Questions about installing Fisher fireplace insert

[tubman88]

I have seen a couple of posts on Fisher Brand inserts which have helped to answer a couple of questions, but not quite clear on a couple of things. The stove that I have aquired from our lake house is obviously a Fisher insert that has two doors and no blower. I understand that it works well without a blower but if anyone has any info or comments about whether or not i should fab. something please respond. The main concern I have is that I install the unit properly. I also have the vent pipe and cap that was used at the previous home. I have the steel "trim" that attaches to the stove to close it or seal it up at the face of the fireplace opening. I need some suggestions on how I should vent the unit, what is required, and what I can do to adapt to the existing damper. The previous install had the trim or face plate sealed somewhat with fiberglass insulation and was vented with a 8", one piece, flex style pipe. It is not real thick like some of the double wall pipe I have seen but is not thin either. It is fairly heavy duty feeling but not sure if I should use it or if it will be ok. Please anybody that can help me with this let me know as some of you may be experiencing nasty weather, we are to have another real bad ice storm starting Sunday night. I have two babys I need to keep warm and dont want to burn my house down either. Thanks in advance to whom may be able to help

 

[drdoct]

My parents used to have the big fisher wood stove. It cooked their whole house, if I said warmed it would be an understatement. That was the stand alone stove model though. I imagine the insert model would be a little harder to get the heat out, but I'm sure it would do a very good/hot job. I am by no means an expert, but I'll go ahead and respond to what I'm sure everyone will tell you. I think what you fireplace has is called a direct connect with a blockoff plate. What this does is block off the bottom of the fireplace from the chimney and then attaches an 8" piece of (hopefully) stainless flex liner to your stove. The best answer is for you to have a chimney sweep come and clean and inspect your chimney. That's the best and safest advice. I don't know how much it would cost you, but I doubt it would be too terribly expensive. What will be expensive is if there is some problem. Expensive to fix OR expensive in having your house burn down or leak Carbon Monoxide into your house if you choose to just do it anyway. You could get up on the roof and check it out yourself. Who knows... you may have a full 8" stainless steel liner that could just take a little brush and you'd be on you way in the perfect setup. If it is in fact a direct connect and not a full liner, then I would definitely make sure you put the front trim panels on it. What does your flue look like on the back of the insert? Is it round or rectangle? If it's rectangle then you may have to have a sheet metal shop make you a rectangle to round transition. Even better than telling us would be to post a few pictures and someone who is much smarter than me can help. When posting you need to make sure they are only like 800 pixels wide though or it won't post. There's a sticky for it at the top.

 

[jacksnipe]

5 years ago I obtained a Fisher Fireplace insert in new condition, This unit had leas than 5 burns in it since new. The insert sat on a pallet in our garage for 3 years while I thought about how to install it in a large masonary fireplace at our cabin in NW WI. The main issue was the top outlet & the lack of a stove top adapter to chimney liner. Being that this design incorporated a damper plate with a control rod made for some interesting design options. I work in a engineering/ machine shop enviroment & had some of the craft people over engineer & fabricate a solid steel stove top
adapter to bolt directly on top of the insert unit. This item is 10" diameter with a 1" thick flange that has a slot machined on the lower surface to accept the control rod. The adapter is turned down to 8 1/2" diameter OD x 8" diameter ID to accept a 8" ridgid stainless liner. When the time came for the installation it went very smoothly as all according to plan. I didn't put in a block off plate, but am seriouly considering this next summer, the performace of this unit is awesome & takes a while to understand how to run it properly. I have installed a blower unit which is another long story
in itself. Note: After burning this unit for 24-36 hours at a pretty good rate my fireplace brick above the unit 48" high above the heat deflector is quite warm... quite warm indeed. I feel the istallation is quite safe & time will tell on the creosote accumulation in the chimney. I manage about 6-7 hours of pretty good heat & now my next modification is to design a baffle unit for this to see if I can increase the burn times. I like to run the unit about 500 - 550 degree stove top temp. The highest I ever recorded as far as stove top temp was almost 800 on the Rutland Gauge, this was very intense heat with the blower running. I hope you can figure a way how to hook it up properly without burning the place to the ground. I don't know if it's possible to over fire one of these, but I read here that anything is possible with the right conditions

 

[Dave_1]

Tubman,

A picture is worth ..." So go to

http://www.rumford.com/classicflyerplan.html

Now take a look at pages #8-9 at

(broken link removed to http://www.woodstove.com/manuals/Key-Pal_Manuals/Installation) K-P1-10.pdf

Next go to

(broken link removed to http://www.woodstove.com/pages/wood_stove_Install.html)

Scroll down to B. Existing Fireplace Check out A. B. C.

By now you should have a mental picture of how this is to be correctly done, so go to this link & scroll down to locate the nearest Buck wood stove dealer

(broken link removed to http://www.buckstove.com/dealers.php)

Call to see what dealer has a Model 74 ZC e/w factory installed variable speed blower on the floor.

(broken link removed to http://www.buckstove.com/wood/model74zc.html)

Proceed to dealer, check out the 74 motor mounting, the air inlet & exit thru the surround.
Get the model # of the blower & ask the price, try not look alarmed once told.
But grab chest & immediately haul yourself out the door muttering; "This is the big one, Ethel."

Return home, locate reputable machine shop(s), negotiate price for working your current surround.

Then check these links for a compatible Buck blower motor, be sure to tell them how it will be used, makes a difference.
Compare prices with that told you by the Buck "Hearth Rep.".

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/productIndex.shtml?operator=retrieveProdLevel1Index&prodLevelList=Motor|Motors,&prod_level_selected=Motor

http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com/fireplace.htm

http://www.mcmaster.com/
.
But at no time mention the word "Fisher" to anyone, including family, or you might get to try out an early necktie before Christmas.

Yes, it is that bad, that is why I pack heat.

 

[webbie]

Some guidelines on how to install an insert properly.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/install_insert

 

[jacksnipe]

There not that bad, although many will disagree. I know many people that have or want to go back to the smoke dragon type stoves. They have spent good money on the new EPA compliant units & after running them for a few years have been so frustrated with the performance they are ready to throw in the towel. I am quite aware of the issues & have tried to convince them about the use of dry wood & the use of the newer appliances, all I get is slander toward the EPA etc.
I could tell people stories all day about the issues some are having, but I just l grin & go about my way thinking to myself, oh well times change.. for some people. It seems like many are not connected to the internet or not interested in Hearth.Com to research the latest news about wood burning. My god I can't believe the things I hear about wood stoves & fireplaces, I suppose many people here could reflect on the same type of experiences..
One side note: I have been lurking on Ebay looking at the Fisher stove listing, it seems that they are getting as much as the unit cost new 35 years ago, what ever the market will bear..

 

[Dave_1]

The following EPA Phase 2 (EPA p2) wood stove article is evidence of government suppressing the facts , as documented on page # 3 & 4 at

http://burningissues.org/bi/pdfs/gov.pdf#search="fisher wood heater"

<snip>

“The particulate emissions for stoves in Portland homes were, on average, higher than the stoves in Klamath Falls homes. This result is consistent with the average higher fuel moisture content & burn rate characteristics of the Portland portion of the study as compared with the Klamath Falls portion of the study.

The particulate emission factors for the certified phase 2 stoves evaluated in this study appear to have become higher with use, but after about 7 years, on average, the certified phase 2 stoves still have lower emissions than uncertified conventional stoves (Table 1).”

<snip>

Note in Table 1 that the “conventional“ heaters were only twice as dirty as the EPA p2 heaters, not 10 times as is often claimed. Note also that that the government failed to identify make & model of the “conventional” heaters. 

Does such remind you of the unemployment, illegal immigrant, inflation, GDP, etc statistics they keep making up?

No?

Ok, why did the U.S. need a “Stimulus Package” when the U.S. economy was, supposedly, “sound“, “strong”, etc?

Why did the taxpayer have to bail out Fraud Street when the economy was “sound“, “strong”, etc?

What drunks can run Ponzi schemes so good that the Security Exchange Commission, the supposed watch dog for the American people, cannot catch them?

And how did that Fraud Street bail out do?

Ok, so if there ever is a knock at your door & the visitor states;

“We’re from da goobermint & we’re here to help” :gulp:

then you had better haul freight & fast!