18 Rangiora
A telephone survey of domestic heating methods and fuels for Rangiora was carried out by Digipoll in December 2004. This involved surveying 150 households within the 2001 census area unit (CAU) areas of Rangiora North, Rangiora West, Rangiora East and Southbrook.
Survey details are shown in Table 18.1. The number of households for 2004 was estimated based on 2001 census data for occupied dwellings, extrapolated for 2004 based on Statistics New Zealand population projections. [New Zealand Statistics 2004, www.stats.govt.nz] The latter suggest a population increase for the Waimakariri District of 36% by 2021. [High, medium and low population projections were estimated by Statistics New Zealand. The value used is the medium population projection.] It is assumed that this increase applies to the urban area of Rangiora.
Table 18.1: Summary survey data, Rangiora
18.1 Home heating methods and fuels
The Digipoll survey was used to collect information on home heating methods and fuels for Rangiora. These data were collected for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality in Rangiora, in particular the extent of change required to achieve the national environmental standard for PM10. This section presents the results of the home heating survey for Rangiora largely in tabular form, in the expectation that these results will be of value in other assessments (eg, emission inventory studies).
Tables 18.2 and 18.3 show domestic heating methods and fuels used for main living areas in Rangiora houses, and seasonal variations in heating behaviour. The commonest methods of heating the main living area in Rangiora were electricity (51%) and wood burners (53%). Many households used more than one method of heating in their main living area.
Table 18.2: Domestic home heating methods and fuels, Rangiora
Around 16% and 10% of households that use wood burners heat their homes during November and December respectively. Only a small proportion of those using wood burners (around 1%) do so during January and February (Table 18.3). The quantities of fuel used per day during non-winter months was typically less than during winter (Table 18.4). Data are not presented for all heating methods because there was a high non-response rate for questions relating to seasonal variations for some heating types.
Table 18.3: Monthly variations in heating behaviour and fuel use, Rangiora
Table 18.4: Estimated daily fuel use, by season, Rangiora
18.2 Insulation, cost of heating, income, and house age and size
In addition to collecting data for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality, information was collected on a number of variables relevant to the Ministry for the Environment's Warm Homes Project. Relevant data for Rangiora are presented in this section.
Figure 18.1 shows that the proportion of households using gas systems that are properly flued in Rangiora is around 40%. This compares to a national average of 24%.
The amount spent on heating for a winter month, by heating method, is shown in Table 18.5. In Rangiora, households heating using open fires spent on average less per month (around $50) than those using other heating methods.
Figure 18.2 shows the average heating costs, home ownership, age of dwelling and number of bedrooms for households in Rangiora. Only a small proportion (11%) of the respondents in Rangiora were living in rental accommodation. This compares with a national average of around 20%.
One factor influencing the amount spent on different heating methods is the ability of households using solid fuel burners to obtain wood free of charge. Figure 18.3 shows that around 50% of the wood used on solid fuel burners in Rangiora is self-collected.
Figure 18.1: Distribution of flued versus unflued gas heating and age of wood burner, Rangiora
Text description of figure
There are two pie graphs. The first graph shows the distribution of flued and unflued gas heaters. Unflued gas makes up 60% of all gas heating and Flued gas makes up 40%.
The second graph is divided by the age of wood burners. Post-1999 wood burners make up 31%, 1994-99 wood burners make up 19% and the remaining 50% of wood burner are Pre-1994.
Table 18.5: Average monthly heating costs (winter), Rangiora
Figure 18.2: Domestic heating method, by average monthly heating expenditure, house ownership, house age and number of bedrooms, Rangiora
Average heating cost per month (winter)
House ownership
Age of dwelling
Number of bedrooms
Text description of figure
There are four bar graphs.
The first graph sets out the average heating cost per month in winter. Cost per month by heating methods are: electric $100, gas $85, open fire $50, wood burner $86 and multi-fuel $68.
The second graph sets out heating methods divided by home tenure. For households living in rentals 176 use electric, 59 use gas, 59 use open fire, 322 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 0 use multi-fuel and 0 use oil. For households living in their own house 2077 use electricity, 819 use gas, 322 use open fires, 2019 use wood burners, 146 use pellet burners, 117 use multi-fuel and 29 use oil.
The third graph sets out the age of a dwelling using a particular method of heating.
- Heating methods for houses under 10 years old are 34% electric, 23% gas, 23% wood burners, 25% multi fuel and 0% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 11 and 20 years old are 27% electric, 23% gas, 30% wood burners, 25% multi fuel and 8% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 21 and 40 years old are 23% electric, 27% gas, 21% wood burners, 0% multi fuel and 38% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses over 41 years old are 16% electric, 23% gas, 23% wood burners, 50% multi fuel and 54% open fires.
The fourth graph sets out particular heating methods by the number of bedrooms.
- Heating methods for houses with one bedroom are 1% electricity, 0% gas, 1% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with two bedrooms are 21% electricity, 10% gas, 8% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 23% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with three bedrooms are 49% electricity, 47% gas, 51% wood burner, 25% multi fuel and 46% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with four bedrooms are 21% electricity, 23% gas, 30% wood burner, 50% multi fuel and 23% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with five bedrooms are 6% electricity, 10% gas, 6% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with six bedrooms are 0% electricity, 0% gas, 0% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
Figure 18.3: Proportions of fuel obtained free of charge versus bought, Rangiora
Text description of figure
This bar graph shows the amount of wood either bought or collected free of charge by three different types of heating.
Those using open fires bought 49% of their fuel, those using wood burners bought 39% of their fuel and those using multi-fuel burners bought 43% of their fuel.
Table 18.6: Type of electric heating, Rangiora
The commonest types of electric heating used in the main living area in Rangiora houses were oil column heaters, heat pumps and fan heaters (Table 18.6). A number of houses used more than one type of electric heater in their main living area.
Data on home heating methods, by house ownership, are shown in Table 18.7.
Table 18.7: Home heating method, by house ownership, Rangiora
Household insulation types and heating methods are shown in Tables 18.8 and 18.9. Most houses had ceiling insulation and around 62% had wall insulation. About 35% of houses had at least three types of insulation. Data are not presented for all heating methods because there was a high non-response rate for questions relating to seasonal variations for some heating types.
Table 18.10 shows home heating method, by household income. The overall non-response rate was around 25%. This limits the interpretation of these data because there may be an income bias in the non-respondents.
Table 18.8: House insulation summary statistics, Rangiora
Table 18.9: Degree of house insulation, by heating method, Rangiora
Table 18.10: Home heating method, by household income, Rangiora
Tables 18.11 and 18.12 show the relationship between heating methods and the age of the dwelling and number of bedrooms, respectively.
