My top floor apartment is hell in the summer

It’s getting hotter in Germany. And in my attic apartment, the heat accumulates particularly in summer.

Every summer it’s the same: The apartment just doesn’t want to cool down in the evening. And sleep is out of the question when the temperature is above 28 degrees. That’s why I already have made some attempts to keep the heat out.

One option is to lower the shutters and close the windows during the day. This reliably keeps the heat out, but I sit in the dark all day.

Another way to keep the heat out is to use reflective sheeting on the outside of the windows. The foils reflect the infrared light of the sun and, at least in theory, ensure a cool apartment. In practice, my apartment stays bright, but the films don’t really cool either.

Finally, I tried several fans that blow the hot air out of the apartment and the cold air in. Working with fans is better than not using them, but they didn’t really cool me down.

The solution: a mobile air conditioner

But maybe the solution isn’t to keep the heat outside, but rather to transport the hot air outside? That’s where air conditioning comes in. Air conditioners extract heat from the air in your home and release it outside.

Air conditioning systems consist of two parts: a compressor, which compresses the air, turning it into a liquid, and a heat exchanger, which removes the heat from the liquid air. The liquid, cooled air is pumped inside the apartment, where it expands again and cools the apartment.

Normal air conditioners are large. The compressors are installed on the outside of apartments or houses.

Unfortunately, air conditioners are loud and large. The compressor has to be installed outside the apartment, which is not possible in my apartment. And in order for the compressor to be connected to the interior of the apartment, a hole would have to be drilled in the wall.

So conventional air conditioning is not an option for me. Fortunately, there is an alternative: mobile air conditioners.

Mobile air conditioners are compact. They combine the compressor and the heat exchanger in a medium-sized housing and lead the warm air outside through an air hose through a window. Neither does a hole have to be drilled, nor do modifications have to be made.

The mobile air conditioner Medion P900

When I was looking for a mobile air conditioner, I chose the Medion P900. it costs under 300 euroscomes with a cooling capacity of 9,000 BTU and consumes a maximum of 1 kWh when actively used per hour.

The Medion P900 has three modes: cooling, dehumidifying and ventilation. Two fan speeds are also supported. Cool mode supports an optional sleep mode.

Everything you need to get started is included in the scope of delivery. An air hose that transports the air outside and a sealing kit for a window.

The caulking kit is particularly important because it prevents outside air from entering the home while allowing hot inside air to be transferred outside.

Sealing sets are not included with many mobile air conditioners, but can often be purchased separately.

How does the Medion P900 perform in practice?

In practice, the Medion P900 manages to cool my approximately 50 square meter three-room apartment. I placed them in my living room. While actively running, the living room and adjoining bedroom cool down noticeably within 5 to 10 minutes.

According to Medion, the P900 can cool rooms with a size of up to 32 square meters with its 9,000 BTU cooling capacity. My experience can confirm these values. The P900 has a hard time cooling more than the living room and bedroom, which together have an area of ​​around 30 square meters.

The rest of the apartment is also getting cooler. However, only if the P900 runs for a longer period of more than 30 minutes. And whether you want to let the P900 run for so long depends on your tolerance for volume, because: The Medion In practice, the P900 achieves noise levels of up to 55 dB, depending on the fan speed.

The measured volumes of all modes can be found in the following table.

It is possible to watch series or films parallel to the P900. Even in the same room. Depending on the fan level set, the TV must be set a little louder. However, I had expected this level of noise exposure when I bought a mobile air conditioning system.

But what disappointed me is the sleep mode. According to Medion, this should ensure that the cooled room does not heat up overnight. To do this, the P900 works at a low speed. However, I could not detect any volume difference between the sleep mode and the cooling mode with fan speed 1.

The sleep mode of the Medion P900 is useless in practice.

I can’t really think about sleeping while the Medion P900 is running. However, the Medion P900 can be used before going to bed to cool down a room temporarily.

Operating the Medion P900

The Medion P900 can be operated either via a control panel on the air conditioner, via a remote control, the Medion Air app or by voice control. Basic functions of the Medion P900 can be controlled using all four operating options.

In the app, it is also possible to create schedules or name the mobile air conditioner. The The schedule feature turns out to be simpler than expected. Only times can be defined here at which the P900 switches on or off automatically. There is no specific mode selection or the option to set the fan speed.

The Medion Air app comes with the most minimal functions and few customization options.

After all, the P900 can be activated from anywhere via the app. So you can have your apartment pre-cooled while you are on your way home.

Google Assistant, Siri and Amazon Alexa are available for voice control of the Medion P900. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test the voice control because Google Assistant didn’t want to connect to the Medion Air app.

The installation of the Medion P900

The Medion P900 is easy to assemble. All you have to do is connect the air hose to the mobile air conditioner, hang the outlet out of the window and you can turn on the air conditioner.

If you want to cool even more efficiently, you can attach the enclosed window kit to one of your windows. With the window kit, a window can be prepared in such a way that the window can be tilted and only a small opening remains through which the air hose is inserted.

The window kit of the Medion P900 is functional, but definitely doesn’t win a beauty award.

To install the window kit, you tape a window frame with hook and loop-backed tape. You then connect the window kit to your window frame with Velcro.

There is a zipper on the window kit. Slightly opens the zipper and passes the air hose through.

If the air hose is not taped, a wall of hot exhaust air will form behind the air conditioner.

Tipp: In practice, the connection between the extraction hose and the air conditioning system is not 100% airtight. Therefore stick an adhesive tape around it, otherwise some of the hot exhaust air will go back into your apartment.

Editor’s conclusion

Lucas Kaczynski: My experiences with the Medion P900 are mixed. On particularly hot days, when it’s 29, 30 or 31 degrees in the apartment in the evening, the Medion P900 is the savior in an emergency.

I can fire it up and after a few minutes, at least the room the P900 is in is noticeably cooler. If I let them run longer, the other rooms cool down too.

Unfortunately, this cooling effect is not permanent. As soon as I switch off the P900, for example to go to sleep, the apartment heats up again within 10 minutes and I either have to endure the noise of the air conditioning or open all the windows and hope for some cooling.

The former prevents me from sleeping and the latter questions the purchase of the Medion P900.

The Medion P900 is very well suited for cooling in the home office. During a meeting, the air conditioning can be set to the lowest fan level and shouldn’t annoy colleagues.

But the Medion P900 is not suitable for warm summer evenings, when you turn around for the umpteenth time because you can’t fall asleep.

That’s why I draw a mixed conclusion after 14 days: I no longer want to be without the Medion P900 during the day, but at night I sometimes regret the purchase.

How do you cool your apartment in summer? Have you had any experience with mobile air conditioners yourself? Do you think there are better solutions than air conditioning? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments.