Tank Water Heaters in North Yarmouth, Maine

North Yarmouth Homes and What They Need

North Yarmouth grew from fewer than 1,000 residents in 1950 to about 4,100 in 2020, and its housing shows that growth. Census estimates count about 1,600 homes, nearly all detached single-family houses, with a median year built of 1981. About 17 percent predate 1940, mostly farmhouses and capes around Walnut Hill and along Routes 9, 115 and 231, while subdivisions from the 1970s through the 2010s fill in the land between them. Homes here are also valued higher than in the other inland towns nearby, with a median owner-estimated value near $480,000, and close to nine in ten are owner-occupied. The result is a large group of 30- to 45-year-old houses whose original heating systems, water heaters and panels are reaching the end of their service life, and a furnace replacement in a forced-air home is a natural moment to add central cooling or a heat pump coil.

Water Supply and Drains in North Yarmouth

North Yarmouth supplies drinking water to its neighbours. The Yarmouth Water District draws most of its supply from wells tapping a thick sand-and-gravel aquifer in North Yarmouth, including the Stevens Well off Baston Road and the Estabrook Well, and it has served part of North Yarmouth itself since a 1990 merger; the town's comprehensive plan notes that the water needs no treatment. Homes beyond the mains are on private wells, which the USGS counted as roughly 70 percent of households in 1990, and in its 2005-09 review about 9 percent of sampled wells exceeded the arsenic standard. There is no public sewer anywhere in town, so every property relies on septic, with septage handled under a contract with the Portland Water District. Well pumps, pressure tanks and septic-friendly drains are the everyday reality, and a tankless water heater can free up basement space in newer homes.

Getting to Know North Yarmouth