Heat pump installation in Dunedin
Your installer will size it for how cold it actually gets where you live, because the bottom of the hill is colder than the top, so the house is warm when you get up rather than halfway through the morning.
What it costs
Every figure below is supply and install, so it covers the unit, the mounting, the pipework and drain, the electrical work back to your board, and the commissioning. What lifts one quote above another is the capacity your room needs, how far the cabling has to reach, and how hard the outdoor position is to get to.
| Type | Supplied & fitted | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| High-wall bedroom or small room | $2,200 to $3,000 | Around 2.5kW. One room, one wall, and the quickest job on the list. |
| High-wall main living area | $3,000 to $4,500 | A 5 to 6kW unit, and the job most Dunedin houses actually book. |
| High-wall large or open-plan | $4,000 to $5,800 | A 7 to 8kW unit for a big lounge or a knocked-through living and dining. |
| Multi-split two rooms or more | Quoted per head | Two or more indoor heads off one outdoor compressor. On a tight hill section that leaves one outdoor position to solve instead of three. |
| Ducted whole home | $12,000 to $25,000+ | Hidden in the roof space, feeding a vent to every room. Wants the ceiling access to work in. |
You'll get a firm price once your installer has the right measurements and details of your job. Costs can vary a lot, and the cost page goes into why.
What’s included in the price
Supply and install is handled as one job, so there's no chasing a separate supplier and sparky.
- The heat pump, sized for the mornings your address gets
- Indoor head mounted and the outdoor unit set level and clear of the ground
- Pipework and drain run neatly and insulated
- Electrical connection back to your board
- Vacuum, charge and a full test before anyone leaves
- The site left tidy
- Manufacturer warranty on the unit
- The old unit taken away if you're replacing one
How a heat pump installation works
A straightforward single high-wall is usually a day, and often half of one.
Free quote
Give us the rooms, the suburb and a note about the section if there are steps. That last bit is what makes the price accurate rather than approximate.
Site visit
Your installer looks at the ceiling height and the glazing indoors, then works out where the outdoor unit can sit so it's clear of the frost and someone can reach it later.
The install
The indoor head goes up, the pipework and drain are run and insulated, the outdoor unit is fitted and levelled, and the electrical connection goes back to the board. Then it's vacuumed, charged and tested before anyone packs up.
Commissioning
You get shown how to run it, including why leaving it on low through the evening beats blasting it for an hour, which is the difference between a dry house and a damp one.
Which type of heat pump suits your home
A three-metre-stud villa in North Dunedin and a flat-ceilinged place at Mosgiel want different machines, even at the same floor area, and the ceiling is usually what decides it.
High-wall
Up near the ceiling, blowing out across the room. It costs the least to buy and to fit, and it moves plenty of air, so it suits open-plan living with normal ceilings.
Floor console
Sits low on the wall and pushes the heat out at floor level. In a cold, high-ceilinged villa room that's where you actually feel it, which is why it comes up so often through Central and North Dunedin.
Ceiling cassette
Recessed into the ceiling and blowing down evenly. Nothing visible but a grille, and it needs the cavity depth above.
Multi-split
Two or more indoor heads off a single outdoor compressor, so several rooms get warm without a separate box outside each one. Tidy on a compact hill section.
Ducted
Hidden through the roof space, feeding vents into each room. The evenest result and the biggest spend.
What size heat pump do you need
Getting the size right is the single thing that decides whether the house is warm, and in Dunedin two questions settle it: where you sit on the hill, and how high the ceiling is.
Bedroom or small room
About 2.5kW.
Living area
5 to 6kW.
Large or open-plan
7 to 8kW.
Step up from there for a high stud, single glazing, or an address down on the flat.
Cold air runs downhill
On a clear still night the cold air on the hills slides down and settles at the lowest point it can reach. That's why the flat of South Dunedin and the valley floors start the morning several degrees behind a sunny slope at Mornington, and why a neighbour's recommendation is worth less here than it would be in a flat city.
It matters because a heat pump gathers its warmth from the air outside. The colder that air is, the less warmth there is in it to gather, so output falls away on exactly the mornings you want it. A unit that's comfortably sized up the hill can be short of the room at the bottom of it.
And warm air goes back up
A high-wall blows warm air out near the ceiling and it rises from there. With an ordinary ceiling the room circulates and evens out. With a three-metre stud in a Central or North Dunedin villa, a good part of the output collects above the picture rail and stays there, so you're heating the top of the room and waiting for the rest.
Single glazing compounds it. A pane sheds heat roughly ten times faster than the wall around it, so an original villa window is losing warmth on a frosty night about as fast as a modest unit can replace it.
Oversizing isn't the way out. Too much capacity and the unit hits temperature in a rush, stops before it has taken any moisture from the air, and leaves the room warm and damp-feeling. Too little and it never gets there at all.
Run your rooms through the sizing calculator for a starting figure, then have whoever quotes it confirm it against the actual house.
Replacing an old heat pump
Ten years or more, error codes, or a unit that has quietly got worse at the job usually means a replacement makes better sense than a repair, because parts get scarce and efficiency has moved a long way.
Out on the Peninsula and along the coast it comes round sooner, because the salt has been working on the outdoor unit the whole time it has been there.
Some of what is already on the wall can be kept. Mounts, pipework and cabling that are sound and the right size for the new unit stay where they are, and the quote comes down accordingly. Pipework still carrying traces of the old refrigerant doesn't, because what it leaves behind shortens the life of the system that follows.
A replacement is also the one cheap opportunity to change where the outdoor unit lives. If it ended up in a low corner where the frost gathers, or somewhere nobody can reach it up a bank, moving it while the job is already open costs a fraction of doing it on its own.
Worth knowing up front: if the old unit never quite coped rather than failing outright, say so before anyone quotes. That is usually a capacity problem or a placement one, and fitting the same size in the same spot buys you the same winter with a newer warranty on it.
Consent and electrical work
A standard high-wall going into an existing house isn't building work, so there's no building consent to arrange. A ducted system in a new build or a serious renovation normally sits under the consent the building work already carries.
The electrical connection is certified by a registered electrician and the refrigerant side is done under an approved filler licence. Both are legal requirements, which is the short answer to why this isn't a job to take on yourself.
Two things are worth raising at the site visit: body corporate or cross-lease rules if you share a title, and how close the outdoor unit would sit to a neighbour on a compact hill section. Dunedin City Council is the authority on consent itself.
Looking after your heat pump
The filters are the part that's yours, and it's a two-minute job. The front panel lifts open, the filters slide out, and a rinse under the tap and a dry is all they want. Monthly while it's working hard. Leave them clogged and the unit is breathing through a blanket, so it runs longer and gives you less.
Outside, keep the back and sides clear of long grass, firewood and anything else that stops air moving through it. On the coast, a rinse with fresh water now and then clears the salt before it works into the metal.
A defrost cycle on a frosty morning is normal, and the unit will steam a little while it runs one. Ice that builds up and never clears isn't, and it usually points at where the unit sits rather than at the unit.
Anything past that wants a technician: a breaker that keeps tripping, water inside, air that comes out lukewarm, or a noise it never used to make. The annual service covers the charge and the electrics.
Common questions about heat pump installation
How much does heat pump installation cost in Dunedin?
Fitted, about $2,200 to $3,000 for a bedroom, $3,000 to $4,500 for a main living area and $4,000 to $5,800 for something large or open-plan, with whole-home ducted from around $12,000. Inside those figures it comes down to the capacity your room needs, how far the cabling has to reach, and how hard the outdoor position is to get to.
How long does the job take?
A straightforward single high-wall is usually a day and often half of one. Longer pipework, tricky hill access or more than one head can stretch it, and you'll be told which before anyone starts.
Does my spot on the hill really change what I need?
More than most people expect. Cold air runs downhill on a still night and collects at the bottom, so the flat of South Dunedin and the valley floors start the morning several degrees behind a sunny slope at Mornington. A heat pump's output falls as the air outside gets colder, so the same unit does a different job at the two addresses.
Will a high-wall work in a villa with three-metre ceilings?
Yes, as long as it's sized for the volume rather than the floor area, but the warmth arrives at the top of the room first and works down. Where the stud is that high a floor console generally heats the room better for the same money, because it puts the heat in at the level you're sitting.
Can you fit one in a single-glazed house?
Yes, and plenty of Dunedin housing is exactly that. The room loses heat faster through the glass than through the walls, so the unit is sized to allow for it rather than sized off the floor plan. That's the honest answer rather than a reason not to.
Can I install one myself?
No. Refrigerant work in New Zealand needs an approved filler licence and the wiring has to be certified by a registered electrician, so doing it yourself is illegal and cancels the warranty. Clearing access and agreeing the position is the part that is yours.
Do I need consent?
Not for a standard high-wall in an existing home. Structural work or a ducted system in a major renovation can need one, and Dunedin City Council is the authority. Body corporate and cross-lease rules are worth checking before you book.
What will it add to the power bill?
A right-sized unit warming a living room through a Dunedin winter usually adds somewhere between $25 and $60 a month, depending how long it runs and how much heat the house loses. For every unit of electricity it draws it moves three to four units of heat, which is why it beats any plug-in heater.
Get a price for your place
Send the rooms, the suburb and whether there are steps to the section. Your local installer will size it for the mornings you actually get and give you a fixed price.