Update on January 15, 2008:
Yesterday, the motor in my Venta unit began making a grinding sound after nearly six year of flawless operation. I called Venta customer service this afternoon. After wating a rather long time on hold, I was connected to a very pleasant man, George, who asked me to put the phone next to the motor so he could hear the noise. I did, and he did.
Without a moment's hesitation, George said he would have a new motor shipped at no cost to me, and that delivery could be expected within 5 7 business days.
It's always a pleasant surprise to find a company standing unquestioningly behind their warranty. If only more understood that's all it takes to create loyal customers.
*****
Update on September 17, 2007:
I'm pleased to report , my review, below, is still true in every detail. This product has been a terrific investment.
*****
I live in a desert~like New York City apartment and have owned my Venta Air Washer for almost exactly two years. During this time it has been operating on the "high" setting, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The Air Washer lives up to all of the manufacturer's claims.
The Air Washer is a product of fanatical German engineering, over~design and bullet~proof construction, which accounts for it's rather grotesque price. However, I have owned products of inferior engineering and construction that have had to be replaced after one or two seasons. It is obvious I will own my Air Washer for many years to come.
The principles of operation could not be more simple (it's like a High School science project developed into a luxury product):
1) A fan blows room air straight down into a reservoir of water.
2) In this reservoir of water, a few dozen disks are slowly rotating to multiply the surface area that is wet.
3) Because you are blowing air onto a enlarged wet surface you are multiplying the rate of evaporation.
4) Humidified air is exhausted out of the Air Washer through vents in the side.
THIS WORKS.
On the "high" setting the water reservoir needs to be refilled daily in my apartment (this is highly dependent on your local weather or heating cycle). I end up carrying a couple gallons of water to the device or carrying the device to the bathtub and then back to its spot in my livingroom.
The design of the Air Washer is "neutral." It sits unobtrusive and un~noticed in a corner. It is nearly silent. It is built like a tank: It would be a challenge to damage this product on purpose.
Why not Five Stars?
The Venta Air Washer consumes expendables. You need a water treatment solution to prevent mineral deposits forming on the rotating disks mentioned above (weekly). AND you need a periodic cleaning solution to remove deposits that develop pn the bottoms and walls of the reservoir. I have tried operating the Air Washer without these things. They are required for optimal performance.
Like the device itself, the Venta treatment and cleaning solutions work perfectly and simply. But, THE EXPENDIBLES ARE EXPENSIVE! Assume youy will spend US$50.00 per year.
Also, you would think that for a company selling a FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR humidifier, the Venta aroma therapy scents would smell a bit less like a Central American bordello (not that I've ever seen one of those). Skip these even if they're free samples.
If you want the very best at any price, buy this product.
I am not affiliated with either the manufacturer or Amazon.
Having used a Venta humidifier in Germany several years ago, I was delighted to see that they are selling in the U.S. now as well. I had a case of sticker shock though, as they are now much more expensive than their older models used to be, but since I used to be very happy with them, I decided to go ahead and buy one anyway.
All Venta humidifiers belong to the class of cool mist humidifiers, which in my opinion is the best principle, as you don't "over-humidify" the room. Normally a cool mist humidifier has a filter that sucks up water from the tank and a fan blows air through the filter. Thus the water evaporates into the air and increases its humidity.
The difference in the Venta humidifier is that it doesn't use filters, but two arrays of plastic disks that rotate through the water. A fan on top of the device sucks suckes air through those disk arrays and the water drops that were lifted up from the tank evaporate.
One of my major gripes with other cool mist humidifiers is that the fan is very noisy even on the lowest setting. The Venta fan is pleasantly quiet. I keep the device in my bedroom at night on the lowest fan speed and I don't notice the fan at all.
While it is true that you won't have to replace filters every few months, you WILL need to replace the water treatment additive at every cleaning cycle (usually 10-14 days), so there ARE some maintenance costs. The LW44 comes with two fillings of the additive, afterwards you have to spent about USD 16-18 for a bottle of the water treatment which will last for 12 cleaning cycles (4-6 months). Venta also sells a cleaning solution, but according to their manual you won't need it in most cases. In any case the cleaning solution costs about $10 and is only good for one cleaning, so using it frequently will really drive the maintenance costs up.
All in all this is indeed the best humidifier that I ever had. I'm not giving it five stars, because I still think the price is outrageously high.
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After living with a low end humidifier that did little and made too much noise for the bedroom I decided I would get the best humidifier at any cost. That was three years ago and at that time the Venta fit that bill. My initial impression of the Venta was very good the idea of a fan blowing over wet disks seems pretty ingenous and solves problems like airborn bacteria, mineral deposits, and gives the machine some air cleaning capabilities. Right from the start I was surprised how poorly it humidified the air checked with a high quality hygrometer it only raises a medium sized bedroom's humidity by about 5% at maximum speed and is useless at lower speeds. Furthermore, at maximum speed the device sounds like an unusually loud room fan which is difficult to sleep with. People talk about the device being quiet at the slowest speed which it was but this setting is ineffective at humidifying even a small room based on my readings with a hygrometer.
Now I've lived with this unit for 3 years and have encountered further problems that have finally driven me to admit this whole purchase was not a good idea.
The first problem with this unit is that the "air washing" capability results in the machine getting dirty... but unlike almost every other kind of humidifier this dirt is everywhere on the machine throughout the disks, all over the fan, all inside surfaces. On the inside surfaces (which have lots of hard to clean nooks) this dirt is similar to a sticky wax and on the wet surfaces its more like a slime. I spend about 30 minutes struggling to clean it each time I try before I feel I've done an OK job. The Venta cleaner additive doesn't work that well on the disks, doesn't do anything for the waxy sludge on the housing because it doesn't touch it, and the unit has so many difficult to clean parts that it's nearly impossible to get all the dirt. I even tried putting the non-electrical parts in the dishwasher which doesn't work either.
The second problem is that this device can "easily" generate very loud noises to the point that I have to shut the machine off because I'd rather be tormented by dry air than this devices groanings. I say easily because it is possible with enough cleaning and fiddling to keep this device operating at the "merely loud" fan noise that it had when I got it. But after 3 years this is becoming very difficult to accomplish. There are two possible sources for this noise. First, the gears themselves operate by having plastic tabs press against the gears in an undulating fashion. When clean this usually happens quietly... but when even slightly dirty these tabs can make a loud studdering noise that is caused by two materials not moving against each other smoothly. If you've ever heard your car's windshield wipers studder across your windshield instead of smoothly glide over the glass you know what this sounds like. It's not quite that loud, but when you're trying to sleep it might as well be. The second source for this noise is imbalance in the fan. With a little dirt on the leading edge of the fan the fan seems to be aerodynamically or statically out of balance and makes an undulating groan about every 4-6 seconds the way an old fan can be expected to. On a $15 room fan it would be the kind of noise that might cause you to throw it out and get a new one. On a humidifier this expensive?
Finally the device is sensitive to being assembled in just the right way or it will make the noises I've mentioned above much more easily. Normally you just put the top on the device and you're in business. But with these noises you start pressing on different parts of the top to try to shift the plastic pieces into better alignment. Once you press in just the right way and the device stops making noise you slowly remove the pressue and 99% of the time the noise comes back. If you push and prod you are sometimes able to get the machine to be quite, but often you have to unlatch everything, reseat the fan assembly and start over. That gets old fast when its 3am and the machine just starts making a really annoying noise that wakes you up.
I call my 3 year journey with this Venta machine a battle because I've tried tons of things to help compensate for this machine's problems. The initial problem of low humidification is because the device sets up its own recirculating airflow that's limited to an area fairly local to the device. The humidity within one foot of the device is very good according to my hygrometer. The humidifier's fan sucks this air back into itself repeatedly. By placing another fan to the side of the Venta to provide room circulating air current you can get an additional 3-5% humidity 5-7 feet away from the device (like where you're head is in bed). Of course now you've got another source of noise in the bedroom.
To compensate for the gear noise and the dirt problems I've tried adding all kinds of things to the water that might act as either a cleaner or a lubricant or both. I've tried double quantities of the Venta additive, a variety of soaps, various aeromatic oils in quantities where the oil's lubricant properites might help. Really nothing is effective.
In the end I have to say that I'm most dissapointed by this machine's price. The unit is nothing more than a large hunk of plastic with fan on top of it. If it was made in China this unit would cost $39.95. But its made in Germany by a company that seems to be over charging far beyond what the added expense of German manufacturing and poor exchange rate would explain. Being German made I was expecting that the unit be better engineered. The machine is built well nothing has broken in 3 years of constant operation. Its weaknesses are not structural. There are simple ways of eliminating the problems I've listed. Fan noise can be reduced by using a larger, slower moving fan with more and better bearings (something that should be expected in a $500 device). The gear mechanism that generates so much noise should be replaced with a non-contact device like a magnetic drive similar to high grade aquarium pumps. A top of the line magnetically driven pump costs 1/3 of what this Venta costs so magnetic mechanisms should easly have been considered for a $500 device. That these obvious techiques... or any others... are not employed on a device of this cost in the face of its inherent problems is criminal.
99% of the time I recommend spending the extra money (even if it's 5-10 times more) and getting a machine built the right way. This machine is not built the right way it's just 5-10 times as expensive. I don't believe anyone is building a humidifier the right way at this time. Given this I would have to recommend one of the 4+ star devices for $50-70 steam seems to be the best for avoiding white powder and bacteria. I've purchased two Honeywell HWM450 steam humidfiers for $55 each. Their ability to humidify is incredible. In the same bedroom with 50% humidity the Vental might get it up to 55%. The Honeywell can get it to 70% if you want and has digital controls for setting the exact humidy you want (although they don't work that well). Overall any shortcomings of the $55 Honeywell are not related to it's main function humidifying. The same can't be said for the VENTA.
Read Best Reviews of Venta Airwasher -Charcoal, 554436 Here
The Venta LW44 Air Humidifier is as advertised.
First, it is exceptionally easy to set up, operate, and maintain. It took me less than five minutes to take the humidifier out of the box and place it in position in the front hall. Another couple of minutes were spent reading the few directions that tell you to add the cleansing ingredient included in the box to the water to make sure the fans function effectively. I filled up the tank, turned on the machine, and walked away.
Second, daily maintenance is a snap. I take off the cover in the morning and evening and fill the machine to capacity, put the top on, and walk away. At the end of almost two weeks I brought the machine to the sink, emptied it, rinsed and wiped it out, filled it, added cleaner, placed it back in position, and turned it on again. This might have taken five minutes or so.
Third, the machine quietly puts a couple of gallons of water each day into the air. The Venta is exceptionally quiet and extremely effective. I'm not sure how much cleaner the air is, but we are no longer sneezing from breathing dry, dusty air.
Summary, the Venta LW44 is exceptionally easy to set up, operate, and maintain. The technology of rotating disks works as advertised to add moisture to a dry environment. The air seems to be cleaner, but I can't attest to the extent or degree of improvement beyond saying that we are breathing easier.
Others have discussed the high price of this machine, but if it lasts ten years as advertised, it is well worth the purchase price. Cleaning solution is a modest cost I am willing to pay to keep the machine running effectively. Highly recommended.
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It works as expected with a modicum of care, but its retail price is rather high. However, I have found that I do not need to buy the expensive additive they sell. Instead once or twice a week I dump it our, wipe the inside of the tank, refill it with water and put just a very tiny amount of hand dish washing detergent in with the water. The big advantage for me of using cheap dish detergent is that I can dump it frequently without buying lots of their expensive additive, so it never gets very dirty.
Their additive contains "surfactants" they say, but so does any detergent. Simple physics, actually: without a little surfactant water tends to bead-up on the plastic disks without wetting them as it should -but the surfactants found in Joy dish detergent do the job equally well. Only trick is be careful to use MUCH less dish detergent than you would to wash dishes, because you do not want suds! Also, ONLY add detergent after dumping, not when just adding water because detergent doesn't evaporate.
In three winters of use the only problem I've had with mine was a small crack on the upper housing which I fixed with tape and it still works OK.
Unlike some users I've never seen much dirt accumulation in the water, because I live in a modern condo so my air has very little dust in it. And because I dump the tank at least once a week, I've not seen that much accumulation of mineral deposits either.
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I first saw the Germ Guardian H1000 on the desktop of a co-worker. I searched the web for it and found the best price at Amazon. I originally bought it for work, but set it up on my nightstand to test it out and liked so much it never made it to the office. (I may have to get a second one for work.) It's compact size and efficiency are real selling points. I even used it in a recent production I was in, taking it to and from the theater every night. Most of the other performers in the cast wanted to know all about it and were also impressed. I highly-recommend it.
