Cassette or under-ceiling: two ways to use the ceiling
Consumer NZ groups these as ceiling mounted units that either hang off the ceiling or are fitted into it. A cassette is the fitted kind: the body of the unit sits in the ceiling space and what you see from the room is a panel with vents. An under-ceiling unit, which BRANZ describes as mounted on the underside of the ceiling near a wall, hangs below it instead.
Brands name them in their own ways. Samsung NZ lists 1-Way and 4-Way Cassette models, Gree NZ's warranty card lists Cassette and Under-Ceiling series, and Temperzone's warranty for Hitachi covers cassette and ceiling suspended systems.
When a cassette makes sense
When the walls are full. Big windows, joinery or a kitchen can leave no sensible high spot, and moving the unit up into the ceiling solves that. Consumer NZ says that's exactly where ceiling units earn their place.
Some brands treat them as commercial kit. Haier Home NZ, for one, lists its ceiling cassettes under commercial. For shops and offices, our commercial heat pumps page is the better starting point.
Leave the ceiling space to the installer
A cassette sits partly in the ceiling space, and so do its pipes and wiring. Don't climb into the roof space to look at it, and don't take the panel off or touch any wiring. Connecting a heat pump is prescribed electrical work, which only a registered and licensed electrical worker can carry out.
What the ceiling has to offer
A cassette needs room above the ceiling for its body, plus a route for the refrigerant pipes and the condensate drain (the hose that takes water away from the unit) to reach the outdoor unit. A heat pump installation specialist will want to see the ceiling space and that route before quoting, so expect a visit rather than a figure over the phone.
All building work has to meet the Building Code, whether or not it needs a building consent. Ask the installer how they'll cut the opening, support the unit and finish the ceiling around it. In an apartment or townhouse, Tenancy Services' advice to check the body corporate's operational rules before any work is a sensible one for owners too.
What a cassette quote should spell out
- The model, with its heating capacity at 7 and 2 degrees outside.
- Exactly where in the ceiling it goes, and how the opening will be cut and finished.
- The pipe and drain route to the outdoor unit, and where the drain ends.
- How you, or a technician, will reach the filters.
- Who does the electrical connection, with a Certificate of Compliance and an Electrical Safety Certificate at the end.
- The warranty for that model. Samsung NZ's card, for example, covers the compressor on cassette types for 5 years parts and labour, against 10 years on its wall mounted single splits (the last 5 parts only).
Yours, and theirs
You can
- Clean the filters as the manual describes, if you can reach them comfortably. If you can't, ask for it at the service.
- Note any drips, smells or error codes for the technician.
- Keep the outdoor unit clear of plants and rubbish.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Cutting the ceiling and supporting the unit.
- Any work in the roof space.
- Refrigerant pipework and the condensate drain.
- Wiring and the electrical connection.
What we'd do
Where we'd land
In a typical home we'd only reach for a cassette when there's genuinely no good wall, because the ceiling work and the overhead filters make it the fussier option. Where it is the right call, we'd want someone who fits cassettes regularly, so the opening, the drain's fall and the pipe run are planned before anyone cuts into the ceiling.