Midea Comfee 9000 BTU Air Conditioner Review

Best Prices Today: Midea Comfee 9000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner (MPPH7-09CRN7)

There was a time when the idea of ​​buying an air conditioner to make a British summer bearable might have seemed ridiculous. But not anymore.

Between rising temperatures and more people working from home and not being able to escape into a chilled corporate environment during the day, it’s no surprise that air conditioners are having a moment. Investing in one for your home or home office just might improve your comfort and productivity.

We are testing the Midea Comfee 9000 BTU (09CRN7). The 9000 BTU part of the device name refers to British thermal units. It is a measure of the amount of energy an air conditioner uses to remove heat from a room. 9000 BTU is a lot, so this model is effective in rooms up to 26m². However, Midea manufactures different models, suitable for rooms from 20m² up to 34m².

This model is quite energy efficient for a device of this type, with an A rating in the old system and (we think, although we couldn’t confirm with Midea) a D in the new system.

Still, an air conditioner is not a cheap option, either to buy or to operate. The model we’re testing – the 09CRN7 – is a 1015W device, so depending on your energy tariff it’ll probably cost you around 36p per hour to run. Run it for five hours a day during the week and it’ll cost you close to £40 a month, which is something to bear in mind.

If you need something a little more economical to stay cool, take a look at our roundup of the best fans we’ve tested.

Setting up the Midea Comfee 9000

• Window kit not included
• 150 cm hose length

When setting up the air conditioner, you will need to attach the hose to the back, then using a window kit, route it out the window so that it exhausts outside. This obviously means that you are limited as to where you can place the air conditioner. The hose has a maximum length of 150 cm.

In the box you will find the device itself, a remote control, a hose and a wall kit. The wall kit is only really useful if you have a vent hole in your wall – but most of us don’t.

This model does not come with a window kit, which you will need to create a seal. So you will have to get one separately which is a bit of hassle and extra expense. We spotted kits for sliding windows and casement windows on Amazon.

But even with a window kit, the air conditioner still won’t work for everyone. The windows in my apartment are factory style and open on a central axis, which means that even if I had a window kit, there would be space on the other side.

There is also another configuration limitation. The window kit will work best with low windows. High windows will be a problem as the pipe will have to bend more than it should. I have high windows but was able to ventilate through my balcony door during the test period. This is not a solution that would work in the long term.

Design and build

• On wheels
• heavy device
• On-device controls are basic

The Comfee 900 is a functional device rather than a design one. But since it is white, with simple lines, it will blend in quite well with any lightly decorated room.

It is large though, at around 35 x 35 x 67cm. It sits on casters, so it’s easy to set up, but it’s very heavy (28 kg/62 lbs), so you won’t want to move it up the stairs.

You control the device via the panel on top or using the included remote control.

The control panel on the device is simple – a bit too much to be ideal. There’s a mode key, which lets you cycle through the three functions: cool, fan and dry (a dehumidification setting).

Using the + and – keys, you can choose a temperature from 17°C to 30°C (although you can display in °F, if you prefer). And aside from an on/off key, that’s all you get through on-device controls.

When you set a temperature, the unit automatically chooses a fan speed setting to achieve it.

However, it is not a heater, so it cannot increase the room temperature. Confusingly there is a heat setting on the remote but it does nothing when used with this model.

This is one of the problems with this air conditioner. The not very clear manual covers several different models – and the remote is designed to work with all of them – so it can be difficult to understand exactly what this model does.

The mode and temperature will appear on the LED display, which also displays error modes. To understand them, you will have to go back to the manual.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

There are more options on the remote, however, which – in a nice touch – is fitted with glow-in-the-dark buttons.

You can set a sleep mode, which (in cooling mode) will gradually increase the temperature by 1°C every half hour. You can also set a timer, which will allow you to set a delayed shutdown time of up to 24 hours.

You can also adjust the fan speed setting.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

However, there are still a few buttons (like Swing and iSense) which we think didn’t do anything at all on this model and we would have liked to see all the settings available on the device itself.

Performance

Appearance and a variety of changeable settings are not where this device excels. What the Midea Comfee does well is blow out a huge amount of cold air. If you’re buying an air conditioner, that’s what you’re buying it for, and it makes up for the limitations of the unit in other areas.

It is also equipped with a HEPA filter which will improve the quality of the air blown towards you. However, we do not recommend using the unit as a dedicated air purifier as there is no carbon layer to trap gases and VOCs and no air quality feedback.

Check out our roundup of the best air purifiers we’ve reviewed for a good dedicated solution.

If it’s both muggy and hot, you can switch to the “Dry” setting and use it to dehumidify a room. In normal use as a dehumidifier, the collected water is evaporated by the hot air exhausted outside. But if you want to use it to dry out a room with high humidity, you’ll need to unplug the plug and connect the supplied hose to the back of the unit and let it drain into a drain.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

You may also need to empty the lower bin from time to time – but if so, an alert will appear on the screen. Again, you’ll have to look for the manual to decode it.

The air conditioner claims an operating volume of up to 51dB(A) on the manual and up to 63dB on the product page.

What we can confirm is that when running in cool mode, the sound of air rushing through is very audible, but it’s white noise and not very distracting. Plus it’s an air conditioner and that should be expected. However, we found that sometimes switching from cold to dehumidified increased the noise level with louder mechanical sounds.

Verdict

The Midea Comfee 9000 is a powerful and efficient air conditioner and we have no doubt that it will make your home more comfortable on hot days. But, thanks to its confusing manual and controls, it can be hard to figure out what it can and can’t do and the device itself will give you very little feedback.

Still, if you’re looking for a simple device to cool off with, this one will more than get the job done.

For an alternative model, take a look at our review of the Russell Hobbs 9000BTU Portable Air Conditioner.