Why heating comes first here
Lilydale sits in the Yarra Valley at 115 m, with Olinda Creek running down from the Dandenong Ranges through town. The climate averages for nearby Coldstream (1994 to 2025) give a July maximum of only 13.4 degrees. That's a long heating season, so size the heating for these nights, not the city's.
If you run reverse cycle, expect the outdoor unit to frost up on cold, damp mornings. Mitsubishi Electric says the unit stops heating for up to 10 minutes to defrost, and the white cloud you might see is just vapour. It isn't a fault.
Lilydale's homes
A country town until the 1970s
Victorian Places says Lilydale stayed a country town in a mostly rural landscape until the 1970s. After the 1980s, housing spread south towards Mooroolbark and north beyond Nelson Road, and the population went from 9,502 in 1991 to 12,764 in 2001.
Newer estates
Estates such as Lakeview have gone in around Lillydale Lake, and the old Cave Hill limestone quarry is now the Kinley estate. From 1 January 2027, new Victorian homes are built all electric.
More townhouses than you'd guess
At the 2021 Census, 79.7% of homes were separate houses and 18.9% semi-detached or townhouses. 19.0% were rented.
Three ways to heat a Lilydale house
| Gas ducted heating | Ducted reverse cycle | Reverse cycle splits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cools in summer | Only with add-on cooling, if the heater suits it | Yes, the whole house | Yes, room by room |
| Running costs | The ACT Government says gas heats quickly, but reverse cycle has much lower running costs | Lower than gas on the ACT Government's comparison | Lower than gas, and you only heat the rooms you use |
| Servicing | A gasfitter at least every two years (Energy Safe Victoria) | Professional service yearly, Mitsubishi Electric recommends | Same, plus clean filters as the manual says |
| On a new home from 2027 | Can't be connected to new mains gas | Fine | Fine |
What we'd do
Our take for Lilydale
Size heating for Lilydale's coldest mornings, not Melbourne's averages. If your gas ducted heater works, service it before winter and keep it. If you're replacing, look hard at ducted reverse cycle with a heating specialist, and check the energy label's heating figure at 2 degrees, because that's closer to a Lilydale July morning than 7.
Sending a Lilydale job
Give us the job and your postcode. Licence-checked installers near Lilydale who specialise in that work can see it, and your number goes only to the one who takes it. After 48 hours with no taker near Lilydale, installers elsewhere in Victoria may see it as well.
