I have a friend who recently bought a house with a wood stove. When I went to see it, I thought Oh it's a Fisher Papa Bear same as mine. The shape and dimensions are identical. The door, though, does not say Fisher. All it has on it are three letters VIW. Did they make replacement doors for these stoves? Just curious. Thanks!
Red Oak, "I" have never seen any replacement doors and even if you needed a door, you may never find one because after Fisher went under "all" the doors were scrapped. It sounds to me like it's a home made door or even a home made stove. One person would know the truth on this question and Coaly would be the man! He's tagged. People have found some doors in flea markets, scrap yards and junk shops that never made it to the furnace. I'll do some digging, got my curiosity up now.
I just found this; Popular Science Seems there not around anymore... I've never heard of them That ad was 1980 If you scroll to page 48, there is also more on the stove.
You would have a stroke too if you woke up to find your stove with 100 different doors on it ! Mama and Papa door seal channel iron will be 2 pc. 11 3/4 and 2 pc. 12 3/4 to fit Fisher door. The drawings stayed in the office and sheets like this were made for each part for the welders. Door seal cheat sheet below;
You can't change doors on a Fisher by simply removing hinge pins and switching doors. There were many foundries across the US and Canada making doors. Each pattern was not exactly the same. When the stove was built, it was laid on its back and door or doors were centered onto door seal. The hinge plates were tacked in place and door fit was tried before finish welding. To replace a door you must remove hinge plates and reweld in correct position for the new door. Dropping one can break a hinge ear, but they didn't fail in service. They didn't sell replacement doors, they were lifetime warranty. There are limited doors still available. V.I.W. Ind. was about 45 minutes from Fisher Stoves Factoryville PA. The VIW building is gone and they made the stoves from '79 to '84. They sold them out of the front door just like the Fisher Showrooms and called their store Nature's Energy Shed.
Coaly and others - thanks! I'll have to take a closer look at my friend's stove sometime - I assumed by the shape and dimensions that it was a Fisher but it's entirely possible I was wrong. I had not heard of VIW stoves before. Thanks again!
