5 weeks 6 days 15 hours ago Acadia heating beats the cost of oil Play video

(Marnie Maclean, NECN) - The high cost of home heating oil has many New Englanders searching for different and less expensive ways to heat their homes next winter. A company in Bangor, Maine says it has a way for consumers to say goodbye to oil and save money.

Bill Hillery is one of the few Mainers who can enjoy the Summer without worrying about the high cost of heating oil Next winter.

There won't be any painful fuel bills coming into his house
In Glenburn, Maine. Last winter, Hillery decided to ditch
His failing furnace for a new heat pump system called
The Acadia...manufactured by Hallowell international in Bangor.

In some ways the Acadia is like a traditional heat pump...it runs on
Electricity to pull heat from the outside air. But unlike
Regular heat pumps, the Acadia keeps working even when temperatures
Go way below zero.

To prove it, the company keeps a unit running in a freezer in the factory.

So you can heat without oil...but the idea of electric heat
Scares a lot of people... Scott Pinyard says the Acadia is different and
Far more efficient than traditional electric baseboard heat.

"The Acadia instead of heating up and creating that heat...it captures it and moves it, so
It is a more efficient process."

And, says Pinyard...more economical. Pinyard says a
Homeowner who heats with oil, at the current cost of $4.85 a gallon,
And uses 1000 gallons

"we thought they would come in under forty percent...and tell us our house wasn't
Well insulated...our windows weren't good."

Hillery took the gamble anyway, and secured a loan to pay
For the fourteen thousand dollar system. It went in last
February...and the first electric bill was a welcome surprise.

And since the Acadia is also a cooling system, the
Hillery's have the added bonus of central A.C. Bill Hillery
Expects it will take him about five years to pay for the Acadia...
But so far, he thinks he's made a worthwhile investment.