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Melbourne, VIC · installed by AHHAC

Commercial hot water systems Melbourne — heat, cool and DHW from one plant.

AHHAC designs, installs and services commercial hot water plant across Melbourne — MAXA HWA2 reversible heat pumps that deliver heating, cooling and domestic hot water to 78 °C from a single low-GWP R290 system. For hotels, hospitals, aged care, schools, gyms and multi-residential strata, engineered from our Laverton North showroom.

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The short answer

Updated

Commercial hot water systems in Melbourne are increasingly built around reversible heat pumps such as the MAXA HWA2, which delivers heating, cooling and domestic hot water up to 78 °C from one all-electric R290 plant. Units range from 73 kW to 192 kW of heating and cascade for larger sites such as hotels, hospitals, aged care, schools and strata. AHHAC models demand, designs the plant room, installs and services these systems from our Laverton North showroom.

Heating capacity
73–192 kW
Cooling capacity
60–152 kW
Hot water max
78 °C
Refrigerant
R290 (GWP 3)

Reviewed by the AHHAC Technical Team — licensed plumbers & hydronic engineers, NSW Lic 262528C.How we write & review

Authorised supplier & installer
Maxa authorised supplierViessmann authorised installerImmergasSimeThermaSkirt™
Plumbing Lic 262528CABN 85 164 746 4906 showrooms · NSW · ACT · VIC · QLDEst. 1998

Melbourne's larger buildings — hotels, hospitals, aged-care facilities, schools, gyms and strata towers — run on serious hot water and heating loads. The MAXA HWA2 industrial range answers all three at once: a single reversible heat pump / chiller that produces heating, comfort or process cooling, and domestic hot water up to 78 °C, using natural R290 refrigerant for the lowest global-warming impact in its output class. AHHAC specifies, installs and maintains this plant across Greater Melbourne from our Laverton North showroom.

Capacities run from 73 kW up to 192 kW of heating (and 60–152 kW of cooling) across eight frame sizes, and units cascade for larger sites. Paired with the right buffer and DHW tanks, one plant room can carry an entire building. See our full Melbourne hydronic heating service area, or talk to our commercial plumbing team about a whole-site solution.

One plant for heating, cooling and hot water

The efficiency case for a reversible commercial heat pump is compelling in Melbourne's climate. Instead of separate gas boilers for hot water, a chiller for cooling and a boiler for space heating, a cascaded HWA2 system does all three — recovering heat between duties, running on electricity, and pairing with rooftop solar or a power-purchase agreement to cut operating cost hard. It's the same reversible principle used in residential hydronic heat pumps, scaled to plant-room duty. For the technology comparison that drives these decisions, see our guide on ducted vs hydronic heating.

Designed, certified and serviced for compliance

Commercial hot water is a compliance-critical system: Legionella risk management, tempering, AS/NZS 3500 and 5601 certification, and BMS integration via BACnet or Modbus all have to be right. AHHAC delivers heat-loss and DHW-demand modelling, plant-room design, staged installation, commissioning records and ongoing service contracts — including the maintenance regime that keeps warranties valid. The most expensive commercial systems are the ones sized on a rule of thumb; our guide to mistakes to avoid explains why we model every job, and our overview of radiant floor cooling shows how the same plant can feed comfort cooling too.

Why Melbourne homes choose this system

  • MAXA HWA2 reversible heat pumps — heating, cooling and DHW from one plant
  • 73–192 kW heating · 60–152 kW cooling · hot water to 78 °C
  • Low-GWP R290 natural refrigerant; cascades for larger sites
  • For hotels, hospitals, aged care, schools, gyms and strata
  • Matched buffer and DHW tanks for whole-building supply
  • Legionella, tempering and AS/NZS compliance handled end-to-end
  • BMS integration (BACnet / Modbus) and service contracts
  • Designed and installed from our Laverton North (VIC) showroom
Before design starts

What we need before designing a commercial hot water system in Melbourne

The quality of a commercial hot water design is set by the quality of the information behind it. Size plant on a rule of thumb and you either pay for capacity the building never uses or run short during the morning peak. With Victoria steadily moving buildings away from gas, many owners are planning the switch before their existing boilers fail, which gives time to gather the right data. Before we put a heat pump on a drawing for any commercial hot water system in Melbourne, we ask facility managers, owners corporations and builders for the following.

  • Twelve months of energy bills. Gas and electricity history shows the real seasonal load, not just the nameplate rating of the old boilers.
  • Hot water usage and peak events. The 7 am shower rush in a hotel, bathing rounds in aged care, a commercial kitchen's lunch service, a gym's after-work peak. Peaks decide storage volume and recovery rate more than daily totals do.
  • Plant-room drawings and photos. Floor space, access for cranes or lifts, roof or slab loading, and where outdoor units can sit with adequate airflow.
  • Electrical supply details. Moving from gas to heat pumps adds electrical load, and confirming supply capacity early is often what sets the project timeline, so we raise it on day one.
  • Water-quality and Legionella records. These shape storage temperatures, tempering and the risk-management plan for the new system.
  • Existing BMS and maintenance arrangements. So the new plant reports into the systems your team already uses.

With that in hand, we model demand and design a cascade with redundancy built in, so one unit can be serviced while the others carry the building. Then we plan a staged changeover so occupants never lose hot water, the approach behind our 48-apartment Sydney strata upgrade, which was completed with no hot water outage. Correctly sized hot water storage tanks and, where the design calls for separating circuits, plate heat exchangers complete the plant.

Written from on-site experience by the AHHAC Technical Team.

Who designs & installs this

Licensed, in-house hydronic engineers serving Melbourne — since 1998.

AHHAC's in-house design and service team — licensed plumbers and hydronic engineers (Lic 262528C) who have designed and installed 2,400+ hydronic heating, cooling and hot water systems across Australia since 1998.

We design commercial hot water systems from a room-by-room heat-loss calculation, install it with our own licensed plumbers to AS/NZS 3500 (plumbing) and AS/NZS 5601 (gas), commission and document it, and service it for the life of the system. Nothing is subcontracted out.

  • Heat-loss calculation before any quote
  • Fixed-fee design back within 24 hours
  • Authorised Maxa, Viessmann & Immergas installer
  • Commissioning report at handover
  • Six showrooms: NSW · ACT · VIC · QLD
  • Ongoing local service & maintenance
Read our case studies →Customer reviews →Editorial standards →
262528C
NSW plumbing licence
85 164 746 490
ABN (verifiable on ABN Lookup)
2,400+
Hydronic systems installed
Since 1998
Operating in Australia
AS/NZS 3500
Plumbing & drainage standard
AS/NZS 5601
Gas installations standard
Common Melbourne questions

Commercial Hot Water Systems Melbourne — FAQ

What system do you use for commercial hot water in Melbourne?+
The MAXA HWA2 industrial range — reversible heat pumps and chillers from 73 kW to 192 kW heating that produce heating, cooling and domestic hot water up to 78 °C from one plant, on natural R290 refrigerant. Units cascade for larger buildings and pair with buffer and DHW tanks sized to demand.
Which buildings is this suited to?+
Any Melbourne site with significant hot water or combined heating/cooling load — hotels, hospitals and aged-care facilities, schools and universities, gyms and aquatic centres, and multi-residential strata. We model DHW demand and heat/cool load before specifying.
Can one system handle heating, cooling and hot water together?+
Yes — that's the core advantage of a reversible HWA2 plant. It recovers heat between duties, replacing separate boilers and chillers, running all-electric and solar-ready. It typically cuts both plant footprint and operating cost versus a gas-plus-chiller setup.
Do you handle compliance and ongoing service?+
Yes — we deliver plant-room design, Legionella and tempering management, AS/NZS 3500/5601 certification, BMS integration, commissioning records and scheduled service contracts that keep manufacturer warranties valid across the plant's life.

Last updated · AHHAC

Reviews

Trusted by homeowners, builders and strata across Australia

★★★★★
Rated 5-star across NSW · ACT · VIC · QLD
★★★★★

"AHHAC delivered our 22-zone underfloor system on time, on budget and to spec. The crew were tidy, the documentation was thorough, and the commissioning was textbook."

David Chen
Custom Builder · Mosman, NSW
★★★★★

"We've worked with AHHAC for 17 years. They've installed and serviced our hot water plant across three commercial buildings — and they pick up the phone on weekends."

James Holloway
Strata Manager · Melbourne CBD
★★★★★

"Three mobs quoted us; AHHAC's design was the only one based on a proper heat-loss calculation. The system runs beautifully — the others would've been oversized and expensive."

Janelle Smith
Homeowner · Robina, QLD
Read more reviews →
Last updated Content reviewed by the AHHAC Technical Team (NSW plumbing licence 262528C)Editorial standards