Midea 8,000 BTU U Smart Inverter Window AC Installation and Review 

Great install video. Two questions for you: My window is 21.5” wide. Is it possible to modify the bracket at all to make this work? I have aluminum frame windows from the 80s- How far out does the unit and/or mounting bracket stick out from the exterior wall? Want to install to window facing narrow balcony. thanks in advance!

Has anyone found out if you can buy more of the side foam? My window is 46 inches and it's only listed for 36 inch windows so I would require more foam but haven't been able to find it.

Hi I like the way you represent yourself and I like the way that you show us how to set up this unit can you let me know where I could get one I would like to buy one it look like pretty easy to hook it up the way you described it I gave you two thumbs up

Do you have an affiliate link for the large 12k BTU UNIT?

@@RobertJohnVenable hey, it’s the same link, you can just select 12,000 on the Amazon page! Thanks!

It's not that new of a concept. It's a modern version of an old ac unit that allows a window to be closed. The difference is that this is using a mini-split /ductless system in an AC design. it's brilliant none the less. There's another company that makes an AC that sits below the window for modern windows that doesn't have a sill and the top part of the ac doubles as a shelf or false sill.

It was probably a team of people that wanted AC but also did not want to sacrifice a window but also wanted it to be silent and safe. I feel one person came up with the design another found a way to make it silent and another person found away to still use the window and have it lock for safety.

Yeah man! Most engineers don't even try their own products. They just build something and sell 'as-is' without any quality check whatsoever, at least thats how it feels like once you try to assemble, clean, or dismantle something...

This is not a new concept, I swear had seen it before, but appreciate all the hardwork, efforts and improvements for this window AC, I agree they thought everything about the users. Kudos to the engineers.

Designed and Made in China baby! Midea is a big name in China

Why did you put it on a thermostat plug? I’’m not an expert but I don’t think that’s good for the compressor.

You're my type of woman. BTW I'm 69, we would make a perfect team. I do most things by myself too. Kudos from me to you!

@@wraywray5990 Thank you. I was intimidated at first but once I watched the videos a few times I conquered!!!

@AJ ? Yes.

Thanks for review on a great (I think) product, but you working on that beautiful table without protecting it made me crazy.

Awesome, Shari! Glad it could help and thanks for watching. 😃

You're a strong granny, the 12k unit is fairly heavy.

@@beefox406 I think the 12k unit weighs 63 lb. For relevance, my mom did regular straight-bar dead lifts today; 70 for 17 reps. She's (wait for it) eighty-six! (Of course she's been weight training for 30 years no animal products for at least that time, and no, she is NOT a liberal. Bite your tongue!)

Where do we buy these and cost ? Interested

How long have you had that AC now? I don't wanna spend that much if it's not 'reliable'

Yeah, how's it holding up? I just bought the Midea 5000 BTU at walmart. Granted, it's too small for the room size, but I've never had problems with other brands cooling, just need to use fans strategically placed. But it's going right back to the store tomorrow; it's not even blowing cool air out. I know it's super hot and humid, but I should be feeling cold air sitting in front of it. Portable A/C's have worked ok. But, not too sure on this brand at this point. Seems hit or miss.

I cannot imagine an 86 year old installing this on his own. This would be difficult even for someone half his age. Unless you install a/cs for a living.

@@justme2 I just installed ours for our second summer. We live in an old farmhouse with no AC. It keeps our living room area comfortable during our hot Idaho summers.

Thank you for the advice!

Tks

There's no coolant in those systems, it's called freon and you're right about letting it sit for some hours but it's so that the oil drains back into the crankcase of the compressor to prevent a hydrolocked condition

@@newtonraymond77 Coolant is any fluid that facilitates cooling by transferring heat from one element to another. A fluid is a liquid or gas. Freon is a coolant, which is compressed to a liquid then evaporated into a gas to transfer heat. If the coolant is part of a refrigerator, it may be called a refrigerant, but it's fundamentally the same thing.

@@alphaforce6998 Ohhhh now I get it. Kinda like a man can be a woman and a woman a man; same same.

Awesome, Dedra! I'm happy the video helped you! 😃

This was my problem, my thermal windows were too thick to go between the units I purchased from Midea, fortunately I was able to return to the factory.

Thanks so much, Tim.

How do you use planter pads? How did you connect them to the brackets so the won’t slide or come apart. Terrible post leaving out the most important information.

How much did your electricity go up

I wish he demonstrated opening and closing the window post installation with the insect screen.

This is what I’m worried about,just moved in a old house myself.

Go with a ductless DIY installable heat pump system.

@@Boodieman72 the problem with those is the market is saturated with crap. Even the stuff we used to get from supply houses was junk. I really can’t even personally tell you one brand that’s gonna last you more than 5 years. And to me if I’m installing an AC system and maintaining it very well, I expect it to last 7+ years with minor repairs. They are very efficient but I’d like to see larger brands with hood records making them, even if they cost more

@@keithbroh5730 The ones I have seen have a 10 year guarantee.

@@Boodieman72 Other than McCool, which would you recommend. I hear that McCool are pretty good, but that some HVAC contractors won't service them.

HA. I've got one window that is close to 4ft. As the owner of a 110yo house, I save all kinds of brackets, lumber, steel, etc. from other projects. Of course, it helps to have tools and the ability/space to store things and fabricate parts. My ex used to tease me about it until something was fixed or created for either this house or her 'new' old house. Now I get calls : "Do you have a for ".

Hi Debra. I'm going to have to do something similar as well. Glad to know it can be done. Take care.

Hi! How did you extend it? did you glue them?

Great to hear I could help, Chris! Good luck with the install and enjoy the AC!

I am so glad to hear that I can help year after year! Thanks for watching & stay cool this summer! 😎

I second that! Thank you Mr. Fixer 🙏🏼

Really like it that much. I have a AC works fine but starting to get a little loud so thinking about getting a new one as they start to go on sale because summer will be over soon. It's really cold and quiet really appreciate your thoughts. Thank you

Omg this can't he true. I'm moving into my new townhouse and they dine allow window ACs. U telling me these don't hang out the window???

Glad that the ac worked out for you!

My window 38.5 inch, i was concerned, but turned out fine. So quiet 😮

@@heroicalx786 it's a game changer, replaced all other working ones even they are working with midea U shaped

Did all of the foam used in the video come with your unit? Besides the piece he specifically said he was going to get at the store.

@@OG_Raziel Yes, all the foam comes with unit

What does the dry mode do? I've been looking for some explanation of some terms on the remote

@@lynnekoreck1346 all AC’s will dehumidify a space. I’m assuming this unit can act as a stand alone dehumidifier if cooling isn’t needed

Curious about how you went about insulating your farm house if you care to share?

Have you seen any water draining out of the unit from the exterior section? I was wondering how the design transfers the moisture collected from the evaporator on the inside to the outside half to get eliminated. I thought there may have been some kind of active pump system, but it doesn't seem to have that as far as I can see from looking in at the evaporator through the filter. When my unit is running, I don't see any water draining out the back as with the standard type AC units, so I was wondering where it goes.

Yes lots of water drains out. I added an aluminium trough to direct the flow of condensate so that it didn't run down the window brace and onto the siding. I assume the plastic tray carries the water out to the heat radiator and assists in cooling and the excess just overflows. It has to be humid to overflow, otherwise it gets evaporated by the heat radiator.@@dubmob151

Awesome to hear, Rich! Thanks for letting me know. Enjoy your new AC!!

Noise level on outside of this unit?

@@steve0826 not much either. Basically split air on ur windows

@@ometofu, I mean, someone standing outside will hear how much sounds from it.

@@steve0826 much less. 52 decibels from 3 foot away. it is nothing compares to old compressor unit

I like my bedroom cold when I sleep so I do this also. Keep Central ac at 75 & window unit in bedroom at 65.

Love my portable, but its loud! Cools my bathroom quickly. Portables entire cover removes to be blown out. Good name brands of window/portable units will last 10 years or more. Remember to clean the filter every 2-4 weeks while in use and let the fan motor rest when it's not hot. Running constantly below 70 will shorten their life tremendously.

Hey James, I’m a home audio production studio owner looking for a quiet window unit. Obviously none of them are silent, but would you deem it tolerable when listening to music and listening for important details?

@@bryanwoolbertmusic8564 You really need to see for yourself of course but it is the quietest window mounted unit I've ever seen. My neighbor got the 8k BTU unit and it's pretty amazing compared to the rest I've seen.

@@jamesg8246 I heard a lot of horror stories about this particular AC. And it's so expensive.

@@jmfia2391 what have you heard

@@jmfia2391 We've had em for over a year now with no issues. Incredibly quiet and cools the room nicely.

Hey Matthew! Thank you for adding your thoughts on the AC! I appreciate it and I am sure other viewers will appreciate it if they are considering buying the unit. Thanks for the kind words and for watching!

Thanks 4 pointing out those rattling issues and how you fixed them. 1 question, how much did it cost?

@@the1manshow905 the cost of the unit I purchased? I paid $359 for the 8000 BTU unit. Otherwise the little rubber o-ring / gasket was about 30 cents.

I wasn't looking to spend but half that, I'd need another stimulus check to spend ALMOST $400 on an A. C. unit... But thanks though.

@@the1manshow905 yeah it’s definitely a little pricey but it’s pretty energy efficient.

one year later man how's the ac holding up?

Awesome to hear! Thanks for the feedback!

Are you still liking it,, im considering a midea 10,000 ac for 270 or the 12,000 inverter u shape for 450,, which you recomend?

@@nimrodpaul6875 it's been great, no issues at all.

Awesome to hear! Happy to help!

If my central breaks I'm seriously considering something like that. For one thing central heat pump repairs are wildly expensive. If the compressor goes or something it might be $4500 for a new unit. Plus you gotta worry about the air handler and ducting too. A couple of 12k BTU of these while not cheap, about 500 each or $1000 for 2, still might be a lot cheaper. My biggest worry is how well it seals up against bugs. Thats the problem I had with a past (traditional) window unit. I dont know if it was my imagination, but in bed at night with the window unit I was itching a lot. Wonder if chiggers were getting in, if that's even possible. and I've seen it mentioned on a YT review by a guy who has one of these mideas. He said spiders and ants were getting in with the midea. That's my fear. But they were getting in the little holes at the bottom, which you could either caulk or midea is now including sticky foam to seal up. The rest of the side seal son this guys installation looks solid, but he didn't even mention or look at the underside, under the main control block where the other guy had issues. Besides the idea if my central breaks, another idea I've had is to get one of these for just my room. I live alone and as such only need my bedroom cooled all night. And I like it cold (68) at night, but warm (~74) during the day. However, I'm wildly guessing I might save 30 a month, for the maybe 8-9 months of summer a year (I live in Texas, heh) thats 240-270 a year savings best case. So that would probably take a couple years to even pay off the unit. Just not sure it's worth 240 a year to lose the comfort and convenience of central AC currently. For example, having the rest of the house be hot initially when starting off the day, etc. But I'm considering it!

​@Chill Will "repairing" a central unit is extremely expensive, almost any small repair will cost at least $1000 in my opinion which is the same cost as two of these Midea (12000 BTU unit, the 8000 BTU in the vid is 368) For example after I moved into my house, about 3 yrs in the AC just stopped working. IIRC it was a freon leak. The guy told me it was the compressor, would be at least $1800. BUT it was compressor that uses the old Freon, which the EPA banned so it would be extremely expensive, and hard to find, if I ever had a Freon leak or anything in the future. IIRC it was like hundreds of dollars to fill up the old freon. Or I could just get a new unit and be on the new Freon which would be available in the future. And the decision was mine. I weighed everything and just went with the new unit, which the big places in town were wanting $4500 to do, this was 8 years ago in a rural area on a 1100 sq ft house. I found a mom n pop guy who did it for I believe 3400 hundred, and thank goodness he did a good job. The thing is the EPA is always banning freon, I believe they have done it again at least with cars, so you are always going to be on the "old" freon forever and basically need a new unit. I also very recently had thermostat issues, and that ended up actually costing me about 500 dollars (!). Just recently I had leaking issues with the air handler in the attic too (drain line clogged) With central you have a air handler, and ducting in the attic. It's very complex. So much that can go wrong and cost big dollars. I am dreading the inevitable probably when my heat strips wear out. This is why mini splits are gaining popularity. If you look at it, ducting is really a pretty complicated, inefficient way to do things. All I'm saying is if you're broke, and suddenly faced with a $4k-$10k HVAC repair bill, buying a window unit for 200 or 300 or even 500 as at least a stopgap starts sounding pretty dang good. Since I live clone and only need my bedroom heated/cooled at night, cooling/heating the whole house just for the bedroom is also very inefficient as well. For this reason I already got a space heater, which is easy and cheap. But I would like to figure out a cooling solution. Either a portable AC or one of these Mideas. $400 for either is a lot though just to take a flyer! I mean I agree central is definitely the best solution if you can afford it. If you dont mind just paying thousands to repair if needed. But with Democrats in power more and more of us will be poor, and it may be a luxury we dont have.

@Chill Will if youre under warranty. I got a ten yr warranty on my new unit and time freaking flies, it's already like 8 yrs in. In 2 yrs I wont be covered. Warranty is also parts only. Probably half the cost of a major repair is labor. The $200 you quote is basically just a service call minimum. So yeah if he can come out, fix it within a half hour and the part is paid for by warranty. So something small like a capacitor. Anyways i thought ten was standard, thats what I got on my goodman brand. Maybe you paid extra for an extended warranty. All I'm saying is IF the warranty is out and a big repair comes up, slapping in a window unit will be tempting! You gotta admit these Mideas's are really nice. But it depends on a lot of factors of course. Hopefully my unit will keep going for many years to come. It should.

Glad I could help!

Hello, i am looking into this unit but live on the second floor with someone else underneath... Does this happen drip water like a mini split outside??? I dont want water dripping into my beneath neighbors lol Thank you

@vanessacamarillo4633 it does, and it needs to. Otherwise all the water pools inside and you can get mold. It's very important that it's angled so that water drips out.

That's what I do works great

I wish I could visually understand what you mean. I am trying to figure out how to avoid drilling.

@@kathleendemoya6089 got to put ac in first then close the window as far as you can then measure the distance at the top on both sides cut wood put the blocks in

@@kathleendemoya6089 don't leave ac in the window when cutting blocks incase it falls out hahaha

Is there a way I don't have to drill in the base? I have to remove the unit after each season.

Hot part is outside on all window ACs or any other ACs

@@karolkupec2044 it's still better

Not true on most portable aircons. They pump only the hot air out via a tube. Whole unit is inside.

@@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi Is compare apples to apples. The AC in this video is not a portable unit. The one you are talking about is the kind that roll around on the floor calm a correct? In that case you are correct. If they only have one host to blow the hot air out that is an incredibly stupid and illogical design if you engineering and how an air conditioner works. All the air that hose blows outside has to be replaced and come from somewhere. And guess where it comes from? It's sucking outdoor air into the house , At whatever temperature and humidity the outdoor air is. The portable models with 2 hoses are designed correctly. All of them should have 2 hoses because that isolates the "hot parts" as you say from the air inside the house.

I have windows that opens sideways, I wish Midea could produce one that is designed for it. Otherwise I have to replace my windows with ones like the one featured here.

I have these units, in a nyc apartment. I leave them in year round. If that affects the longevity, willing to live with that to avoid the hassle of taking them out, storing them somewhere, and re-installing each year.

No problem, Suzanne! Thanks for watching!

I’ve seen that style and I’d guess that they wouldn’t work in well over half the windows out there. This is definitely a much better design.

Those upside down U model are probably much preferable than this for safety reasons... Less likely to actually fall off your window. But, the design limits on which windows it would be able to fit and hang on to. This correct U design looks less safe, but definitely miles safer than the classic box design. And this one comes with a supporting bracket!

I drilled two 1/2” holes on the bottom. I took careful precautions as to not hit any lines or component. And it drains great now.

@@elmeromero1794 Good for you El Mero, the little extra effort/time is well worth it.

Does yours have issue going under 74 Fahrenheit ?

@atrium6666 No I haven't had that issue

Sorry for your loss, Rachel. Good luck with your ac! 😃

Think I’ve seen the one you’re referring to. Its called Soleus, yeah?

Sounds like you would have more access to the window when open too.

those are great for high rise :D or weak windows

How do you like midea products in general? I never saw them when I was installing mini splits for server rooms but now I see their window units everywhere, hell I even bought one a couple of months ago for my living room and I’m pretty happy with it so far considering the price point compared to LG and GE same btu units with less features.

@@keithbroh5730 I like the product cause they make them service friendly. Midea is one of the few mini splits that you can remove the blower motor and wheel without removing the entire indoor fan coil off wall. The installation is also easy ...

Thank you for sharing! That is great to hear!

How is it holding up?

@@alcopower5710 it's doing very well. This will be my second summer. I had to deep clean it because it started to smell like mildew. Again, I referred to RU-vid for help. I took the vent apart and cleaned the wheel. On a difficulty scale of 1-10, I give it an 8 but with time and patience, it did the trick. Now I squirt bleach on the wheel about every 3 weeks or so to keep the build-up down. A deep clean at the end of summer is probably a good idea.

only one problem with the a/c when you think about it if your window closes from the side instead of top down then your screwed

@@raven4k998 cant you just install sideways? Its mounted. You would just have to see if the hangover fits still and you would def need an extra pair of hands

@@yopawpaw7408 no cause you are failing to take gravity into account which in the side ways position would cause the water condensation to leak out on to the floor instead of making it's way out how the a/c was designed to get rid of the said water but that's a physics problem not a design problem as it was designed for top down windows only not the ones that close from the side

Thanks for watching!

Thanks, Brian! Happy to hear the video helped you out! 😁👍

Mini splits are great but they literally start at double the price of this unit. I looked at mini splits when I moved back from Greece and as that point you couldn't find a unit for under 2k in the US. Also the mini splits can't really be installed into rentals last time I looked into them so wouldn't be an option for a lot of people. When we remodel I definitely want mini splits but until then this looks like an awesome option.

@Weenie Hut Jr's Don't be a weenie

@Weenie Hut Jr's Why would you say that?

@@DarkLinkAD because they’re a troll.

@Weenie Hut Jr's Mini splits are literally no different than your standard A/C or window shaker. Quit spreading false information.

Out of curiosity, what is the length and width of that small window?

@@LogicDoesStuff Sorry I took so long to answer. This is a bit complicated. The unit says minimum window width is 22 inches and minimum height is 13.75 inches. But measuring the opening of my aluminum frame windows it is only 21 inches, but the unit fits because the actual unit is 19 inches but the side extension bits need the 22 inches which they can find just inside the opening of the aluminum frame. Hope this is clear.

​@@SqeakyToy It's fine for the delayed answer. Your answer is more clear than enough. Thanks for the information! Now I know this amazing unit will definitely fit in my grandparent's window.

@@LogicDoesStuff I should have added in my OP that this unit is exceptionally quiet.

@@SqeakyToy That's even more convincing to get me to buy this for my room.

Thanks for sharing!

Great point!