Aprilaire 700 Automatic Power Humidifier

I purchased the Aprilaire 700 to replace the model 110 that quit working after 15 years. Several reviews said this was a good choice so I thought I'd give it a try.

Everything arrived in one box and the instructions were very clear. Since I was replacing an older power model, the wiring was already done for me but it looked easy enough. I did replace the water supply line which came with the new humidifier and had to cut a larger hole in the plenum and smaller hole in the return air supply for the humidistat.

In all, it took me about 2 hours to cut and fit the new one in. I did't use the outdoor temp. sensor because I prefer to use a manual setting. The unit has been operating flawlessly for a couple of months and the humidity in my house has risen to where it's much more comfortable. I'd recommend this unit.

We had an Aprilaire 700 system installed professionally, but the solenoid broke after two years. (the solenoid controls the water flow from your plumbing into the unit). This is the most powerful system Aprilaire makes, and was recommended for our house by the ARS professionals that installed it. The system never got our humidity over 30%, but in fact we have hardwood floors in about 1/6 of our house and lots of wood furniture, and about 3500 sq ft of floor space. The unit seems better suited for houses without much wood (floors and/or furniture) and certainly less than 3500 sq ft. Suitability aside, I'm not happy the solenoid, which is over $200 to replace/install, broke after less than two years. Unfortunately, we got only 1 year parts/labor on the unit.

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We purchased the 700 in 2004 and it has been nothing but a headache for us. The first two years the water panel wouldn't stay wet. The installer blamed it on the saddle attachement to the water pipe. He came out and cleaned the saddle and claimed it worked but we never had anything but dry air. About 2007 we had someone come out and tell us the panel holder doesn't distribute the water well and they came out with a new version that has fabric in it. Bought that and it helped for a year and the fabric came loose and had to buy another. (in addition to replacing the panel each season). Finally last year we had someone install a real valve to replace the saddle. Then this unit started pouring water all over the floor. Apparently the low-flowing saddle was masking other problems. Some low-flow, inlined device was broken. (read $.01 piece of plastic) I ordered a new hose for it and put it in. The new hose was so stiff that part of it broke on trying to install it. Duct tape helped hold it in place. Turn on the water and NOTHING... back to no water again and a dry panel = dry house. Generally this unit has me running to the furnace room every day since we owned it. It has never worked right despite having 3 different companies come out to service it. The general features of this thing that I don't like are:

water panel: I just don't believe that this puts as much water in the air as one could

fan: The fan is outside of the duct work blowing unconditioned air into the duct which is supposed to deliver humid air to the system. But I feel more air coming out than going in and isn't it reducing the heat in the duct by inserting cold basement air?

vent: The vent on this thing is a giant hole in the summer. The unit is off in the summer and the cold air just blows out. One may suggest that I leave this thing on all year and just turn off the water... that would help but the way these are wired is to turn on only when heat is asked for. We keep our house fan on all the time to balance the system and the 700 only comes on when heat is generated. So even in the winter, conditioned air is escaping through this unit.

water delivery: The pipe it goes through is entirely proned for error and anyone with harder water than us will suffer tremendously.

This is probably the worst house purchase we have made since 1998.

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Good quality humidifer but requires a 120 VAC outlet so be prepared. Took a few minutes to understand exactly how the rear housing frame mates to the duct opening. Must install the humdifier controller in the return duct upstream from the fresh air intake which required rerouting my fresh air intake. Also installed the Aprilaire Model 8570 Thermostat using a separate 24 VAC transformer. My furnance could not supply enough current from it's 24 VAC humidifier accessory terminal to run the humidifier. Aprilaire recommends not using the accessory terminal when installing the Model 8570 Thermostat so I already purchased the 24 VAC transformer. Pleased with both the 8570 Thermostat and Model 700 Humidifer. Like the ability to monitor outdoor temperature and humidity from the thermostat, and automatically control humidifier operation based on outdoor temperature because I have wooden casement windows. You will need some skills to install this unit.

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This is worse then having no humidifier as it breaks down and can overflow n flood into the HVAC unit.

Worked for two months then pad flooded one year.

Relay went out another year.

Now solenoid valve is broken and quote is 350 to fix.

Would suggest going with another brand that offers at least a 10 year warranty period or go with stand alone units.

15508 Sears Kenmore Humidifier Wick Filter

I haven't tried it yet .Will let you know once I get it up and running.In the process of moving.

it is what it is! a humidifier wick and the same one that you'd get if you went shopping at a Sears store.

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Doesn't seem to draw up the water like the original one that came with the machine. But it could be a problem with the humidifier itself

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I use this filter and bacteriostatic for my humidifier every winter. The one filter will last all winter.

I couldn't be happier.

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germguardian LW18 UV-C Light Wand

The first one we bought wasn't working correctly. We returned it and Amazon fed-exed another one. Thank you Amazon! Germ Guardian wasn't helpful at all. I called their help center to check if we were using it right and the return policy, and never got a call back, which was very odd. They don't have live people answering the phone, you just leave a message.

We got this for the mattress because we think there may be some mold in there. My boyfriend still has his cough, but that's probably because it's cold. So I can't say if it's effective or not.

If you are going to buy this, make sure you can buy it from a place that is very easy to exchange and return, seeing as our first one didn't work.

1. Feels cheaper than it looks. Don't let the shiny gray color in the picture fool you, it's plastic and not metal. I had bigger expectations because I already had the big brother to this wand, the beautiful stainless steel uv-c room sanitizer. If the wand was a nice white plastic, I would not care, but making it the gray color makes it look and feel like a cheap knock-off.

2. The wand can only be used 'face down'. I understand this is a safety feature, but I wish I had known about this before I bought it. I was going to wave the wand over part of a wall that I cleaned some mold off of, but positioning this wand so that the light faces anywhere but down turns the light off.

3. It's kind of big. It's such a lightweight unit, I dont' know why they didn't make the body tighter.

The wand has good points to it (check out the other reviews), but I personally was disappointed with what I paid for it. NOTE: Prices on these things have dropped a lot since I bought mine, and they seem to be getting more in line with what I think I should have paid for it.

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I am very impressed with the effectiveness of the Germ Guardian 18" wand. I didn't give it 5 stars because it is a little back breaking to use if you are sanitizing a low area.

When I took it to a hotel on vacation, I used it in the shower and could smell it killing the who knows what that was there. My pet toys, beds, personal hygiene items, computer, cell phones, remote controllers, cutting boards, countertops and many more surfaces are sanitized without the use of chemicals, YAH! I can now use pretty smelling surface cleaners and use the wand to get the down and dirty.

When I use the wand over areas that always harvest smells (basement drains) I can smell the burn of the elimination of germs.

I'm unsure what the other reviewers are so upset about, the wand does exactly what it was intended to do, kill germs. This technology is not new just not advertised as much as money making cleaning products. I have a personal unit that uses uv-c light to sanitize water had over 5 years.

The cord is convenient if using in the kitchen or bathroom, it's not very long so I do't use it much. Rechargeable batteries (4AA) get about 2 hours before needing to be changed. The battery cover was difficult to remove use a Metric 3.0. The cover that supports the uv light uses a different sized screwdriver. No accidental removal of the wrong cover.

The built-in safety feature turns the light off if you tilt the wand too much. Exposure to skin and eyes is a no-no.

Of course, I purchased mine from Costco.com so no worries about malfunctioning unit or return policy.

Now with the outbreak of Swiine Flu, I use it even more!

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I bought this for a single purpose, for which it exceeded my expectations.

I'm allergic to mold. In 2009 I moved into a new apartment and found I was allergic to the fridge/freezer. There was no visible mold but every time I opened the door I got a face full of allergens that left me feeling nauseous and made my eyes sting. I tried cleaning the whole thing with a bleach solution : no change. I tried running a small HEPA filter in the fridge : no effect. So what to do? Buy a new fridge/freezer, or give UVC a whirl?

The following is one of those "don't try this at home folks" things, but I'll tell you what I did. First I unplugged the fridge/freezer from the wall. Then I removed the cover plate at the back of the freezer to expose the cooling fins. Then I masked all visible wiring because I was afraid the UVC light might cause the insulation to go brittle and crack, which could be dangerous. Then I set up the germ guardian to shine on the cooling fins. I used the one hour timer, set it going, and left the room. After an hour I came back and moved the wand to shine on a different section of the cooling fins. I repeated this 5 times until I'd covered them all. By the time I'd finished the whole house smelled of refrigerator mold. I put it back together, plugged it in, opened all the windows and went to bed assuming I'd just wasted my money on the wand...

By next morning, the mold smell had dissipated from the house. I opened the freezer door, and ... no mold smell! None. Nada. I've used the HEPA filter I mentioned inside the fridge compartment ever since in an effort to prevent a regrowth, and here we are almost two years later and ... no mold.

Fantastic.

Since then I've used the germ guardian on clothes I've bought which have turned out to be moldy right from the store (again, not visible mold, but enough to set off my allergies). Washing has had no effect, but a few minutes under the germ guardian has transformed unwearable clothes into wearable clothes.

If it's so wonderful, why only 4 stars? Because the device has an annoying tilt switch which kills the light if you turn the germ guardian to shine upwards. This makes it virtually impossible to disinfect upwards, and, even more annoyingly, very difficult to disinfect horizontally too : the switch tends to trip even when the light is pointing sideways. I understand that this is a safety feature, but I also wish there was a way to disable it, because not everything can be placed below the wand.

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The holding time is really boring... I suggest a attachment of a 2 inch holder from the wand to the object, so we could just place it there 2 inches away without holding it!!

I can tell this lamp really works because you can smell a tiny bit of "burn" after you scan it on carpet, but it won't heat up anything so I dont think it'll actually set something on fire. It's really light weight so I didn't have a problem on scanning stuff with it on a extended period of time. You can always just leave it facing down and let it "burn the bacteria" and move it say once every 10 seconds, doesn't really have to hold on to it. And the auto shout off system is when u are really trying to make the UV light facing to u, It'll still work as long as u move less then 90 degree. So UV lighting the wall was no problem too (although it's impossible to do the ceiling...oh well)

4/5stars

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Hamilton Beach 05900 Humidifier Replacement Filter

Little did I realize how much a Hamilton Beach humidifier would cost me more in consumables than the actual unit itself. I have three in the house, since I have forced air heat and live in a four-season region, and needed to humidify the sleeping rooms. Amazingly, the filters are hard to find, and even crazier to price reasonably. Not too many alternatives, and now I'm leery of buying replacement humidifiers on the chance that I'll end up in the same boat again with the newer model.

It was difficult to find this product in stores and was able to easily on Amazon. The product works fine and am very happy with it. Also, the price was great as an added bonus...

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GeneralAire Humidifier Unit 81

Works OK. Could use a little better build quality. Lid pops off way to easy when trying to screw the bottom on. The lid top fits into a shallow groove that does not hold well. But the lid only gets removed a few time a season, so it isn't a big problem.

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HOMEIMAGE Large Cone Shape Ultra Cool Mist Humidifier

• Large 1 gall cone shape ultra cool mist humidifier can be used for more than 10 hours
• Auto off when water is empty
• Provides Moisture for Dry Cough, Sinus Irritation, Dry Skin
• Relieves Congestion from Allergy and Asthmatic Type Symptoms
• Adjustable mist volume control

It works well in my kitchen. I have a dry eye disease, and this product helps with that situation. Thanks.

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Very good for the money and has a variable speed adjustment. Not very powerful, but good for a small bedroom.

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On day one it worked great. With each passing day performance wanes. After a week of use, the output was noticeably reduced.

I filled the machine with the finest water in the world, NYC tap water, so perhaps if I used only distilled water the performance might have improved, but its unlikely anyone would go to this expense on any regular basis.

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I have bought humidifier before and they all sucked. On a low setting it can be under for almost 24 hrs which is amazing. It is easy to fill and clean.