Duracraft DWM250 2-1/2-Gallon Warm-Mist Humidifier

My grandparents had a cabin in Canada, and their "humidifier" was a shovel full of snow in a big pot on the wood stove. Ah...those were the days. Fast forward to the present, in my home without a wood stove, to a complaining wife and stuffy newborn. What I thought was a seemingly easy task turned into a nightmare, thanks to the internet and Amazon reviews.

The type was easy. Cool mist is too moldy (unless they are kept clean, and let's be realistic, who actually cleans humidifiers?) and filters are pricey, ultrasonic has the added benefit of the "white powder" in the air and settling on everything, and the whole-home kind that are attached to the furnace ducts aren't really made for small heat pump HVAC like I have in my house. So, warm mist it was, and I started on my journey to find the perfect one.

And it was a journey. I found fancy ones with all sorts of features, and cheap ones that made steam. All had one thing in common, those that hated them and gave them one star, and those that loved them and gave them more stars.

Meanwhile, my wife borrowed her mother's humidifier, which happened to be a many year old version of this particular one. It's the same humidifier we've borrowed every year since my wife and I got married five years ago. After playing with the idea of a UV lighted, mineral pad soaking, multi-gallon capacity, built-in hygrometer monster, I decided to get two of these units instead--at a cheaper price. Why?

For one, my mother-in-law's unit still runs like a champ after all this use. We really only use it at night for sleeping. The trick is to fill it up and run it on high while getting ready for bed, and then turn it on low when going to sleep. The water lasts all night and it increases the humidity nicely.

For two, many of the features offered on more expensive models are all but useless. So many people complain about filling the things--is it really that hard to walk to the sink once a day? In order to kill airborne germs, a lot more is needed than the tiny UV light offered in other humidifiers. If the built-in hydrometer is out of whack, too bad! Mineral filtration pads? Unless a person is unlucky enough to live in a "liquid rock" area, a good wiping with paper towel soaked in vinegar once a week is all that's needed to clean the heating element.

Sometimes, less is more, and I believe this is definitely the case with humidifiers.

I really like this humidifier and have been on the very difficult journey to discover which humidifier will work for me, whether cool or warm mist is better and which actually does what it says the same as everyone else. I get frequent sinus infections and am in great need of a humidifier here in the northeast during the cold months with the heat. I just constantly don't feel good without one. For over 10 years I have used cool mist humidifiers. I honestly never considered a warm one. The last one I had was a Holmes and it was certainly not cheap. I took good care of it and it still worked only 1 year. The filters were expensive and the unit was very noisy Last year when it worked it worked well, but last winter it worked only half the time. I did not know where to turn.

A friend suggested a warm air humidifier and I looked into it and liked what I read. I then researched, reading reviews and customer comments even using Consumer Report. I kept coming back to this one and saw the definite mix of positive and negative reviews. I read all the negatives and saw that most were looking for the humidifier to do or be more than it said it was.

I live in a studio apartment and the humidifier says it is for rooms 400 to 700 square feet. Perfect for me. It also says that it runs up to 12 hours on one filling and it does. When I run it on the low speed it lasts 12 hours exactly. The directions also say to disinfect it before the first use. This is very important. With something like a humidifier it is very important to follow all directions. If you do not, you don't have a right to complain if it does not work correctly. This humidifier is very easy to clean/maintain and also very easy to fill. If you do not want to be filling it every 12 hours or more then get a different humidifier. For me, it is very simple and easy knowing I need to easily fill it every 12 hours.

The humidifier also makes no noise at all on either the high or low speed. I find that when running it constantly on low my humidity level is perfect and I feel great. This machine does exactly what it says it does so make sure that it will satisfy your needs. It is easy to use/maintain so much simpler than a cool mist humidifier. I will never return to a cool mist one again.

I highly recommend this unit and say just make sure it is what you want before purchasing. Hope this helps you with your humidifier decisions.

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I have gone through quite a few humidifiers. I had one like this before, after a few years it gave in because I never cleaned it (shame on me). Then I tried a few ultrasonic (ultraexpensive) humidifiers, which really hardly bring the humidity up (I have a hygrometer). So I decided to buy this one again, and am as happy as with the first one. If you want your room to increase in humidity, forget about those ultrasonics and go for this one. Cheap and good.

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This is my third warm mist humidifier. They just don't last very long. The cool mist ones don't seem to make the room more humid. The last one I had (which looked similar to this) lasted two years, and the rubber stopper part at the bottom dried up during the summer (when it was not in use) and cracked. My first one only last one year. I am resigned to the fact that I will likely have to buy a humidifier every 1-2 years, so I'd better not spend a lot for them. This one works well, and on the low setting, can last 10-11 hours. This setting is enough for my medium sized room. On high output, it goes through the water very quickly, and if your room is small, will feel tropical. The one thing I don't like about this one is that after putting the dial on the desired setting, you still have to push a "start" button to make it start putting out mist.

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The plastic on this model is pretty thin and flimsy, so I'm always afraid I am going to accidentaly snap or crack a part (like the screw-on lid) and completely destroy the product or render it useless, but the overall engineering design is really good, it is still working after about a year, great for baby, great for me. For the price I am satisfied, but I wish they would make more of a "mercedes" model for a slightly higher price that uses the same design, maybe a little more technology for the controls and more durable plastic. I love the fact that the water tank is removable, fillable and sealed shut for the trip back to the unit, no pouring or spilling involved. I bought this model because it has the same water tank and mist tower design as a Sunbeam cool mist humidifier that my parents used on me as a baby (which I still have and use for my son), and that thing is damn near indestructible.

Air-O-Swiss AOS 7017 Hydrostick

I bought 2 of the 7135 humidifiers. I also bought extra silver sticks. Then, air-o-swiss substituted this POS stick for the original silver stick. Here's what I think. If you read this, it's only my opinion, not based on any independent research, but partly based on some rumors I read on the internet. Form your own judgement.

The original silver stick allowed silver to slowly come off, thereby inhibiting bacteria formation (meaning, you won't breathe in bad stuff). The new one is much smaller, just as expensive, and as far as I can see, I don't know what it does. Read the current description, which I quote as follwos:

This advanced water maintenance system keeps your humidifier operating at its highest level between recommended cleanings

Good for one year, the Hydro Stick ensures your humidifier's functionality while providing fresh humidification performance.

The Hydro Stick begins to function as soon as it comes into contact with water, even if the humidifier is switched off.

Using the Hydro Stick helps to maintain the appliance and improve the life expectancy of the humidifier.

Exchange the Hydro Stick a year after it has first been used.

Do you have any idea what that is saying? It says absolutely nothing specific about what it does. It reads like pure marketing verbiage, saying nothing.

The hydrostick clearly does not appear to have the surface area of the original silver stick. So what does it do, besides cost money? It seems like it's there to substitute for the original silver stick. Perhaps the original silver stick started costing air-o-swiss too much money, because silver price went up. Perhaps air-o-swiss was no longer permitted to sell this silver stick, for legal reasons. But whatever, I do not see any specific function associated with it, particularly when the description for the new demineralization cartridge talks about inhibiting microbe growth.

What do you think?

This new hydro stick doesn't work as well as the old (silver) stick. Using the old sticks & cleaning weekly worked great, but with this new hydro stick I've had to clean the humidifier every couple of days. The new hydro stick doesn't seem to be doing anything it's a total waste of money for me. I'd give it zero stars if I could. Sure hope they bring back the old silver sticks!

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The hydro stick seems to work well and perhaps a bit better than the old product (ionic silver stick). It doesn't seem as well fitted to the machine, however (I have the AOS 7135 and it seems to float around instead of snapping in).

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I'm very disappointed with Air-o-swiss on this joke of a replacement. I went to BBB for a replacement stick and to my surprise they were all gone. I was skeptical about the new hydrostick's antimicrobial abilities as it seems to be made out plastic. As suspected every few weeks I actually started cleaning moldy growth from my humidifier. I saw calcification build up with the silver stick but never mold or slime. Needless to say I'm very disappointed with this product and trying to figure out an alternative as I'm not paying another thirty dollars(with tax) for this product. Bring back the old one.

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I completely agree with other reviewers that these aren't anywhere near as good as the original which came with my Air-O-Swiss humidifier. In fact, I'm not convinced they do anything at all. The original Silver Sticks were great at preventing slime and catching what little was produced. PLEASE bring back the original design.

I love my Air-O-Swiss humidifier, but after wasting almost $30 on this piece of junk, I'm not sure I'll be buying another when mine wears out one day. This really makes me wonder if Air-O-Swiss will soon be selling junky humidifiers, too.

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Floor Mist Fountain- Green

I bought this product as a gift for my daughter in law. When she opened it the piece holding the middle plate was missing. I have been trying to get the piece replaced, but have found the company has refused to do so, due to the product being shipped more than thirty days prior to the request for a replacement part. The part should not cost them more than a quarter, but they refuse to work with me on a replacement. Just a reminder, if you buy this product from this company, open the box and ensure all the pieces are available before your thirty days are up. If you can buy a similiar product from another distributor, I would strongly suggest you do so.

Air-O-Swiss AOS 7018 Evaporator Wick for AOS E2441

Love thissaw me thru hip-replacement when I could not bend downfilters are easy to change and I switch filters about twice a year.

Arrived very fast and the Replacement Filter is Air-O-Swiss Brand and works ecxellent.

Will definitely buy replacement filter again in the future.

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Aroma Atomizer Air Humidifier LED Ultrasonic Purifier Diffuser

The product that I received was not functioning properly. It is supposed to be a diffuser, but it does not diffuse anything. The seller was not professional at all in dealing with emails. I would not want to deal with this seller again. It's hard to understand their English.

I was all excited to get this and when it finally came, I was extremely disappointed. You can't use your own essential oils in it and unless it's right beside you, you hardly experience any of the humidifier. The LED "on/power" lights are extremely bright, so if you're use to a dark bedroom, you'll need to put something in front of it.

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Did great for about two weeks and stopped working... I don't recommend this product. . . . . . .

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This product comes from China. It does not work, but to send it back, I need to send it to China. That will probably cost more than I paid for the product. I will always check to see if the product comes from another country and will not order it.

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I have had a few ultrasonic aroma diffusers and this one seems to last the longest. I leave it on all day and night and just keep refilling it. The mister on this diffuser works pretty good too!!

Paradigm PSH 6 Humidifier 250 Cigars

I have used Paradigm humidifiers for about 15 years including every size from the 15 to the 250. I use the small ones inside cedar drawers with loose cigars, while the large ones hang from each shelf in my two large cabinet humidors. I have also tried dozens of cheaper models, which have their uses, as when you're stockpiling moist elements in dry winter months. But Paradigm humidifiers provide consistent, mold-resistant long-lasting humidification. After being immersed in clean distilled water for ten minutes (less time for smaller units) the Paradigm 250 is significantly heavier than before it was dunked, due to the weight of water absorbed by the unique media inside each Paradigm unit. I also use powered humidifiers like the Oasis II XL, and while they can be effective at moving moist air around the cabinet, the Paradigms do the "heavy lifting" of keeping cigars moist and fresh. In a dry winter, a Paradigm 250 will hold a charge for a month or more, while cheaper foam and bead cartridges must be refilled every week. The cheap units get light as a feather in just a few days, and they don't absorb enough moisture, with the excess running out of the unit and onto your cigars. That's why I keep the cheap units face-up on the floor, ONLY! The bead cartridges are particularly bad at this; they rattle like a maraca when they run dry, but when you add distilled water, they are slow to absorb and there's no way to tell if you've added too much, causing the cartridge to "explode" as the suddenly-full beads break their casings.

And the Paradigms don't wear out easily. Every one I've ever used has lasted at least four full years of wet-dry-wet-dry-wet, etc use before the water storage medium starts to take on less water. When this happens, I do eventually replace the unit with another Paradigm. The storage media inside each unit is remarkable. It absorbs distilled water in large amounts in winter for discharge into the humidor, while it also absorbs excess moisture from the environment inside the humidor to help avoid over-humidification and the mold and beetle problems that come with too much moisture.

In terms of use and maintenance, the Paradigm is simple. I use an empty ice bucket to hold my Paradigms vertically to ensure maximum soaking of the medium, and I squeeze as many Paradigm units as possible into the bucket, before filling it to the brim with clean distilled water. That way, thanks to Archimedes' Principle, I can use less water to fill the bucket to the top and cover the slots with water. Then, after ten minutes, or when the bubbles stop, I take them out, blot them dry, and deploy them in my cabinets. Despite their increased water weight, the included magnets keep a firm but movable grip on the units while strong sticky material (odorless, of course) grips the top of the shelf, so the Paradigm can hang over my cigars and provide maximum coverage. The magnets and stickers included with the floral foam or bead cartridges are a joke; they are not strong enough to hold a charged cartridge and, even if they were, the foam/bead media would leak all over the cigars because the foam and beads don't absorb every drop that goes into the cartridge. When necessary, I use these cheaper things as "bowls" of distilled water on the floor of the shelf or on top of a cigar box. In that configuration, gravity does not help percolate the moisture through the cabinet, as it does with the Paradigms. The Paradigms can't drip because the water-holding media is stronger and because the only openings are side-slits, so gravity does not pull down dripping water from the reservoir. It's a simple, durable and effective design.

With Paradigm, I have been able to age some cigars more than a decade, and they feel as fresh and spongy as the day I bought them. In fact, friends without working humidors frequently bring me cigars that were stored in the box (with no humidification) or, even worse, the refrigerator or freezer. If the cigars have not cracked or suffered severe damage, my Paradigm systems can bring them back, but it is a slow process.

I rarely have had any problems with any Paradigm products, but I have gone though a lot of them over the years, and there was one occasion where a new large Paradigm wasn't holding water well. The manufacturer sent me a new one immediateky, as well as extra magnets and an additional small unit. I trust my prized cigars to Paradigm, the best product of its kind on the market today.

Patience is the key to using this item. It keeps my cigars at the correct humidity and gives me the perfect smoke every time. Using distilled water is another key. Taking the insert out and soaking it in the distilled water before putting it back inside can help and be another key to success.

Good Luck

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I have 3 Diamond Crowns, 1 Ashton, 1 Prometheus, 2 Savinelli and a Fuente Fuente plus 10 mid level humidors. I have used Xikar, Dr RH products that work well but got tired of buying the Xikar solution. I purchased the Paradigm PSH-6's to try in two of my big boxes, a Savoy 150 & Prometheus. I wish I would not have waited so long to purchase the Paradigm! They work great! As my Xikar gel humidifiers wear out I will be replacing them with the Paradigm's. Good quality product that is well designed and built. I don't know what happened to the individuals that had problems but if the units are charged correctly they work absolutely awesome! The end caps do come off to properly prepare the system, pop the end cap back on and it is good to go!

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Had it for 4 week now and can only get my humidor up to 56%. I recondition my 200 cigar humidor before I installed it, I have around 75 cigars in it. I did better with the Humi-care gel crystals, with them I had 66%. Would not recommend it, unless you have some money you just want to get rid of.

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Essick Air 4-Speed Tower Humidifier, D46 720

Overall, this is a great humidifier.

SIZE: The tower shape of the unit makes it perfect for environments where there is more wall space to consume than floor space. It's fairly large: as a point of reference, it rises a little higher than the arms of my living room sofas and it's rectangular shape is about the size of a magazine, plus about 1.5" on each side for the two tanks.

CONTROLS: The digital controls makes it pretty easy to operate. It's a simple, two-button interface with an easy-to-read display. The automatic humidistat can be set from 25-65% (at 10% intervals). The current and desired humidity level are shown side-by-side on the display using indicator bars. When set a desired humidity level, the automatic humidistat will run the unit until the current humidity reading is 10% higher than your preference, then turn it off until the current reading drops to 10% lower than your preference. This is a pretty nice feature it saves power and conserves water so you don't have to refill the reservoirs as frequently. You can also choose to run the unit continuously by not setting a preferred humidity level.

FAN NOISE: There are four fan speeds. The first three speeds are all very quiet and wouldn't be disruptive (or even noticeable) in most settings. The fourth and highest setting is more noticeable, sounding something like a microwave oven but slightly softer and quieter. It might be enough to make you turn up the TV a little while watching the news, but really no worse than that.

DISPLAY: The display also has a green power indicator and a red indicator to let you know when both reservoirs are empty (the unit will stop when this is the case until at least one reservoir is refilled). I did find it kind of odd that the product uses LED bars to display the humidity levels and two-digit numeric readout for the fan speed (even though the highest speed setting is only 4). It almost seems to me that these should be reversed, but that doesn't really reduce the effectiveness of the unit and the interface is still pretty easy to read and use as designed.

SETUP & USE: The unit is fairly easy to setup and maintain. The two wick units and the plastic grill covers that enclose them can be a little cumbersome when snapping them in and out of place. This is not a particularly big problem, since the wick units only need to be replaced at the beginning of each season to avoid mineral buildup.

The two reservoirs, on the other hand, are very easy to remove and replace while the unit is operating. Each is the full height of the unit and about 2 inches thick with a simple click-latch fixing them snugly to the unit's sides. Despite their large and odd shape, they're surprisingly easy to fill even at a small bathroom sink. They each can hold a little more than their rated 1.5 gallons when topped off and the fill-caps hold this amount without leaking. The instructions say that the water level in these tanks is "easily visible" from the sides. The water level can be seen from the sides, but I wouldn't describe it as "easily"; the dark tint makes it pretty difficult to see from any distance. I often have to gently rock the unit a little to find the surface of the water move before I can judge.

When this unit is running continuously at full speed, it can run through both reservoirs twice in a single day (that two times each, or 6 gallons total). Unless your environment is *extremely* dry, I think that's about the max. With more practical and conservative settings, they only need to be filled every 2-4 days, which is a much more relaxed refill schedule to keep.

The unit does work well even for larger, dryer spaces. You'll be able to notice an immediate difference in the air near the humidifier as soon as you start it, and the effect radius grows pretty quickly especially on the highest speed setting.

SUMMARY: All in all, this is a nice multi-room humidifier that looks good, fits easily, works well and is easy to operate with a nice feature set for it's price range.

The first Humidifier I received, did not work properly. I called the "800" listed on the insert if you encountered a problem. Actually a live person answered. I explained the problem, she knew exactly what was wrong, said it was defective, send it back and we'll ship a new one.

I received a new humidifier within a week. Put it together and it works perfectly. You can set the percentage of humidity you would like and the humidifier shuts on and off to keep the humdity at the selected level. I like the fans 4 speeds. Setting number 1& 2 are very quiet, although 3 and 4 are not bad. The humidifier covers 1300 sq feet which is perfect for my entire downstairs. There are two water tanks, I fill them every other day, but the humidifier shuts off and a red light appears when it is out of water.

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I've tried several humidifiers and this one is the easy to use and is easy to fill.

The design makes it very easy to find a place that is out of the way. The high(4) fan speed is noisy, but the 3 speeds below that are quiet. I set the humidity to one below the max with fan speed at 3 and it goes through one tank every 4-5 hours. I also use a Protec cartridge placed in the base of the reservoir and have had no problems with mildew so far. This one is a keeper.

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Having used an ultrasonic humidifier for the past couple of years (before it gave up completely), we wanted to try a different style humidifier. This one seemed to fit the bill.

First off, the build quality is terrible. The quality of the plastic is sub-par. It's brittle, terribly molded and roughly finished. One side of the unit didn't even have the plastic punched out for the latches that hold the filter cover in place. The latches that hold the water tanks in place are imprecise and difficult to operate, leading to difficultly latching and unlatching the tanks. I could see this as an obvious point of failure with repeated use.

Forgiving this, the unit works well to quickly humidify a decent sized room. The fan is quiet and effective at lower settings (1, 2). It gets louder at 3-4 but isn't too loud. The humidity settings are reasonably accurate, tested against a calibrated hygrometer. Two full tanks will keep our large bedroom at ~50% humidity during cold, dry furnace-heated days for around 36 hours.

The tanks might have kept us humidified longer if the unit didn't randomly overflow and leak water all over the floor. I would guess that whatever mechanism is in place to prevent the gravity-fed reservoir from overflowing just isn't built to high enough tolerances to prevent this problem. We tried placing the unit on a baking sheet to contain any small leaks, but even that overflowed.

We will be looking for a different unit once the return process is complete.

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I purchased (2) of these units from the local Menard's store. I really liked the narrow footprint and quiet operation mode. Unfortunately, they are of poor design and build.

The water bottles side load vertically, and if you don't seat the bottle correctly on the small feed socket, you're going to get a 10" inch puddle. This is managed by learning how to 'quick' set the bottle into the unit. With a little practice one can get the hang of it. Still, I'd recommend you put down a water pan under the unit. I use a boot tray for winter boots.

After about 30 hours, one of the units had a fan failure. The second unit has had a problem with the control panel the switches stopped working. I was able to get it to run on full speed. I returned the first unit to the store within the grace period for a refund, but got stuck with the second unit.

Really, you're taking a big risk buying this model.

Aprilaire 4793 Humidifier Maintenance Kit for 550, 550A and 558 series

Bought the kit, installed it, nice easy kit to use works with my humidifier. Will by again when I need anohter one.

I highly recommend. Great product for the price.

This is a great product that comes with everything you need, including a new filter panel. It had very detailed instructions and was easy to install. I recommend this product to anyone!

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Provides the essentials for yearly maintenance. Saves you a few bucks. Easy to install. Appears to be good quality construction and materials. Highly recommend this package.

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