I received this item just before Christmas 2009. Our house was so dry I was slowly pruning. At 1500 sq.ft. on the main floor with 9 foot ceilings it keeps us quite comfortable and does the job. Have been running it straight since early December and no mechanical problems. Be aware of the following:
LOOKS: This cabinet model looks better on the website than in person. It is a darker brown than shown (not as orange) but still a pleasing colour. It is made of plastic and has a woodgrain pattern, but doesn't quite live up to getting away with it, mostly because of the slightly warped top vent (yes, vents from top, cannot put stuff on top of here without blocking the ventilation). Ours comes out of the plastic hinge at the back and does not seat well in all grooves, but probably not noticeable to guests. It needs to sit with it's back against a wall, as the back of the unit is not covered by a nice woodgrain cover, although it is brown plastic. You also notice the black filter hooked on the outside back sucking "filtered" air into the unit. My favourite part is it's on four wheels, so it is very easy to move and vacuum around on my wood floors. Unless you have shag rug, it should also be fairly easy to move on a short pile rug.
CONTROLS: It has two dials "humidity control" and "variable airflow". The humidity control does not go by numbers (i.e. 50% 75%) so you don't really know the current level of your home; however it does allow you to set low / comfort zone / high arond the dial, and will toggle off when it reaches the desired humidity level set. We set ours 1/4 turn above the comfort zone and that works well. Note that setting it on high still doesn't peel your wallpaper, you can't even see the humidity coming out like you can on an ultrasonic BUT it does do the trick, as confirmed by the empty bottles I'm constantly refilling. The variable airflow dial goes from OFF/COMFORT ZONE (which starts immediately from off) to HIGH. This unit is LOUD!! When they say comfort zone they mean for your EARS. I only put it up to 12o'clock position (medium, I guess) when I'm out of the room, and any higher is just noisy with HIGH being like a battering ram. The comfort zone is best and since we situate it right by our kitchen/nook and living room we keep it low. (I know what you're thinking we have taken it apart and rechecked our setup, it is correct with nothing unusual accidentally left inside, no real reason it should be this loud. Only thing I can think of is plastic rumbling on four wheels with the echo of our hardwood floors maybe it won't be as much of an issue for you).
BOTTLES: There are two large 2.5 gallon bottles that rest on the left and right of inside cabinet. They are easy to fill and the unit comes with a tube to help you fill from your tap. Also comes with one small bottle of bacteriostatic additive to get you going. We use distilled water so we don't have the hard water build up in the bottom reservoir, you may want to use soft/distilled if you can get it or put an additive in to dissolve minerals. The bottles have handles on both top and bottom so when you turn them over to place them in it is easy to handle the weight. We don't spill any water when doing this and it's a great design. Also good are two "refill" lights that light up orange when each bottle is empty. They are easy to see through the grill on top as you're walking by, but not obtrusive. Very easy to refill while the other still is going, no need to turn unit off.
NOISE and PRICE: It's the only big drawback, and the price at $200 USD is steep for what it is. Would love to see real wood for that price, as there really isn't much to the unit but a small fan, filter, and plastic.
All in all, there aren't alot of different makes on the market to choose from, especially ones that don't look utilitarian. This will do what you're looking for but be aware if you have unusual dryness in your area and need to pump humidity with the control on HIGH, the noise from this baby will stop you from hearing your baby monitor and could keep you and baby up at night; otherwise, sleep soundly in the "Comfort Zone". Good luck with your purchase!
Apparently it must be these days even though I found one in a funky Lower East Side plumbing store for ninety bucks back in 1978 that served me well in my Broadway loft for 20 years. It was just a big wheel surrounded by a porous plastic wick belt that turned slowly in a five gallon reservoir much like a water wheel. The belt was easy to remove, wash and replace. No expensive paper intake filters, no bottles (just dump a bucket of water through the top once a day), relatively low noise. The rabbit just ran and ran with an occasional pulley belt replacement, which were generic and available at a local hardware store.
When it finally expired for good I searched in vain for the same machine. So I bought a Bemis which looked sort of like my old workhorse but was internally very different. It didn't work nearly as well as the old one and was noisier to boot. After three years the motor died. I installed a replacement motor. Then a replacement water bottle. And of course new filters twice a season. And I bypassed the broken humidity control.
That brings me to the Essick, which I believe (although I could be wrong) is just a rebranded Bemis. I bought it as a Christmas present for my girlfriend who was suffering nose bleeds from the dryness in her place. But the Essick was too noisy for her so it wound up back at my house as a replacement for my aggravating Bemis. The motor expired during my first season with it so I replaced it. Then one of the plastic bottles sprang a leak in one of the corners. I fixed that with plastic epoxy. Then one of the low water sensors stopped working last year so the blower wouldn't turn off. I just let that one go.
I cleaned the unit and filled the bottles for this winter season and guess what? Another dead motor. It's on the curb now waiting for Sanitation or an enterprising DIYer to suffer the same heartbreak I've been through with it.
Buy Essick Air 697-500 Variable Speed Humidifier Now
The vendor was great I received the humidifier within days and it works great. I wish the water tanks were a little larger. However the ability to remove the two tanks is a great feature. I live in an apartment of approximately 700 square feet so this unit is actually a little over kill but I am very happy with it.
Read Best Reviews of Essick Air 697-500 Variable Speed Humidifier Here
I am pleased with how it looks. I find the two water bottles on the size simple to fill. We have found it helpful with the dry air of the winter season. It is rather noisy when the fan is running on high, but I have not used a humidifier that isn't loud at that speed. We turn it to high during the nighttime hours when the family is sleeping and turn it down low to avoid the noise during the evening.
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I bought two of these units in 2009 for my house (3500sq.ft.). With forced air my house gets very very dry. The units worked great, but they can be noisy and they still need to be filled so in 2010 we added a built-in humidifier unit to the house. I was going to give the Essick units away when we did this, but I am glad we didn't. The built in, running constantly, only brings my house up to about 20-25% humidity. With the heat running, this is not enough. Low humidity makes my sinuses hurt, gives my kids bloody noses, makes everything shock upon contact and makes your skin feel tight.
This morning my humidity was at 16%!! I went to the basement and brought up a unit, and within 15 minutes it is already reading 24%. It is a good idea to buy a digital meter (10-20$ on Amazon), so you can find what is comfortable. The units are noisy when at full speed, but I run them slow in the am and high when we are sleeping and this seems to work just fine. They are easy to refill and I am putting about 20 gallons of water into the house per day! This brings the humidity up to 35% which is comfortable for us. Bottom line, they look ok, but they do exactly what they are supposed to. After 3+ years both units still work just like the day we took them out of the box!!!
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Since I didn't see it listed either in the specs or the reviews, I'll just note that (according to the box it comes in), this is the replacement cartridge for Venta-Sonic models:
