Nearly 60% of homeowners surveyed admitted to being concerned about how reliable and/or expensive their heating may be, as the nation faces more time working from home and less time travelling and socialising. Their concerns were well-founded, with one third reporting that they had experienced symptoms of an unhealthy heating system in the last 12 months, including noisy pipes and radiators, radiator cold spots and higher than expected energy bills.

Encouragingly, 70% of respondents expressed interest in investing in products that would protect their boiler and make their heating more reliable and energy efficient. This suggests that homeowner appetite for system protection measures like deaerators and dirt separators could be at an all-time high.

Kevan Peaker, UK business unit director at Spirotech, commented: “With more government advice encouraging working from home and schools already having to send pupils back out of the classroom, it’s no surprise that many homeowners are concerned by the prospect of heating their properties for far longer than normal this winter.

“Heating engineers have a great opportunity to advise homeowners on the benefits of system protection measures, when they are carrying out the many postponed boiler services that are needed this autumn. Our Better Heating website, videos and advice leaflet are all designed to shine a light on just how many heating complaints are caused by air and dirt, and to help customers understand how easily they can be remedied through the installation of a deaerator and dirt separator.

“By advising homeowners on these measures now, installers can help customers get their systems into the very best shape, so they can worry less about system breakdowns, annoying heating complaints and high energy bills, as we head into the uncertain winter months.”

The Better Heating toolkit was developed in response to installer research, which showed that 80% of installers felt that homeowners didn’t understand the concept of deaeration, and nearly a third reported a lack of customer understanding, when it comes to dirt separation too.