Home / New Zealand guides / Site assessment / Preparing a site survey: Family home

Preparing a site survey for a family home in New Zealand

New Zealand planning guidance for a specific property and load boundary. Keep children away from equipment areas. H2OME remains in early development.

Preparing a site survey: the decision to make

A useful survey pack includes photographs taken from safe public or user-accessible positions, a property layout, the load inventory and existing service information. Include occupied spaces, vehicle movement, adjacent activities and the proposed access route for qualified assessors.

The survey is an information-gathering step, not a siting decision. Hydrogen containment, ventilation, hazardous-area considerations, electrical integration and approvals require qualified review. Do not mark a spare corner as suitable before those constraints are assessed.

Priorities for family home

Laundry, vehicle charging and bulk water heating should be considered separately rather than folded into an essential-load promise.

The property boundary

Several people can turn on appliances at once. The largest demand may occur when an outage ends and refrigeration, hot water and cooking all try to resume, rather than during the quiet overnight period.

Give the assessor the 12-hour base window and the priority list for a family home, alongside access and ownership information. Those demand figures explain the intended service but do not justify choosing a storage location before the professional survey.

Keep children away from equipment areas. A whole-home connection is not proof that every appliance can operate together. The family needs a priority schedule that remains understandable without a phone app.

A worked demand worksheet

All numbers below are hypothetical teaching inputs, not measured appliance specifications or product performance. The topic-specific extra load is separate from the base set; omit it if your real inventory already counts it. This worksheet does not include conversion overhead, protection design or a contingency allowance.

For a family home, assume the selected base loads average 0.25 kW for 12 hours: 0.25 × 12 = 3 kWh. Separately, an additional site communications device draws an assumed 12 W for 8 hours: (12 ÷ 1,000) × 8 = 0.096 kWh. The combined illustrative demand is 3.096 kWh.

The worksheet helps explain demand but cannot establish whether any equipment location is suitable.

For arithmetic only, if the complete storage chain had a hypothetical 30% round-trip efficiency, delivering 3.096 kWh would require 3.096 ÷ 0.30 = 10.32 kWh of charging input. This is not a measured H2OME efficiency or recovery result. Ongoing demand during charging would add to the required input.

Base assumptions

Base operating window: 12 hours. Extra illustrative load: An additional site communications device, 12 W for 8 hours. Replace every input with a measured or professionally established value.

Topic checks

Property checks

Professional review in New Zealand

In New Zealand, discuss supply arrangements and connection questions with your electricity retailer and distributor. Ask the local council about relevant siting, building and water-use requirements. Use appropriately qualified electrical and hydrogen professionals, and refer workplace safety questions to WorkSafe guidance. This page does not establish a consent or compliance outcome.

For medically dependent people in New Zealand, register with your electricity retailer, the company that bills you, and keep that registration current. Re-register when switching retailers; ask the retailer how the distributor is informed and what clinical confirmation is needed. Follow the clinician and equipment provider's contingency plan. Registration does not guarantee uninterrupted electricity, and H2OME is not a substitute for that plan.

H2OME is in early development. Its 10 kW output figure is a design target, not a proven specification. There is no confirmed price, certification, commercial availability or guaranteed runtime in this guide.

Hydrogen is an energy store, not free energy. Grid input, wind and micro-hydro are the charging options considered here. Each requires its own supply assessment. Do not install hydrogen equipment, modify fixed wiring, bypass protection or improvise a connection from this guide.

Background sources

These official resources provide energy, consumer and technical background. They are not endorsements of H2OME, proof of its performance or a substitute for site-specific professional advice.

Questions

What changes for a family home?

Several people can turn on appliances at once. The largest demand may occur when an outage ends and refrigeration, hot water and cooking all try to resume, rather than during the quiet overnight period. Keep children away from equipment areas.

Does this calculation show how long H2OME would run a family home?

No. The 3.096 kWh total is an illustrative demand worksheet, not a runtime result. Actual appliance measurements, usable storage output, starting demand, conversion overhead and reserve limits are needed. The 10 kW design target is not demonstrated output capability.

Who should review the proposal?

In New Zealand, discuss supply arrangements and connection questions with your electricity retailer and distributor. Ask the local council about relevant siting, building and water-use requirements. Use appropriately qualified electrical and hydrogen professionals, and refer workplace safety questions to WorkSafe guidance. This page does not establish a consent or compliance outcome. Use the worksheet to brief the relevant professionals, not to install, modify or operate hydrogen equipment.

Continue the assessment

Contact us

Ask us about H2OME, tell us about your property or register your interest in the proposed system. We are in early development. No payment or purchase commitment; contacting us does not guarantee a pilot installation.