Saturday, November 15, 2014

Crane Warm Mist Humidifer, 1 Gallon

Crane EE-5200B FFP Crane Warm Mist Humidifier, Black, 1 GallonI've been using humdifiers for years and have tried every type. The cool mist ones mildew up quickly and the wicks are expensive. The ultrasonics are nice, but unless you use distilled water, you run the risk of breathing in bacteria from tap water, since the mist is cool and the water and any particulates that are in the water are nebulized into the air. The warm mist are the best, since the water is boiled and only the steam escapes. I have used many brands of warm mist humidifiers over the years... Holmes, Duracraft, and Honeywell. This Crane model is THE BEST yet. It hasn't leaked once. The tank size is adequate for a medium sized bedroom. I run mine on the low setting and it goes for 12 hours easily. The operation is quiet. The other brands I've tired all have the same basic design... the heating element is round with a hole in the middle and is difficult to scrub on all sides if there is a lot of hard water build up. This design has a solid heating element built into the bottom of the unit and can be scrubbed easily with a brush to remove build up. There is some basic weekly maintenance required, but it's not difficult. You need to use distilled white vinegar to dissolve build up and disinfect. One thing I don't particularly like is the blue light that comes on when the unit is turned on. It's not bright enough to light up the whole room (kind of like a night-light), but for folks who like 100% pitch-black when they sleep, this may not be for you. I'm glad I found this brand and model. For the price, it's a great machine.

I needed humidifiers for a couple of rooms and I wasn't sure whether to go with this Crane humidifier or the Vicks V745A. Both had pretty good reviews, had similar capacities, were about the same price, etc. So I picked up the Vicks model at a local store, and I ordered the Crane from Amazon.

Both models are very similar in the way they generate steam, but there are a couple of significant differences that makes me prefer the Vicks model over the Crane.

For starters, the low setting of the Crane outputs about the same amount of steam as the high setting of the Vicks, and it turns out that the Crane is a 400 watt unit, while the Vicks is only about 275 watts. I keep the Crane on its low setting overnight in the bedroom, and the water tank is almost empty by morning. The Vicks needs to be on its high setting to go through the same amount of water in the same period of time.

Second, the design of the water tank on the Crane makes it harder to fill than on the Vicks. Neither one has a tank that will fit under my bathroom sink faucet, so I have to fill them in the shower. And although the filler hole on the Crane is wider, it lacks a handle like the Vicks model has, and filling it under the shower faucet is kind of awkward.

Next, once the tank is in place on the Crane model, the bottom of the tank sits in a lot more water than does the Vicks. Not sure this is really a problem, but when you remove the tank for cleaning (there's both daily and weekly cleaning recommended for both), it drips more water on the floor. Also, the filler cap on the Crane has developed a little bit of a musty odor, and again I'm not sure if it's from sitting in more water on a constant basis.

Finally, I find the Crane model to be a bit more difficult to clean than the Vicks. The space around the heating element is much narrower, making it hard to wipe around with a cloth. The Crane also accumulates more rust deposits than the Vicks, which is probably because of its higher wattage heating element.

Buy Crane Warm Mist Humidifer, 1 Gallon Now

I tried this for several days and it really does work well as far as boiling the water and throwing out steam. The design leaves a lot to be desired though. The tower comes apart from the base very easily and it is next to impossible to clean inside completely. The mineral buildup is really bad since there is nothing to collect it. I ended up going with the Vicks V790.

Read Best Reviews of Crane Warm Mist Humidifer, 1 Gallon Here

We bought 2 warm mist humidifiers previously, a Sunbeam and a Holmes. They both were terribly noisy.

We bought this from Home Depot, same price as Amazon. It is much more quiet. Good misting output. BUT, even though this web site says it is operational for 8 hours, on the product's box, it represents 7 hours AND, when in continual use, it lasts only about 5 1/2 hours. Not very practical.

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I ordered two of this humidifiers from Amazon later last year,they were used for around 3-4 months so far.This year we started to use them again, but with the first time using, I got smoke from one of them. I opened up the bottom cover, found the heater part melted the plastic in the bottom. This unit was in my kid room, couldn't image what would happen if adult was not there that time!!!! I checked back another unit, saw similar problem, the symptom was not so serious yet, but no doubt, it will get smoke and fire very soon. This product has fire danger, manufacture should recall this product!!

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