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Invercargill, Southland

Heat pumps in InvercargillLong winters, humid air and a westerly that keeps coming.

An installer for Invercargill

Registration-checked installers in Invercargill who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

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Invercargill homes lean on their heat pumps more than most: NIWA's Southland table gives the city 2,994 heating degree-days a year, and nearly four in five homes already heat with one. Choose a heat pump for the near-freezing, humid nights, when output drops and the outdoor unit frosts over. Then put it where the westerly gusts won't batter it.

Invercargill's climate, and the rules that shape heating

Climate zone 6

MBIE's H1/AS1 energy efficiency guide places Invercargill City in climate zone 6, the last of New Zealand's six.

A heating year that peaks in July

NIWA's degree-day series for Invercargill Aero totals 2,994 a year and peaks at 398 in July, with just 8 on the cooling side. Only 5 days a year top 25 degrees, even though the hottest on record reached 32.2.

Below zero, often

NIWA's 1991 to 2020 normals give a July mean daily minimum of 1.1 degrees. NIWA counts 41 days a year when the minimum falls below 0, and a record low of -9.0.

Humid air

Mean 9 am relative humidity at Invercargill Aero is 85% across the year, climbing to 89% in June and July.

Wind

Gusts top 61 km/h on 109 days a year and 94 km/h on 15. NIWA puts the city's relatively high share of strong westerlies partly down to Foveaux Strait channelling the air.

The airshed rules

Under Environment Southland's Regional Air Plan, adopted in 2016, open fires are banned in the Invercargill airshed and older non-compliant burners were phased out, the Otago Daily Times reported in September 2026. Non-compliant burners installed between 2010 and 2014 face a ban from 1 January 2034.

Cleaner air already

Environment Southland said the city's PM10 exceedance record for 2026 stayed clean, crediting factors including increased heat pump use.

No mains gas

Te Waihanga says the South Island lacks natural gas reticulation, so gas heating in Invercargill means LPG.

What Invercargill homes usually need

A heat pump that heats in the cold. Mitsubishi Electric NZ says sub-zero South Island winters call for a larger unit than the same room would get in Auckland, or an upgrade to its HyperCore model, which it says holds the same output at 7, 0 and -7 degrees. Whatever the brand, compare the heating capacity at 2 degrees on each label.

A replacement for a burner. If your burner went in between 2010 and 2014 and isn't compliant, it's banned from 1 January 2034. A heat pump is one way to replace it, and EECA stopped taking Warmer Kiwi Homes burner applications on 9 January 2026 in any case.

More than the lounge. With heating needed most of the year, a multi-room heat pump or a ducted heat pump is worth weighing against a separate unit in each room.

Looking after what's there. At the 2023 Census, 79.63% of Invercargill City homes used a heat pump as a main type of heating, so for many households the job is keeping an existing unit healthy. See heat pump servicing in Invercargill, and for a new unit, heat pump installation in Invercargill.

Who can do the work

Connecting a heat pump is prescribed electrical work, so a registered and licensed electrical worker does it and gives you a Certificate of Compliance no later than 20 days afterwards. You can look them up on the EWRB's public register. Any LPG heater is gasfitting work for a registered gasfitter, and Tenancy Services says new wood and pellet burners need a building consent.

Yours, and the installer's

You can

  • Note which rooms are coldest on a July evening, and when you heat them.
  • Find out whether your burner is compliant, if you have one.
  • Keep wind-blown leaves and rubbish away from the outdoor unit.

Leave to a licensed installer

  • Sizing for your rooms, insulation and Invercargill's nights.
  • Picking and fixing the outdoor unit's spot.
  • Refrigerant pipework, and the electrical connection and its paperwork.

What we'd do

Our take for Invercargill

We'd size for a July night near 1 degree, not an autumn afternoon, and compare heat pumps on their 2 degree output before anything else. If the burner is on borrowed time, we'd plan its replacement over summer rather than in a cold snap. Registration-checked installers who specialise in your kind of job see it, and only the one who takes it gets your details. If none takes it within 48 hours, heat pump installers elsewhere in Southland may see it too.

Heat pump and heating jobs in Invercargill

Questions people ask

Will a heat pump keep my Invercargill house warm in winter?
A well-sized one in an insulated house should. BRANZ says heat pumps don't replace good insulation, and Mitsubishi Electric NZ says output drops as the temperature does, so choose one rated for cold nights and expect short defrost pauses on frosty mornings.
Can I keep using my wood burner in Invercargill?
That depends on the burner. Open fires are banned in the Invercargill airshed, older non-compliant burners have been phased out, and non-compliant ones installed between 2010 and 2014 face a ban from 1 January 2034. Environment Southland can tell you where yours stands.
Do I need a building consent for a heat pump in Invercargill?
We don't hold a verified position from Invercargill City Council. Nationally, a pipe hole up to 300 millimetres across through an existing house is exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act, but the Building Code, the district plan's noise limits and any body corporate rules still apply.
Is Warmer Kiwi Homes available in Invercargill?
EECA runs it and decides who's eligible, and it's for owner-occupied homes, not rentals. Check with EECA directly before agreeing to anything. Our Warmer Kiwi Homes guide has more.

Ready for the right installer to take a look in Invercargill?

Your postcode and three quick questions. Registration-checked local installers who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

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Read next

  1. 01Heat pump installation in InvercargillInstalling a heat pump in Invercargill: sizing for frost, outdoor unit placement, sign-off and quotes.
  2. 02Heat pump servicing in InvercargillHeat pump servicing in Invercargill: what winter does to a unit, what to check and when to book.
  3. 03Heat pumps in SouthlandWhat Southland's frosts, humid winters, westerlies and burner rules mean for a heat pump.
  4. 04What size heat pump do I need?How to work out the kW for a room, and why the 2 degree figure on the label matters.
  5. 05Multi-room heat pumpsOne outdoor unit, several rooms: when a multi-split heat pump makes sense and what to ask first.
  6. 06Warmer Kiwi Homes heat pump grantsWho EECA's programme is for, what its current heat pump list covers, and how to check before you sign.

Where this information comes from

We don't publish prices. Every home is different, so an installer's written quote is the only real number. How we write and check these pages.

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