Heating Engineer vs. Plumber: Who to Call for Your Heating Issues

Having a problem with your central heating system? Perhaps the boiler’s displaying an error code, your hot water isn’t heating up properly or your radiators have cold spots. You might even have a leak from your pipes or from the boiler itself.

If any of these situations are happening to you, you’ll need to know who to call to fix it. But the big question is – do you need a heating engineer or a plumber?

Below, we’ll run through the kinds of work each professional tradesperson tackles, from repairing boilers to fitting new radiators. And crucially, what they don’t do. This should help you to choose the right expert for the job, and get your problem sorted asap.

When to Call a Plumber – Pipework, Radiators and Hot Water Cylinders

Plumbers typically handle the following in relation to heating systems:

  • Finding and fixing water leaks in pipework
  • Replacing radiators
  • Installing new thermostatic valves on radiators
  • Repairs and maintenance to hot water cylinders.

Crucially though, a plumber is not suitably qualified to work on gas boilers, or electrical heating systems. For those jobs, you’ll need a Gas Safe certified heating engineer and a qualified electrician respectively.

When to Call a Heating Engineer – Boilers, Gas Pipes and Heating Controls

As you’ll guess from the name, a heating engineer is a specialist in central heating systems. Some work on systems of all kinds, including gas combi boilers, heat pumps and electric heating systems – while others specialise in just one area.

Heating engineers can tackle the following work:

  • Boiler installations, repairs and servicing
  • Repairs to heating controls, such as timers, thermostats and plumbing and electronic components
  • Repairs to gas pipes, including issues with the mains supply
  • Powerflushing (a cleaning process to flush out dirt, rush and other debris from your central heating system).

It’s crucial to find the right heating engineer. If it’s fixing a gas combi boiler, you’ll need an engineer who is on the Gas Safe Register.

Registration is a legal requirement in the UK for servicing, repairing and installing gas central heating systems. It means that the engineer has met the required standards of training, competence and skill to safely work with gas boilers and other systems which can be dangerous.

So always ask for a Gas Safe registration number when booking an engineer for the job, and check it on the Gas Safe Register website.

So Which is the Right Choice?

In most cases, it’ll be a heating engineer you need if you’re having problems with your central heating system. If the issue is anything to do with a boiler, a Gas Safe certified heating engineer will be the right person for the job. They’re also the only one suitably qualified to safely work on your boiler.

But for other issues such as a leaky pipe or defective radiator, a plumber may be the right choice. If you have an electric-only heating system, it’ll be an electrician specialising in heating systems you need to find.

You may find that professionals working in all of these trades tend to specialise in a particular area. For example, some plumbers only work on new bathroom installations, while some heating engineers only maintain and repair ground or air source heat pump systems rather than gas boilers.

So, you may need to do a little extra research to find the right person for the job. The good news though is that boiler repair companies and engineers tend to be widely available, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one. With their help, your heating system will soon be working efficiently again.