VAILLANT RESEARCH REVEALS ATTITUDES TO HEAT PUMP TRAINING

To get a deeper understanding of the barriers and motivators behind retraining to be able to offer customers low carbon technologies such as heat pumps, Vaillant recently surveyed more than 1,300 installers, registered on the company’s loyalty programme Advance.

82% of installers surveyed were currently not installing heat pumps although 87% of installers answered ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ when asked if they were interested in undertaking air source heat pump training in the next 12 months.

The top three motivators of these installers looking to undertake heat pump training were future-proofing their business or career development, personal financial benefits from installing a diverse range of heating technologies, and the benefits for the environment by supporting the net zero agenda.

Vaillant estimates that heat pump training for an existing heating engineer can take up to 9.5 days – however, on average, the installers surveyed only needed a further 6.5 days training, as they already had some skills required to fit a heat pump.

Mark Wilkins, Technologies and Training Director for Vaillant, said: “Whilst it’s encouraging to see that most installers are keen to upskill with additional heat pump training, some are also wary about the demand from consumers being low – and we’ve seen this through the recent BUS inquiry. In our response to this inquiry, we have urged the Government to set a clear strategy for consumer education and awareness to help drive demand for heat pumps and therefore the training required for installers.”

To help upskill heating engineers Vaillant has launched its Aspire heat pump training programme. For more details turn to page 42