Compared
DrawWarm vs Heat Geek
In short
Heat Geek Learn teaches heating design and heat pumps, with community groups and a route to a regulated heat pump qualification. DrawWarm is a simulator: you wire S-Plan, Y-Plan and combi controls yourself, test them with the meter and find the fault a customer rings about. Heat Geek explains design; DrawWarm lets you practise the controls. They fit together rather than compete.
Side by side
| Heat Geek | DrawWarm | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Heat Geek Learn: courses on heat loss and U-values, emitters, hydraulic separation, buffers, pipe sizing and controls, plus survey, design, commissioning and the paperwork; an iOS app; Upgrades for installers. | A heating wiring and fault-finding simulator: wire S-Plan, Y-Plan and combi controls yourself, switch on, test with the meter, find the fault. |
| Best for | Understanding why: heat loss, flow temperatures, hydraulics, heat pump design, the business side. | Doing it with your hands: controls wiring, the meter, fault finding, until it is automatic. |
| How you learn | Short lessons they call micro-learning, then apply on site. | Wire it, switch it on, test it with the meter, find the fault. Every connection is checked and every fault round is scored. |
| Price | Learn £250 a month, excluding VAT. Upgrades from £350 a month, excluding VAT. Check their site for today’s prices. | For one person: the Sandbox £29 a month; the full version £249 a month at launch until 31 March 2027, then £299 a month. Cancel any time. No VAT is added. |
| Content | Heat pump design and installation, commissioning, and the admin side. | The Programme in stages (Foundation ready; Intermediate written and being checked), the DrawWarm Method for S-Plan and Y-Plan, Fault Vault jobs and Random Fault, and the Sandbox with every part. |
| Community | Community groups on Facebook, linked from each module. | No community yet. New faults and lessons as they are written, listed on the changelog. |
| Certificates | Their Installergy course leads to a Level 3 Heat Pump Installer qualification regulated by Ofqual, completed with an installation through their Upgrades platform. | Stars, scores and a signed record of what you completed; at the end of a Programme stage, a certificate of completion with a serial anyone can check online. Not a formal qualification, and we do not call it one. |
| Trying it first | See their site. | Not yet: there is no demo. The Sandbox, at £29 a month, is the low-cost way in, and you can cancel any time from your account. |
Where the facts about Heat Geek come from
- Prices: Heat Geek, Become a Heat Geek, checked 5 November 2026.
- Courses, the app, the community groups and the qualification: Heat Geek Learn, checked 5 November 2026.
As published on those dates; check their site for anything that may have changed. DrawWarm has no connection with Heat Geek.
Where Heat Geek is better
- Heat pump design, heat loss and hydraulics. DrawWarm does not teach design at all.
- A regulated qualification: their Installergy course leads to an Ofqual-regulated Level 3 Heat Pump Installer qualification. DrawWarm’s certificate of completion is not a formal qualification.
- Breadth and depth of explanation on heat pumps and system design, with a community to ask.
Where DrawWarm is better
- You wire the controls yourself and can be wrong safely. A video cannot check your work; the simulator checks every wire.
- Fault finding as practice, not theory: call-outs in the customer’s words, found with the meter and scored.
- Built entirely around UK controls: S-Plan, Y-Plan, combi, the wiring centre and its numbering, the cable colours used in the UK.
Both? Learn the design with Heat Geek and practise the wiring in DrawWarm. If your problem is the wiring centre, start here; if your problem is designing systems, start there.
Questions
Is DrawWarm a Heat Geek alternative?
For practising controls wiring and fault finding, yes. For heat pump design, the community and a regulated heat pump qualification, no. They teach different things in different ways.
Does DrawWarm cover heat pumps?
Not today. The simulator covers S-Plan, Y-Plan and combi systems with wired and wireless controls; the Intermediate stage, written and being checked, adds C-Plan and W-Plan, underfloor heating and OpenTherm. If heat pump controls are added, this page will say so.
Is there a Heat Geek discount or partnership?
No. DrawWarm has no connection with Heat Geek. This page compares two products so you can choose; the facts about theirs are as published on the dates shown under the table.
Practise it in the simulator.
Runs in the browser on a laptop or desktop. Cancel any time.