Compared
DrawWarm vs a training rig
In short
A training rig is real parts on a board: real terminals, real screwdrivers, real mains. DrawWarm is the same circuit on a screen, one per learner, with a meter and 23 faults that reset in a click. The rig teaches the feel of the job; the simulator teaches the circuit, every day, to everyone at once. Keep the rig.
Side by side
| A training rig | DrawWarm | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Real components wired on a board, usually one per classroom, live at mains voltage under supervision. | A heating wiring and fault-finding simulator: wire S-Plan, Y-Plan and combi controls yourself, switch on, meter, break, fix. |
| How many can use it | One or two learners at a time; the rest watch. | Every learner has their own, at once, on the PC in front of them. |
| Faults | Whatever the tutor wired in, once. Resetting means rewiring. | 23 call-outs, chosen at random, reset in a click, scored. |
| Safety | Mains voltage: supervised, isolated, checked, never unattended. | No electricity. Wire it wrong and see what would happen, then try again. |
| Evidence of practice | The tutor’s eyes, on the day. | Stars, scores and time per lesson for every learner; a tutor report for the group. |
| Cost | A capital purchase, plus the room it lives in and the parts it eats. | From £348 a seat a year for a college, the same as an individual paying yearly; the full version from £990 a seat a year at launch. |
| Where it lives | The workshop, during the timetabled slot. | Anywhere with a browser: the classroom, the library, home. |
| What it cannot do | Be everywhere, or be wrong safely. | Teach the feel of a terminal screw or a stiff conductor. That is the rig’s job. |
Facts about a training rig are as published on the date shown in the table; check their site for anything that may have changed. DrawWarm has no connection with a training rig.
Where a training rig is better
- The physical skill: stripping, terminating, the feel of a valve head, the discipline of isolating and proving dead.
- Assessment that awarding bodies recognise. A practical observation happens on a rig.
- Real parts from real manufacturers, which is what the learner will meet on site.
Where DrawWarm is better
- Every learner does every exercise, not one learner while nineteen watch.
- Faults on demand, randomised, scored, with no rewiring between learners.
- The other four days of the week: practice between rig sessions, at home, the night before an assessment.
- A record of every exercise each learner has completed, with scores, before they get to the rig.
Both? The rig for the physical skills and the observed assessment; DrawWarm for the hundred repetitions that make the circuit automatic.
Questions
Can DrawWarm replace our rig?
Does it teach the same wiring the rig does?
What does a college need to run it?
Your first fault is waiting.
The demo opens with the launch: leave your email and the link lands in your inbox that day.