Heat Pump Recommendations

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jskiltz

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#324616 4-May-2026 20:43

Unfortunately our 16 year old 7kw Daikin has got a dreaded E7 code.

So in the market for a new unit and a smaller one for a a hallway in a 110m house.

Whats the recommendation these days and rough cost - based in Wellington.

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#3487489 4-May-2026 22:23

Given your Daikin lasted 16 years I'd probably buy another one. I have three Daikin. The big ducted one is 5 years old and good now, but I had the outdoor unit replaced at one point because it was making weird noises and then the motherboard of the second was replaced as it failed, but both were warranty. The medium sized one is about 12 - 14 years old, the compressor was replaced under warranty at about 4 years old point as it was making weird noises. The small office one is 3 years old and the indoor unit was replaced under warranty because it was making weird noises, and to be honest the replacement isn't much better. So I guess reliability isn't awesome for me but the warranty is at least decent.

tweake

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#3487881 5-May-2026 20:07

how big is the hallway? does it have an outside wall?

i highly doubt you will ever find one small enough for a hallway because of the size of the hallway, especially on a house that size. tho someone mentioned that Mitsubishi now sell their small models here. have a look at the smallest models you can find.

BlargHonk

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#3487971 6-May-2026 08:15

I find hallway heatpumps next to useless. You might be better looking at a small ducted unit with outlets in the bedrooms and the return in the hallway (if you can fit it in). Should be $7-10k installed. Mitsi or Daikin are usually highly recommended.

Handsomedan

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#3487977 6-May-2026 08:41

We've had our Daikin for many years now and had the motherboard replaced after it failed last winter.

I'd recommend Daikin every time based on our experiences.

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acetone

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#3487995 6-May-2026 09:48

We have had a Daikin wall unit for 10 years. We had the outside unit motherboard replaced under warranty when something got into it and fried it.
When it does eventually die I would replace it again with Daikin.

Last year we got a small ducted Daikin unit with outlets in the bedrooms, best purchase we made last year, it was great over summer.

timmmay

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#3488003 6-May-2026 10:16

BlargHonk:

I find hallway heatpumps next to useless. You might be better looking at a small ducted unit with outlets in the bedrooms and the return in the hallway (if you can fit it in). Should be $7-10k installed. Mitsi or Daikin are usually highly recommended.

I have that setup also heating the lounge. With an Airtouch for per-room thermostats it cost about $15K about 5 years ago, so it'd probably be more now. You also need wall or door vents, and generally it's good but also a pain in the butt. If I started again in a new house I'd probably put high wall units in each bedroom, maybe multi-split, but with north facing rooms on one outdoor unit and south facing on another as sometimes we want to cool north facing rooms while we heat south facing rooms.

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#3488005 6-May-2026 10:19

I just went through the "what heatpump to get in our loungeroom" and after spending 2 months reading, reviewing, rereading, rereviewing, talking to people, getting quotes, wanting to quietly die because dear lord I'm starting to effing dream about heatpumps I just need to buy one, I decided on a Daikin. We got a Cora that's got the Wifi module built in.

It's great, it integrated with Home Assistant straight away and is now heating up our loungeroom every morning so it's toasty when I slob in there at 5am. Quiet, quick to heat.

We've also got two Panasonics and a Mitsubishi and they've been fine too. But yea all my reading and reviews made me pick the Daikin, seems to be more efficient on the power than the others.

tweake

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#3488176 6-May-2026 17:08

BlargHonk:

I find hallway heatpumps next to useless. You might be better looking at a small ducted unit with outlets in the bedrooms and the return in the hallway (if you can fit it in). Should be $7-10k installed. Mitsi or Daikin are usually highly recommended.

i forgot about the bogus "heat pump in the hallway to heat the bedrooms" thing. i think the only person i've heard say good things about that was the salesperson.

ducted for the bedrooms is a good idea. put the return up far end of the hallway and the return will heat the hallway as well.

tweake

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#3488178 6-May-2026 17:09

timmmay:

If I started again in a new house I'd probably put ..........

you would build the house properly so you don't have that problem in the first place.

AlphaAlfalfaSprout

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#3488951 8-May-2026 21:19

Don't get a cheap Panasonic one. Had one installed last year and it was obnoxiously loud. I don't know if their higher end models are any good, but the entry level one was terrible.

tweake:

BlargHonk:

I find hallway heatpumps next to useless. You might be better looking at a small ducted unit with outlets in the bedrooms and the return in the hallway (if you can fit it in). Should be $7-10k installed. Mitsi or Daikin are usually highly recommended.

i forgot about the bogus "heat pump in the hallway to heat the bedrooms" thing. i think the only person i've heard say good things about that was the salesperson.

I was totally bewildered when I saw this in the 3 level townhouse airbnb I stayed in. It was a new 2023 build too!

timmmay

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#3488972 8-May-2026 21:42

Five years ago the Panasonic ducted I briefly had was very loud. I had it removed and replaced with Daikin.

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Stu1

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#3489100 9-May-2026 09:48

tweake:

BlargHonk:

I find hallway heatpumps next to useless. You might be better looking at a small ducted unit with outlets in the bedrooms and the return in the hallway (if you can fit it in). Should be $7-10k installed. Mitsi or Daikin are usually highly recommended.

i forgot about the bogus "heat pump in the hallway to heat the bedrooms" thing. i think the only person i've heard say good things about that was the salesperson.

ducted for the bedrooms is a good idea. put the return up far end of the hallway and the return will heat the hallway as well.

To be fair the floor mounted ones are great, work well in an old farm house it’s really good does the job. Wall mounted yes are crap

tweake

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#3489114 9-May-2026 11:44

AlphaAlfalfaSprout:

Don't get a cheap Panasonic one. Had one installed last year and it was obnoxiously loud. I don't know if their higher end models are any good, but the entry level one was terrible.

indoor or outdoor unit?

i have all Panasonics here and its no real difference from the mitsi's etc that we have had at work. be interested to see whats making the noise, fan speed? or vibration issue from installation. one of mine used to creak a fair bit until it wore in.

tweake

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#3489115 9-May-2026 11:46

Stu1:

To be fair the floor mounted ones are great, work well in an old farm house it’s really good does the job. Wall mounted yes are crap

that doesn't make a lot of sense. there should be no difference between them. the other thing is many brands only have floor mounts in large sizes.

bfginger

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#3489686 11-May-2026 09:34

High wall units in a hallway are going to have a harder time heating air residing nearer to the ground which affects the ability of heat to transfer under the doorway arches. Also, assuming you have a drillable wooden floor, it'd be easier to deal with the condensate drainage with a floor unit, as external third party condensate pumps are notorious for intermittent noise or water overflows. Ceiling cassette units do have integrated condensate pumps but they're a more expensive format.

The down side of floor units is the model lineups and technology aren't updated very often so you really do need to read the fine print of the specifications. Many don't have a good capacity range meaning they cannot ramp down as much so will end up cycling on and off more often.

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