Some help with a Fisher Stove...?

[FieroGTP]

I have a Fisher wood burning stove in our house that we use for primary heating. I have been searching the net and cant find anything about the Fishers (except they are long out of business). I also haven seen one that looks anything like the one i have! All of them seem rather small. Ours is 25" wide 33" deep and 30" tall and has a top exit for the pipe.
It has 2 doors both with a screw open and closed air vent. The left door has 3 pine trees and the right has FISHER in large letters. Inside is all brick lined and the stove pipe has no chambers or anything like my freinds... So all the heat (and some flames) goes right up the pipe (seems wasted) rather then heating the stove.
On the FAQ page for Hearth.com someone asked about blowers and in response they were told nothing exsists, however, my Fisher has a suroind around the back half and rear of the stove which wraps up over the top too that has a blower attached to it. The heat blows out the top but blower is WEAK so i need to find a better one.

Any info or help? I am wondering if it IS supposed to be chambered some how?!

Thanks,
Craig G

 

[begreen]

Just guessing. Perhaps this is a Fisher Mama Bear? If the fan is weak, pull off the blower box (that encloses the fan) and run it off the stove. If you are lucky it may just need a good cleaning and oiling. If not, the motor may need replacing.

 

[webbie]

Just guessing. Perhaps this is a Fisher Mama Bear? If the fan is weak, pull off the blower box (that encloses the fan) and run it off the stove. If you are lucky it may just need a good cleaning and oiling. If not, the motor may need replacing.

There were a number of models over the years, and later models may have had a blower - I know the inserts did. You can probably find something more powerful that fits at Grainger or another industrial supply house.

I think the bigger stoves were called "Granpa Bear" and "Papa Bear" and the medium "Mama" and small "baby", but it doesn't really matter. Yes, some of them were quite large!

 

[begreen]

Here's some interesting info on Fisher stoves from Northwest Stoves in Canada: http://www.northweststoves.ca/

Fisher Stoves were designed by Bob Fisher in Springfield, Oregon in the early seventies. Bobby licensed the design to about 25 steel fabricating shops throughout USA and Canada. The woodstove brand took off because of the Arab Oil crisis and lots of stoves exist in North America. The stoves had a step top which was made out of 5/16" steel and 1/4" steel sides.

Safety standards at UL (Underwriters Laboratories) and CSA (Canadian Standards Associations) were pioneered by the Fisher Stove International organization. Most of these safety standards were finalized in 1980 but thousands of Fisher Stoves were built before that date. These stoves sold prior to 1980 were primarily installed using the building codes of the day. Most insurance companies are now requesting that if you are moving into a new house that has an old woodstove that it you check to see if the stove has a UL, CSA, or WH (Warnock Hersey) label on the back of your stove. This label indicates that the stove was manufactured to the USA or Canadian standards.

If you have a Fisher stove that does not have a label then it is usually recommended by the insurance company that you do not use the stove. On the other hand if you don’t care about the insurance company and are using in a cabin or something a good rule of thumb is to have a 36 inch clearance from the stove to a combustible wall.

Another reason you should consider replacing the old wood stove is the in the mid-eighties the industry developed clean burning standards. An old Fisher Stove could put out 50 to 80 grams of smoke for every kilogram of wood burned while a new clean burning EPA stove will put out less than 6 grams for every kilogram (2.2 lbs) burned.

Fisher Stoves are not manufactured in North America anymore. Parts are not really available and we have been encouraging owners to up grade to new EPA clean burning stoves.

 

[FieroGTP]

I can see why the Fisher makes so much smoke for the wood use, as it doesnt seem to burn any smoke off... it just goes right out the pipe...
A freind of mine told me to close the vent in the stove pipe about 3/4 of the way so i get more heat out of the stove... May just work but ill have to give it a shot.
As for the fan Grainger may just work for what i need... I will have to check the catalog i have to see what i can find. If my digi cam didnt take a dive off the counter to its death i would get some pics for ya.

 

[elkimmeg]

Your stove is not going to function correctly without the missing bafflet plate. All heat is going to go directly up the chimney.
The bafflet re routed the exhaust, Thus allowing the stove to heat up and also to some extent a secondary burn of smoke particles.
Without the bafflet plate you increase smoke polution waste heat. The search for a blower should not be the primary concern try Woodsman .org to see if they may have a bafflet plate

 

[webbie]

I can see why the Fisher makes so much smoke for the wood use, as it doesnt seem to burn any smoke off... it just goes right out the pipe...
.

To my knowledge, early Fishers did not have a baffle...I think this is true with all-nighters too, but I could be wrong!

 

[elkimmeg]

craig I was thinking of the recent baby bear manufactured in the 80's with the UL, that I just gave away. It had a bafflet plate.
The earlier ones I do not know. I would recomend to this guy to upgrade the poluting beast to a EPA approved stove.

 

[webbie]

craig I was thinking of the recent baby bear manufactured in the 80's with the UL, that I just gave away. It had a bafflet plate.
The earlier ones I do not know. I would recomend to this guy to upgrade the poluting beast to a EPA approved stove.

My biggest concern is the deal about installing into 9 inch double wall pipe. While I have no control over whether people buy new stoves, I would hate to see this thing intalled into some kind of ancient pre-fab fireplace...

Sometimes we have to start with baby steps. Hopefully, the energy tax credits and wood stove changeout programs (regional) will help retire some of these older beasts. The dang things were built too well and just won't seem to die!

 

[elkimmeg]

One can increase the control of this stove by installing a gasket at the door. There is an indentation where one can be installed.
If you can regulate the air imput, then one has a better chance of recovering the heat that is going up the chimney.
As it stands now the door leaks so you can only control the stove so much. These situations the owners have to be very carefull not to get into a situation, where it is soo easy to overfire this stove, without total air control

 

[FieroGTP]

Im sure the door does leak some as the seal inside, although clean and new looking does not seem to be doing the best job it could. The door takes no real force to close all the way and the locking handle falls down easily because there is no force pushing on the door as id assume the seal would do. Although when the front baffles are closed all the way she does die down to just a small fire. I will check out that baffle plate to see what i can find. As it is now the dept of the stove goes past the stove pipe so you can easily build the fire right UNDER the pipe and allot of heat and flame just go right up and out.
It isnt a fireplace installed application, it is free standing. The pipe looks well installed and has a large sqare surround where it passes through the ceiling and out roof... Im assuming for saftey obviously.

Again, thanks for all the help!!
~Craig G

 

[FieroGTP]

ps... no luck on woodsman .org site... as it appears to just be a domain redirect site not even a real web-page.

 

[Mo Heat]

Try this: (broken link removed)

 

[TheFlame]

I believe my parents have this same stove.

I refer to it as "the smoke machine".