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Regions

Heat pumps in Manawatū-WhanganuiTwo cities, two climate zones, one damp winter.

Manawatū-Whanganui splits neatly in two. Inland Palmerston North is frostier, so heat pump sizing there turns on the heating figure at 2 degrees. Coastal Whanganui is milder, but more of its homes are damp, and its health district has one of the country's highest rates of portable gas heater use.

Inland and coast, side by side

Palmerston North: frost and a long heating season

NIWA records 10.1 air frosts and 41.4 ground frosts a year at Palmerston North, almost all from April to October, and a lowest grass minimum of -7.3 degrees. Its AWS logs 1,872 heating degree-days a year, and MBIE's H1/AS1 guidance puts the city in climate zone 3.

Whanganui: the region's mildest

NIWA calls Whanganui the least extreme of the region's sites it compared, with about 17 days a year above 25 degrees and only 2 below 0. Its Spriggens Park station logs 1,585 heating degree-days, and Whanganui District is in climate zone 2.

Damp, worst on the coast

EHINZ found 24.1% of people in the Whanganui health district lived in a damp home in 2023, against 19.9% in MidCentral, which takes in Palmerston North, and 20.6% nationally. Palmerston North's mean 9 am humidity peaks at 86.8% in June and July.

Burners and portable gas heaters

Wood burners were a main heater in 41.4% of MidCentral homes and 45.1% of Whanganui health district homes in 2023, against 28.2% nationally. EHINZ says portable unflued gas heaters release water vapour, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide indoors, and the Whanganui health district had the second-highest use, at 4.3% of dwellings.

Salt near Castlecliff

Whanganui homes within 500 m of the coast or 100 m of a tidal estuary, near Castlecliff or the river mouth for example, sit in NZS 3604 exposure zone D for sea-spray salt.

Two gas networks

Powerco's network serves Manawatū, while Whanganui's is GasNet, which the district council owns through its holding company. On either one, fitting a gas heater is gasfitting work.

Rules across the region

Any heat pump connection here, as anywhere, is prescribed electrical work. Only a registered and licensed electrical worker may do it, and the Certificate of Compliance should reach you within 20 days.

A hole for pipes of up to 300 millimetres through an existing house is exempt from building consent. The Building Code, the district plan and any body corporate rules still have to be met.

For landlords, unflued gas heaters can't count towards any part of the healthy homes heating standard, which every private rental has had to meet since 1 July 2025. For owner-occupiers, Warmer Kiwi Homes is EECA's programme: EECA decides eligibility, and it no longer takes new wood burner applications.

Your part, and the installer's

You can

  • Compare the heating figures at 2 and 7 degrees on the label before choosing a unit for Palmerston North.
  • Keep the woodpile and garden clear of the outdoor unit.
  • Note which rooms run with condensation on winter mornings.

Leave to a licensed installer

  • Sizing for frosty mornings.
  • Disconnecting a gas heater, which is gasfitting work.
  • Corrosion protection near the Whanganui coast.

What we'd do

What we'd weigh up here

In Palmerston North, we'd let the 2 degree heating figure decide the shortlist. In Whanganui, if a portable gas heater is still doing the work, we'd make replacing it with a heat pump the first job, then deal with the damp. If nobody near you takes the job within 48 hours, it may be shown to heat pump installers elsewhere in Manawatū-Whanganui.

Cities in Manawatū-Whanganui

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Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in Palmerston NorthFrosts, damp winters and wind: choosing and placing a heat pump in Palmerston North.
  2. 02Heat pumps in WhanganuiDamp homes, wood burners and portable gas heaters: where a heat pump fits in Whanganui.
  3. 03Air conditioning in Palmerston NorthGetting good summer cooling in Palmerston North from a heat pump chosen for frosty winters.
  4. 04Gas heatingFlued gas heaters and gas fires, LPG or natural gas, who installs them, and the paperwork you should get.
  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. 06What 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.

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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