Ductless Mini-Splits in Bridgton, Maine

Bridgton Homes and What They Need

Bridgton is really two housing markets. Census estimates count about 4,600 homes, and nearly half, around 2,200, are held for seasonal or recreational use: camps and cottages on Long Lake, Highland Lake and Moose Pond, where shorelines are heavily built with cabins and houses. The year-round stock is younger than the coast's, with a median build year of 1985, about 11 percent built before 1940 and nearly a third added since 2000. Mobile and manufactured homes are notable at about 14 percent of units. Many lake camps were built for July, not January, with shallow crawlspaces, exposed piping and small electric services. When families start using a camp through foliage and ski season, a mini-split heat pump for a lake camp is often the first step toward winter use.

Heating and Cooling in Bridgton

Bridgton is inland Lakes Region country, colder in winter and warmer in summer than the Casco Bay towns, and its fuel mix shows it. The latest Census five-year estimates put fuel oil at about 52 percent of occupied homes and propane at roughly 27 percent, one of the higher propane shares in Cumberland County, with electricity around 11 percent. Bridgton is outside the service areas the Maine Public Utilities Commission describes for the state's gas distributors, so propane tanks and oil tanks are the norm. January brings long cold spells, and a system sized for the coast can come up short here. A propane house with a forced-air system can often cut fuel use by replacing an aging propane furnace with a high-efficiency unit, or by adding a heat pump that shares the ductwork.

Getting to Know Bridgton