Midea Recalls U and U+ Window Air Conditioners for Mold Issues | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Thom Dunn

Thom Dunn is a writer focusing on home heating and cooling. He once blew up a power strip with a space heater and a Marshall half-stack.

It was May 14, 2025, when we first noticed that the Midea U MAW08V1QWT — our favorite window air conditioner for five years running — had suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from shelves. We looked into it and learned that plenty of Midea ACs were in stock all across the country. But the company had told stores to stop selling them.

Why hold back on air conditioners right at the start of summer?

After a lot of calls and emails, we received an explanation from the company. Midea had been investigating the same situation we at Wirecutter had been following since 2023: sporadic allegations of mold issues affecting its U-shaped air conditioner, the Midea U MAW08V1QWT (as well as the newer Midea U Plus MAW08U1QWT). As of June 5, 2025, a Midea representative told us on a call, the company is issuing a voluntary recall (the Consumer Product Safety Commission also notes the recall). Midea also shared additional details about a technical solution and a prorated refund that it plans to offer.

The Midea U genuinely changed the window air conditioner world, providing quiet, efficient cooling without holding an entire window hostage for the summer. But in the first few years after its release, we began hearing from readers who had noticed mold growing on a fan visible inside the unit just behind the grille where the air flows out.

To be fair, this can happen with any air conditioner. “I’d venture to guess that upwards of 70%, maybe more of the AC units and mini-splits we encounter, if you took a flashlight and looked at the fan, you’d see mold,” Gabriel Erde-Cohen, CEO of We Clean Heat Pumps, told us. “Sometimes, the mold is just more apparent.”

We began reporting on this concern in summer 2023. We tried and failed to replicate a mold issue ourselves, and we disassembled our own Midea U in order to better understand its airflow and identify some problem points. We also reached out to Midea to ask about the issue. The company’s answer confirmed our findings: The fan, and thus any mold growth on it, is more visible in the U than it is in other ACs. Also, the problem can be more prevalent in rooms where people have installed oversize air conditioners, a practice that we discourage. We then wrote that the remedy, for many people with an appropriately sized AC, is to keep the fan running to dry out moisture and make sure the AC is tilted slightly backward to help with drainage.

Meanwhile, complaints to Midea persisted. At least two people filed formal complaints with the CPSC about the mold problem. (Many such complaints are posted publicly at SaferProducts.gov.)

We don’t know when Midea started looking into the issue, considering that it’s been evident for years, or why this particular action is happening now. But we did speak with Jonathan Midgett, PhD, the consumer ombudsman at the CPSC, who serves as a sort of public liaison for the agency’s internal processes. Although Midgett wasn’t familiar with this particular case, he did say that a two-year timeline would be reasonable for a company to investigate these sorts of complaints and develop a plan of action to address the problem. “Sometimes complaints do take years to get traction,” he explained. “You get one or two and just ignore it, then there’s three or four, and now it’s looking like there might be a pattern.” (In a follow-up call with the CPSC, Deputy Director of Communications Patty Davis clarified that under Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), companies are required to report immediately, or within 24 hours, any information they receive suggesting a product may present a safety hazard.)

Companies do have some responsibility for mold mitigation, according to the CPSC. “I know that it sounds like it’s not a mechanical failure, but it is a mechanical failure if there’s something wrong with the plastic or there’s not enough airflow to prevent mold growth,” Midgett told us, citing a 2013 mold-related recall of nearly one million Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play sleeper cribs.

We tested multiple sizes and types of air conditioners to confirm: A too-big AC can’t balance heat and humidity.

Midea told us that it plans to address the issue in a few ways.

All Midea U buyers will be eligible for a refund — although the amount will depend on how long you’ve had your air conditioner. Midea representatives shared plans to provide a full refund for any AC purchased in the past 36 months, or those still under warranty. The refund drops to 80% for units that were bought between 37 months and 72 months ago. Anything older than that is eligible for only a 50% refund. To qualify for any refund, you’ll first have to fill out a form, after which the company will instruct you to either return the unit with a prepaid shipping label or take a photo of the unit with the cord cut before disposing of it in accordance with your local laws.

For those who want to keep their Midea U air conditioners, the company will mail a DIY repair kit. Midea says the kit will include a new dripping drain plug for the back of the unit, as well as an annotated bubble level so that you can make sure that your AC is tilted at the correct angle. Delivery for the kit will likely take two to three weeks. The company also claims that it can provide a technician, either in person or remotely via phone or video chat. If your Midea U doesn’t already have a drain plug, the company will pay to send a technician to your home to make a hole. That technician will also clean the unit and ensure it’s tilted properly; for this, the company says it will contact customers within five days of registration to schedule an appointment. If you’re unsure how to proceed, the company has also put together a dedicated website that walks you through a safety-review process.

If you’ve already taken matters into your own hands, you are still eligible for a refund or fix. This should be a comfort to those DIYers who have drilled their own drainage holes. A company representative confirmed to us that the AC does not need to be in the original condition in order for the owner to participate in this recall.

According to a representative of the company, Midea will be repackaging its ACs with the same DIY repair kit that it’s sending out to customers for the recall. The updated boxes will be marked with a sticker noting the repair kit contained within. The company expects these repackaged units to return to shelves gradually over the next few weeks, with most of the stock returning to the usual levels by early July. We’ll be keeping an eye on their availability, and we’ll also test the new DIY repair kit ourselves.

This article was edited by Harry Sawyers and Jason Chen.

Thom Dunn

I’m a writer with a focus on heating, cooling, and humidification devices, as well as gadgets such as Christmas lights and karaoke machines.

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