I'm quite surprised by some of the positive responses that are on this post about the Acadia Heat Pump. Let me give you my experience. I am not a basher and have no other reason to post other than to let you know my situation.
I was very excited to get off oil and begged and pleaded with my wife that this would be great for us and save us a ton a money in August 2008 when oil kept going up and up. Our set up was only 3 years old at the time so it was a very difficult proposition to get her on board. In fact, we were on a TV news show that appeared in the MA area about people considering alternatives to oil . I should also mention that this was for our 1000sq.ft. guest house and home office and not our main living quarters.
The following experience has been an expensive and extensive nightmare. First, I didn't qualify for any of the rebates available at that time because it turned that Hallowell had not received the proper codes for their products and that everything was under review still. This is in complete contradiction to what I had been informed and even the installer was quite surprised by that. These rebates at the time were quite generous and I had figured them out in the total cost and was quite disappointed by Hallowell and my own gullibility.
In a cool September of 2008, I immediately started getting large electric bills around $400. I was told that this is normal since we were not using oil and that we're still saving money. I was told to be patient and that the true savings would show up soon enough. October's bill was worse at $550. I called again and questioned it but was told that everything is at it should be. In November, the electric bill was $700+ and December even higher.
This is when I started to get very upset. I had already lost out on the extensive rebates and now this was costing me more than when oil was at its peak. The installer came by and noted that the compressors weren't on and got Hallowell on the phone to troubleshoot the problems. At first, Hallowell insisted that everything was fine. Only one tech realized that the included wiring instructions were written wrong and that the electric heat strips were the only thing working. I noted that I had been questioning this since the beginning and that Hallowell had worked with the installer from the beginning in setting up the entire system.
Of course, the next month's bill was enormous and dwarfed the other bills but was told to wait for the following month. Duane Hallowell himself had come to the house to check everything out and insisted all was fine now. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that he would reimburse me for the excessive bills. I informed him about the missed rebates and he said that unfortunately they had some delays in the process but "You know how slow the government agencies are..." I suggested that maybe he should make sure that his company doesn't tell people about the rebates that they're not qualified for since that leads to confusion for the consumer.
Duane asked for all of my electric bills for the last 2 years and my last 2 years of oil bills and for the heat calculations taken for the building and then he did his own heat calculations and assessment. After much patience and then 3-4 repeated calls, he never did make good on the reimbursement and I was told that he was busy and then I'd never hear from them.
Well the electric bills continued to stay up there and soon found out that the compressors had failed and this was after a month of being online. I was also told that this had happened to someone else nearby. Hallowell sent their own technicians from Maine to replace the compressors and check out the entire system from scratch. At this point, they changed one Thermostat to one of their own specifications which they had redesigned since my system had been installed only months before. They only had one of them and therefore I was concerned about each one being different since they had already explained for an hour that the first ones were better and that there was no need to switch them. Then I was told the exact opposite and neither explanation made any sense as each time they contradicted what they had just took the time to explain. This was with the lead technicians of the installers present. Even they were shaking their heads in the confusion.
In a previous conversation with Duane, he had said that the $90/month was an 'average' for the entire year when you considered that for some months you wouldn't be using the system at all (?). I thought that might be the same as when the car manufacture figures that some of the time you're driving downhill with the engine off. I explained that even given his calculations, I had gone through that budget in only 1 1/2 months of usage.
Well now it's January 2010 and I received another bill close to $800. The outside unit is completely frozen over and I'm told that the computer boards have failed. The installer has been fantastic and worked hand in hand with Hallowell to try and remedy this situation. I was informed that another woman had the exact same problems too. The installer found out from other installers that they're having the same difficulties and that Hallowell has not honored any of their warranties and that they've all lost money on their own costs and servicing of the units.
My installer is now offering to give me a Carrier Hybrid system instead and had given up on Hallowell and feels bad that his customers who trusted him were so disappointed.
If this were a car, that promised to save you money but then was declined the promised rebates, was miss wired by the manufacturer's own written instructions, then the engine failed, now the computer boards failed and was costing you thousands of extra money on gas then I think you might be perturbed and very disappointed in the car.
In summary, I was very enthusiastic and thought that we were making the best decision for our family. It was a tremendous expense especially as my wife is a teacher and I'm self employed. I thought that we're ahead of the curve and that this would be great. I was extremely patient and never got angry although I admit that, in the privacy of my own home, my language got colorful when I saw those electric bills.
One could easily blame it on the installer if it wasn't for the fact that Hallowell had been involved since day one on the installation and the owner himself came down to check everything out for himself. In fact, the installer is the only one who has stood by me this entire time. The product is defective and exorbitant to buy, install, maintain and in monthly utility bills. I'm sure that I'm not the only one to get a lemon. I don't think this is a one case scenario.
neohioheatpump
chckandco
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