He used to love teaching kids soccer and sports. But increasing desk work and then the Covid-19 lockdown took the fun out of it.
So Adam Weech, who lives near Camberley in Surrey, decided to quit and retrain as a heating engineer.
He initially worked with gas boilers, but then stumbled across a Facebook post about VitoEnergy, a company that installs heat pumps and other heating systems.
He was hooked quickly and is now doing targeted training as a heat pump installer at VitoEnergy.
“It’s the best move,” he says, adding, “It will help the environment.”
Electric heat pumps could increase the energy efficiency of millions of UK homes if installed correctly.
The International Energy Agency estimates that heat pumps could reduce global CO2 emissions by 500 million tons by 2030.
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The UK desperately needs more people like Mr Weech if the country is to come anywhere near the government’s target of 600,000 annual heat pump installations by 2028.
In just five years the UK is achieving less than 10% of that figure and the government has been slammed by the Lords Climate Change Committee for its lethargic introduction of the heat pump.
Industry experts say a shortage of installers is a significant part of the problem.
Apparently, a small army is needed. Last July, the charity Nesta estimated there were only 3,000 installers in the UK at the time and that at least 27,000 more would be needed to meet the 2028 target – if each installer installs 22 heat pumps every year.
The country needs more than 50,000 additional installers by the end of the decade, according to the UK Heat Pump Association. The Heating and Hot Water Industry Council goes even further and estimates that 150,000 more installers will be needed.
“We have a serious problem, we’re not attracting enough new people,” says Patrick Wheeler, boss of Mr. Weech, director of VitoEnergy, referring to the industry as a whole.
To add to the numbers, the Government earlier this month announced a £500 grant to help fund heat pump installation training.
Mr. Wheeler used to work with Adam Chapman at a company called Heat Geek, which is now an independent company specializing in the training of heating engineers.
Backed by a government grant, Heat Geek launched a new online course earlier this year aimed at tackling the skills shortage. 1,000 people are currently enrolled, Mr Chapman says.
Among them is Leah El-Toukhy, Office Coordinator at West Hampstead Plumbing and Heating in London. The company sometimes receives multiple inquiries about heat pumps every day.
Ms. El-Toukhy does not plan to install heat pumps herself, but her colleagues are already doing so, and she wants to inform the company’s customers as much as possible, emphasizing that public awareness and understanding of heat pumps is still nascent.
“It is important for me to have this information, to understand it and to be able to give people the best advice […] it was crucial, it’s so important,” she explains.
The Heat Geek course lasts between 60 and 100 hours and focuses on giving trainees the skills needed to design low temperature heating systems that are ideal for heat pumps.
This means that water at say 40°C is going to your radiators and not water at 60°C or 70°C which was common with old fossil fuel boilers.
For a low-temperature system to heat a home adequately, it needs careful planning, explains Mr. Chapman. This includes, for example, the exact calculation of the heat loss of a house or apartment and choosing the right size of heat pump. Sometimes homes may need larger radiators or extra insulation.
The technical details are complex and not everyone recognizes the expertise that modern heating engineers require, suggests Mr. Chapman.
“It’s kind of not respected like it should be,” he says. “There has to be a bit of a shift in appreciation.”
He recalls scrapping the idea of becoming a plumber when he was a teenager – at the time he was put off by the idea of working with toilets. He now emphasizes how skillful a craft is.
Engineering is critical to running a heat pump efficiently, argues Stephanie Willis, a data scientist at tech company Sero, because the energy use of devices can vary wildly depending on a property’s heating needs.
Not only does the country need more heating engineers, these engineers really need to know their stuff.
“A good job of installation is just a lot more important with a heat pump than with a gas boiler,” says Ms. Willis.
Various other organizations train heat pump engineers, including energy company Octopus. It currently has 250 installers and intends to increase that by “thousands” in the coming years, according to a spokeswoman.
The Oil Firing Technical Association (Oftec) also runs a government subsidized heat pump installation course at 19 sites in England. However, spokesman Malcolm Farrow says the subsidized training is due to end in March.
“We think the government should extend funding next year,” he says.
Mike Sammon, director of Ainsdale Gas and Heat Pumps in Southport, argues that there is still some misinformation about heat pumps being perpetuated by tradespeople unfamiliar with the latest technology.
Mr Sammon completed a previous training course offered by Heat Geek in October 2021 and says he believes “heat pumps are the future”.
But the lack of installers is not the only problem. Mr Sammon is critical of the homeowner’s subsidy in England and Wales: “It often doesn’t cover half the cost,” he says.
The maximum grant available for an air source heat pump is £5,000, although larger grants are available in Scotland. There are currently no grants for replacing a boiler with a heat pump in Northern Ireland.
Britain hasn’t put in enough guidelines to meet the target of 600,000 heat pump installations per year, argues Richard Hanna of Imperial College London.
“There’s no official government roadmap for that, so it’s difficult to really take government policy seriously,” he says.
A government spokeswoman replies that Britain is making heat pumps “attractive and affordable” – and that the industry has responded positively to the English and Welsh modernization program in its first year.
Ultimately, installers are the foot soldiers of the great British heat pump push and Mr Weech, for example, is delighted to be joining.
“I have a job that I’m really proud of,” he says. “I don’t just go to work to earn money, I go to work and learn something new every day.”
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