During the first two weeks of January, City Plumbing recorded a 21% increase in boiler spares sales.
The company also reported a 25% rise in items picked from branch stock compared with the same period last year. This increase follows a colder start to the year, it noted.
Roz Kane, managing director for spares at City Plumbing, said: “Our figures show just how quickly breakdown demand rises when temperatures fall. Engineers are under pressure to get systems back on fast and delays caused by missing or incorrect spares quickly become the biggest frustration on a job.”
City Plumbing’s Taking the Temperature report showed that 80% of installers are now seeing more demand to repair and maintain existing heating systems rather than replace them. A total of 85% said fast access to spares is more important than ever.
The company stated that its findings show that time pressure is a major challenge for engineers, too. The data also revealed that installers spend an average of three hours and 16 minutes a week sourcing products for boiler jobs.
To support installers through the winter rush, City Plumbing said it combines online spares identification with local branch access to cut the time spent sourcing spares. Using SparesFinder, the company cited that trades can search more than 20,000 spares from over 160 manufacturers, helping them identify the right component before travelling to branch.
Roz added: “The Met Office is suggesting further cold weather could arrive later in January and into early February, so this is exactly the time when installers need confidence that the spares they need will be available when they need them. By keeping branches well stocked and systems running smoothly, we’re making sure engineers can focus on fixing boilers, not chasing spares.”