Hello everyone and thankyou Craig for letting me on your site. I've been visiting here for awhile and got some very usefull info.
My names Dave Frey and I live in Zionsville PA, close to Allentown.
I just purchased a Fisher Grandpa bear stove after a lot of researching and looking around at different things.
Dont want to bore anyone but I'll give ya some info on myself and then start with a few questions I have with my new project.
I live in a 28/48 ranch home which I built in 1984. When I built the house I had a seperate chimney put in the basement with a 7in terracotta liner. Around a year after moving in I bought a Grandma bear stove from a man that had been a dealer that was still in his wharehouse and had never been used. I believe I paid $400 for it. Worked great. I know what I have here is not ideal conditions for primary heat but I could keep the upstairs above 68 degrees until the outside temps dropped below 35. The chimney is located at the end of the house above the bedrooms so I cut a vent in the hallway going to the bedrooms and also cut a large vent in the basement door in the kitchen at the other end of the house for some circulation. Minimal but anything helps.
At the time I was working for my dad. Small family owned fuel oil business and after a few years decided all this extra work is not worth the effort. Keep in mind oil was under $1.00 a gallon at that time and I was 30 and had better things to do. So I sold the Grandma to a buddy for $250 and its still goin strong in a lower level of an addtion he put on his house.
We sold the business 4 years ago, thank God, and I'm working for the company we sold to. I now have a lot more time on my hands and as everyone knows oil is now $3.50 a gallon and I'm spending around $2500 a year to heat the house so I decided to go back to the wood program.
I have a 4 acre property here and about 3 acres of trees. Unfortunately the majority is poplar but I do have a good amount of ash and some hickory and oak. My main source of wood will be from a small cabin I own in Pike county near Lake Wallenpaupak. Its the mother lode of red oak so basically all I have to do is cut up the easy stuff when I'm up there and haul it home in the back of my pickup. There's a ton of standing dead trees and big stuff blown over from storms that dont even have to be split without killing myself.
I really looked into the stove thing. Thought about a new stove but anything decent sarts around $2000 and then there's the maintenence and the learning process. Couldn't talk myself into it. My main concern all along has been burn time. I know this creates a contreversy. I like to sleep. I need something that will hold some coals for at least 9 hours. I know my old stove was reliable for about 7 possibly 8 so I hope this Grandpa will do the trick. I think the Papa bear would have given me a bit longer burn time but I didnt have any luck locating 1 at a reasonable price. I'm know the Papa bear would take a larger log and has a smaller outlet. Problem with the Grandpa is it will take a 24in log but the opening is only 17 in so I'm figuring 20in wood at best without having to jam it in sideways and busting up the bricks. I'll see how it goes. I paid $425 for it and I would describe it as very good condition so if it doesn't do the job I should be able to at least get my money back.
Here's my questions after that novel I just wrote. The flue is in the rear and from what I have read the crimp of the 8in pipe goes into the stove correct? Do you think I should have a damper in the pipe even though the chimney is 7in? I want to be able to choke this thing down for longest burn. The stove is on a concrete floor and against a concrete wall. The foundation walls were made extra high so I have around 5ft from the stove to the upstairs wood flooring. Are there any issues at all with that?
Thanks, Dave
My names Dave Frey and I live in Zionsville PA, close to Allentown.
I just purchased a Fisher Grandpa bear stove after a lot of researching and looking around at different things.
Dont want to bore anyone but I'll give ya some info on myself and then start with a few questions I have with my new project.
I live in a 28/48 ranch home which I built in 1984. When I built the house I had a seperate chimney put in the basement with a 7in terracotta liner. Around a year after moving in I bought a Grandma bear stove from a man that had been a dealer that was still in his wharehouse and had never been used. I believe I paid $400 for it. Worked great. I know what I have here is not ideal conditions for primary heat but I could keep the upstairs above 68 degrees until the outside temps dropped below 35. The chimney is located at the end of the house above the bedrooms so I cut a vent in the hallway going to the bedrooms and also cut a large vent in the basement door in the kitchen at the other end of the house for some circulation. Minimal but anything helps.
At the time I was working for my dad. Small family owned fuel oil business and after a few years decided all this extra work is not worth the effort. Keep in mind oil was under $1.00 a gallon at that time and I was 30 and had better things to do. So I sold the Grandma to a buddy for $250 and its still goin strong in a lower level of an addtion he put on his house.
We sold the business 4 years ago, thank God, and I'm working for the company we sold to. I now have a lot more time on my hands and as everyone knows oil is now $3.50 a gallon and I'm spending around $2500 a year to heat the house so I decided to go back to the wood program.
I have a 4 acre property here and about 3 acres of trees. Unfortunately the majority is poplar but I do have a good amount of ash and some hickory and oak. My main source of wood will be from a small cabin I own in Pike county near Lake Wallenpaupak. Its the mother lode of red oak so basically all I have to do is cut up the easy stuff when I'm up there and haul it home in the back of my pickup. There's a ton of standing dead trees and big stuff blown over from storms that dont even have to be split without killing myself.
I really looked into the stove thing. Thought about a new stove but anything decent sarts around $2000 and then there's the maintenence and the learning process. Couldn't talk myself into it. My main concern all along has been burn time. I know this creates a contreversy. I like to sleep. I need something that will hold some coals for at least 9 hours. I know my old stove was reliable for about 7 possibly 8 so I hope this Grandpa will do the trick. I think the Papa bear would have given me a bit longer burn time but I didnt have any luck locating 1 at a reasonable price. I'm know the Papa bear would take a larger log and has a smaller outlet. Problem with the Grandpa is it will take a 24in log but the opening is only 17 in so I'm figuring 20in wood at best without having to jam it in sideways and busting up the bricks. I'll see how it goes. I paid $425 for it and I would describe it as very good condition so if it doesn't do the job I should be able to at least get my money back.
Here's my questions after that novel I just wrote. The flue is in the rear and from what I have read the crimp of the 8in pipe goes into the stove correct? Do you think I should have a damper in the pipe even though the chimney is 7in? I want to be able to choke this thing down for longest burn. The stove is on a concrete floor and against a concrete wall. The foundation walls were made extra high so I have around 5ft from the stove to the upstairs wood flooring. Are there any issues at all with that?
Thanks, Dave