Hot water heat pumps, installed in Canberra
A hot water heat pump takes heat out of the air outside and puts it into a tank of water on the ground. That is why it runs on a fraction of the electricity an element needs, and why we fit them as part of a solar or battery system.
What a hot water heat pump is
A heat pump does not make heat. It moves heat that is already outside into your tank — a fridge running backwards, roughly — and everything else on this page follows from that one difference.
An element gives you one for one. A heat pump gives you several.
An electric element turns a unit of electricity into a unit of heat and it cannot do better than that, ever. A heat pump does not make heat at all. It moves heat that is already in the air outside into the water, so the same unit of electricity puts several units of heat in the tank. That ratio is the whole argument, and every figure behind it is on the page of the system we quote you.
It keeps making hot water through a Canberra winter.
This is the question everybody asks, and it is the right one: your hot water is being made outdoors, so a frost is the number to check. The systems we fit are rated to keep running well below zero without an element cutting in behind them. A cold morning makes the cycle longer. It does not stop it.
It answers the gas bill and it answers a tank at the end of its life.
Two houses buy these. One is taking the gas out and does not want to put another gas appliance in for fifteen years. The other has an electric storage tank that has run out of years and does not want to buy the same thing again. A heat pump is the one answer that suits both, and if hot water is the last gas appliance in the house it is what lets you drop the supply charge with it.
The cheapest day to replace it is a day you chose.
A hot water system that has already failed is an emergency, and an emergency gets whatever is on a truck that afternoon. Changing it while the old one still works is what lets you pick the system, size the tank against what the house actually uses and decide where the two units stand. It is the same job either way. Only one version of it is your decision.
Hot water, heated on your own solar
Water holds heat for a day without being asked to. That makes a hot water tank the one appliance in the house you can run almost entirely on the part of your solar you would otherwise sell back for very little.
Heat the tank while the roof is working
The controller decides when the unit runs, and the hour worth choosing is the middle of the day, when the roof is making more than the house is using. The heat sits in the tank overnight. The shower somebody takes at seven in the morning was paid for at noon the day before.
A tank is the cheapest storage you will ever buy
Per unit of energy held, a tank of hot water costs a fraction of what a battery costs, because it is a cylinder of water and a lid. The catch is honest and worth saying: what goes in as heat can only come back out as hot water. So a tank belongs beside a battery in the same quote. It will never do a battery's job.
We do not fit a hot water heat pump on its own. It goes in with solar, with a battery, or with both. That is one quote and one visit. If there is nothing on the roof yet, the hot water is a line on the same quote as the panels.
Get a QuoteWhat we install, and how
We size the system against how much hot water your house actually uses, put it in, take the old one away, and hand you the paperwork that says the plumbing is right.
A heat pump is two objects, not one. The unit stands outside on a slab and the tank stands beside it or close by, so where the two go is a decision somebody makes standing in your yard. It is the part people are most often surprised by, and it is worth settling before anything is ordered.
The system you are replacing comes out on the same visit and leaves with us — removing and disposing of it is part of the job. It does not appear as a line later on. You get a hydraulic certificate of compliance for the plumbing, and the controller is set before we go.
We work with two great brands
Both are heat pumps and both do the same job. Which one suits a house comes down to the tank size, where the two units can stand, and what the system has to work through in July. The install is the same either way, so what you are choosing between is the range.
Panasonic CO₂
The Panasonic runs on carbon dioxide as its refrigerant, which is what lets it make water hot enough to store without help from an element. It is the system we fit most. Its coefficient of performance, the temperature it holds, how it behaves on a frost and the warranty are all set out with the document each one came from.
Haier
Haier is the other heat pump water heater we supply. It is the same argument on a different machine: heat pulled out of the air, a unit outside and a tank beside it. Which of the two goes in is decided against your house, which is what the visit is for. Ask for a quote and we will tell you which one we would put in and why.
How we work
It is the same sequence whatever we are putting in, and it runs from the bill you send us to the day the system is switched on.
Before the visit
Send us two bills, one from summer and one from winter, and tell us roughly when your house is busy. Your own numbers are where the design starts.
Site visit or phone consultation
One of our energy geeks goes through the roof, the switchboard and the meter with you, at the house or over the phone. What goes where, what the roof can carry and whether the board has room all get settled here.
Customised design
A Sunstak engineer designs the system in house. You get back a drawing of your own house with the equipment set out on it, and what decided where each piece went.
Quote approval
Your quote lists every item with its model number, and the exclusions as plainly as the inclusions. There is nothing to sign on the day, and nothing is ordered until you approve it.
Installation
We tell you up front what gets switched off on the day, and for how long.
Post-installation support
Nobody leaves until the system is commissioned and the monitoring is running on your phone. After that, service and warranty go through the same office that did the install.
Rebates and discounts available
A hot water heat pump earns federal small-scale technology certificates in its own right. Their value comes off the invoice on the day. There is nothing to fill in afterwards and nothing to wait for. How many you get depends on the model and on where the house is.
The ACT Sustainable Household Scheme lends against work like this, and the loan is arranged before anybody starts. The ACT rebates and loans page carries the terms. Households holding a concession card have a second door, the ACT Home Energy Support Program, and that one pays a rebate instead of lending.
Neither of them crosses the border. For a house in Wollongong or anywhere else in New South Wales, the rebates and loans page works out what is open by address.
Questions
Can I get one without solar or a battery?
Not from us. A hot water heat pump goes in here as part of a solar or battery system, and that is a deliberate rule rather than an upsell.
The reason is in how the saving is made. A heat pump is cheap to run because it is running on power your own roof is producing at the time. A tank is only worth heating in the middle of the day if something is filling it for nothing. Without that, you have bought a more efficient way to buy electricity. If there is nothing on the roof yet, it is the same conversation and the same quote — the hot water is a line on it.
Will it still work on a Canberra frost?
Yes. The systems we fit are rated to keep making hot water well below zero, and the figure for the one we quote you is printed on its own page against the document it came from.
A frost costs you time, and only a little of it: the unit works harder and takes longer to bring the tank up. This is worth checking on any quote you are holding, because a system sized for a mild coastal climate is a different machine from one sized for July in Canberra.
How much will it actually save me?
That depends on two things we cannot see from here: what you are replacing, and what you pay for power. Coming off gas is a different sum from coming off an old electric tank, and a house with solar on the roof is a different sum again.
So we work it out against your own bill. An average is somebody else's house. Send us a recent one with the enquiry and the number in the quote is about yours.
Is it noisy, and where does it stand?
The heat pump stands outside on a slab and the tank stands beside it or close by. It is not a single box in the laundry, and it is worth picturing before you choose where it goes.
Noise matters more than people expect, because the unit runs while you and your neighbours are asleep. The rating for each system is on its page, and where the two units stand gets decided at the house on the visit.
Do I have to keep the gas connection?
Not for hot water. If hot water is the last gas appliance in the house, taking it out is what lets you close the account and stop paying the daily supply charge as well as the gas.
If you still cook on gas or run a gas heater, the connection stays and only the water heating comes off it. We will tell you which of the two you are looking at when we see the house.
What size tank do I need?
It follows how much hot water the house uses, which is a different question from how many bedrooms it has. Two people who both shower in the morning put a tank under more pressure than four who spread out across the day.
We size it on the visit, against your own habits and the space the tank has to stand in. Undersizing is the mistake that shows up in August, so it is worth getting right once.
Every installation backed by the Sunstak guarantee
Sunstak master installers
Our master installers have completed at least 100 installations with 5/5 star reviews.
Installation with no surprises
We confirm the scope, price and installation plan. You'll know exactly what's included, what happens next and what to expect on the day, with no last-minute variations or surprises.
Roof leak guarantee
If your roof leaks after our installation, we pay you $500 cash and fix it immediately.
Stock guarantee
If the product on your design cannot be supplied, the replacement is an upgrade and the price does not move.
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