Choosing an air conditioning installer in Europe, and reading the quote properly
Contents (8)
Two identical machines installed in two identical flats can perform very differently five years apart, and the variable is almost never the brand. It is the pipe run, the vacuum pulled before the valves were opened, the charge adjusted for the length of the line, the position of the outdoor unit and the drainage. In air conditioning, you are buying a service that happens to include a product. That is why the installer question deserves more of your attention than the model question, and why Europe — unusually — gives you a hard legal filter to start from.
The legal filter: F-gas certification
Across the European Union, the refrigerant circuit is not open to anyone. Under Regulation (EU) 2024/573, installing, servicing, repairing, decommissioning, leak-checking or recovering fluorinated gas from non-hermetically sealed equipment is reserved to certified personnel working for a certified undertaking. The rule has teeth on the sales side too: equipment pre-charged with F-gas may only be sold to an end user where evidence is provided that the installation will be carried out by a certified undertaking. An installer who shrugs at that requirement is telling you something important within the first five minutes.
The regime is being tightened rather than relaxed. Member states must have certification and training programmes in place by 11 March 2027 that also cover alternatives to fluorinated gases — the natural refrigerants such as propane appearing in monoblocs and heat pumps — and existing certificate holders must complete a first update or reassessment by 12 March 2029. In practice, ask for two things: the company certificate and the individual certificate of the person who will be on your roof. National names differ — attestation de capacité in France, Sachkundenachweis in Germany, patentino and the F-gas register in Italy, the carné in Spain, company registration schemes in the United Kingdom — but every one of them produces a number that can be checked against a register.
What a serious quote contains
Most disputes trace back to a quote that said « supply and install a 3.5 kW split system » on one line. A professional document is longer because the job is longer, and each of the items below is a place where money and performance hide.
| Line item | What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Exact model references | Indoor and outdoor commercial codes, not just a capacity | Lets you check the declared SEER, SCOP, sound power and low-temperature output yourself |
| Refrigerant | Type, factory charge in kg, and any additional charge for the pipe length | Determines the CO₂-equivalent, the servicing regime and the disposal obligations |
| Pipe run | Length, diameter, insulation, route and whether trunking is included | The single largest variable between two quotes for the same machine |
| Outdoor unit position | Bracket, floor stand, anti-vibration mounts, working clearances | Governs noise, efficiency in a heatwave and whether the building will accept it |
| Condensate | Where the water goes, gravity or pump | The commonest post-installation complaint in European flats |
| Electrical scope | Who provides the circuit, the protection and the isolator | The classic hole in a fixed price, detailed in our guide to the electrical supply an air conditioner needs |
| Commissioning | Pressure test with nitrogen, evacuation with a vacuum gauge, recorded readings | Skipping it is invisible on day one and fatal by year three |
| Old equipment | Recovery of refrigerant and removal of the previous unit | Venting is unlawful; disposal is a cost, so it should appear as one |
| Warranty | Duration for parts, labour and the installation itself, plus servicing conditions | Manufacturer warranties are routinely conditional on certified installation and annual service |
Where those items translate into money, and how much of it is labour rather than equipment, is broken down in our guide to air conditioning installation costs in Europe.
Sizing is the question that separates professionals
Listen to how the capacity is arrived at. An installer who asks about orientation, glazing area and type, insulation, the floor above and below, ceiling height, occupancy and whether you intend to heat with it in winter is doing a load estimate. One who multiplies square metres by a fixed number is selling from a price list, and the usual result is an oversized machine that short-cycles, dehumidifies poorly and costs more to buy and to run. Bring your own figure to the conversation using our method for sizing an air conditioner in kW, then ask them to justify any large difference.
The second professional reflex concerns permissions. A serious company will raise the outdoor unit position, the noise at the neighbour’s window and whether the building or the municipality has to approve anything, before quoting — the landscape is mapped in our guide to permission to install air conditioning in Europe. A company that treats consent as your problem alone is one that has never had to remove an installation.
Red flags
- No certificate number offered, or irritation at being asked for one.
- « We will just top it up with gas if it drops » — a sealed circuit does not consume refrigerant, and the correct answer is always to find the leak, as our guide to topping up refrigerant explains.
- A price agreed without anyone seeing the wall, the route or the electrical board.
- No mention of a nitrogen pressure test or a vacuum, or a claim that « the gas purges the line » — a practice that vents refrigerant and leaves moisture in the circuit.
- Pressure to sign today for a discount that expires this evening, particularly at the door or on the telephone.
- Cash payment without an invoice, which removes your legal guarantee along with the receipt.
- A quote materially below every other one, with the difference unexplained. It is usually the commissioning, the electrical work or the disposal that has quietly gone missing.
Comparing three quotes fairly
Three quotes only inform you if they describe the same job. Fix the variables before you ask: the same outdoor unit position, the same number and type of indoor units, the same capacity band, and the same efficiency class. Then compare on the things that differ legitimately — pipe route and length, whether trunking is painted, whether the electrical circuit is included, warranty duration, and the response time promised in July when everyone else is also broken down.
Ask each company two open questions, and listen to the reasoning rather than the answer. What do they propose for the condensate, and why? What noise level do they expect at the nearest neighbour’s window at night? Companies that answer with specifics have done the job many times; companies that answer with reassurance have not.
The handover pack you should hold at the end
When the fitters leave, a properly documented installation gives you a folder. Insist on it before the final payment, because assembling it afterwards is much harder:
- The invoice, itemised, with the exact model and serial numbers of both units.
- A copy of the company and individual F-gas certificates.
- The commissioning record: pressure test result, vacuum achieved, total refrigerant charge including any added for pipe length, and operating readings at handover.
- The electrical certificate or declaration for the new circuit.
- Manufacturer manuals and the warranty registration, with the servicing conditions highlighted.
- Proof that the old unit’s refrigerant was recovered and the equipment taken to a proper waste route.
That folder is what makes a warranty claim work, what a buyer’s surveyor wants to see if you sell, and the baseline any future technician will thank you for. Keeping it up to date with each annual visit is the cheapest insurance available on the machine — the servicing rhythm is set out in our guide to air conditioning maintenance in Europe.
What you can rely on if it goes wrong
Two layers of protection exist and they are frequently confused. The equipment you bought as a consumer in the EU carries a legal guarantee against lack of conformity of at least two years from delivery under Directive (EU) 2019/771, exercised against the seller rather than the manufacturer. The installation itself is a service, governed by national contract law, with periods and remedies that vary by country and are often longer for work affecting the building. In practice, a young machine that has lost its charge points at a flare joint — that is the installer’s work, not a product defect — while a compressor that fails in the third year is a manufacturer matter. Documenting which is which is precisely what the handover pack does.
Frequently asked questions
Do I legally need a certified installer in the EU?
For anything involving the refrigerant circuit, yes. EU rules restrict installation, servicing, repair, decommissioning, leak checking and recovery on non-hermetically sealed equipment to certified personnel, and sellers of pre-charged equipment must obtain evidence that a certified undertaking will install it. Plug-in portable units are outside that scope because their circuit is never opened.
How can I check an installer’s certificate is genuine?
Ask for the certificate number and the issuing body for both the company and the individual technician, then verify it with the national register or scheme operator in your country. Certificates carry an issue date and a validity period; under the current rules, holders certified under the previous regime must complete an update or reassessment by 12 March 2029, so a very old document is worth a question.
Can I buy the unit online and just pay someone to fit it?
It is possible but it is the arrangement that produces the most disappointment. The seller must obtain evidence of certified installation for pre-charged equipment; many installers decline supply-only work or price it higher because they carry the risk without the margin; and a fault then sits between two companies who each blame the other. Manufacturer warranties conditioned on certified installation and commissioning records also become harder to enforce.
How many quotes should I get?
Three is the useful number, obtained for the same outdoor unit position and the same capacity. Below three you have no market reference; above three you mostly collect noise. If one quote is far cheaper, ask specifically what it includes for commissioning, electrical work and disposal before assuming it is a bargain.
Is it worth paying more for a local company?
Usually, and not for sentimental reasons. Air conditioning fails in the middle of a heatwave, when every installer in the region is saturated and travel time decides who comes. A company twenty minutes away that fitted the machine, holds the commissioning file and services it annually will reach you before a cheaper one two hours off. Country-by-country context is on the Europe hub.
Sources
Read next
- What it costs to install air conditioning in Europe
- Installing air conditioning yourself in Europe: what the law allows
- Wall, floor console, cassette or ducted: choosing the indoor unit
- What temperature to set your air conditioner to, and what each degree costs
- Air conditioning in a rented home in Europe: what a tenant may actually install