News

Get ready for next year’s Glow-worm Mystery Trip

Registrations have opened for the 2023 Glow-worm Mystery Trip.

The trip will see 40 Glow-worm Club Energy installers join the trip of a lifetime to a top-secret destination for them and their partner. Previous destinations have included Vietnam and Mauritius.

To enter, sign up to Club Energy, Glow-worm’s loyalty programme. You will then receive a personalised target, and every eligible Glow-worm product you install and register over the next 12 months will earn points towards that target.

Glow-worm is also offering staggered prizes as you reach the different levels on the way to the ‘Mystery Trip red zone’.

Spencer Clark, commercial director for UK & Ireland, says: “The Mystery Trip is open to all Glow-worm Club Energy installers, no matter what size of business and how many installations they can carry out per year; everyone gets an individual target to ensure they are competing among similar installer businesses.”

To register for your chance to win, go to: www.glow-worm.

co.uk/MysteryTrip

Brits need technology-fair decarbonisation, says Vaillant

With the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) now under way, there is still more work to be done on helping consumers shift to low-carbon heating, says Vaillant’s Mark Wilkins. The director of technologies and training says that although the BUS helps towards the cost of installation, there may be more support needed for fabric upgrades before a heat pump can be fitted, particularly in older properties.

Even with no VAT on heat pumps and the installation cost, currently, heat pumps are more expensive to install than a gas or oil boiler. Removing a boiler and installing a heat pump is not a likefor-like replacement: in most cases, the heating system will need to be upgraded to operate at a more efficient lower flow temperature, and a hot water cylinder is also required.

These necessary upgrades make it impossible today to upgrade to a heat pump without additional cost. Mark says there will need to be a mix of heat pumps and hydrogen boilers, so those properties that would need huge upgrades can look to install hydrogen once it is available.

The government needs to develop consumer education platforms so that homeowners are offered a technology-fair approach to decarbonisation. The fuel crisis is adding to consumer uncertainty about making a fuel switch. While heat pumps are a tried and tested technology, they are considered a fairly new concept for homeowners, and they do operate differently from a traditional boiler, which the homeowner needs to be aware of.

The BUS grant will help consumers to install a heat pump but a homeowner will most likely need to add an upfront cost of at least £2,000 on top of that to complete the system.

Royal superfan adds Jubilee-themed boiler to her majestic collection

A royal superfan received a Jubilee edition boiler from Royal Warrant-holder Worcester Bosch to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Anita Atkinson from County Durham was presented with the one-of-a-kind oil boiler, which has a specially designed front to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee.

It was installed free of charge by Karl and Ross Hawes from local company KH Heating.

Anita has curated an extensive collection of around 12,000 pieces of royal memorabilia that she displays in her museum in a converted barn.

She said: “I was over the moon when Worcester Bosch got in touch. We’ve had our current Worcester boiler since 2006 so it was perfect timing. The Jubilee is all about community and so I also want to say thank you to KH Heating for going above and beyond by installing the boiler.”

Vic Billings, Worcester Bosch’s director of marketing, says: “It is a historic achievement for the Queen to reach 70 years of service and we’re honoured to have been warming communities for 60 of those.”

HMRC reminder

HMRC is reminding you that if you are self-employed, you are responsible for reporting your income to HMRC, via self-assessment. You must register by 5 October in the second tax year of your business. You can find more information about registering for self-assessment at

www.gov.uk/register-forself-assessment

If you were self-employed in the 2021/22 tax year, the deadline for your second income tax payment on account is coming up. You must make your second income tax payment by 31 July 2022.

HMRC wants to help you get this right and will send you a statement of account to tell you how much you should pay. Alternatively, you may be able to check your amount due via your Personal or Business Tax Account or by calling HMRC’s Self Assessment Helpline. You can find out more information about your income tax bill or payment on account at www.gov.uk/

pay-self-assessment-tax-bill

Not reporting your income through self-assessment or not making your income tax payments on time could lead to HMRC imposing interest charges and penalties.

LCL Awards launches Inclusivity Charter

LCL Awards has launched an Inclusivity Charter for its centres to encourage them to make their training facilities flexible and accessible to people from all walks of life.

The charter has been introduced to address the lack of women and other underrepresented groups in the building services engineering sector. It was developed with Hattie Hasan, founder of all-female plumbing business Stopcocks Women Plumbers. Hattie recently received an MBE for her services to women in the plumbing and heating industry.

LCL Awards centres that sign up to the Charter must first review where they stand in terms of inclusivity; from not tolerating offensive language, to developing courses that can be delivered online or at times to suit parents and people who are training in and around their work.

The Inclusivity Charter Checklist will form part of LCL Awards’ auditing process, which all its accredited centres must complete annually.

LCL Awards held an online CPD workshop, alongside Hattie, to introduce the charter to its members. Topics covered included unconscious bias, dealing with conflict, flexible course delivery, and how centres can demonstrate their inclusive values. Centres that meet the charter’s conditions will receive a plaque. The charter will be displayed in-centre and online.

New heat pump training from Daikin

Daikin has created training courses for gas engineers to install air source heat pump systems.

The DUK-H25: LCL Awards Level 3 Award in the Installation and Maintenance of Air Source Heat Pump Systems (nonrefrigerant circuits) consists of two days of training followed by one day of assessment, comprising online multiple-choice theory exams and practical assessments.

The LCL Awards qualification is aimed at existing heating engineers who want to add air source heat pump installation to their services. The qualification proves full competence in the installation of these types of system and can be counted towards MCS accreditation.

Daikin product and training manager Martin Passingham says: “We are thrilled to announce the commencement of the LCL Awards training courses, which will ensure plumbers are fully upskilled in the installation and maintenance of air source heat pumps. It is crucial that the industry looks towards these heat pump solutions as we strive to use fewer fossil fuels to ultimately help the UK achieve its target of net zero by 2050.”

Find out more at: www.

daikin.co.uk/en_GB/contact/ Training/lcl-awards-level-3.html

Navi-Van hits the road

The Navi-Van is Navien’s new display and mobile training vehicle, which take its products out on the road directly to heating engineers and merchants.

The vehicle contains working models of Navien’s NCB condensing gas boilers and LCB700 Blue Flame oil boilers, as well as the NPE Premium Condensing water heater.

You can experience the company’s product portfolio for both training and educational purposes, and the Navi-Van can also be used for entertaining customers – its side panels fold out to form an extended function and reception area, suitable for meetings and events.

Panels open up to reveal information about the company’s boilers and controls, details about its heritage and international reputation, and an overview of the Navien Choice loyalty scheme.

The Navi-Van will be travelling the UK throughout the year and will be in the south-east this month (July). National business manager Jason Davies says: “We are committed to supporting and educating our installer and merchant customers nationwide.

“By introducing the new Navi-Van, we can now bring our products directly to them, for essential on-site training as well as business and networking events. Having so much information and resources in one place ensures we can demonstrate all the technologies which Navien is known for around the world.”

EPCs should be redesigned, says assessor scheme

The government should redesign Energy Performance Certificates so that they focus equally on energy consumption, cost and carbon emissions, says energy assessor accreditation scheme Elmhurst Energy.

Its new almanac captures key facts and figures about the current state of the energy performance of UK buildings and provides links to the most important policy developments, consultations and regulatory developments affecting the sector.

It also spells out Elmhurst’s top 10 policy recommendations for the year ahead, including the company’s repeated call for EPCs to be changed. The company’s managing director Stuart Fairlie says: “The domestic EPC was set up in 2007 as a cost metric and hasn’t been updated since. Unfortunately, EPC ratings are now being used as a policy tool to reduce carbon emissions and therefore climate change. This just doesn’t work.

“Elmhurst has been calling for the redesign of the EPC for many years.

“We want to see EPCs giving equal focus to energy consumption, cost and carbon emissions. Fortunately, the national calculation methodologies (SAP and SBEM) can present all three metrics and we believe all three should be presented in the EPC. We have even designed a new EPC to show how it could look.

“Once we have made this change to EPCs, governments can align their regulations to the relevant metric.”