The Total-One solves a specific problem very well: getting cooling, heating and efficient hot water into a home that has room for only one piece of outdoor plant. Being clear about where it fits saves everyone time at quote stage.
It's a strong fit if…
- You live in an apartment or townhouse where the strata or body corporate will approve one outdoor unit, not three.
- You have up to three rooms to condition — typically a living area plus two bedrooms or a study.
- You're a two-to-three-person household, the profile behind MAXA's published running-cost comparison.
- You use cooling regularly in summer, because that's when the energy-recovery circuit heats your water as a by-product.
Think twice if your home needs more than three conditioned rooms, your household draws a lot of hot water at once, or you want the radiant comfort of radiators or underfloor. The Total-One is a refrigerant-based multi-split, not a hydronic system, so for whole-home radiant warmth we'd look at a hydronic heat pump such as the Maxa i-290 paired with hydronic underfloor heating.
Before quoting we also check the practical details. The cylinder stands 1,660 mm tall, so it needs a laundry, cupboard or garage spot with a drain nearby. The outdoor unit needs airflow and a position that respects your neighbours, and in apartments we confirm the strata by-laws on balcony plant early. Refrigerant pipe routes to each head are planned so they can be hidden in walls or tidy ducting rather than surface-run across a feature wall. With a 24 A nominal current the outdoor unit needs its own circuit, so we confirm switchboard capacity at the site visit.
If you're weighing separate split systems and a stand-alone heat-pump water heater instead, our guide to selecting the best hot water system sets out the trade-offs, and we're happy to price both options side by side so you can compare upfront cost, plant space and running cost honestly.
New · Air Conditioning + Hot Water