𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆?

According to industry representatives quoted by France 2, nearly 30,000 people would need to be recruited to meet the level of demand in the French market.

At the same time, repeated heatwaves are increasing the need for immediate access to cooling.

Professional installation capacity may therefore become a constraint on market growth.

➡️ Portable air-conditioning units already provide one answer.

They can be purchased and used almost immediately because they remove professional installation from the process.

Their technical and efficiency limitations are well known.

➡️ A new self-installation mini-split using #R454B, recently introduced in the United States, follows a different path.

It attempts to preserve the performance advantages of a split system while reducing the specialist work required on site.

Precharged lines, sealed connections and simplified procedures transfer part of the installation complexity from the field to the factory.

▪️ For manufacturers, this could support higher volumes without requiring the professional network to expand at the same speed.

▪️ For distributors, it could open broader retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels.

But when installation moves away from the professional channel, technical responsibility does not disappear.

It moves into product design, factory controls, instructions, retailer competence and after-sales support.

The recent recall in France of several R290 monobloc heat pumps provides an important warning.

The identified risk depended not only on the refrigerant, but also on the position in which the equipment had been installed.

➡️ Simplifying access to cooling can be a legitimate response to limited professional capacity.

➡️ Removing control over installation conditions is not.

The US market is not the European market.

Its refrigerant policies, certification requirements and risk-management framework remain different.

A direct transfer of this DIY model to Europe should therefore not be assumed.

➡️ But this first commercial step is still significant.

It opens a new way of considering split-system installation: more operations controlled in the factory, fewer specialist interventions on site and less dependence on installer availability.

Europe may not adopt the American DIY model.

➡️ But it cannot ignore the industrial logic behind it.

The real question is how split systems can become easier to deploy at scale without weakening safety, control and technical responsibility.

S𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴: 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 2 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴, 3 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 2026; 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘔𝘙𝘊𝘖𝘖𝘓 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘋𝘐𝘠 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪-𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.