How much does the Midea PortaSplit use? Real draw and cost per hour

Midea’s official figures: 575 W cooling, not 3.5 kW

The basic mistake when talking about consumption is reading "3.5 kW" and thinking that is what it uses in electricity. It is not: the 3.5 kW is the cooling capacity (the cold it moves), not the electricity it consumes to move it. Midea’s official spec sheet (document "DATOS TÉCNICOS — PortaSplit", V.03/2025) separates the two clearly for the MMCS-12HRN8-QRD0:

• Nominal cooling capacity: 3.5 kW (the 12,000 BTU of cooling).
• Nominal electrical draw in cooling: 575 W, i.e. 0.575 kW. This is what the bill pays for.
• Nominal heating capacity: 3.2 kW; nominal draw in heating: 800 W (0.8 kW).
• Efficiency: EER 6.10 with energy class A++ in cooling, and COP 4.00 with class A+ in heating.
• R-32 refrigerant and a recommended working area of up to 42 m².

Note the difference: it delivers 3.5 kW of cooling while using only 0.575 kW of electricity. That is the figure that really matters for your wallet, and it is nearly six times smaller than the capacity. Anyone who tells you "a 3.5 kW unit uses 3.5 kW every hour" is confusing the two numbers and scaring you with a figure that does not exist.

Why it uses so little: inverter and EER 6.10

An EER of 6.10 is high, and it is no accident. It comes straight from dividing capacity by draw: 3,500 W of cooling ÷ 575 W of draw ≈ 6.1. The higher that number, the more cold you get per watt paid. A cheap monobloc portable sits nearer an EER of 2.6–3.1, so for the same cooling it uses noticeably more electricity.

The PortaSplit reaches that EER for two real technical reasons: it is a true split (the compressor and its heat go outside the room, rather than reheating the unit itself like a hosed monobloc) and it has an inverter compressor that modulates power instead of switching on and off at 100 %. That is why its nominal 575 W draw is so low for the power it delivers. For the general method for any portable — capacity ÷ EER — see the how much a portable AC uses guide.

Cost per hour at the price of electricity in Spain

With the official draw (0.575 kW cooling) the cost per hour is easy. All that is missing is the price per kWh. We use the PVPC, the regulated tariff that serves as a reference in Spain: its monthly average in July 2026 was about 0.157 €/kWh (157 €/MWh), according to regulated-market data from REE/ESIOS and aggregators such as costeenergia.es.

• At that average: 0.575 kW × 0.157 €/kWh ≈ 0.09 €/hour. That is about 9 cents for every hour of cooling at nominal power.

The PVPC changes a lot by time of day, so the real cost per hour moves within a band: in July’s cheapest PVPC hours (around 0.09–0.10 €/kWh overnight or at midday) it comes to about 0.05–0.06 €/hour; at the expensive evening peak (around 0.20–0.31 €/kWh) it rises to 0.12–0.18 €/hour. Cooling the home in the valley hours rather than the 9–10 pm peak literally halves the bill.

In heating, at the nominal 800 W, each hour is around 0.13 € at that same average price (0.8 × 0.157 ≈ 0.126 €), though in winter the PVPC is different.

Cost per day and per month: a worked example

Let us take the per-hour figure to a typical summer use. Assume the PortaSplit running in cooling 8 hours a night, at the PVPC average (0.157 €/kWh):

• Per night: 0.575 kW × 8 h = 4.6 kWh; × 0.157 € ≈ 0.72 € per night at nominal power.
• Per month (8 h × 30 days): 4.6 kWh × 30 = 138 kWh; × 0.157 € ≈ €22 a month.

That is the order of magnitude at full power: about €22 a month for sleeping with cooling every night. If you run it only 3–4 hours to fall asleep, it drops to half or less; if you keep it on 12 hours a day in a very hot flat, it rises in proportion. And because the PVPC varies, the same month can cost nearer €15 using it in valley hours or top €25 if it coincides with peak hours.

Compared with an equivalent 3.5 kW monobloc (which draws on the order of 1.1–1.3 kW rather than 0.575 kW), the PortaSplit uses roughly half the electricity for the same cooling. That difference, summer after summer, helps justify part of its higher purchase price.

Nominal versus real draw: the honest small print

The 575 W is the nominal draw: the one the manufacturer measures under standard conditions. Your home’s real draw will be close, but not identical, and it is worth knowing why:

• Being an inverter, once the room is already cool the compressor eases off and draws below 575 W; it is only maintaining.
• On a 40° day, with the room baking, it starts flat out and in those spells can draw more than the nominal value before it settles.
• Room insulation, the setpoint you choose and the sun coming in all change how many hours it works hard.

So the honest figure is "around 0.575 kW on average at nominal power", not a number set in stone. Even so, it is a far more reliable starting point than any generic internet average, because it comes from the unit’s own spec sheet.

To pay less with the same PortaSplit, the usual moves work: raise the setpoint to 25–26° instead of 21°, use eco/night mode, lower the blinds against the afternoon sun, cool in the PVPC valley hours, and do not leave it on longer than needed. And get the size right: if you are unsure whether 3.5 kW suits you, see the frigorías-per-m² sizing guide.

Finding the PortaSplit available at a normal price

Now that you know what it costs to keep running, the usual problem remains: finding it buyable at a normal price, without paying a third-party seller’s markup in the middle of a heatwave. You can see the current state on its availability page.

AireRadar continuously watches Spanish shops and verifies every stock change against the product identifier before alerting you. When the PortaSplit becomes buyable again, you get an email or a Telegram message with the direct link. The season pass costs €6.90 one-time, valid until 30 September 2026, with instant alerts; a free tier with the public information delayed by 20 minutes also exists. We are an independent service: we sell no appliances and take no commission from shops, so these consumption figures have no commercial angle.