3 minute read
Training
Training is back – and here’s why you need it
As lockdown restrictions ease, manufacturers can provide face-to-face, hands-on training once again. Navien’s national training manager Sean Keleher looks at why it’s so important to keep your product knowledge and skills up to date.
With new boilers and accessories constantly being brought out, training remains vital for heating engineers in both the oil and gas sectors. Covid-19 restrictions meant that training centres around the country experienced heavy restrictions or had to close temporarily, but as essential workers, heating engineers were able to carry on servicing and repairing boilers nationwide.
Training didn’t stop altogether, though, and many companies created alternatives to physical courses, including videos, eLearning, online questionnaires and Zoom sessions. But now there is light at the end of the tunnel, and manufacturers are re-opening their training centres and inviting gas engineers back for vital, hands-on, face-to-face sessions.
In an increasingly competitive market, heating engineers need
to have the essential knowledge, skills and experience to fit the latest systems safely and effectively. After all, as gas and oil boilers (particularly Blue Flame models) continue to advance, legislation changes and customers become more informed, heating engineers need to ensure they are up to speed with all the latest developments – as well as the introduction of any new products.
With energy efficiency high on the industry agenda, manufacturers need to ensure there is adequate training in place to educate both existing heating engineers and the next generation. For new learners, they can provide colleges and educational establishments with the most advanced boilers on the market, to ensure students are up to date with the latest in heating technology.
Heating technicians need to be properly trained for the work they carry out, giving them confidence in their skills and product knowledge, while offering their customers added peace of mind in terms of safety, costs and efficiency. Attending a manufacturer’s training day is an excellent way to learn all the essential information under the guidance of a dedicated technical expert. A manufacturer-led training course also ensures that engineers can demonstrate that they have the levels of competency required when fitting a specific product.
Training courses should include comprehensive technical
explanations and hands-on, practical tuition on the products. This enables attendees to obtain valuable experience with live gas, oil and water connections, as well as familiarising themselves with the latest controls and relevant legislation.
It can be challenging to take time off work and attend a training course, but doing so offers long-term benefits. Industry-recognised training schemes include hands-on advice and learning, helping add to and enhance installers’ expertise and skills.
All appropriate accessories should also be explored in depth – including flues, pumps, condensate traps and control systems. When looking at the controls available, it is important to consider the technical aspects, such as wiring and connectivity, as well as functionality. Furthermore, as heating installers are now dealing with consumers who have grown more tech savvy, aspects such as smart controls, diagnostics and zoning are all key elements that can require detailed explanation.
Training and certification are the best ways to convey trust to your customers: the more trained gas engineers the heating industry has, the better its reputation will be, while simultaneously eliminating fraudsters carrying out substandard or even illegal work.
As the industry emerges from lockdown restrictions – and with the heating season nearly upon us – there is no better time to get re-acquainted with the latest legislative and technological developments.
Not only will it refresh your product knowledge, but it can help grow your business by ensuring you are working safely and fulfilling your customer’s expectations. ■
A standard day’s training at Navien usually includes a detailed overview of its gas and Blue Flame oil boilers, covering key aspects including installation, servicing and commissioning, as well as parameters, settings and fault analysis.
For oil boilers, this includes adjusting the oil pump and measuring combustion at the commissioning stage, along with how to clean and maintain the heat exchanger. These are certainly the key areas we cover when conducting sessions on our LCB700 Blue Flame oil boilers. Plus, attendees go home with a free training giveaway pack worth £300.
