Grizzly Stove, why did the go out of business?

[Pimp Your Slammer]

I got quoted 6, 7, and 8k for the install of Brand New Jotels and Regencys.
I bought and old Grizzly for 250 with a large firebox,cleaned it up, and rebuilt the blower with new bearings,
Had the local chimney guy install it with the insulated S/S liner for a 1k. I believe I did well because this thing heated my whole 1600 sq ft house late night on one box full of seasoned red oak. No smoke and i had to get up at 4am to turn the blower off because it was 41 outside and 79 inside.
I am thankful I dodged the salesmen because this thing is a beast. I am confident I will make it through Feb on a little over a cord.
Did I get lucky or am I speaking too soon?

 

[begreen]

Sounds like those were some very high quotes. A $2000 insert and a $1000 liner should come out at $3K not $6K. The old Grizzly may heat the place well, but I would expect its wood consumption to be up to twice as much as a modern stove. How much wood will be consumed depends on the weather and house insulation. If it is a harsh winter have another cord or two on hand.

 

[BrotherBart]

The Grizzly cat stoves are good stoves. Heaven knows why Derco that made them went out of business. Probably due to competing against the larger companies and the cost of continuing development.

 

[begreen]

BB is right, I should have looked at your avatar first. I was thinking the old step top Grizzly.

 

[Pimp Your Slammer]

BB is right, I should have looked at your avatar first. I was thinking the old step top Grizzly.

Yeah I have the original sales slip from 1986 installed brand new it was 3200.00.
If I install a new catalyst, which I'm sure it likely needs, how big of a difference in its output and efficiency should I expect?
If I can even find one.
The rancher is designed with the fireplace on the end of the house. The bedrooms are on the opposite end of the rectangular floor plan, they are the last to heat up. The den is 85 or 90 before the bedrooms hit 70. The intake for the air central air handler is also at the end of the house opposite the fireplace. I am thinking of relocating it to the room with the fireplace and using my central air in fan only to evenly heat the house. Certainly appreciate the input guys, thanx.

 

[begreen]

Is this it? If so, that is a big cat.
(broken link removed to http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/grizzly2.html)

Here is a trick for distributing the heat in a ranch. It works quite well assuming that there is a line of sight path between the hallway and the stove room. The idea is to set up a convection loop. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove room. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running. And the stove room temp should drop by a corresponding 5+ degrees.

 

[Pimp Your Slammer]

Is this it? If so, that is a big cat.
(broken link removed to http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/grizzly2.html)

Here is a trick for distributing the heat in a ranch. It works quite well assuming that there is a line of sight path between the hallway and the stove room. The idea is to blow the cooler air down low toward the stove. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove room. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running. And the stove room temp should drop by a corresponding 5+ degrees.

Ok, I did that way last night only backwards of your suggestion, I tried to move the hot air by blowing it into the bedrooms. It worked but took way longer than 30 mins and there I'ds no direct shot as it has to pass through two larger rooms before hallway exposure. I will certainly be flipping fans around tonight as I shop these cats. Thanx a million Mr. B.

 

[begreen]

The fan trick works. Doesn't take a big fan. I have done it with a regular 12" table fan running on low. It's easier to work with nature than agin her.

 

[mellow]

Try washing the current cat if it looks to be in good condition to see if it works better. (broken link removed to http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/Cleaning_your_combustor.html)

You will need to buy new gasket to put it back in with, so do that before hand.

 

[Pimp Your Slammer]

Try washing the current cat if it looks to be in good condition to see if it works better. (broken link removed to http://www.woodstovecombustors.com/Cleaning_your_combustor.html)

You will need to buy new gasket to put it back in with, so do that before hand.[/q
I just discovered that it has no cat installed. Im contemplating leaving it out as I only burn 4 months maybe 5 of the year here in eastern Virginia with no emissions restrictions. I suppose it would pay me back and the secondary burn puts on quite a mesmerizing display in a through a big bow front glass door. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[mellow]

Not exactly sure how you are not getting smoke if you do not have a cat in it, are you burning it really hot?

And with no cat I am sure you will use more wood than you projected.

My old non-epa would eat a cord a month only heating 1200 sq ft.

 

[lydiae]

Hi, We recently got the same insert you have. Does yours have a rod that you insert through a tube at the top of the stove? This is supposed to open and close the damper, however our rod doesn't seem to be "catching"anything to open or close. We don't know if it's broken or that's normal. What is your experience with this?

 

[pen]

@lydiae , don't be afraid to start a new thread in this room with a descriptive title explaining what you need help with. Often times that will lead to a better response than piggy-backing off an older thread with a different topic.

Wish I could help but I'm not very familiar with the specifics of the unit.

Good luck.

pen