SR186 Active cooling and heat pump use in New Zealand - survey results (2008)

New Zealand is experiencing rapid uptake of heat pumps (or reverse-cycle air conditioners). Approximately 80,000 units were sold last year, over double the number sold 3 years ago. Heat pumps are relatively new to New Zealand, and little is known about how they are being used, their electricity consumption or performance.

This work has conducted a postal survey to begin to answer some of the unknowns. Primarily, the survey has been designed to look at heating and cooling. However, questions about the installation and heat pump choice have provided some interesting results.

The survey was sent to 3,407 randomly selected houses throughout New Zealand:

• 19% of houses were found to have a heat pump.
• All respondents used their heat pump for heating, with 60% cooling with them – a new electricity load for New Zealand.
• 29% of respondents indicated they purchased a heat pump with the intention of cooling.
• 40% installed a heat pump to replace another heating source, often a solid fuel or gas burner.

The survey found that 28% of heat pumps are not being sized by a heat pump specialist suggesting that they are possibly the wrong size and have also not been installed by a specialist. Overseas studies have shown that installation quality, heat pump size and operation can reduce efficiency by up to 50%. The results of this work show that there is room for improvement in all three of these areas.