With the major changes taking place in the UK heating sector, as renewable heating systems become increasingly more popular due to Government legislation and a raised awareness of the need for greener technologies and a far lower dependence on fossil fuelled heating, the need for trained installers capable of installing new air source heat pumps has grown exponentially.
The result is that we are seeing a number of new training facilities taking off up and down the country as installers look to add installation of heat pumps to their skills sets. One such centre is the new Go Green Training centre at Shotton Colliery, in County Durham, just to the north west of Peterlee. Whilst the key role of the new centre is to provide training facilities it is also to dispel myths that are out there about heat pumps, one of which is that radiators cannot be used to heat homes with heat pumps. Radiators can be combined happily with heat pumps – you simply need to size the radiators properly as you should with any installation, to ensure the radiators are of a size to provide the level of heat required for comfort heating. Stelrad has provided a display to Go Green to help get this message across – the company having increased its range of sizes available and introduced its new K3 radiators that offer three panel and three sets of fins to provide increased levels of heat from a K3 radiator with the same size radiator footprint as a traditional K2 radiator.
Stelrad Specification manager Lewis Aird says: “We are happy to help the guys at Go Green to get their new centre up and running and to be alongside them to persuade engineers of the benefits of using radiators in conjunction with air source heat pump driven heating systems. UFH is an option but has as many drawbacks as it has benefits and we’re seeing many new housebuilders making the decision to go with radiators in their new homes because of the ease of installation and the quality of the products they can use.”
Gas engineers in the North East and Scotland can now become qualified air source heat pump installers at this new centre. It’s opened its doors to provide qualifications in installation, servicing and maintenance of air source heat pumps helping tradespeople to take advantage of growing demand for low carbon heating systems.
Go Green Training is the brainchild of Brian Weir and Lee McCann who have between them more than 40 years of experience of installing heat pumps. Director Brian Weir says: “We are on a mission to upskill installers in the North East with the training they need to take advantage of the expanding renewables sector. We want to be at the forefront of training the next generation of air source heat pump engineers across the North East and Scotland.”
Currently there is a major shortage of qualified installers to help meet the predicted demand for air source heat pumps in the UK. The Government has a target for installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 and there are currently only around 2,000 qualified installers in the whole UK.
Go Green offers a range of fully approved LCL training courses including a ‘One day Water Regulations’ Course, a ‘One day energy efficiency’ course, a ‘One Day legionella’ course, a ‘Two Day Unvented hot water systems and safety’ course and a ‘Three day Air Source Heat Pump Installation Training’ Course. To take the three day installation course there are a number of prerequisites which Go Green can combine with the course if an engineer does not have these under his or her belt already or if they need to renew those courses to update their qualifications. For admission on this course engineers must already have passed and have proof of certification for WRAS Water Regulations, Energy Efficiency Part L, Legionella and Unvented hot water systems. They will also need to present any plumbing, heating/ventilation, gas or oil certificates they currently hold.
For more information on Go Green Training courses head for www.gogreentraining.co.uk and for more information on Stelrad radiators and their relevance to new heating installations with air source heat pumps head for www.stelrad.com.
