Will I regret Getting off my Grandma Fisher for an EPA stove

[Bigg_Redd]

It's popular here too, but so is free steak

 

[begreen]

Where's the beef?

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Heh?

 

[richg]

A Grandma Bear came with the house when I bought it in 2000. That dang stove would burn rocks, but it was the epitome of a smoke dragon. It would throw off heat like nothing I've ever seen, but it would also consume wood at a frightening pace. My suggestion would be to move to an EPA stove....the Grandma Bear had a big firebox and there are a couple of reasonably-priced EPA models out there with big boxes like the Englander NC30 and the Drolet HT 2000. My suggestion would be to keep the Bear for now, try an EPA stove and see what you think. If you don't like the new stove, sell it and put the Bear back in. I must say that the Bear was built like a flipping tank.

 

[cableman]

I had a bullard i think it was bigger then the grandma! Im glad i switched, while it did put out more heat then my shelburne it didnt last as long putting out the same heat! We were always feeding it lots of wood. Its just so much nicer to stair at the fire while it doing its work

 

[Todd]

I always thought you could downsize a bit from non EPA to EPA because of the higher efficiency. Unless your house is a sieve you would probably be fine with a 2 cu ft stove like a PE Super or Lopi Endevor. They are a tad larger than the NC 13 but are also N/S loaders. If your looking for a better bang for your buck Menards is having a sale on Drolet stoves, you could get one for under a grand.

 

[tarzan]

The OP's Grandma Bear is capable of putting out just as much heat as a modern EPA stove. The biggest difference is the EPA stove is capable of burning off the gasses which allows you to get the same amount of heat while burning less wood. If it were me I would look at steel box that is roughly the size of the one that has worked for the last 30 years.

 

[Heaterhunter]

I replaced my VC Vigilant with a PE Super. I couldn't be happier with the switch. I'm on pace to burn 4 cord versus the 6 cord/yr with the VC and we've had polar vortex after polar vortex. Just want to mention the biggest changes I've noticed with the EPA stove:

I seem to always have enough coals to stoke the next fire unless I haven't touched the stove in 16-20 hours, so far less cold starts.

I don't need to get the stove ripping to prevent creosote build up which I learned the hard way with the VC, my chimney is clean as a whistle after the 2.75 cord of wood that I've burnt so far(18-23% MC).

The PE provides much longer burn cycles(Avg burn cycle loaded is 8 hrs +/- 1 hr. My VC was 4-5 hours with little to no coals left by the 9th or 10th hour)

The stove is a more even heat throughout a burn cycle. With this being said, max heat output has not equaled the VC(not even close). The VC is a beast for short bursts and I'm assuming(I've never owned/used one) your Fisher is similar. In my opinion the PE is a much more usable primary heat source, putting out good even heat for much longer periods of time.

The biggest difference you will notice is max heat output. Once you get used to the long and consistent burns you'll be all smiles. Keep us updated on what you decide.

 

[JA600L]

When you walk outside 5 minutes after a reload and see nothing coming out of your chimney it will all make sense. All of that smoke you used to send up and coat your chimney, smoke out your neighbors, and contribute to global warming, will now be burned inside your house and turned into heat. It's not just about efficiency its also about responsibility. Despite any early frustration you are making a right step.

 

[Christopix]

When you walk outside 5 minutes after a reload and see nothing coming out of your chimney it will all make sense. All of that smoke you used to send up and coat your chimney, smoke out your neighbors, and contribute to global warming, will now be burned inside your house and turned into heat. It's not just about efficiency its also about responsibility. Despite any early frustration you are making a right step.

Hope this doesn't make me sound crazy but I still walk outside to look at my chimney during a reload. It never ceases to amaze me how as soon as I close the bypass, all the smoke disappears. As I look up at my chimney, all I need to do is look over to my neighbors two houses down to be reminded what my chimney looked like last season. His chimney is always billowing smoke and he runs wet wood through an old smoke dragon. Ive had another neighbor ask me if I stopped heating with wood. I said no and thanked him for the enforcement of our decision of investing in an EPA Certed stove.

 

[Big Dan]

Any stove should have good, dry wood run through it.
Sure you can burn wet wood in either, and better in an older stove, and these are mostly the ones you see on the news that have burnt down a house.
Regardless the stove, the wetter the wood, the more crud in the stack for a nice freight train a coming.....

Gotta love that black gold! Wet wood dry wood it's all good. BURN IS BURN!

 

[Big Dan]

I replaced an all-nighter with a canyon. woke up late on a Sunday the house was still warm I even made a pot of coffee before I loaded that groan I realized right then they called it the all nighter because you had to stay up all damn night loading if you wanted to be warm in the morning. these people talking about burning wet wood in old stoves like it's a good thing. sometimes chimney fires don't cause any damage sometimes they burn your house down I wouldn't take the chance but dude you'll never regret getting a nice badass stove.

 

[Big Dan]

When you walk outside 5 minutes after a reload and see nothing coming out of your chimney it will all make sense. All of that smoke you used to send up and coat your chimney, smoke out your neighbors, and contribute to global warming, will now be burned inside your house and turned into heat. It's not just about efficiency its also about responsibility. Despite any early frustration you are making a right step.

Hope this doesn't make me sound crazy but I still walk outside to look at my chimney during a reload. It never ceases to amaze me how as soon as I close the bypass, all the smoke disappears. As I look up at my chimney, all I need to do is look over to my neighbors two houses down to be reminded what my chimney looked like last season. His chimney is always billowing smoke and he runs wet wood through an old smoke dragon. Ive had another neighbor ask me if I stopped heating with wood. I said no and thanked him for the enforcement of our decision of investing in an EPA Certed stove.

Hope this doesn't make me sound crazy but I still walk outside to look at my chimney during a reload. It never ceases to amaze me how as soon as I close the bypass, all the smoke disappears. As I look up at my chimney, all I need to do is look over to my neighbors two houses down to be reminded what my chimney looked like last season. His chimney is always billowing smoke and he runs wet wood through an old smoke dragon. Ive had another neighbor ask me if I stopped heating with wood. I said no and thanked him for the enforcement of our decision of investing in an EPA Certed stove.

you're not crazy a lot of people here still go outside look at theirs chimney and they already know you're not going to see smoke it's just fun to look.