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Regions

Heat pump installers in MarlboroughFrosty valley nights in winter, real warmth in summer.

Marlborough is moving to heat pumps quickly: 66.73% of homes in the region used one in the 2023 Census, up from 56.59% in 2018. The climate figures we hold come from Blenheim, where clear skies bring both the most sunshine of any New Zealand town or city and frequent frost. Picton and the Sounds sit by the sea with weather of their own, so let the installer size for where you live.

What shapes heating in Marlborough

Frost on still, clear nights

NIWA records 59 ground frosts and 22 air frosts a year at Blenheim Research, and 20 days a year below zero in Blenheim. Cold air drains down the Wairau Valley on winter nights, so the outdoor unit's spot matters: keep it in open air, not in a hollow or under a deck.

Cooling matters here too

Blenheim Research logs 104 cooling degree-days a year alongside 1,938 heating degree-days, and Blenheim averages 34 days above 25 degrees (NIWA). MBIE's H1/AS1 places Marlborough District in climate zone 3 of six. Check a heat pump's cooling figure as well as its heating.

Wood smoke in winter

Marlborough District Council reported that Blenheim's PM10 readings went over the limit on 16 days in 2021, giving 15 breaches of a national standard that allows one a year, and that home heating, mainly wood smoke, causes 90% of human-caused PM10. 54.88% of Marlborough Region homes used a wood burner in 2023.

Low damp

The Nelson Marlborough health district had the lowest damp-home rate in EHINZ's 2023 chart, at 14.1%, against 20.6% nationally.

Sea air in Picton and the Sounds

NZS 3604 puts homes within 500 m of the sea, harbours included, in exposure Zone D for windblown sea-spray salt. If you're near the water in Picton, Havelock or the Sounds, ask what corrosion protection the outdoor unit will get.

Bottled gas only

With no natural gas reticulation in the South Island (Te Waihanga), gas heating anywhere in Marlborough means LPG.

The national rules, as they apply in Marlborough

We don't hold a verified position from Marlborough District Council on heat pump consents, so ask the council if you're unsure. Exempt work still has to meet the Building Code, the district plan's noise limits and any body corporate rules.

Only a registered and licensed electrical worker can make the electrical connection, because it's prescribed electrical work. You should end up with a Certificate of Compliance and an Electrical Safety Certificate.

Rental homes must meet the healthy homes standards, where a heat pump can count towards the heating standard but open fires and unflued gas heaters can't. Warmer Kiwi Homes is EECA's programme for owner-occupiers, EECA decides eligibility, and it stopped accepting new wood burner applications on 9 January 2026.

What we'd do

How we'd approach it in Marlborough

We'd size for the frost first, using the 2 degree heating figure, then make sure the cooling capacity covers the hottest room, because summers here are properly warm. If a wood burner is still the main heat, we'd look hard at a heat pump instead, given how much of Blenheim's winter smoke comes from home heating. By the sea, corrosion protection goes on the quote.

Cities in Marlborough

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Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in BlenheimHeating and cooling a Blenheim home: frosty valley nights, wood smoke, both-season sizing and ventilation.
  2. 02Heat pumps compared with other heatingHow a heat pump stacks up against a wood burner, gas, electric heaters and central heating.
  3. 03Air conditioning with a heat pumpCooling with a heat pump: sizing for summer, the label's cooling figures, and night-time noise.
  4. 04Do 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.
  5. 05Warmer Kiwi Homes heat pump grantsWho EECA's programme is for, what its current heat pump list covers, and how to check before you sign.
  6. 06All locationsEvery region and city we cover, and why the place changes the heat pump job.

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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