http://www.gofundme.com/jb2s5xc8 <<<< Link to our GoFundMe site!
I have set up a GoFundMe for our wood stove. Financially, we are not in the shape to go get one ourselves, but given the way our heating bills have tended to run in the past, we could pay for one pretty quick if we were buying it with what our Propane costs. But we cannot come up with the money prior to winter as we have so many other expenses, and we cannon come up with it in winter because that is no time to be on a roof installing a chimney liner and repairing the mortar on the existing brickwork that the liner has to go up. Our credit is crap, so we are a bit stuck here. I did not think to set up the site earlier in the year, and really should have! The chimney alone has a lot of work I need to do to it. I set the site request at $3,500, but could probably get this done for less. It depends on the hearth work that needs doing too!
To give an idea, we have two furnaces in this house. Each heats a level. They have separate duct work, and they both run off a shared 350 gallon propane tank. Depending on the prices at the time, which are always higher in winter, that can cost from $600 to $1,200 to fill once the season is under way. I can fill it once in the summer for about $400, but that does not last through Thanksgiving, and we are into those higher bills till May. Temperatures are not consistent from year to year. Last winter was quite warm, and we were able to do a lot with electric heaters. The winter before was what could be called normal, and we used the furnaces and a fire in a very inefficient fireplace. The one prior to that was brutal, including six weeks hovering around –20F, which is when $1,200 a month stepped out the door and jumped into the propane truck. Our propane seller was happy to take it, of course, and advised me very sternly against wood, of course. There is no other fuel source available here, such as natural gas. Electric heating is also very costly, and inefficient. Works as a great supplement, but not as a primary source of heat.
A wood stove in the position one once lived in the dining room would put it in the center of the bottom floor of the house, and I may have to vent the ceiling there to help some heat get up to the bedrooms, but that would be a relatively easy chore, and in any case, all of this would be much easier to maintain myself, than the complex innards of the two furnaces. So, maintenance costs will go down, fuel costs will go down, replacement costs will go down, and the potential of $1,200 a month but a more realistic $800 a month for six months, will drop to $50 per year for wood permits, and a few camping trips in the mountains with my kids, plus a great workout splitting firewood.
Other benefits include the good we are doing in the forest with our wood permits, which allow us to clear only dead trees, which would otherwise provide more fuel to any fires that cut through there. I also have made it a challenge for myself to remove trees that have fallen against other living trees, to reduce the danger of them falling on someone out for a walk, or camping in the area.
We do use gasoline getting up tot he mountains and back, and running the chainsaw. However, those costs are small, especially compared to buying firewood locally, or worse, paying for propane.
If we made more money, this would be easier for us to manage. I don’t work. There are a few reasons for that, and while they all add up to a sensible decision, the one that matters most to us is that we still have a child who has not yet started school. I don’t put my kids in daycare. That is not negotiable. There is nobody I trust with my kids, especially before they can talk, except for me and my immediate family. Nobody will care for them and their interests the way we do, and a childhood is far too precious not to assure that it is protected and nourished.
We just need help getting over this hump. It is a huge one, and will make a huge difference for us! It will prevent us from having to repair frozen pipes in winter, and cut our costs for heat tremendously!
I set the fund at $3,500. I think we can get it done for less, but I am not positive. Costs always arise. This would get us set up with something that is practical, not beautiful, and provides enough heat for the whole home.
So, if you have read all of this, please consider helping us out. I am not one for begging, and we take no help from the government in the form of welfare or such. We seldom go to others for help, but in this case, I think we need to before the cold sets in!
Thank you!
Kelsey J Bacon