Heating and ventilation engineer
Heating and ventilation engineers install and service heating and air conditioning in large buildings like factories, schools and hospitals.
Salary Range: £18,000 to £35,000
How to become a heating and ventilation engineer
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- an apprenticeship
College
You can take a college course to learn some of the skills needed in this job.
Courses include:
- Level 2 Diploma in Plumbing and Heating
- Level 3 Diploma Building Services Engineering
Entry requirements
You’ll usually need:
- 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, for a level 3 course
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Apprenticeship
You can get into this job through an:
- intermediate apprenticeship as a building services engineering installer
- advanced apprenticeship as a building services engineering craftsperson
This can take 2 to 3 years to complete.
Entry requirements
You’ll usually need:
- 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship
- some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
More information
More information
Further information
You can get more advice about working and training in heating and ventilation from the Building and Engineering Services Association.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You’ll need:
- the ability to use, repair and maintain machines and tools
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- customer service skills
- the ability to use your initiative
- knowledge of building and construction
- analytical thinking skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- persistence and determination
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
What you’ll do
Day-to-day tasks
Your day-to-day tasks may include working as a:
- heating installer, fitting heating equipment and pipework systems
- ductwork installer, putting in ductwork and ventilation systems
- domestic heating installer, fitting central heating systems in homes
- service engineer, planning and carrying out regular maintenance and repairs
- commissioning engineer, making sure systems meet their original design specification
- control engineer, designing and installing the control panels that operate and adjust heating systems
- renewable energy engineer, working with systems using wind, tidal, solar, wave, hydro, geothermal, biomass and hydrogen
Working environment
You could work at a client’s business or at a client’s home.
Your working environment may be cramped, you’ll travel often and at height.
Career path and progression
You could move into a managerial role or technical sales.
With further training you could become a building energy management systems control engineer.