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Regions

Heat pump installers in Bay of PlentySalt air on the coast, sulphur inland.

Bay of Plenty splits in two for heating. Coastal Tauranga is mild, with 1,324 heating degree-days a year at Tauranga Aero AWS, while Rotorua Aero AWS logs 2,033 and many more frosts. Both are tough on outdoor units, for different reasons: sea spray along the coast, geothermal sulphur in Rotorua.

How the region differs

Tauranga: mild and coastal

MBIE's H1/AS1 places Tauranga City in climate zone 1, and Tauranga Airport averages just 3.9 air frosts a year. Summer counts as well: NIWA gives Tauranga Aero AWS 176 cooling degree-days a year.

Rotorua: colder and inland

Rotorua District is in climate zone 4. Rotorua Airport averages 19.9 air frosts and 57.3 ground frosts a year, and the 1991 to 2020 normals give a July average low of 3.7 degrees.

Sea spray

BRANZ's summary of NZS 3604:2011 puts land within 500 m of the coast, harbours included, in exposure zone D. E2/AS1 adds zone E for breaking surf beach fronts, which is the question for homes right on the sand at Mount Maunganui or Papamoa.

Industrial and geothermal air

BRANZ's study of corrosivity across the region (SR458, 2021) found sulphur dioxide higher in Tauranga's industrial area at Mount Maunganui than elsewhere in the region. In Rotorua, its geothermal bulletin found copper the most vulnerable metal, badly corroded even where hydrogen sulphide was low.

Damp and how homes heat

EHINZ puts 18.9% of people in the Bay of Plenty health district in damp homes, below the 20.6% national figure, but 23.9% in the Lakes district, which covers Rotorua. In the 2023 Census, 75.1% of Tauranga City homes used a heat pump as a main heater, against 59.59% of Rotorua District homes.

Rotorua's burner rules

Bay of Plenty Regional Council says the Rotorua Airshed was established in 2005. The Rotorua Air Quality Control Bylaw bans indoor open fires and restricts new burners. If a house has a non-compliant burner, the vendor must remove it or replace it with compliant heating before the sale completes.

Wood burners installed before 1 September 2005 are on the non-compliant list, along with every coal and multi-fuel burner. Selling soon? Sort the heating early, and check your plan with the regional council.

What it means for the heat pump

Close to the sea, near the Mount's industrial area, or anywhere in geothermal Rotorua, BRANZ says outdoor units need extra anti-corrosive coatings, and corrosion-resistant coils help where sulphur runs high. Several warranties leave that protection to the owner. Rinnai NZ's names sea air, high sulphur content and industrial pollution. Get the protection written on the quote.

Rotorua's colder nights also bring the label's 2 degree heating figure into play. EECA says to check it wherever winter nights fall that low, and it should be no lower than the 7 degree figure. In Tauranga, the cooling figure deserves a look for sunny rooms.

The rules, Bay of Plenty wide

The paperwork is national. A registered electrician connects the unit and must give you a Certificate of Compliance within 20 days of finishing. The pipe hole, if it's no wider than 300 millimetres, is exempt from building consent under Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004, but the Building Code, the district plan's noise limits and any body corporate rules still bind the job.

Landlords work to the healthy homes standards, which set the heating capacity a rental's main living room needs. Owner-occupiers asking about a Warmer Kiwi Homes grant should go to EECA, which runs the programme and decides who qualifies.

Tell us what you need done. Local specialists in that job can see it, and only the one who takes it gets your details. Left untaken for 48 hours, it may also be shown to heat pump installers elsewhere in the Bay of Plenty.

Cities in Bay of Plenty

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Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in TaurangaHeat pumps for Tauranga's mild climate, and protecting the outdoor unit from salt and industrial air.
  2. 02Heat pumps in RotoruaHeat pumps for Rotorua: sizing for frost, geothermal corrosion protection, and the burner bylaw.
  3. 03Heat pump servicingHow often to service a heat pump, what a good service checks, and why the warranty cares.
  4. 04Heat pumps compared with other heatingHow a heat pump stacks up against a wood burner, gas, electric heaters and central heating.
  5. 05Do you need a consent for a heat pump?When a heat pump needs a building consent, what applies without one, and the noise limits for outdoor units.
  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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