Early preview. We're still finishing this site, so some details shown are placeholders.
Find my installer

Wellington, Wellington

Heat pumps in WellingtonMild on paper, damp and windy in practice.

An installer for Wellington

Registration-checked installers in Wellington who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

  • Goes to installers who specialise in your job
  • Registrations checked before they hear about your job
  • Free for you: installers pay us for each job we pass on
  • Only the installer who takes your job gets your details

Wellington rarely freezes, so a heat pump here doesn't have to fight hard frosts. What it does have to cope with is damp air, strong gusts and, near the harbour and south coast, salt. Those three should shape the quote more than the brand on the box.

Wellington's weather, read for a heat pump

Mild nights, almost no air frost

On NIWA's 1991 to 2020 normals, via Wikipedia, July nights average a low of 6.7 degrees at Kelburn and 7.1 at the airport. NIWA counts about 10.5 ground frosts a year at Kelburn but, on average, no air frosts there and no days below 0 at the airport.

A long, steady heating season

NIWA's degree-day table gives Wellington Aero 1,625 heating degree-days a year and only 80 for cooling, and MBIE's H1/AS1 guidance places the city in climate zone 3. In the 2023 Census, 53.59% of Wellington City homes used a heat pump as a main type of heating.

Gusts, and hail on the hills

The airport's average wind is 25.8 km/h, with gusts above 63 km/h on 166 days a year and above 96 km/h on 24. Kelburn averages 9 days of hail a year, the most of any station NIWA lists for the region.

Damp air and mouldy rooms

NIWA puts mean 9 am humidity at the airport at 77.6%, rising to 81.1% in June and July. EHINZ found 22.6% of people in the Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley health district lived in a damp home in 2023, and 16.8% lived with mould larger than an A4 sheet.

Salt on the harbour and south coast

Homes within 500 m of the coast, harbour included, sit in NZS 3604 exposure zone D, as BRANZ summarises it. For outdoor units there, BRANZ's Level guidance calls for additional anti-corrosive coatings and says corrosion-resistant coils are especially useful.

Flats, villas and state houses

The 2023 Census counted 46,134 Wellington City households in separate houses and 30,390 in flats, townhouses and apartments. Character precincts make many pre-1930s homes hard to demolish, and the first state house, built in Miramar in 1937, set the weatherboard and tile pattern for those that followed.

The heat pump jobs Wellington homes ask for, and why

A high-wall heat pump in the living room is the everyday job. With so little frost, the 7 degree heating figure is the one EECA would have you size on. It's still worth checking the 2 degree figure in a sheltered valley or a higher suburb, where nights run colder. See heat pump installation.

Whole-house heating comes next. A ducted heat pump needs a roof space the installer can work in. Where there isn't one, as in an apartment with a floor above, a multi-room heat pump is the usual alternative.

With damp this common, a home ventilation system is worth a look once the heating is sorted. Which type suits depends on the age of the house and its joinery.

Close to the water, heat pump servicing matters more: Mitsubishi Electric NZ says coastal systems may need it more often than yearly. Cooling is a small job here; see air conditioning in Wellington.

Placing the outdoor unit in a windy, crowded city

BRANZ says outdoor units must be stable, with at least 500 mm clear in front of the air inlet and outlet and 100 mm on the other sides. On a wall that takes the wind, ask for the bracket and its fixings to be named on the quote.

Neighbours are rarely far away. Consumer NZ says the outdoor unit can be quite noisy, and noise limits sit in the district plan, so keep it away from bedrooms on both sides of the fence. In a unit title, Tenancy Services' advice is to read the body corporate's operational rules first, because external units on common property may need its consent.

What you can sort before anyone visits

You can

  • Note which rooms feel cold, which stay damp, and when.
  • If your home is a unit title, get the body corporate rules.
  • Clean the filters as the manual says, and keep plants off the outdoor unit.
  • Close to the sea, rinse salt off the outdoor unit if the manual allows.

Leave to a licensed installer

  • Sizing, and a bracket that suits an exposed wall.
  • Corrosion coatings near the harbour or south coast.
  • Refrigerant pipework and commissioning.
  • The electrical connection, the CoC and the ESC.

What we'd do

What we'd do in a Wellington home

We'd size for the living room's real heat loss rather than for a frost it'll rarely see. Then we'd put our attention on the outdoor unit: a stable bracket, a spot clear of the neighbours' bedrooms, and corrosion protection anywhere near the harbour or south coast. If the windows still stream once the house is properly warm, we'd look at ventilation next, not a bigger heat pump.

Heat pump and heating jobs in Wellington

Areas around Wellington

Questions people ask

Does a heat pump in Wellington need to cope with frost?
Not much in the exposed suburbs: Kelburn averages no air frosts and the airport no days below 0. EECA's advice is to check the heating capacity at 2 degrees wherever nights reach that, so ask about it in a sheltered valley or a higher suburb.
Do I need building consent for a heat pump in Wellington?
The pipe hole is usually exempt: Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 covers holes up to 300 mm through an existing house. The Building Code and the district plan still apply. We don't have Wellington City Council's own position to quote, so ask the council about anything unusual.
Will a heat pump fix the damp in my Wellington flat?
It helps, because warmer rooms leave less cold glass for condensation to settle on, but it won't remove the moisture. Consumer NZ says a heat pump's dry mode takes some out, though a purpose-built dehumidifier is more effective. Extractor fans, and possibly a ventilation system, do the rest.
Can you find a heat pump installer in my suburb?
Send us the job and your postcode. Registration-checked installers who specialise in that work can see it, and only the one who takes it gets your details. If nobody near your suburb takes it within 48 hours, heat pump installers across the wider Wellington region may see it.

Ready for the right installer to take a look in Wellington?

Your postcode and three quick questions. Registration-checked local installers who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

Free for you. Installers pay us for each job we pass on.

Read next

  1. 01Heat pumps in the Wellington regionCoast against valley, wind, salt, damp and body corporates: heat pumps across the Wellington region.
  2. 02Ducted heat pumps in WellingtonRoof spaces, duct runs, body corporates and damp: whether a ducted heat pump suits your Wellington home.
  3. 03Home ventilation systems in WellingtonDamp and mould in Wellington homes, and whether positive pressure or heat recovery suits your house.
  4. 04Heat pump servicing in WellingtonHarbour salt, damp and long winters: how often to service a heat pump in Wellington, and what to ask for.
  5. 05Heat pump installationWhich heat pump suits the room, how to size it, and what a good install and quote include.
  6. 06Do 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.

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.

Find my installer