As part of this year’s National Heat Pump Week (12-16 October), Installer spoke to Jo Salt – Sales Development Manager at Glow-worm – about the new GeniaAir complete heat pump system.
The GeniaAir is Glow-worm’s new R290 air source heat pump, which is available in 5, 7 and 11kW. Launched in 2026, it’s a significant investment from the UK-based manufacturer.
“This is the first Glow-worm heat pump manufactured in-house by us,” Jo explained. “The Glow-worm brand is trusted by installers across the UK, and we’re known for our quality boilers. Our GeniaAir heat pump builds on this legacy having been established for over 90 years supporting both installers and end users across the UK.
“The time is right for Glow-worm to move into low-carbon technology. The market is growing, as is awareness of heat pumps, and we have a very loyal installer base who want to offer Glow-worm heat pumps to their customers.
“A big USP for us is that it’s a whole system solution. Heating engineers can install the R290 heat pump, the cylinder, and the controls package, that integrate together perfectly.
“One of the features that installers love is the Flexible Space Function (FSF). We’ve got housing stock with the smallest footprint in Europe, and siting the outdoor unit can be tricky. FSF is a software feature which is activated at installer level, that enables the outdoor unit to be placed a lot closer to the property.
“GeniaAir is a very good solution and a good price point. It’s cost optimised without compromise, which has been key to the success of Glow-worm in the UK.”
Support and training for installers
Glow-worm is a well-established brand, manufacturing heating products in the UK for over 90 years. With the launch of the new heat pump solution, Glow-worm is looking to help its installer base transition to low-carbon technologies.
“We’ve involved our installers right from the start of this project,” said Jo. “It takes between four and five years to take a project from idea to launch, so we’ve been working on this since 2021. At the design stage, we invited our installers to get round the table with us, and we asked them, ‘What do you want?’, ‘What do you need?’ and ‘How can we provide that?’.
“It’s about giving them the product that works for them, but it’s also about giving installers the confidence to have these conversations with their customers. When we talk about heat pumps, it’s not just the outdoor unit. You have to consider the cylinder, the controls and the system that it’s part of.
“Training is the key to everything that we do. Even if you’ve done training on boilers five years ago, there’s a lot of changes down the line. So we’re encouraging training every step of the way, from boilers right through to heat pumps, because then you get the correct information delivered by our industry-leading training team.
“There’s also our Grow with Glow MCS Partner Programme which lets engineers carry out installs without needing their own MCS accreditation, under the certification of a Glow-worm approved MCS partner.
“It’s an interesting time for the industry and it’s exciting for engineers to look at new ways they can help people heat their homes.”
National Heat Pump Week
National Heat Pump Week takes place from 12-16 of October, supported by Glow-worm. So what is Jo looking forward to most during the week?
“We’re always excited to help spread the word and accelerate the addition of heat pumps,” Jo said.
“I’m signed up to many of the talks that are happening during the week, and our focus is mainly on training. Our Head of Product Management Paul Honeyman is speaking on the Busting Common Heat Pump Myths panel, and Our Head of Training, Laura Thomas, is speaking on Installing your first heat pump panel. It’s exciting to see the incredibly hard work that the industry does to encourage the adoption of low-carbon heating.”
Find out more at: Trade | Glow-worm
