center of seal channel iron? I've never seen a solid door made to use door gasket material. You can test the seal when closing doors. Latch and pull in and out. They should be tight with no play which is the clearance for door gasket material. The edges of door seal normally contact the back of door on both sides of the raised portion. A dab of grease in the door seal channel and on the edges of sealing iron will show contact on doors when closed. When closed, the space between door and stove front should be the thickness of the web of the door sealing channel iron. Stoves with no channel iron were made for glass which used rope on door.

The brick should be fit across the back first. Then fill in the sides rear to front. The front brick may need to be cut. Very easy scoring with a masonry blade in a circular saw and snap. They cut easy. Then fill in the bottom to hold sides tight. Normally lengthwise across the stove left to right. Cut the right side piece to fit. Then start the next course towards front with the cut piece to stagger joints. Cut front row as needed. Just keep it as clean as possible inside since any debris makes it impossible to fit them snug. They will fill in with ash if this is a user. My collector stoves I leave empty for air circulation.

It's a shame the rear shield is missing. Early ones like this may have had the tag on shield. Later models have a sticker on pedestal that often gets painted over.

I can mike the shield thickness to figure out the gauge steel used. I know they were cold rolled steel for a smooth consistent finish. I'll measure the radius bend at top and overall height with bend if you want to make one. I need to figure out the specs on the shield anyway.

I found my first Honey Bear near Buffalo NY that is a brass double door with intakes on stove body above and below doors. That is the most common. My second one was found in upstate NY with a single door in nickel. Not many single doors to be found. I haven't found a solid door, or the very early glass with slider on doors above glass in a 3 state radius, so I guess I have to expand my search area and drive.

 

[Draft]

Here is a few better pictures.
1. As you can see stamped on the inside of the doors is POLAR BEAR L 9-10-84.
2. On the side of the firebox has rivets where the information plate was originally placed but is now missing.
3. The back shield plate is missing as stated above.
4. The channel is in the picture where the seller had fire rope but the door was difficult to close so I removed as it feels as it is not needed.
5. It is a complete sealed firebox pedestal style with no other drafting except the draft doors. The rest of the firebox is sealed.
6. No other stickers or anything at all or places that they were attached.

Why would the honey bear have polar bear doors? Have you ever saw anything like this?
Any info would greatly help. Thank you so much.
Hope this helps.

 

[coaly]

The doors were used on Honey Bear Insert with optional solid doors, and Polar Bear Insert for Zero Clearance Fireplace. I don't know if all solid doors for Honey Bears are marked Polar inside. That's why so many people selling an Insert believe they have a Grandma, because full size Inserts use Grandma doors marked GM/L and GM/R inside.



Scrape or chisel, then wire wheel all the door gasket cement off the door seal and buff the back of the doors clean. That is the door seal.

I don't know what tag you had. The riveted type were usually riveted with two, in the center which makes the top and bottom kind of floppy. Some had the caution tag above it with two rivets.


This is mine on the single door 6/85 by Fisher Century;




Now you've got me wanting one more than ever.

 

[Draft]

Here is our finished product. Wow, what a difference! So excited to get it installed. I am still interested in those specs for the back plate. Thanks again

 

[Todd67]

Very nice stove you have, Draft! Welcome to the forum.