Heat Pumps Today

CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai CMYK / .ai www.acrjournal.uk/heat-pumps T R A I N I N G can connect solar thermal, or even an inline heater or gas boiler, within a heat pump system, to provide back-up for exceptionally cold days. We show installers that they shouldn’t be afraid to include another heat source. Correctly installed and appropriately used – contrary to popular belief – it won’t result in high energy bills. There are also alternatives to large radiators to consider, such as heat convectors or DC fans. These are the kinds of options that many people aren’t aware of, but that can help them to see heat pumps as viable and desirable solutions in many more situations. Air focus Although Viessmann makes a full range of both ground and air source heat pumps for domestic and commercial use, our marketing strategy in the UK emphasises air source because of the predominance of gas-fired heating systems here. On the whole, it’s an easier transition from gas to air source than to ground source. Air source heat pumps also require less outside space, making them more suitable for the UK’s densely populated urban areas and housing estates. Viessmann Vitocal 222-A air source heat pump Viessmann looks forward to returning to face-to- face training as soon as it can, from its Telford- based training facilities and via its mobile training unit 23 For these reasons, our heat pump training has to date focused on air source, although ground source courses are planned in future. Furthermore, all our courses include a wealth of generic information that is applicable to other heat pumps, including ground source, and even other types of heating systems altogether. That way, people leave having packed into a short space of time a lot of useful learning that they can apply immediately across their workload. We want to help people make the transition from gas boilers to heat pumps as painlessly as possible and assist them on every step of that journey. But we also want to help them specify the most appropriate solution for every client and implement it optimally. We know from the numbers of people that come back to us again for other courses that this approach is widely appreciated.