Notifications

Clear all

Heat Pump Installers: Competence, Illusion and the Hard Truth Homeowners Must Face

Mars · 2025-09-24T14:45:21Z

The UK’s heat pump industry is being suffocated by a combination of poor training, overconfidence and a regulatory framework that has failed to raise the bar. If things carry on as they are, we’re heading for a farcical situation: government will need to follow the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) with a Heat Pump Upgrade Scheme (HPUS), spending yet more taxpayer money to go back and fix thousands of bodged or subpar installations. It would be a spoof scenario straight out of Hot Shots, where the rescue team is sent in to save the rescue team that was sent in to save the original rescue team. Except in this case, it’s not a comedy, it’s real homeowners’ money, real public funds and real carbon targets being wasted. At the heart of the issue is the uncomfortable reality that too many installers are operating under the Dunning-Kruger effect (the psychological phenomenon where people with low ability overestimate their competence) while many others are still stuck somewhere in Noel Burch’s Four Stages of Competence (thank you @grahamf for bringing this to my attention). Together, this explains why installation standards remain so low, why so many homeowners are being let down and why trust in heat pumps is being damaged at the exact moment the technology most needs champions. The Dunning-Kruger effect is easy to spot in this sector. Walk onto a job, listen to the installer and you’ll hear confidence, certainty and sales patter delivered with a straight face. But scratch the surface and you discover heat pumps that short cycle, radiators undersized for the flow temperatures being delivered, controls left at factory defaults and systems that never perform to the theoretical standards promised. These are not small mistakes. They are fundamental errors that condemn homeowners to higher running costs, colder rooms and overall disappointment. The installer, meanwhile, genuinely believes they’ve done a good job. They don’t know what they don’t know. And when their work is shielded by certification logos and paperwork, the homeowner often has no way of realising the truth until the bills arrive or the system fails to deliver comfort. Layered onto that is Burch’s Four Stages of Competence. Far too many installers are still stuck in stage one: unconscious incompetence. They simply don’t know enough to grasp that they’re getting it wrong. A smaller group has moved into stage two: conscious incompetence. They recognise their shortcomings, but often don’t have access to the training or mentoring needed to move forward. A handful are at stage three: conscious competence, where they can deliver good work but only with constant focus and effort. Very few are at stage four: unconscious competence, where design and installation excellence comes as second nature. Those that are in that top bracket stand out, but they are rare and they are drowning in a sea of mediocrity. Training is meant to provide the bridge between these stages, yet it is woefully inadequate. An installer can attend a short course (usually a couple of days), tick some boxes and walk away with a certificate that suggests they’re competent, when in reality they’ve never had to design or commission a real-world system to a high standard. Even respected training programmes stop short of consistently preparing people to install heat pumps that hit SCOPs above 3 in the field. Knowledge is fragmented, best practice isn’t enforced and the industry’s obsession with paperwork and compliance forms does nothing to improve outcomes inside actual homes. It’s little wonder that average seasonal efficiencies across the UK remain stuck around 2.7 when properly designed and installed systems could and should be performing far higher. The tragedy is that none of this is hidden. Homeowners are living with the consequences every day, and forums like Renewable Heating Hub are full of stories that paint the same picture: buffer tanks used as a crutch for poor system design, emitters never upgraded to suit lower flow temperatures and installers walking away from cold houses because “the heat pump is working as designed” despite there being no planning or design. It's a wild situation and in reality the industry is littered with unconscious incompetence masquerading as expertise, and there is no meaningful consumer protection in place to shield people from it. MCS certification, which should be the gatekeeper of standards, does not guarantee quality. It guarantees only that the paperwork has been filled in. So what does this mean for homeowners who are considering a heat pump? It means that due diligence isn’t optional, it’s absolutely essential. You cannot take an installer’s word at face value, no matter how convincing their pitch or how many badges they flash on their website. You cannot assume that MCS certification means your system will be designed correctly. And you certainly cannot assume that price is an indicator of quality. Instead, you have to become your own investigator. Dem...

Page 3 / 3 Prev

Government Schemes, Regulations, Planning & Organisations

Last Post by Mars 1 hour ago

28 Posts

7 Users

24 Reactions

1,041 Views

RSS

Mars

(@editor)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 3503

Topic starter 01/10/2025 9:26 pm

Posted by: @grahamf

↑

@editor I hope you have at least a partially working heating system for the winter?

@pirate-rich spent another full day with us today, joined by @chas-b, working tirelessly to get all the air out of the system. It was an incredible effort, and we’re hugely grateful for their time, dedication and determination to get things done properly. They also repiped much of the internal system and added a fill-and-flush valve along with an air release valve.

If more heating engineers approached their work with the same attitude and care as Rich and Chas, the heat pump industry in the UK would look very different indeed.

Thanks to them we’ll have heating this winter.

PS - here’s what we were left dealing with: https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/why-air-release-valves-and-deaerators-are-non-negotiable/

This post was modified 2 hours ago by Mars

Buy a copy of the The Ultimate Guide to Heat Pumps

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast

🫶

ReplyQuote

Mars

(@editor)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 3503

Topic starter 01/10/2025 9:29 pm

Posted by: @ashp-bobba

↑

@editor Oh no, that sound like a disaster, sorry to hear that.

It certainly has been a testing time… but we’re almost there!

Buy a copy of the The Ultimate Guide to Heat Pumps

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast

ReplyQuote

Pirate Rich

(@pirate-rich)

Active Member Member

Joined: 1 week ago

Posts: 8

01/10/2025 10:02 pm

Posted by: @editor

↑

Posted by: @grahamf

↑

@editor I hope you have at least a partially working heating system for the winter?

@pirate-rich spent another full day with us today, joined by @chas-b, working tirelessly to get all the air out of the system. It was an incredible effort, and we’re hugely grateful for their time, dedication and determination to get things done properly. They also re-piped much of the internal system and added a fill-and-flush valve along with an air release valve.

If more heating engineers approached their work with the same attitude and care as Rich and Chas, the heat pump industry in the UK would look very different indeed.

Thanks to them we’ll have heating this winter.

PS - here’s what we were left dealing with: https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/why-air-release-valves-and-deaerators-are-non-negotiable/

Well, what a day it's been! But, I think we cracked the nut that multiple installers haven't been able to so far. Yes, there is still some work to do, but at least you will have a system that will be operational and virtually silent in the coming days until we can revisit a heat pump system next year.

Thank you to you and Kirsten for looking after us today while we designed, re-piped, and refilled the system to remove all the air. Sadly, it transpired that the UFH manifold is in less than good shape, so something that will need to be addressed to have a heating system with longevity.

Richard, Rich, Dick, Captain or Pirate... I answer to them all in any sequence! 🏴‍☠️☠️👍
See my heat pump running live here... 👉 HeatPumpMonitor.org 👈
Buying from 🏴‍☠️ PirateHeatingSupplies.com 🏴‍☠️ means you support my family owned, independant business!🙏❤️👍

🙏

ReplyQuote

Mars

(@editor)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 5 years ago

Posts: 3503

Topic starter 01/10/2025 10:06 pm

@pirate-rich there’s a lot to do and plan, and the wish list is getting longer and longer, but I feel more positive than I have in a long time that next year we will finally an efficient and well designed system. It’s going to be a monumental project this spring. Epic!

Buy a copy of the The Ultimate Guide to Heat Pumps

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast

ReplyQuote

Page 3 / 3 Prev

Forum Jump:

Previous Topic

Recently viewed by users: Judith 49 minutes ago, ASHP-BOBBA 53 minutes ago, Mars 1 hour ago.

26 Forums
2,199 Topics
48.4 K Posts
128 Online
5,854 Members

Forum Icons: Forum contains no unread posts Forum contains unread posts

Topic Icons: Not Replied Replied Active Hot Sticky Unapproved Solved Private Closed

RE: Glycol

@editor Good point, I suppose establish that 1st, work ...

By ASHP-BOBBA , 53 minutes ago
RE: Heat Pump Installers: Competence, Illusion and the Hard Truth Homeowners Must Face

@pirate-rich there’s a lot to do and plan, and the wish...

By Mars , 1 hour ago
RE: Why Air Release Valves and Deaerators are Non-Negotiable

@chas-b and @pirate-rich spent the day with us today ta...

By Mars , 1 hour ago
RE: Help me keep the faith with my air source heat pump installation

@adamk Its a bit complex: My 28mm primaries run for a...

By JamesPa , 3 hours ago
RE: Seeking Help for In-Principle Quote to fix a botched heat pump installation by Heat Geek Installer

Can you separate out the scop data between hot water an...

By Andrew J H , 5 hours ago
RE: Solar Power Output – Let’s Compare Generation Figures

Further, these bar charts may throw a few more lumens o...

By Toodles , 6 hours ago
RE: Heat pump and wifi kit connection.

Wi-Fi kit covers any Samsung device that has a modem in...

By Alfapat , 24 hours ago
RE: How to Understand Wiring Up a Heat Pump

I’m watched @pirate-rich rewire our wiring centre last ...

By Mars , 1 day ago
RE: Sizing - Save me from my headache

If you get an R290 pump you should be able to heat the ...

By JamesPa , 1 day ago
RE: Large heat pump options for church building

@aventus-eco Thanks Sean, will drop you a line.

By Josephiah , 1 day ago
RE: Moving FIT array onto a Tesla Powerwall 3 possible?

@toodles that’s good news for @adamk

By Judith , 1 day ago
RE: Samsung Gen 6 - Schedules not working

@technogeek That sounds very logical :-). I will give i...

By bontwoody , 1 day ago
RE: Who's your electricity provider and what's your tariff?

Considering Octopus states all their electricity is gre...

By AgentGeorge , 1 day ago
RE: Heat Pump + Tado Setup: Smarter Control for Secondary Pumps?

@pirate-rich thanks for the reply. If I were to explo...

By Lloydi , 1 day ago
RE: Seal the Deal: Don't Let Your Heat Pump Leak Energy

@transparent I think the committee might get into some ...

By Toodles , 1 day ago
Samsung ASHP Support in Midlands area?

Hi all, Per title.... can anyone recommend a ASHP ser...

By Andehh , 1 day ago
RE: Heat Batteries

May I present the maths I referred to earlier when disc...

By Transparent , 1 day ago
RE: RDSAP10 effect on existing heat pump EPC rating?

How many times and dates have epc sap rules been change...

By Tim441 , 1 day ago

Forums

Heat Pump Installers: Competence, Illusion and the Hard Truth Homeowners Must Face

Join Us!

Podcast Picks

Latest Posts

Members Online