What can you tell me?

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Nov 3, 2017
112
Georgia
Hello, I am new to this site. My name is Shane. I am currently in the market for a wood heater and have been offered this one at a good price. He called it a great papa bear. I'm assuming he means grandpa bear. I grew up with a wood heater and It was a Fisher. So needless to say I'm pretty excited about this one. By looking at the pictures of these doors can you guys tell me anything about the model of this heater, and what would be a fair price? I. Thinking the guys asking price is fair already though. He says the body is in just as good of shape as the doors. Thanks in advance.
 

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'77 or '78 Grandpa.
Price fluctuates by season and area.
If this stove was made in your area, (Fisher Stoves South East) it will have straight non-taperd legs and have numbers in weld on the bottom. The initials in weld under ash fender will be who vented, hung the doors and ash fender.
 
Coaly i appreciate the reply. I havent seen the heater in person yet. But Just to put it bluntly, this will be the firs heater I've ever purchased. If it's in good shape and I paid him 250 for it would I be getting a good deal? I'e searched online and the prices and condition are all over the place.
 
Yes, that's a fair price.
 
Couple more questions. I went ahead and got this heater. Wether it goes in my house or not, after some research and some help from you guys, I think the price was to good to pass up. And when I went and looked at it I swear I think i heard it say "please get me out of the weather while I'm still pretty" not real sure about that part though, but I did go ahead and pay the man. My questions are this....why are the legs so short? He said this heater was designed to be on a harth..........another question is why does the doors say pat pend on them? What was the pending patent on this heater?
 
Leg length should extend a minimum of 6 inches below stove bottom. Some were made longer, or custom made to customer specs, but not shorter. NFPA Standard which includes installation and construction of solid fuel heating appliances gives different clearance to floor and floor shielding requirements due to leg length. These were built to the 6 inch Specification Standard. This includes calculations for not only R value, but floor protector heat resistance, and heat conductivity. When legs are cut, it can only be used on a non-combustible surface.

Your Grandpa model required Part # 406-GM-GP rear legs made of 1 1/2 angle iron 31 inches long.
Part # 407-GM-GP is the front legs cut 25 inches long.
Both were tapered on the drawings, 1 inch at bottom, to the full 1 1/2 inch at 4 inches up the leg.
Georgia didn't taper, so that's a way to tell if it came from your area if you have the entire leg.

There were ongoing patents all the time. It means more like "other patents pending". Details like changes made to door latch, intake air dampers, optional shields.
 
Man y'll are awesome. But the legs aren't 6 inches long for sure. So they have surely been cut. I'll have to do some welding as mentioned above. I really do appreciate the advice y'll are giving.
 
The rears are very easy to replace. Grind welds off at top and bottom and only weld new angle iron where it was welded, not down the entire edge.
We need pictures of the front since some have the hinge plates welded to the corner angle iron and others were made wider with hinge plates welded to front.
You can always set it up on bricks until the bottom has the minimum 6 inch clearance. I post these specs so people can bring their classic stoves back to their original condition.
 
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Here's a picture. It does have the hinge plates welded to the angle iron. How much of a problem is this?
 

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That's the way it should be built. It's a correct size stove.
To replace the front legs, lay stove on its back. Grind welds off hinge plates and remove.
Replace angle iron corners with correct length.
Lay doors on door seal and tack hinge plates in correct position when doors are centered on seal.
Try doors and weld fully in place.
 
Thank you. I'm going to get started on this tomorrow. I really appreciate it. Even though we've almost decided not to use it in our place. It's probably to big and were kind of afraid of our chimney. I like little projects anyway. So maybe I'll just bring it back to good condition and see what happens.
 
The heat rating was sized up to 2000 s.f. for use in Seattle Washington, so that's a lot of stove for Georgia. You really need something with a 6 inch outlet with 6 inch chimney. Goldilocks or Teddy Bear is more your size.
 
I'e been looking at some baby bears. The only ones I can find in my price range are not in good shape what so ever. I can find these big ones at a good deal. Just not the small ones. I'll keep looking.
 
I suggested Goldilocks and Teddy since you have a double door stove for fire viewing. Honey Bear is the smallest double door but that's getting small for heating your entire area. That is the same output as Baby. These are purpose built stoves, so if fire viewing is not a high priority, you want a single door stove which is more efficient, but should have a 6 inch flue.
I picked up a Baby Bear when I was looking for a Mama (more your size to heat your entire area there) since the guy on the phone said, "I got it for 80 bucks and haven't used it in my shop, and it has these cool brass claw feet"...... he only wanted what he paid for it !

That weld is nasty around your door seal. Is there an SB in weld on the bottom of it ? ;lol
 
Coaly what's sb? I got some wire wheels, and some high heat paint. Gonna go at it tomorrow. So after that I'll know every square inch of this thing lol....I am in the market for another heater....could you point me in any direction I should be looking? I really like the fishers. Also I'm probably going to sell this one to fund the new project. Any good ideas on a fair price to ask, and a good place to sell It?
 
When Georgia made the boxes, they initialed the bottom. When sold, the welder who vented, hung doors and ash fender put his initials under the fender for warranty purposes.
An SB would be Camfan on this Forum.

Start with the chimney. You need a stove the correct size for any existing chimney. (if there is one) That's the most important. The chimney is the engine that makes the stove go, so you can't connect an efficient stove to a larger over size chimney or connect a larger stove to a smaller efficient chimney.
Fisher was made with top, rear or side venting for different installations. Only you know what you need for your installation. The wrong configuration gives you pipe clearance to combustibles problems.
Heating area square footage, ceiling height, chimney diameter and height is a start considering the right stove. Next is if you need fire viewing, cooking capability, or water heating. Consider clearance issues where it is being installed. A Fireplace Insert or shields may be required....... Fishers were purpose built for all these concerns as well as mobile home approval.

I don't get involved with prices since they are seasonal and vary from area to area. Strangely your area seems to value them higher than here in PA. Most local jurisdictions require UL listed stoves only, so it could not be used legally, some entire states (West Coast) require EPA smoke particulate certification.