Heat pump installation in Invercargill
Your installer will size it for how long you'll actually be running it, not just how cold it gets, because in Southland the wrong size costs you every month rather than once.
What it costs
Every figure below is supply and install, so it covers the unit, the brackets and mounts, the pipework and drain, the electrical work and the commissioning. What moves one quote above another is the capacity the room needs, how far the pipework has to go, and whether there's electrical work at the board.
| Type | Supplied & fitted | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| High-wall bedroom or small room | $2,300 to $3,300 | Around 2.5kW, and often just a few hours' work. |
| High-wall main living area | $3,200 to $4,800 | A 5 to 6kW unit, and the job most Invercargill houses actually book. |
| High-wall large or open-plan | $4,500 to $6,500 | 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 unit, and you can mix the styles: a high-wall in the lounge, a console in a cold bedroom. |
| Ducted whole home | $12,000 to $25,000+ | Hidden in the roof, feeding warm air to every room through vents. Needs the ceiling or floor space for the ducting. |
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 how long the season runs as well as how cold it gets
- Brackets and a solid base, with the outdoor unit up off the ground
- Pipework and drain run neatly and insulated
- Electrical connection and certification
- Commissioning and a proper test before anyone leaves
- The site left tidy
- Manufacturer warranty on the unit
- The old unit taken away if you have one
How a heat pump installation works
Most single high-wall installs are done in a day, and often in a few hours.
Free quote
Tell us the rooms, your suburb and roughly how old the house is. An older villa and a newer sealed place need different sizes for the same floor area, so that last one matters.
Site visit
Your installer looks at the room, which way it faces and how well it holds heat, then finds a spot outside on solid ground and out of the worst of the southerly.
The install
The indoor head goes up, the pipework and drain are run and insulated, and the outdoor unit is set on a base clear of the ground. Then it's wired in, vacuumed, charged and tested properly before anyone packs up.
Commissioning
You get shown how to run it, including the dry mode, which does more for how a Southland house feels than the temperature setting does.
Which type of heat pump suits your home
A tightly sealed new build at Rosedale holds its heat and a single-glazed villa through Hawthorndale does not, and the style that suits each of them is different even at the same floor area.
High-wall
Up on the wall, blowing warm air down into the room. The cheapest to buy and the quickest to fit, and the workhorse of home heating down here.
Floor console
Sits low on the wall like a radiator and pushes heat out at floor level. In an older villa with a tall stud, where the warm air otherwise pools above your head, that's where it earns its keep.
Ceiling cassette
Tucks flush into the ceiling and blows out several ways. Tidy and even, with nothing on the wall, and it needs the space above the gib.
Multi-split
One outdoor unit running two or more indoor heads, and you can mix the styles across them to suit each room.
Ducted
Hidden in the roof, feeding vents in every room. Quiet and out of sight, the most work to fit, and the biggest spend.
What size heat pump do you need
The size is the single thing that decides whether the house is warm, and here it also decides what the winter costs you.
Bedroom or small room
About 2.5kW.
Living area
5 to 6kW.
Large or open-plan
7 to 8kW.
Step up from there for single glazing, a tall stud, a draughty hallway or an open-plan space.
Why the length of the season changes the sums
A heat pump is at its most efficient running steadily. Get the size wrong and it stops doing that, and because the heating season here runs for a good part of the year, every inefficient hour gets multiplied by a lot of hours.
An undersized unit simply never catches up. It runs flat out through the cold months and the room still isn't quite right, so you're paying for the electricity without getting the warmth. An oversized one races the room up, shuts off, cools down and starts again, and each start draws more than steady running does.
And why the damp is half the job
The southerlies come in cold and wet, so a Southland house has moisture to deal with as well as temperature. A heat pump pulls water out of the air while it runs, which is what keeps wall and window surfaces above the point where condensation forms. That only happens if it runs long enough to do it, which is another reason an oversized unit leaves a room warm and still clammy.
An older single-glazed villa through Hawthorndale or Windsor loses heat fast enough that it wants real capacity to hold a temperature through the evening. A sealed newer place at Rosedale holds the same floor area on considerably less.
Run your rooms through the sizing calculator for a starting figure, then have whoever quotes it measure the house properly.
Replacing an old heat pump
Ten years or more, error codes, or a unit that's quietly got worse at the job usually means replacing makes better sense than repairing, because parts get scarce and efficiency has moved a long way.
The efficiency part is worth more here than it sounds. A unit from a decade ago gets noticeably less heat out of each unit of power than a current one, and over a heating season this long that gap is a real number on the bill rather than a specification.
Some of what's already on the wall can stay. Brackets, pipework and cabling that are sound and the right size carry over, and the quote comes down accordingly. Pipework still holding traces of the old refrigerant doesn't, because what it leaves behind shortens the life of whatever goes in next.
It's also the cheap moment to change where the outdoor unit lives. If it ended up facing into the southerly, or down on the ground where water sits, moving it while the job is already open costs a fraction of doing it separately.
Worth knowing up front: if the old one ran constantly rather than failing outright, that's a sizing problem and not an age problem. Fitting the same capacity again gets you the same power bill with a newer warranty attached, so say so before anyone quotes.
Consent and electrical work
A standard high-wall doesn't need building consent. The install still has to meet the electrical rules and the manufacturer's requirements, and that's part of the job rather than something you arrange.
The electrical connection is certified by a registered electrician and the refrigerant work is done under an approved filler licence. Major structural work, or ducting going into a renovation, can need consent and usually sits under the one the building work already has.
Two things 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 bedroom window, yours or a neighbour's. Invercargill City Council is the authority on consent itself.
Looking after your heat pump
A heat pump that gets a clean now and then lasts longer and costs less to run, and with a season this long that second part is worth having.
The filters are yours and it takes two minutes. Lift the front panel, slide them out, rinse them under the tap and let them dry before they go back. Monthly through the cold months. A clogged filter starves the unit of air, so it runs longer for less heat and you pay for the difference.
Outside, keep the base clear and the sides free of long grass or anything stacked against it. Out at Otatara and toward Bluff, a rinse with fresh water now and then clears the salt before it works into the metal.
Some things need a technician rather than a hose: ice that never clears, 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 Invercargill?
Fitted, about $2,300 to $3,300 for a bedroom, $3,200 to $4,800 for a main living area and $4,500 to $6,500 for something large or open-plan, with whole-home ducted from around $12,000. Inside those figures it's the capacity the room needs, how far the pipework travels, the height of the mount, and any electrical work at the board.
How long does the job take?
Most single high-wall installs are done in a day and often in a few hours. Several units, or longer pipework in an older villa, can stretch it across two visits, and you'll be told which before anyone starts.
Does the size really change what it costs to run?
More here than almost anywhere, because the heating season is long. An undersized unit runs flat out for months and the room still isn't right. An oversized one keeps starting and stopping, and each start draws more power than steady running does. Neither shows up on the quote; both show up every month afterwards.
Will it help with the damp?
Yes, and that's half of what you're buying here. The southerlies come in cold and wet, and a heat pump pulls moisture out of the air while it runs, which keeps surfaces above the point where condensation forms. It only does that if it runs steadily, which is another argument against buying big.
Can you fit one in an old single-glazed villa?
Yes, and a lot of the work here is exactly that. Those rooms lose heat faster than their floor area suggests, so the unit is sized for the loss rather than the square metres. Where the ceilings are tall as well, a floor console often heats the room better than a high-wall for similar money.
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's yours.
Do I need consent?
Not for a standard high-wall. The electrical and manufacturer requirements are handled as part of the install. Major structural work can need consent, and Invercargill 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 here usually adds somewhere between $25 and $60 a month while you're running it, depending on the hours and how well the house holds heat. For every unit of electricity it draws it moves three to four units of heat, which is why it beats any plug-in heater by a wide margin over a long season.
Get a price for your place
Send the rooms, your suburb and the age of the house. Your local installer will size it for a long winter rather than an average one and give you a fixed price.