Over 70% of installers want to install heat pumps but aren’t trained to do so, according to research commissioned by Intergas Heating Solutions. Even if they were, 95% don’t have the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation necessary to access the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) grants (or the Smart Export Guarantee) on behalf of their customers.
However, when asked which renewable heating system they’d choose for their own home, 74% said they’d rather fit a hybrid heating system.
Terri Hickman, Intergas’ marketing communications manager, said: “There’s a lot of assumed knowledge about our industry and we wanted to ask installers directly how they felt about specific environmental issues, especially now as we’re all having to cope with increased economic pressures. The information we’ve gained will help inform our decisions going forward.”
The company has said that the one area it will tackle immediately is communications, as 64% of installers feel ill-informed about the climate-driven changes affecting the HVAC industry. Intergas uses social media, direct emails, on- and off-line training, forums and editorials to provide installers the latest news and industry insights.
The company believes this apparent information gap may possibly be why 44% of installers “don’t believe the climate crisis is as serious as it’s made out to be”.
A statement said that while the industry is embracing greener heating and hot water technologies, gas boilers will remain important to households all over the UK until the electricity infrastructure has been improved and the hydrogen one developed.
When installers were asked what matters most in a boiler out of these four features: ‘price’, ‘reliability’, ‘versatility’ or ‘efficiency’, 84% responded with ‘reliability’ as their first choice, followed by efficiency (8%), price (7%) and versatility (1%).