A monoblock is a "plug and play" refrigeration unit. It arrives from the factory charged with refrigerant and tested; it is seated in a rectangular opening cut in the wall or ceiling panel of the cold room, with its outer part (condenser and compressor) outside the room and its inner part (evaporator) inside. There is no pipework, evacuation or charging; installation takes a few hours.
For small and medium rooms (roughly 5–80 m³) it is the most practical solution: butchers, supermarket back rooms, restaurants, patisseries, small fruit and vegetable stores. There are chilled (around 0 °C) and frozen (−18/−20 °C) versions, in wall and ceiling types. Controller, defrost and alarm come ready.
Its limits: because the condenser is right outside the room, the outer side must be well ventilated; a monoblock facing a closed corridor breathes its own hot air and loses capacity. For large volumes, multi-room plants and places where the condenser must be sited far away, a split system or central system is preferred. The cooling load calculator shows the capacity your room needs, and the catalog the suitable unit.