AIRCAREDigital Whole-House Pedestal-Style Evaporative Humidifier (Espresso)

I've been using this for exactly a month, every day, until today. I didn't use it today, after a brief period of time, because the atmosphere outside finally got some serious humidity after a really long very dry spell, humidity under 10% a lot of the time, ranging up to in mid 20s. I was suffering with it so much that i pulled up my notes from last year, actually it was earlier this year, about having the kind of humidifier installed that comes through your central AC/heating system vents. The only reason i didn't do it the previous year was that i was unusually short on money, and then finally the extreme dryness ended in the Spring.A month ago i was about to call the company i was going to use, looking at probably $800 to $1000 at least and yearly (or more) professional maintenance, but i could not suffer like the previous seemingly unending ordeal during which two guitars were damaged, one no longer playable and needs professional repairs, hope it can be salvaged, the other one still playable but harder to play and also needs a professional repair. And there were my own damages, to skin, eyes, other things. i was going to pay whatever it took to not have to go through that again. i've never seen it this dry around here before, for so long, it's the Los Angeles area, not cold. very pleasant temperatures mostly.Because i never knew anyone who had a whole house humidifier attached to central heating system, i asked about it on NextDoor, and one person said she had this AirCare Whole House humidifier or one that was similar, she posted a link to this product on Amazon. i was very skeptical about 'whole house,' especially for $109, but i read lots of reviews and became very encouraged, certainly for the price, worth trying.It helped from the first day, but after more like 2 1/2 to 3 days, it really kicked in once the house was fully humidified. I closed off unused rooms. My set up is a one story 1600 sq ft 3 br house with wall to wall carpet. The whole i idea of having to fill the humidifier often bothered me, but it was worth trying if it worked, as just about every reviewer said it did.On one end of the house is the kitchen and the main room i spend the days in, and then a large living room, there's no wall between the family room where i sit and the living room, there's a 5 foot built in wood book case but otherwise it's open. Then on the far side from the kitchen are two of the bedrooms. My bedroom is about as far as you can get from the kitchen.i planned to put this humidifier in my kitchen because the rest is wall to wall carpeting over hardwood floors, and i didn't want to risk damaging that. I found that this humidifier did not adequately humidify my bedroom from the kitchen, but i just continued to use the 5 liter room sized humidifier i was already using in there, it works great and only needs to be filled every 3 days. The Aircare humidifier has humidified the rest of the house very well, it stays at 40% and above, usually low to mid 40s. Which is so awesome. It changed my life, my state of mind, i'm kind of in love with it, it's my hero. It's saving me a lot of money as well as all the other grief.It was very easy to assemble and set up, i don't enjoy doing those kinds of things, but this went fast and very straightforward, the instructions and diagrams clear, no frustration, all the parts were there. It was ready to fill in maybe 10 minutes max, and i used a plastic 3 gallon bucket with a built in shallow 'spout' on it, filled it about half full at the kitchen sink and poured it into the humidifier per the simple directions. I read some reviewers who said it was kind of hard to fill because it's hard to see what you're doing, you can't see the line you're not supposed to go over. I kept checking it, it seemed to take kind of a long time to fill it for someone who gets bored really fast with things like that, but i thought i was learning that i could have put more water in per bucketful than i did. i finally got it close to the fill line without going over and turned it on, after first waiting for the wick to get saturated, something like 15 minutes per the directions.So, i was very happy with it, filling it wasn't so bad. i started with the humidity set at around 50-55 and the fan on 3. It gradually was working. Eventually i turned it up to 65 or whatever the highest humidity is and put the fan on 5. I could not forget the reviews that said on the highest setting, 9, it sounded like a jet taking off and you can't hear conversations in the room, or the TV. i only have used it on that setting a couple of times. Fortunately i was prepared by the reviewers who said it was so extreme so that i was expecting much worse. Actually can hear the TV when it's on 9. The one weird thing about it is that when i have it at settings like 3, 5 or 7, it sounds just like my Panasonic microwave, which is not too far from where the humidifier is, so unless i'm paying attention, i tend to imagine that the microwave is on, until i return to reality. It sounds just like it, same pitch and intensity.I have it in the kitchen because i want it on the hard floor, and that's a lucky thing too because the second time i filled it a couple of days later, i thought i was safe putting bigger bucketfuls in and not checking so often and i ended up going over the fill line by about a quarter inch. There is an overflow mechanism in the humidifier that lets water out of it onto your floor if you go over that line. It doesn't come out fast and all at once. It gradually leaks out so at first i didn't know what if anything to expect, but then, i kept seeing water on the floor, small to moderate amounts, thinking "Didn't i just wipe that up?". Water continued to leak on to the floor for probably about 24 hours. geez. It was only a quarter inch. so, now i'm totally cautious about that, but i have it down so i know pretty much how to fill it and it goes very fast, only about 3 trips back and forth with the bucket, i pour it in fast, it's not a gradual kind of thing, the opening for pouring it into is wide enough that i can just dump the water in there easily and quickly as long as i keep focused on it. if i get distracted, some water goes on the floor. i have a small towel there when filling it. it's easy to do.i put that bacteriostatic stuff in it, made by the same company, Essick. That's easy, just pour a little into the cap of the bottle, dump it in. i wear disposable one use gloves when i handle it because it has big warning signs on it saying it's CORROSIVE in big letters. But all in all, filling it is very quick and easy for me. And as it turns out, i have it next to the kitchen door that goes into the family room but not obtrusively--it's under a kitchen table and doesn't protrude into the door way, it's very unobtrusive, i don't know how it does what it does so well.I made a few calls to customer support, talked to a different person each time, they always give their names. the phone is always answered by a human during business hours. They are very nice and supportive and informed about the product and helped me with some questions and uncertainties i had, clear knowledgeable communication. One thing was that i wanted a remote control for it. I found one on their website, it was about $30, kind of high but i really wanted it. i called the company about ordering one. The representative sounded kind of almost apologetic as she started listing the additional charges, $15 for shipping, 7.2% for sales tax in my state. It was getting to be over $50 which was almost half of the base price i paid for the humidifier, $109. Sticker shock. I told her i was going to check on eBay and she was supportive and encouraging. As it turned out, i found one, after googling the brand and model number, at a place called i-allergy.com that came to $25 total, fast priority shipping with tracking number, virtually immediate gratification. The remote works great, is very well made, not like most remotes, and i'm quite happy with it.So, this has really improved the quality of my life and saved me many hundreds of dollars, great humidifier, great company, easy to use, effective. There's nothing i don't like about this experience. it seems very well made, capable, powerful, user friendly, i feel so dependent on it, i've been tempted to get a second one as a back up so i'll never be without it. i realize was traumatized during the last seemingly never-ending dry season, and then this year even drier, i felt very threatened and trapped in a bad situation. What a relief to find such a great solution.

I give this product 5 stars because after a ton of research, I think it is about as good as you will get, so it deserves to be ranked at the top. In terms of doing what it is intended, generate humidity, it is excellent ! That said, there is defiantly room for improvement of a few accounts.As per many other reviews, it is noisy on the higher speeds. Speed 1 is the slowest which is quite quiet, but you know its there. Speed 4 or 5 is about as fast as I like to run it when I am within 10ft of it. Speed 9 is loud, but very effective. I've not had it long, but I plan to run it fairly low during the day when we are near it. At night, while we are quite a way from it, I will run it on a high level. Given the range of noise produced, I thing having nine speed settings if the right number of speeds to find a level you are comfortable with.As per many other reviews, it appears to over read the humidity level. I expect its probably accurate and the humidity immediately around the humidifier is higher that say, 10 for away from it. This is more of a learning exercise than a problem. I have mine set on 50 while my echbee(s) report around 35. It only took a day or two to get the desired effect.The max fill water line is rather close to the top of the water container. I am quite cautious to move it slowly and cautiously when its full to avoid any water sloshing over the top. I have had no spillage to date, but its good to be aware of this fact. I made this comment as I read some people wheel it over to a water supply. I bring the water to the humidifier in a watering can.I do not like the design for refilling it much. Its quite annoying to have to get the little funnel each time you want to refill it, and find a place to store it. I read numerous reviews about people being unable to fill it without spilling water. I have found it easy to fill with a little caution. I have been using a watering can with the sprinkler piece removed. The end of the watering can must not be rested on their funnel as it would be knocked off and result in a mess. I intend to buy a foot of flexible plastic tube to put on the end of the watering can so I won't need the clumsy funnel. One of my reasons for choosing this model was the fact that you did not have a removable refillable container. I am very pleased with my choice and find this approach much better that my previous experiences.The first time I filled it up, I had to get a light so I could see the maximum fill line. This seem quite a pain. Then I plugged it in only to discover it has a small light inside which makes it very easy to see. Plug it in when filling, lol.The two pictures I attached are from two of my ecobee thermostats. The vertical line is positioned at the time I started the unit. The graph shows my indoor humidity shooting up over an hour or two as the outdoor humidity drops,This unit seems to provide a good amount of humidity to a much larger area than advertised. I was planning on getting a second one if I liked this one, but it seems that I probably do not need to.It looks quite presentable and is not an eye sore in a newly renovated kitchen. I also like the exchangeable tile recessed in the top which you can replace. I quite like the one provided though and so I stuck with that.All in all, its not perfect, but its solved all my humidity issues better that all my previous attempts.

Très bon choix de ma part

We've been using this now for a few weeks and it seems to be working exactly as advertised. Very pleased with this item. It is easy to fill and keeps the Relative Humidity of our entire Condo at the setting we have selected. We also find it relatively quiet and don't even notice it running most times.

Great product except I live in a house that is 152 yrs old so I do not have a cold air return so, I had to put in on the second floor & it works great & it also helps with the humidity on the first floor. Still very happy with the unit.

The humidifier was the answer to our prayers. Moving to an old condo we did not realize that there was no humidifier on the building's furnace. Shortly after the heat was turned on in mid October, my husband experienced a week of nosebleeds. Doctor recommended a couple of humidifiers and this one does the job for the whole condo that is 1830 square ft. It has been a smooth set up and is working very well. We had a bit of difficulty with the funny funnel that is provided and in the end decided to dispense with it.

I bought this humidifier a couple of months ago. It's definitely made a difference in the humidity level in my house. I would mention a couple of things though. I only run my unit at the third lowest fan speed. Anything higher than that is too noisy. The chute for adding water is poorly designed. There's a tendency to spill some water when adding unless you're very cautious.Also it's difficult to tell when you've hit the "full" point, although you can make an educated guesstimate.The unit detects the humidity level quite accurately though. And it's very simple to assemble and operate.