Posted on 14 03 2022

Four reasons to get a heat pump at your place

Heat pumps are the most efficient and cost-effective way to keep the temperature in your home at a comfortable level all year round.

You’d be forgiven for thinking heat pumps are solely intended for heating, but they also provide efficient cooling and are much cheaper to run than other heaters and air conditioners. 

Here are our four favourite reasons for installing a heat pump at any time of the year:

• Heating and cooling in one compact system

You could install a gas fireplace and/or space heaters to warm your home in winter and use an air conditioner or portable fans to keep you cool in summer. 

Or you could install a heat pump to do both. Virtually all heat pumps in New Zealand are ‘reverse-cycle,’ which means they can be used for both heating and cooling. They use a special phase-changing refrigerant to absorb heat from the air through a set of coils, and then they release it through another set of coils located elsewhere. 

In winter your heat pump absorbs heat from the air outside and releases it through the indoor coils. In summer it does the opposite, using the indoor coils to absorb heat from your home and release it through the outdoor portion of the system.

That’s a much more efficient way to heat and cool than having two separate systems or pieces of equipment. Heat pumps are also relatively cheap to maintain as there are fewer parts to service. 

• Flexible and easy to retrofit

Whether you want to heat and cool a single living space, or the living rooms and all the bedrooms in a large family home, there are heat pump systems to suit. They include split systems for a single room, multi-room systems, and ducted systems for larger homes. 

Split systems have a heat exchanger and compressor unit located outside and connected by copper piping to a unit inside the house. The indoor unit may be mounted on the wall, rebated into the ceiling, or sit on the floor, and in most cases can be installed with minimal disruption. 

To heat and cool multiple rooms, you can choose an outdoor unit that can connect to several indoor units. Each unit can be controlled independently so everyone can set their own comfort level and you save power when some rooms aren’t in use. 

A ducted system provides central heating (and cooling) for the whole house. The main unit can be installed in the ceiling or under the floor, with outlets installed in as many rooms as you like. This can be the most economical solution if you have a lot of rooms to heat. 

• Manage humidity and improve indoor air quality

Heat pumps maintain healthy moisture levels in your home all year round, raising humidity levels in the winter and dehumidifying in the summer. That’s good for you because it reduces the risk of mould, rot, and pest infestations, and helps prevent scratchy throats, itchy eyes and worse. 

(According to the World Health Organisation, people occupying spaces where mould is present have increased risk of health problems such as respiratory symptoms, respiratory infections, allergic rhinitis (runny nose) and asthma.)

Some heat pumps also have air-cleaning filters that collect fine dust, invisible mould spores, dust mite carcasses and other allergens from the air, resulting in a fresher, healthier environment in your home.

Whatever kind of heat pump you have, it’s important to clean the filters regularly (every couple of weeks with a vacuum cleaner or warm water) and change them at recommended intervals. This will not only keep your heat pump working at maximum efficiency, it will also reduce the risk of a dirty filter circulating impurities around your home.

 

• You may be eligible for a subsidy 

With the Government's Warmer Kiwi Homes initiative, as a homeowner, you may be eligible to have 80% of the cost of your Heat Pump (up to a maximum of $3000 incl gst)) covered. You need to meet these conditions:

• You own and live in a home built before 2008.
• You have a community services card or live in an area identified as low income.
• You have ceiling and underfloor insulation installed to EECA standards. We can check this for you.
• Your home doesn't already have one of the following fixed heaters that is operational in any living area of the house: heat pump, wood or pellet burner, flued gas heater or central heating system. If your home has one of these heater types, it is not eligible for a heating grant.

 

The GreenSide team are experts at assisting you choose the right heat pump for your home. If you would like to discuss the best option for you or confirm your eligibility, get in touch with us today.