Compared
DrawWarm vs free YouTube videos
In short
YouTube, including the DrawWarm founder’s own channel, is a good free place to see heating wiring explained. But watching is not doing. The channel shows you; the simulator makes you wire it, test it with the meter and find the fault yourself, and checks your work. Use the videos for the explanation and the simulator for the practice.
Side by side
| Free videos | DrawWarm | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Engineers explaining wiring and faults on camera, for free. | 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. |
| Doing | You watch someone else wire it. | You wire it. Every connection is checked as you make it. |
| Faults | The one the presenter chose, found by the presenter. | Call-outs in the customer’s words, found by you with the meter, scored. |
| Feedback | None. You do not know what you would have got wrong. | Hints that cost points, a score, stars, and a record of what you have done. |
| Structure | Whatever the algorithm shows you next. | The Programme in stages, from reading a circuit to testing and jobs, with unit checks. |
| Cost | Free. | 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. |
| Where you use it | Any phone, tablet or computer. | A laptop or desktop with a mouse, in a browser with WebGL 2 and WebAssembly, or the Windows desktop app. Not phones or tablets. |
| The founder’s channel | Short videos to watch; no wiring you can do yourself. | The Programme, the call-outs and the Sandbox. |
Where free videos is better
- Free, and instant. For a quick reminder of which wire is which, a video wins.
- Breadth: someone has filmed nearly every boiler and every control.
- You can watch on a phone in the van. The simulator wants a laptop.
Where DrawWarm is better
- You do the wiring, so the knowledge is in your hands, not just your memory.
- You find out what you would have got wrong before a customer does.
- Fault finding is a skill, not a fact; skills need repetitions, and a video gives you one.
Both? Watch the channel to see how a fault is found, then find it yourself in the simulator. That is the order the founder built it for.
Questions
Is the DrawWarm course the same as the YouTube channel?
No. The channel has short videos to watch. The full version is the working simulator: lessons that check each connection, call-outs found with the meter, your scores and your record kept.
Can I try it before paying?
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.
Practise it in the simulator.
Runs in the browser on a laptop or desktop. Cancel any time.