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Comment by ApolloFortyNine | Hacker News Reader

In my state they require:

>160 hours of education/vocational training and 2 years’ verifiable experience in the trade

To get the license to install minisplits (two years experience generally means working an apprenticeship).

It's no wonder install costs are so much in the US. And as you've experienced, they're hardly rocket science to install. The 160 hours training would be more than enough, I'm not sure why 2 years experience gets tacked on the end.

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Protection racket. They guys doing the installs now would make much less money if just anyone with some tools could start competing with them.

I don't want just anyone with some tools competing with them. This is a machine full of gas that is awful for the environment. And yes, I'm well aware that in developing countries, a lot of installers just vent coolant into the atmosphere during install rather than doing it properly.

Sure, so have them take a week-long course and register with the county and get a license. 160 hours of class and 2 years of apprenticeship means you have to find someone to apprentice _to_, so the incumbents get to gatekeep how many competitors they're willing to have, and limit it to only the people they like.

Thankfully, the training is only required if you're doing the installs for/as a business.

I think in pretty much every state releasing the refrigerant 'requires' a license (if it's not a DIY model).

And in my state, I copy pasted what was required for a 'residential' HVAC license (idk if you meant commercial HVAC or just making money on installs).

Not Montana apparently. They don't even have an HVAC contractor license anymore that I can find.

Exception rather than the rule

100%.

Unless your state is very unusual that is the requirement for installing them for other people as a tradesman. In most states if you are DIY for yourself all you legally need are the electrical permits for the wiring hookup (which for DIY don't require that "apprenticeship").

You also need an EPA 608 Type 2 license, though minisplits have been skirting around that for some time.

Easy to test for, though I'm not sure if you can do it for free like skillcat used to offer.

What will they do if they learn you installed your minisplit yourself?

See the Brazil movie :)

Idk for Americas, but here in rural EU no one would give a fuck. Some will ask for help.

Nothing assumes no issues. If it catches/causes a fire, good luck with insurance

Insurance would still cover this stuff. You sound like you came here from Reddit, where everyone is convinced that if you DIY anything, your insurance is entitled to deny claims.

Your insurance will pay up. Then they will consider terminating your contract. DIY work in your home does not invalidate insurance claims. This is ludicrous claim. You could go read your insurance contract in five minutes and verify.

Nothing because the political optics of doing anything are bad ad the last thing they want is to create a victim that causes people to ask the question why the rules are even written how they are.

Environmental law is the same way. You're mostly (details depend on jurisdiction) not supposed to pave anything without getting permission but if they pushed the issue on everyone who put a pad under their car port the rules would get changed.

They also don't 100% enforce the speed limit either.

There are people on here who live in this fantasy world where all house work is permitted and performed by licensed tradespeople which is... counterfactual.

This kind of thing is right up there with calling dig safe before a project that will be exclusively hand excavated. At some point you're basically just paying to circle jerk it with the other boot lickers in the office or at the cocktail party over how much you paid for no reason just because the rules that will never be enforced say you ought to.

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