Heat pump types for New Plymouth homes

The main heat pump types are high-wall, floor console, ducted, ceiling cassette and multi-split. High-wall units suit most rooms. Floor consoles suit older bungalows. Ducted heats the whole house. The right one depends on your home's layout and how each room holds the coastal damp.

The high-wall unit you see on most walls

The high-wall is the box you've spotted up near the ceiling in half the houses in New Plymouth Central. It's the most common type for good reason. One indoor unit heats a room quickly, runs quietly, and doesn't cost the earth to fit.

For an open-plan lounge and kitchen in a newer build, a well-sized high-wall usually does the job on its own. Where it struggles is closed-off rooms down a hallway, because the warm air can't get around corners. That's when you start looking at a second unit or a different type.

Older weatherboard bungalows versus open-plan builds

Taranaki has a lot of older weatherboard bungalows, and they don't always suit a high-wall. If the walls are full of windows or the ceilings are high, warm air pools up top and the floor stays cold. In those homes floor console heat pumps often work better. They sit low, push heat out at floor level, and warm the room from the ground up.

Newer open-plan homes in the districts are the opposite. Fewer walls, one big space, so a single high-wall or a ducted system spreads heat further. The coastal damp matters here too. Rooms that hold moisture, like a south-facing bedroom, benefit from a unit that runs steadily rather than blasting and stopping, which helps keep condensation down.

Heating the whole house, not just one room

If you want even warmth through several rooms, there are a few ways to go. Ducted heat pumps hide in the roof space and feed warm air through vents into each room, so you don't see any indoor units at all. It's the tidiest look and the biggest job to install.

Ceiling cassette heat pumps sit flush in the ceiling and blow air out in four directions, handy for a large open room where a wall unit would look bulky. And multi split heat pumps run several indoor units off one outdoor unit, which suits a bungalow where you want heating in the lounge and two bedrooms without three outdoor boxes on the wall.

• Ducted: even, hidden heating for the whole home
• Ceiling cassette: flush ceiling unit for large open rooms
• Multi-split: several rooms, one outdoor unit

Cost, fitting and keeping it going

Type drives price more than anything. A single high-wall is the cheapest to fit, ducted the dearest, with floor consoles and multi-splits in between. We break the numbers down on the heat pump installation cost page so you're not guessing.

Sizing and placement matter as much as the unit itself. A good heat pump installation puts the indoor unit where the heat actually reaches you and the outdoor unit where the salt air off the coast won't hammer it. Once it's in, a bit of heat pump servicing">heat pump servicing keeps it running well through the damp Taranaki winters.

Still weighing it up? Give us a call on 06 242 5842 and tell us about your rooms.

Have a look at our heat pump servicing for more.