Any info on "Acadia" cold weather heat pump? (Maine: houses, buy)

[Sunny H]

Anyone tried the new cold weather heat pump "Acadia" by Hallowell?

It's gotten great write ups by This Old House. It runs differently from regular heat pumps which sometimes can not keep a house warm in colder areas like ours. Apparently it is widely used across Canada and New England.

I am looking into getting one now, but would like to get feed back from anyone with experience with them.

[rocafeller05]

Sunny H...I checked out the Acadia website. The testing and analysis looks legit. The only thing that jumped out at me is that on a 10 deg. day the most BTU output is 56,000 BTU's. Im not sure on the size of your home? Figure 25 BTU's per sq. for a rule of thumb.
Second, the site will not tell you the actually energy savings. I really dont buy that it will reduce heat/cool costs 40%. Not out here when we pay 20 cents a kilowatt for electric. Make Acadia give you some real numbers b4 you buy the product!

[Sunny H]

Thanks for replying and telling me about the btu's per square foot. I didn't know about that.

Acadia did tell me that in Bangor, Maine where they are located they pay 17 cents per kw (so, not much different from our own cost) a 4 ton system could produce over 50 btu's at zero degrees without using resistant heat strips. It certainly sounds good, but I only know of two houses on LI that have installed these, and one is not completed yet. I talked to the architect who is "cautiously optimistic" about the new system. I am very intrigued and hope to learn more.