Heat pump installation in Auckland
Your installer will measure the room you're actually heating and match the unit to it, whether that's a single-glazed villa in Grey Lynn or a sealed new build at Flat Bush, so you're not paying for capacity you don't need or short of it when the cold comes.
What it costs
Prices below are supplied and fitted, so they take in the unit, brackets, pipework, cabling and the labour to fit it and test it. Anything much cheaper you see online will be the unit on its own, and the fitting comes on top of that.
| Type | Supplied & fitted | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| High-wall single room | $2,500 to $3,500 | Around 2.5kW, and the cheapest way in. |
| High-wall main living area | $3,200 to $4,800 | A 5 to 6kW unit, which is what a standard living area usually takes. |
| High-wall large or open-plan | $4,500 to $6,500 | A 7 to 8kW unit for a knocked-through living, dining and kitchen space. |
| Multi-split 2 to 3 rooms | $5,000 to $9,000 | Lounge plus a couple of bedrooms off one outdoor unit. The usual answer in a villa where you can't run ducts. |
| Multi-split 4 or more rooms | $9,000 to $14,000 | Enough heads to cover most of a larger home without lining every room with ductwork. |
| Ducted whole home | $12,000 to $25,000+ | Hidden in the ceiling with only the grilles showing. Suits the open-plan builds around Flat Bush and Botany. |
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 to your room
- Wall brackets and the outdoor mount
- Insulated pipework and the condensate drain
- Electrical connection and certification
- Commissioning and a run-through of the controls
- A tidy-up before they leave
- Manufacturer warranty on the unit
- Removal of the old unit, if you're replacing one
How a heat pump installation works
A single high-wall is usually most of a day, sometimes half.
Free quote
Send through your suburb, the rooms you want warm and roughly how the house is built. That's enough to come back to you with options and a price.
Site visit
Your installer walks the house with you, measures the rooms, and works out the tidiest run between the indoor head and the outdoor unit.
The install
The head goes up on the wall, a hole is cored through for the pipework, and the outdoor unit is set on its brackets. Then it's wired in, vacuumed out and charged.
Commissioning
It's tested, the electrical work gets certified, and you're shown how to run it, including the dry mode that does most of the work in a damp Auckland winter.
Which type of heat pump suits your home
There's no single best type. A 1920s villa in Mount Eden often does best with a high-wall in the lounge and floor consoles in the bedrooms, while an open-plan new build suits ducted or multi-split. The other types of heat pump are compared side by side if you are still weighing them up.
High-wall
Mounted up near the ceiling, cheapest to buy and fit, and warms a room fast. A good match for a villa lounge or a single bedroom.
Floor console
Sits low like an old gas heater and pushes warmth out at floor level. Suits older weatherboard homes where there's nowhere sensible to hang a high-wall.
Ceiling cassette
Tucks flush into a suspended or high ceiling and pushes air out in four directions, which works well across an open living area.
Multi-split
One outdoor unit running several indoor heads. The tidy answer in a villa where you can't easily run ducts but still want the lounge and a couple of bedrooms sorted.
Ducted
The whole system hides in the roof and feeds quiet vents into each room, so all you see are the grilles. Suits open-plan builds and renovations with the ceiling space.
What size heat pump do you need
Capacity comes down to floor area, ceiling height, glazing and how much insulation you have, which in a lot of Auckland housing isn't much. Get that right and a mid-range unit will out-heat an expensive one that was picked too small, because no amount of efficiency makes up for a unit that can't keep up with the room.
Bedroom or study
About 2.5kW.
Living area
5 to 6kW.
Large or open-plan
7 to 8kW.
Those are for a room in reasonable shape. Single glazing, no ceiling insulation or a big west-facing window and you go up a size.
Does an older villa need a bigger unit?
If you're in a single-glazed villa or bungalow through the central suburbs or out west, yes, usually. Those houses lose heat fast enough that the room gets sized on its whole volume rather than the floor area alone. The 1950s to 70s brick-and-tile through Manukau and Papakura holds warmth better, though the layouts are often awkward enough to decide the position for you.
Franklin and Pukekohe run colder
Beyond the motorway at Pukekohe and across Franklin the frosts are harder and more frequent than anywhere else in Auckland. Heating output is quoted at 7 degrees and falls away as the air gets colder, so a unit that looks fine on paper can come up short on a Franklin morning.
Too big and too small both cost you
Buy too big and it races the room up to temperature, shuts off, starts again a few minutes later and never settles into a steady run, which costs more to buy and more to run. Buy too small and it flogs itself flat out on the coldest nights and still can't keep up.
The damp matters as much as the cold here. Winters are mild but wet, so a good part of the job is pulling the moisture out of the air, and a damp lounge in New Lynn or Papakura feels colder than a dry one at the same temperature. A unit that's forever stopping and starting never runs long enough to dry it out.
The sizing calculator gets you a starting figure, and your installer confirms it against the actual room.
Replacing an old heat pump
Near the water, a replacement comes round sooner than you'd expect.
Ten years or more, struggling, or throwing error codes usually means replacing beats repairing: parts get scarce and efficiency has moved on. On the Shore from Devonport through to Albany, and around the estuary at Half Moon Bay, there's a second reason. Salt settles on the fins and casing of the outdoor unit and slowly eats into them, so the unit works harder, starts to rattle or rust, and gives up well before its time.
Existing pipework and cabling can sometimes be reused if they are the right size and in good condition, which takes a chunk off the price. Where the pipework is contaminated with the old refrigerant it gets replaced, because leaving it shortens the life of the new system. Taking the old unit away is part of the job.
It's also the moment to reconsider the outdoor position. Two-storey villas and multi-level homes often ended up with a long stretch of pipework and cable because that was the easy option at the time, and a replacement is the chance to shorten it or move the unit out of the worst of the spray.
If another company fitted your current unit, that's worth knowing up front: your installer services what they install. They will still come out, look at what is there, and quote you on a replacement.
Consent and electrical work
A standard high-wall heat pump doesn't need building or resource consent. Ducted work as part of a new build or a renovation is usually covered by the consent for that job rather than needing its own, and Auckland Council is the authority if your situation is unusual.
The electrical work is done and certified by a registered electrician, and the refrigerant work by someone holding an approved filler licence, which is a legal requirement in New Zealand. Both are part of the install and you get the paperwork.
Two things settle the outdoor unit position here more often than anywhere else, and both are worth raising before work starts. Character overlays across the older central suburbs can rule out a street-facing elevation, and apartments and terraces in the CBD and Newmarket usually sit under a body corporate with its own rules. Your installer will flag either at quote stage rather than on the day.
Looking after your heat pump
Auckland's humidity and long damp winters give mould and gunk ideal conditions inside a heat pump, and clogged filters make the unit work harder, cost more to run and blow that musty smell around the house. Get it serviced once a year and you stay ahead of all that.
You can do the easy part yourself. Pop the front open, slide the filters out and rinse them under the tap every few weeks through winter. In an older single-glazed villa they clog faster, because the unit is working hard to pull moisture out of the air, and on a multi-head system there's a filter behind every indoor unit rather than just the one.
Right on the coast, add a rinse of the outdoor coil with fresh water every few months, from the side with a gentle hose rather than a water blaster. Weak airflow, water dripping from the indoor unit, ice on the outdoor coil or a burnt smell on start-up are not cleaning jobs; they mean something needs fixing, and catching it early is cheaper than nursing it through the coldest weeks. Book a service or see what is involved.
Common questions about heat pump installation
How much does heat pump installation cost in Auckland?
A single high-wall runs about $2,500 to $3,500 for a bedroom and $3,200 to $4,800 for a main living area, with $4,500 to $6,500 for a large open-plan space. Multi-split systems covering two or three rooms are $5,000 to $9,000, and whole-home ducted starts around $12,000. Those are supply-and-install figures, not the box on its own.
What pushes the price up?
Longer pipework and cabling, which is common in two-storey villas and multi-level homes. Poor insulation, because it takes a bigger unit to do the same job. An awkward outdoor position that adds labour. And more rooms, because that means more heads. The cost page works through each of them.
How long does it take?
A standard single high-wall is most of a day, sometimes half if the pipework has a short way to go and access is easy. Multi-room and ducted setups are often a couple of days. You get a realistic timeframe with the quote so you can plan around it.
What size do I need for an older villa?
More than the floor area alone suggests. Single glazing and thin weatherboard walls mean the room is sized on volume, so a lounge that would take 5 to 6kW in a newer house can want 7 to 8kW instead. That's a measurement rather than a guess, and it gets made on site.
Where should the outdoor unit go?
Somewhere with air around it and a short way back to the indoor head. Near the water it wants to be out of the worst of the spray, and it's worth paying for a coated unit built for coastal air rather than replacing a cheaper one years sooner. In the CBD or an apartment the body corporate may have already decided for you.
Does it help with damp, or just heat?
Both, and in Auckland the damp is most of the point. Every type runs a dry mode, but sizing and placement matter more than which brand you buy, because a unit that's too big keeps stopping and starting and never runs long enough to pull the moisture out. That's how you end up warm and still musty.
Do I need consent?
Not for a standard high-wall unit. The electrical work is certified as part of the install. Character overlays in the central suburbs and body corporate rules in the CBD and Newmarket are the two things worth checking before booking. Auckland Council is the authority on consent itself.
Can I install one myself?
No. Refrigerant handling needs an approved filler licence in New Zealand and the hard-wiring has to be certified by a registered electrician, and a DIY install voids the manufacturer's warranty. Clearing the wall and sorting access is fair game; the install isn't.
Get a price for your place
Send your suburb and the rooms you want warm, and your local installer will measure up and give you a written price.