Fischer Stoves... efficient?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Hello we are thinking of buying a Fischer stove and were wondering if anyone has one and what they think of them? Thanks

-- Megan Milliken (millikenfarm@altavista.com), November 09, 2000

Answers

yes we have one. a mama bear and it is a very good stove. we bought it used for 125.00. we have no complaints. becky

-- becky (Joel681@webtv.net), November 10, 2000.

They are excellent heaters & thrifty. they are heavy because of the concrete in them but I have had one and it was great.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), November 10, 2000.

We have a Baby Bear, I think we paid $150 for it a couple of years ago. It is too small to heat all of our drafty old farm house, and won't hold a fire all night because of the small firebox, but is really an excellent little stove. I would recommend a bigger one if you can get it, unless you live in a fairly warm climate.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 10, 2000.

I have a FISHER stove don't know if they are the same. I have been very pleased with mine. When I just burned pallets a couple of years a go it would not keep a fire overnight but now that I am burning oak logs I have no problem. I would like it better if it had a glass plate in the door so I could see the fire. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef123@hotmail.com), November 10, 2000.

I have never used or even seen one, but a couple years ago when I ran an ad wanted wood stove... I had a number of calls with people that had them for sale. I dont know if you have one all lined up, but a want ad may be a way to save money by getting a used one. We ended up with a Dutchwest. I am not very impressed. I had liked our old vermont casting stove and this is now owned by vermont casting, but not the same stove. I have heard that vermont castings arent like they used to be either though. Good luck. Tami in Wi

-- tami in wi (windridg@chorus.net), November 12, 2000.


I used to have a Fisher Mama Bear and loved it. Recently found a used Papa Bear. They are (were? - don't know what Fisher is making now) well-made, no nonsense stoves. I had trouble with creosote until I determined the MINIMUM opening for the draft. The Mama easily held a fire overnight and more. Incidentally, Gail, those glass windows sound good, but most of the time are covered with soot.

-- Sam in W.Va. (snorris@dnr.state.wv.us), November 13, 2000.

Years ago, I had a girlfriend who had one. It was a mama bear, and it put out a LOT of heat. However, it would now be considered very low tech on today's market.

I now have a heater called a Quadrafire, which has air jets which put oxygenated, super heated air into the smoke above the logs, igniting the smoke. It's a real trip; it looks like there's a gas jet blowing flames down onto the top of the logs from near the top of the firebox, but it's only hot air burning the otherwise wasted smoke. For this reason, there is very little smoke emission, and the heater puts out at least three or four times as much heat as my last stove, and I'd guess twice as much as a Fisher on a per log basis.

The Quadrafire also has what it calls "airwash", which is the hot, highly oxygenated flames passing over the ceramic glass in the door. This cleans soot off the door, believe it or not. You can see the soot disappear, from the center of the glass outwards. It's still necessary to clean the glass with windex and a crumpled newspaper maybe once a week or two, but it's easy, and no scrubbing is necessary. After the windex cleaning, the glass is so clear that you can hardly see it for a few days, except if you have a smoky starting fire causing soot, which then disappears when the heater gets up to heat in ten or fifteen minutes.

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), November 13, 2000.


Oops, I accidentally hit the submit button prematurely. I wanted to say, if you can afford a Quadrafire, or any other "low emission, high efficiency" heater (the only kind that are legal to sell here in Oregon for the last several years, by the way), go for it. But they are expensive. Mine cost $1100. It is "medium sized". I have a smaller one, different brand, but also very efficient, in a small rental, and it cost $600-size small.

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), November 13, 2000.


Twenty years or so ago, we bought (new, I think I remember) medium size Fisher, put in family room in basement. Fireplace insert on main floor keeps house fairly warm if weather isn't bad, but when we fire up that Fisher in the basement, the bedrooms on the floor above main floor get too warm unless we shut bedroom doors. Holds fire all night or all day. It sits on large area of creek rock and the whole wall behind it is the same, so a lot of heat is soaked up. I don't like the front-load, easy spill ashes--was used to side load Warm Morning with lowered ash bed. One other disadvantage, maybe, for the Fisher--no guard around it, so it wouldn't work real well with small children, but is great for cooking during ice storms! It puts out 4 times the heat the insert does and uses less wood. Definately would buy Fisher again if needed new one.

-- ruth in s.e. Illinois (bobtravous@email.com), November 16, 2000.

An idea for a guard around any wood stove if there will be small children near it is to take wrought iron fencing and build a pen, complete with gate, around the stove. Looks good, won't burn, and keeps the little ones a safe distance away. Of course, if you train them carefully, and keep an eye on things, it probably isn't really necessary, either.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 17, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ