I am new to France and am really concerned about not having central air units in the buildings here. They assure me that summers in the "Region Parisien" are short-lived and moderate, but that has not calmed my nerves at all. Would you mind sharing with me your ideas about installing an air-conditioning unit in our apartment? Thank you.
Hi I live in Paris during the week and have never needed air conditioning. The other thing to watch is that if the exchanger needs to be positioned externally, check with the syndic de Copropriété about having stuff on the facade. May not always be ok. Then you have all the stat bodies to consider too.
Good luck
Can anyone recommend someone in and around Charente who can install or supply and install a split reversible a/c unit??
No idea where you are but I found these by putting installateur clim Charente into Google - if you put your commune in it will narrow it down.
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How times have changed! 2012 to now.
We have been complacent about not needing air conditioning in our old, thick stone-walled house but the length of this heatwave has meant that the house is steadily heating up and increasingly there is less difference between temperatures outside and in the house.
We’ve been looking at air cooling units rather than going the whole way with split aircon.
Also, not cheap, there is a less ugly solution than the split aircon system. We have two Qlima units in the cottage in the bedrooms, which work well for our guests.
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Where the thermal mass argument falls away again, takes lots to heat up in winter, and once heated up in summer a lot to cool it down again.
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I’ve just accepted a devis from this company in Brossac 16. Like everyone else they are very busy though.
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Hi @SuePJ,
I’ve looked those units and if my French comprehension hasn’t let me down, they heat as well as cool and have a dehumidifier function too.
May I ask, how efficient are they at cooling in these recent heatwave conditions? And are they sufficient in winter as a sole source for heating?
Is there a vent through the wall for the heat/warm air to be expelled when it is in cooling mode?
Edit: supplementary question: are they noisy? Would they keep you awake?
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They do heat as well as cool. No humidifier (at least on our version - I think).
They have two dessert plate sized holes through the wall and a grill to cover the hole outside and a narrow, transparent pipe which comes through one of the holes to take away excess water.
Our walls are 50cm thick and stone and rubble, so drilling the holes was “fun”. They were done by the guys who work on our old buildings using lime, so they understood the task. Much easier on modern thinner walls.
I don’t know about the current heatwave, but they’ve coped well with previous summers. Our guests have been very happy with them re temperature and noise level. NB they are not silent, there is a night time setting which gives a background hum.
Some of our guests have them on early evening so that by the time they go to bed the room is cool and they turn them off at night.
Obviously depends on the size of the room and your electricity bill, but I imagine they are very efficient at heating. We haven’t needed to use them as heaters.
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Thank Sue.
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We always do. 
I shall keep an eye on this thread as She Whose Views Must Be Taken Into Consideration and I are going to need aircon/heating of some sort for our proposed garden building home cinema.
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I am considering a portable air con unit for maybe 2 bedrooms. I don’t need the heating function just cooling. Amy recommendations and what damage do I have to do to the walls.
Usually a 100 or 125mm hole to the outside, short as possible but can be vented out of a window with a kit to close the gap. Eco friendly refigerent and about 9000 BTU’s
If we vent out the wall but need to move the mobile unit to another room, is there a way of blanking off the interior hole, until needed again, Corona?
We have also installed the Qlima Monoblock WDH 229 PTC in one of our bedrooms. Cutting the holes through the wall was a “fun” challenge but all went well. We’ve had the unit since last year and it’s worked well both as a heater and now doing a great job cooling and dehumidifying our bedroom. We set it normally to 24/25 degrees C which keeps the room pleasantly cool in this heatwave. It’s also very efficient on electricity too. It’s slightly noisy than standard split air conditioners but this doesn’t bother us at all. The night mode helps too. At night time we turn it on about 1 hour before bedtime and then set its timer to switch it off after 1 hour. There’s also WiFi control via the SmartLife App and if you are a techie like me it integrates into Home Assistant.
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Not looked but would think so, there are those slightly weighted flaps use for tumble dryers etc
Thanks Corona, my tumble dryer is a condenser so doesn’t need venting, but I’ll have at look at what’s on offer.
I bought one of these about 2years ago from Mr bricolage I installed it myself as instructed 10cm off the ground and it’s very good. However I’ve just had a message from mr brico telling me not to use as it has a fire risk I think they are now saying that it should be installed 2m from the ground to avoid the accumulation of gases
What gasses, unless they leak? I could believe build up of fluff etc that close to a floor and on heating mode.
How bizarre!
Ours are under each bedroom window, as you say, about 10cm. Worth maybe sending an email to the company.