Hallowell Arcadia - cold weather heat pump

OK so I've been researching like crazy, trying to find the best way to heat my dream house. This is probably my biggest worry in this whole project. Oil heat is just going to be too expensive. I've been thinking that geothermal is my only reasonable long-term option. So I e-mailed a whole bunch of geothermal installers in my area, and one of them came back to me with a much cheaper, but almost as efficient system: the Hallowell Acadia cold weather heat pump.

I sort of ignored this suggestion, but then a week later I Google'd the thing. Well I almost crapped myself. It seems to good to be true, and you know what they say about things like that. The cost would be less than the combined cost of a Hydro-Air cooling system plus an oil burner heating system.

Does anybody know if this is real, or just a scam/scheme??? Please, pass along any information you have about this system.

And I'm going to collect links about this system. I'm sure you could find these same links yourself with a Google search...

The company website:
http://www.gotohallowell.com/

Some dudes named Kevin and John seem to have installed Hallowell Acadias in their own homes:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=50&threadID=301971&start=30&tag=forum-w;forums06
You can also find other references to the Hallowell Arcadia if you search the CNET forums.

A story with a video of the Acadia system:
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Business/Acadia-heating-beats-the-cost-of-oil-/1216432211.html

McGuire Air Force Base, Fort Dix and Marlboro NJ residents Phyllis and Seymour Garr install Acadias:
http://tritown.gmnews.com/news/2008/0724/front_page/003.html

WCVB TV Boston (ABC channel 5) runs a story on the Acadia:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/16831616/detail.html

Architect Ed Nilsson of Marblehead MA, installs an Acadia:
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/state/x1542098757/Home-features-two-energy-saving-systems

Yup, even on Bob Villa's website:
http://www.bobvila.com/OnTheLevel/Big-Energy-Savings-for-the-DoD-2982.html

CNET green news article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9859871-54.html?tag=cd.blog

An article in the Architectural Record:
http://archrecord.construction.com/resources/conteduc/archives/0603edit-1.asp

An article from the Reuters newswire:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS127072+10-Mar-2008+PRN20080310

Not sure who the lazy environmentalist is:
http://www.lazyenvironmentalist.com/pages/2008/01/efficiency_and.php

Last but not least, a thread I started on heatinghelp.com:
http://forums.invision.net/Index.cfm?CFApp=2&Message_ID=412460

Installing Foundation Drainage panels

Today my brother-in-law Justin and I installed the foundation drainage panels on the foundation. There are a lot of different products for this, but I chose one that I liked, and could get locally for a reasonable price:

Carlisle CCW MiraDRAIN 2000

Purchased at Masonry Depot for about 0.45 per square foot, I got 5 rolls, each roll is 4 feet by 50 feet.

Foundation Waterproofing Membrane

I want our basement to be waterproof. Most houses just have a tar sprayed onto the foundation, which is only damp-proof. That stuff is cheap, about $28 for a 5 gallon bucket. I am going to upgrade to the better stuff which is actually waterproof. Lots of companies make stuff, but only a few products will meet my criteria. Many of the products are spray on, and I don't have the equipment for that. I need something I can roll or brush on. Also I have to be able to get it locally for a reasonable price. That really cut down the possible product I can use, so I picked this:

Mar-Flex 5000R

They only had 7 buckets in stock, so I also got 1 bucket of this more expensive product:

BASF HLM-5000

I purchased this stuff here: AH Harris and Sons

After rolling that stuff on the foundation, I will say that the HLM-5000 seems to be a better product (Well it is more expensive too). After drying, the Mar-Flex 5000 left little pinholes of exposed concrete, didn't matter how think I rolled it on. 2 coats of that stuff is really necessary, which means double the work. The 5 gallon can of HLM-5000 was much heavier, the stuff was much thicker and harder to spread on the foundation, but I can't imagine why you would need a second coat of it. It seems like it will hold up better that the Mar-Flex.

You can research product like this here:

ICC Evaluation Service - Fluid Applied Waterproofing