Kotare

Has anyone considered that NZ has a very different climate and therefore requirement to UK. Yes there are seriously cold areas eg south of ChCh, central parts of NI. But on the whole putting in cold weather oil/gas fired CH would be a waste of money/resources (agree insulation/double glazing are a good investment to stop condensation).

Horses for courses, so the use of log burners, heat pumps etc makes good economic sense in NZ. Of the two houses I have owned in NZ, one had a good log burner, this one has a heat pump. Both were/are ideal for the house (and climate) involved.

jmh

I agree. I also think that when you are acclimated to central heating it's a real shock to have to do without it. I think it took three winters before I felt ok with feeling cold occasionally. I grew up here and never remembered it being cold, and most of the time it probably wasn't.

MrsFychan

if we ever have enough money I personally would go with heat/air con pumps here because of the climate. In the UK gas central heating.

I think when you say central heating to an expat they see the radiators so calling heat pumps central heating is confusing. I certainly would not call it central heating as in the house we have we would need 2 or 3 condensers to accommodate the pumps so won't have a central area to create the heat.

Moses2013

You are right " Central heating is a way of providing warmth in your home from, as the name suggests, one central source"

The problem I see is that a lot of people might only have a small heat pump for one unit, so you would actually need a separate heat pump for each unit you install.


Some people actually have the right heat pump (even in NZ) and could run more units, so this would be Multi-Split.


Because there is so much confusion, people now think a heat pump is bad and don't see it as central heating system.There are also different types of heat pumps and ground source is a lot more expensive and better for underfloor heating. For the climate in the UK/NZ, air source heat pumps are ideal and better than fossil fuel systems like oil/gas.

Bo-Jangles

We have a multi-split system much like this: Mitsubishi Heat pumps Auckland Office Air Conditioning


It's not new and not at all uncommon; we had it done nearly ten years ago - you just need to know what to ask for. Most people don't get proper advise and go to Harvey Normans or the Warehouse buy one unit off the shelf and get an electrician to fit it and then complain that it's not very effective.

Moses2013

We have exactly the same and as you say, these systems have been around for years. The Japanese have always produced high quality products and I've never had problems. New Zealand certainly isn't 20 years behind like some people say, as I've seen more of these systems in New Zealand compared to the UK.

Wrong installation is a different story