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Heat pump installers in GisborneWhere damp is a bigger problem than cold.

In Tairāwhiti, the heating question is tied up with damp. At the 2023 Census, EHINZ found it had the highest share of people in damp homes of any health district. Heat pumps have spread fast too: 56.7% of Gisborne Region homes listed one as a main heater, up from 37.3% in 2018.

What stands out in Tairāwhiti

Damp after the cyclone

More than a third of people in the Tairāwhiti health district, 35.8%, lived in a damp home in 2023, against 20.6% across New Zealand. Gisborne and Napier were the only 2 of 67 territorial authorities where that share went up from 2018, and EHINZ links it to Cyclone Gabrielle a few weeks before the census.

Mould

28.5% lived with mould bigger than an A4 sheet at least some of the time, the highest of any district, against 16.5% nationally.

Unflued gas heaters

Tairāwhiti also led the country for portable unflued gas heaters, used in 4.7% of dwellings against 2.5% nationally. By EHINZ's account, those heaters give off water vapour, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide inside the home.

Climate

MBIE's H1/AS1 places Gisborne District in climate zone 2. NIWA gives Gisborne AWS 1,483 heating degree-days a year and 189 cooling degree-days, and says cold air draining down into the city (katabatic drainage) pulls its winter minimums lower.

The coast

Homes within 500 m of Poverty Bay sit in BRANZ's exposure zone D for wind-blown salt, and surf beach fronts such as Waikanae and Midway in zone E, severe marine.

Burners giving way

Wood burner use as a main heater fell from 57.61% of Gisborne Region homes in 2018 to 52.72% in 2023 (Stats NZ via Figure.NZ). Firstgas lists Gisborne among the places where its network serves parts of the North Island.

What that means for heating and ventilation

Plan the two together here. A heat pump keeps rooms warm enough that moisture is less likely to settle on cold walls and glass, and working extractor fans or a home ventilation system carry the damp air out. One without the other often leaves the windows wet.

Swapping a portable gas heater for a heat pump takes away an indoor source of water vapour as well as the fumes. Near the beach, ask for corrosion protection on the outdoor unit in writing: BRANZ recommends extra anti-corrosive coatings in coastal areas.

The rules in Gisborne

A registered electrician has to connect any heat pump and give you a Certificate of Compliance no later than 20 days after the work. Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 exempts a pipe hole up to 300 millimetres through an existing house from building consent, though the Building Code, the district plan with its noise limits, and body corporate rules still apply.

For rentals, unflued gas heaters can never count towards the healthy homes heating standard. For owner-occupiers, Warmer Kiwi Homes is EECA's programme, and eligibility is EECA's call alone.

Describe the job and give us your postcode. Installers nearby who specialise in it can see it, and if none of them takes it within 48 hours, heat pump installers further afield in the Gisborne region may see it too.

Cities in Gisborne

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Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in GisborneHeat pumps and ventilation for Gisborne's damp homes, sea spray, and warm summers.
  2. 02Air conditioning in GisborneCooling a Gisborne home with a heat pump: sizing for summer, winter nights and sea air.
  3. 03Home ventilation systemsWhat a home ventilation system does, the two main types, and how to tell which one suits your house.
  4. 04Home ventilation systems comparedPositive pressure, balanced heat recovery and heat transfer systems, and why HRV and DVS are company names.
  5. 05The healthy homes heating standardWhat the rental heating standard asks for, which heaters count, and how to check a heat pump against it.
  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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