Hot water heating with a heat pump

Water heating is roughly 40% of a typical household power bill. A hot water heat pump can use up to 75% less energy than a standard electric element, because it moves heat from the outside air rather than generating it. Our savings calculator shows the difference over a number of years.

Not if the cylinder is sized for your household, which we do at quote stage. A heat pump heats the cylinder more slowly than an element does, so it relies on stored hot water rather than fast reheating. Most systems also keep an electric element in the cylinder as backup for unusually heavy days.

Yes. There's usable heat in the air well below the temperatures Auckland ever sees. Efficiency does drop as the air gets colder, so the unit works a little harder in July than in January, and the backup element is there for cold snaps or unusual demand.

Yes — and unlike pool heating, hot water isn't seasonal. Hot water is a comparatively small load and the cylinder stores what it makes, so a well-set-up system serves both, with controls deciding what gets priority. It's the most common way we set a house up.

The cylinder usually sits where your existing one does — a cupboard, garage or laundry. The heat pump goes outside, and it needs air flow around it and a sensible distance from bedroom windows. We work that out on site, and on a new build we'll mark it on the plans.

Usually, yes. Swapping an electric-element cylinder for a heat pump system is one of the most common jobs we do, and it doesn't require the floors to come up or the house to be rewired.

It makes about as much noise as a domestic air conditioner or a fridge compressor, and it isn't running all the time. Where it's placed matters more than the unit itself, so we choose the position with you.

One heat pump can heat the floors in winter, the hot water all year and the pool in summer. See our pool and underfloor heating page for how that's put together.