Heat Pump Types for Dunedin Homes
There's no single best heat pump, just the right one for your rooms, your ceilings and how cold your place gets. Here's how the main types stack up.
The main heat pump types are high-wall, floor console, ducted and ceiling cassette, run as a single unit or a multi-split with several heads. In Dunedin, choice comes down to your ceiling height, how open your living space is and how hard the frosts hit.
High-wall heat pumps for open-plan living
The high-wall unit is the one most people picture: a slim indoor head mounted up near the ceiling, blowing warm air out across the room. It's the cheapest to buy and fit, and it moves a lot of air, so it suits open-plan living and kitchens in newer Dunedin homes and the modern places out at Mosgiel.
The trade-off is that heat rises. In a room with normal ceilings that's fine, but a high-wall in an old villa with a three-metre stud can leave warm air pooling up top while your feet stay cold. That's where a different type earns its keep.
Options for villas, high ceilings and tricky rooms
For those cold, high-ceilinged rooms in Central Dunedin and North Dunedin villas, floor console heat pumps sit low on the wall and push heat out at floor level where you actually feel it. They're a good fix for damp, hard-to-warm lounges.
If you'd rather not see a unit at all, ceiling cassette heat pumps recess into the ceiling and blow down evenly, and ducted heat pumps run hidden through the roof space to heat several rooms from one system. Both cost more and want the right roof or ceiling space, so they suit a renovation or a whole-home job rather than warming a single room.
One unit or several heads
Every type above runs off an outdoor compressor. The question is whether you want one indoor head or a few. A single unit heats one space well and is the simplest to install. For heating two or three rooms without a second outdoor box crowding a compact hill section, multi split heat pumps connect several indoor heads to one outdoor unit.
On spread-out Taieri properties there's usually room for separate systems, but on a tight Mornington or Corstorphine site the tidy footprint of a multi-split often wins. We'll walk the house with you before deciding.
Cost, install and keeping it running
Type drives price. A high-wall is the entry point, ducted sits at the top, and the rest fall in between. We break the numbers down on our installation cost page so you can see what you're spending before you commit.
Fitting matters as much as the unit. A good heat pump installation Dunedin homeowners can rely on means the outdoor unit sits clear of frost pooling and the indoor head is placed for how you use the room. Down the track, keeping the filters and coils clean is what protects the low-temperature output you paid for, and our heat pump servicing keeps it there.
Still weighing it up? Have a look through the pages above, then give us a call on 03 234 2345 and we'll match a type to your home.
Not sure which type fits your place?
Tell us your rooms and ceilings and we'll recommend a type that handles a Dunedin winter without overspending.
Common questions about heat pump types
What are the different types of heat pumps?
The main types are high-wall (mounted up near the ceiling), floor console (sitting low on the wall), ducted (hidden in the roof space) and ceiling cassette (recessed into the ceiling). Any of these can run as a single unit or as a multi-split with several indoor heads off one outdoor compressor.
What is the difference between high-wall and floor console heat pumps?
A high-wall mounts high on the wall and blows warm air across the room, which suits open-plan living with normal ceilings. A floor console sits at floor level and pushes heat out low down, so it's better for cold, high-ceilinged villa rooms where warm air would otherwise rise out of reach. Floor consoles usually cost a bit more.
Which type of heat pump is best for a cold home?
For a cold Dunedin home, look for strong output at low temperatures rather than a headline heating figure, because frosts are when you need it most. In high-ceilinged older rooms a floor console reaches your feet better than a high-wall, and a well-sized unit paired with good placement makes the biggest difference to damp control.
What is a multi split heat pump?
A multi-split runs two or more indoor heads from a single outdoor unit. It lets you heat several rooms without a separate outdoor box for each one, which keeps things tidy on compact hill sections. The heads can be different types, so you might run a high-wall in the lounge and a floor console in a cold bedroom off the same system.
Get the right heat pump for your home
Send us a few details about your rooms and how cold they get, and we'll quote the type that suits, from Sawyers Bay to Mosgiel.