Midea swaps R32 for propane in its PortaSplit AC to stay legal in the EU

At IFA, Midea announced a new PortaSplit generation running on R290 propane instead of R32 — a switch the EU's F-gas regulation makes necessary for sales from 2027. Launch is targeted for summer 2027.

Key Takeaways

At IFA, Midea announced a new PortaSplit generation running on R290 propane instead of R32 — a switch the EU's F-gas regulation makes necessary for sales from 2027.
Launch is targeted for summer 2027.

AI synthesis3 sources6

Midea is preparing a greener version of its popular portable split air conditioner — and European regulation is the reason. At IFA in Berlin, the Chinese manufacturer announced a new generation of its PortaSplit that replaces the current R32 refrigerant with R290, better known as propane, according to heise online and Golem. The PortaSplit belongs to the "mobile split" category: indoor and outdoor units connected by a hose, delivering near-split performance without fixed installation.

The switch matters most for customers in the EU. R32 has a global warming potential (GWP) of 675 — one kilogram of the refrigerant traps as much heat over 100 years as 675 kilograms of CO2. For propane, the EU regulation lists a GWP of just 0.02. The move is driven by the EU's F-gas regulation, which progressively restricts high-GWP refrigerants: without switching to R290, Midea could no longer introduce the PortaSplit in Europe from 2027.

The new version also fixes known weaknesses of the current R32 model. The condensate filter in the indoor unit becomes removable and user-cleanable, targeting the notorious "P1" error that can appear when airborne bacteria form a biofilm in a unit left switched off for a long time. For the outdoor unit, Midea plans a redesigned base plate that drains condensate at high pressure, so water can be routed through longer hoses without pooling. A new radio chip improves smart-home integration with Matter 1.6. Whether a retrofit kit that would eliminate condensate maintenance entirely will ship remains open — Midea's engineers stayed quiet on how it would work, and no prototype was shown at the fair.

The timeline: Midea hopes to bring the propane PortaSplit to European stores by summer 2027, with a revised cooling-only "Cool" variant to follow later. Until then the R32 models stay on sale — the company plans to ship further batches to Europe through the end of the year, and units imported by December 31, 2026 may still be sold by retailers in 2027. As heise notes, that could mean winter bargains on the outgoing generation.