Grandma Bear Questions

[Deep Shore]

We bought a house with a Fisher stove and my husband wanted to get rid of the stove due to inefficiency because it is an older stove. I love the stove and would like to keep it if it is a safe, heating stove. Every house we live in needs a wood stove-best way to heat! Can you give me any information based on the pictures? What is the best way to refinish the stove and remove the rust? Thank you for any and all information!

 

[bholler]

We bought a house with a Fisher stove and my husband wanted to get rid of the stove due to inefficiency because it is an older stove. I love the stove and would like to keep it if it is a safe, heating stove. Every house we live in needs a wood stove-best way to heat! Can you give me any information based on the pictures? What is the best way to refinish the stove and remove the rust? Thank you for any and all information!View attachment 245390 View attachment 245391

Your husband is right they are horribly innefficent compared to new stuff. And I would never consider heating my house with one. But if they are installed properly in a good safe chimney they are perfectly safe. And that one looks to be in very nice condition

 

[Todd67]

Welcome to the forum @Deep Shore . You have a Fisher Grandma Bear Model. They were made with a top vent like yours, as well as a rear vent on some models. The easiest way to remove the rust is with a wire wheel on a drill. The doors are cast iron, the rest of the stove is plate steel. The best way to increase efficiency is to add a baffle plate inside the stove, and to use a good chimney. I recommend a stainless steel insulated class A chimney. I paint my stoves with Rutland black stove paint.

I heat my 2 story house with my Fisher stove. It is my only heat source, and I live in northern NY. I use a single door Fisher stove called the Mama Bear. I've been heating with it for 7 Winters and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a new stove. But that's my opinion. I know for a fact that I burn less wood than my neighbors do in their new stoves. I don't honestly know why, but it's a fact. Could be the stove, or the chimney, or the quality of wood, etc.

During power outages we can (and have) cook on our Fisher and we always have heat. We can load our Fisher at night before bedtime, and wake up to a warm house in the morning. Our stove will burn for 4 months without ever going out. My wife would kick me to the curb if I got rid of our Fisher stove.

Just my two cents worth...

 

[bholler]

Welcome to the forum @Deep Shore . You have a Fisher Grandma Bear Model. They were made with a top vent like yours, as well as a rear vent on some models. The easiest way to remove the rust is with a wire wheel on a drill. The doors are cast iron, the rest of the stove is plate steel. The best way to increase efficiency is to add a baffle plate inside the stove, and to use a good chimney. I recommend a stainless steel insulated class A chimney. I paint my stoves with Rutland black stove paint.

I heat my 2 story house with my Fisher stove. It is my only heat source, and I live in northern NY. I use a single door Fisher stove called the Mama Bear. I've been heating with it for 7 Winters and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a new stove. But that's my opinion. I know for a fact that I burn less wood than my neighbors do in their new stoves. I don't honestly know why, but it's a fact. Could be the stove, or the chimney, or the quality of wood, etc.

During power outages we can (and have) cook on our Fisher and we always have heat. We can load our Fisher at night before bedtime, and wake up to a warm house in the morning. Our stove will burn for 4 months without ever going out. My wife would kick me to the curb if I got rid of our Fisher stove.

Just my two cents worth...

Even with a baffle a stove like these is still way behind a modern stove in terms of efficiency. I can without a doubt tell you that if you switched to a modern stove sized correctly for your house and burnt it properly with dry wood you would cut your wood consumption by quite a bit. Usually at least 1/3. And you keep mentioning power outages. All modern stoves work just fine without power and most can be cooked on just as well as a fisher.

I get that you like your fisher but I have burnt fishers as well as some other older stoves and several modern ones. And for lots of heat fast like you need to heat up a cold cabin or shop old stoves like fishers are great. I still have a poppa bear in my shop. But there is no way I would ever want to heat my house with one. They just aren't as good at long consistent heat output. My opinion is based on pulling a fisher out and sticking a quadra fire in its place in the same house on the same chimney with the same sub 20% hardwood.

 

[Don H]

The fireplace series Fishers such as this Grandma Bear were duel purpose, heating and fire viewing. They are not the most efficient of the Fisher stoves. A Papa Bear or Mama Bear (what I heat with) are far better at holding the fire all night. Installing a baffle, as Todd said, will increase its efficiency somewhat and is an easy modification. You can find directions here on how to make one.

From the pics it doesn't look like it needs refinishing.

I'd hook it up and run it a season or two and if it doesn't do what you need it to do sell it and buy one of those fancy new stoves bholler sells

By the way, if you sell it the screen may be worth as much as the stove itself.