Vornado Evap40 Evaporative Humidifier, 4-Gal Capacity, 1,000 Sq Ft Coverage

Living in central Indiana, I have traditionally used mist humidifiers or warm air humidifiers like the simple Vicks (still made in Mexico and not China unless I am mistaken). Mist humidifiers are just a pain to clean and put too many minerals in the air that are attached to the atomized air droplets and by Spring, it (layers of deposited minerals) comes off my furniture when cleaning. So you probably breathe this in. If using distilled water, not an issue and if your tap water is clean, also not an issue....BUT, if you have questionable water or well water, extremely hard, think of your lungs/throat and if you have infants in the house, which I do). So I chose this humidifier for several reasons, like Made in USA and alleged ease of use. Well, it is definitely easy to use. I love the side tanks and how you just place them and gently flip up...no splashing, no overspill, just easy. Add a few drops of antibacterial solution and slap em in. I do wish it had a digital display so I could measure the exact humidity and have an auto-turnoff. However, I use one upstairs (smaller 1 gallon Tornado version...wish I had just bought 2 of the larger units, but that one does have a digital display, is quieter at high fan setting and has auto shut off) and downstairs and bought 2 Abbeon HTAB-176 Hygrometer and Temperature devices, one for each floor, so use those to measure temp and humidity. My whole house furnace humidifier has never worked and wastes a lot of water, so I chose this route. Is this unit perfect, nope. But it does the job...over the past few months, it runs nonstop and keeps the relative humidity about 35-37% downstairs and about 52% in our bedroom using the 1 gallon model, but a smaller room. I use a small fan downstairs to help spread the humidity. The larger unit fan is a bit louder than the smaller 1 gallon unit, but not obnoxious, so if you keep it near a TV as I do, out of necessity, you might need to turn it to a lower fan setting in order to hear the TV at your normal volume. I also love the ease of cleaning....just pop off the top, then take to sink, remove filters and takes about 2 minutes to clean! I just replace filter every 2 months instead of soaking in vinegar as some do as filters in my opinion are cheap and not worth time and money for a gallon of vinegar to clean. I don't recommend products typically, just write reviews if I really like a product or hate it. I like the function and look of this Vornado and would buy it again, UNLESS it breaks in a short time. ;)

This vornado humidifier is truly a life saver. I had a levoit tower $150 humidifier that didn't make a dent in my extremely dry room. We have old radiator heating and a lot of exposed pipes and it gets extremely dry 20% humidity dry. For some reason the dryness was worse this year and I was struggling to breathe, wheezing, I couldn't get my Levoit humidifier to go above 30%-35% even running 24/7 on the highest setting. I decided to try an evaporative humidifier and after a few days of research settled on this one because of the fan and I thought it would reach a better range with my tall ceilings. Within a few hours of using it got my humidity up by 25%. I finally was reaching comfortable levels of humidity and could breathe like normal. I use distilled water as I have a water distilled machine, totally worth it, I haven't had to change the filters yet or dealt with any grossness. I fill 2 gallons at a time usually, and if I want to use less for a shorter amount of time I usually just fill one side instead of both. There is a learning curve to get the containers on without spilling. Instinctively we want to go slow especially because it's full of water, but you have to just lay the containers down on the grove and quickly put them in in one fast movement. Don't need to use force just go quick otherwise water will spill. Once I realized that I haven't spilled it at all or had any leaking issues. I keep it running once the water is done to dry out and dry the wicks. It does make a "glug glug" noise every few hours depending on how high you're running it but I don't think it's loud or bothersome, I barely noticed it at first. The fan sounds like a fan, not sure why it seems people expect it to be quiet, any fan on max is going to make some noise, it's no louder than any other fan I have really. It's not quiet but I don't think it's unreasonably loud, could take some getting used to if you're sensitive to these types of sounds. There was a smell initially, it was off-putting but I was prepared based on reviews. It was the wicks not the decide itself so think it's unavoidable with any wicks. It took a few days to go away but eventually did completely. I'm impressed and surprised by the simplicity of the whole thing really. I'm used to the Levoits that's a bunch of pieces and is a pain to clean, this thing is really simple but functions great. I'm so glad I made the switch. No hate on the Levoit it wasn't the only humidifier I've had but was the fanciest most expensive one and I definitely had higher hopes and expectations for it. Thankfully, this one succeeded where the other failed Photos are 1) the humidity level in my room after this current humidifier was off for a few hours when I wasn't home 2) humidity level within 2 hours of turning on the vornado humidifier 3) my Levoit humidifier, and even when it was running for hours on high I couldn't get above 34% humidity at most

Update 2 Dec 2025: The following is roughly what I'm getting on a filter. I replace the filter at the max days. The filter begins reduced soaking up of water at minimum days or before. No bacteriostatic: 20-30 days Half bacteriostatic: 30-40 days Full bacteriostatic: 40-50 days Regardless of the choice, either spend more on filters or spend more on bacteriostatic. This is the end result of my tests. I find this annoying but do need the 4 gal capacity. There is another type of humidifier that is more expensive initially but may be cheaper over time. I can't remember it off hand but may look into that after some more years to get away from bacteriostatic. Overall I'm happy with the Vornado only because of the capacity. But, am absolutely not happy with the filters of this type of humidifier. I by far prefer the Vicks warm steam humidifier, but that one just doesn't work for the location where the Vornado is used for me, just as many others won't work well there well enough for me. Everything else from others... I tested even using a filter from a different manufacturer brand that someone said they use and even using the larger Vornado filter as two examples. These things did not work any better. Bacteriostatic is the only thing I found to actually be worth doing. Update 1: Going to take another year or two maybe. At this time, I do know that various things people state here and elsewhere with filters, do not really work. In other words, not worth doing from what I've seen. I'm finding cleaning the filters to not be the way to go. Getting the filter to last longer without cleaning is much better. Then just replace. To get it to last longer, everything needs to be fully and correctly cleaned during filter change, and use bacteriostatic. This is currently what I find to work best as according to the manual. I don't expect this to change at this time. If the filter is hard (check while its in use when you see reduction in water use), its very unlikely that cleaning will help with that. The filter isn't good at that point. Any hard parts will not soak up water and will reduce water going into the air. The key is keeping it from developing those hard spots for a longer period of time. Original: Strike-First off: You have to clean the filters or you will waste money. That's your choice.-Strike. See above for why its now striked. The filter life will range. They have to be cleaned once the water level in the tanks stop dropping. Can clean by buying a cheap dish tub (about $3) then putting one filter at a time in it and filling it with water to just above the filter and adding 1/2 to 1 cup of white vinegar. Let that sit for a few hours eg 5 to 9 hours. Then carefully take out the filter and rinse it without squeezing it or anything else to damage it. Then just let it sit for approx 24-48 hours till its fully dry. Putting a single paper towel under it can dry it faster. You should get an extra set of filters to swap them and keep it running while cleaning the dirty filters. Am currently at 32 days of a filter on its first cleaning so far for a total of over 2 months on that one filter using filtered tap water. It would only have been 30 days if I hadn't of cleaned it. I also clean the vornado generally when switching filters. The problem is that filter life will range and not from the water. Air quality, filter QA, running time, etc all affect it. So some people will see a filter stop quickly then throw them out. That's a total waste. You have to clean them lol. I'm looking into various things to see how filter life turns out. So far cleaning is the only way to go. Will update this if something works better or longer. Negatives for the one star down are the filter having to be dealt with, price of the filters, the base being so thin that its required you test it with water before first use due to possibility of cracking during shipping (rofl), and the water blurping during use is annoying and too loud. It however definitely works great for putting out humidity. You won't see anything (its same as humidity in general) but the water will disappear (and not onto the floor funny you). I have it running constantly on low fan for approx 2 gal per 24 hours in the air. Low fan is quiet. Med and high are too loud. I will take this over many humidifiers.

This is by far the longest, most detailed review that I have ever written for a product. But, I would like people to know what to expect from this unit, and to learn a bit about humidity and what affects it. So, here we go. OK, I've read at least 100 reviews of different humidifiers on Amazon and other sites before I settled on buying this unit. And, I'm glad -- and sad -- that I did. MOST negative reviews come from people whose expectations can not be met by any humidifier currently on the market. There are undoubtedly bad humidifiers out there, but this is not one of them. Also, some people buy a product with unrealistic expectations as to what that product will actually do, or what care it will require. This is unfair to the product, although the makers do put out some fantastic claims without giving us all the background necessary to understand the claims. So, what are some of the unrealistic expectations I see people complain about? I'll address a few here and give my view of them. (1)The humidifier should make absolutely no noise whatsoever. Really? If the unit operates on electricity with some part that moves, you WILL get some noise - period. How much is dependent on how fast those parts move and/or the type of movement. In the case of this humidifier, it has 3 fan speeds, and off. On the lowest fan setting, placed on a carpeted floor 5 feet from our bed, you can not hear the fan on low. On medium speed (which is where we keep it to sleep), you can hear it a little when you are awake, but it does not keep us from getting to sleep or staying asleep. On high speed, where it will humidify a room the fastest, you can definitely hear it, and we can not sleep with it at this speed. On the lowest speed it will not raise the humidity very much. We use high speed only in the daytime to humidify the air and objects in the room as much as possible. In addition to the fan, you will have the occasional gurgle of water from one of the plastic jugs as it refills the reservoir as water in the reservoir gets evaporated away. Want to know what that sounds like before you buy? Fill a gallon plastic milk jug with water, then pour it out faster than air will enter the jug opening. You will hear and see the water glug and gurgle as the air enters behind the water that empties. Our unit does not "glug", it "gurgles" (a softer sound for only 3 or 4 seconds). If this wakes you from a sleep, then you a VERY light sleeper, you have the unit on a sound resonating object (like a hard nightstand or wooden floor), or it it simply too close to your bed and at too high a height. Try placing it on the floor on a carpeted surface away from your bed. You'll be amazed at what a difference in noise level this makes. 2) The unit should require absolutely no maintenance. REALLY people, do you ever buy anything that requires no maintenance? Do you run your car without doing maintenance on it? What you WILL have to do to keep this humidifier operating in tip-top shape are the following: (A) Refill one or both of the plastic jugs that supply water to the unit as they get used up (evaporated). The jugs have a handle on one side, and are flat on the other side. I lay mine down in a laundry sink, aim the spout over the opening, and then fill it. It takes exactly 1 minute and 15 seconds for me to fill one of the 2 gallon jugs in this fashion (once it is positioned in the sink). 2 gallons is a lot of water, and it weighs 16.72 pounds. So count on having to carry that much weight with the handle provided on the jug if you fill it all the way. Can't carry that much weight? Don't fill it all the way! I bought a bottle of the BestAir Humidifier Bacteriostatic additive to put in the water. I don't know if it works or not, as I have always used it, and have no problems with algae so far. I gave up measuring capfulls of the product, and just guess at the amount as it can't be rocket science. It does NOT prevent my water softener softened water from building up as a deposit on the filter (see B below). The jugs tip into place extremely easily whether the top is on the unit or off the unit. They never spill for me. Do NOT try to tip them slowly -- just set them against the unit at the bottom, and tip them quickly upward into place. Nothing to it. You can remove them one at a time, with the top on the unit, even if the other jug still has water in it. This is a nice feature, as you can simply refill the unit one jug at a time. You can even remove a jug that still has some water in it without any of it spilling out. (YES, for "safety", I keep an aluminum baster/roaster under the unit in case any water were to spill out, but to date none ever has.) B) The filters (they are really wicks) will develop a crusty edge at the top on the outside portion after running a few days. In my case, this is due to my water softener water that I use. I never tried store bought water as my water works just fine in the unit. Whatever water you use, if it has ANY impurities in it, regardless if you can see the impurities or not, then you WILL get a residue on the wicks as the water evaporates. Where else would these impurities go? A pan of water on the stove that is evaporated will also leave behind the same impurities! To ameliorate this issue, I simply turn the wicks upside down and over every other time I fill the jugs! That is, if the yellow/tan buildup is on the top edge outside, rotate the wick until that edge is on the bottom to the inside of the unit. It will re-soften and disappear (only to reappear on the top edge outside later). Then, once a week, or whenever I feel like it, I take these wicks out, take them to my laundry sink, lay them flat on the bottom, fill the sink until the water is about 1" over the top of the wicks, then add a cup of white vinegar. Let the wicks soak in this for about an hour, rinse them in clean water, stand them against inside of the sink on edge to drain and then reinstall them in the humidifier. Voila, the vinegar dissolves the salts that have accumulated, and rinsing them flushes them away. At the same time, I empty out the reservoir of the unit and flush it well with clean water. It is like starting over again. This process takes maybe 15 minutes of time to do once a week or so. BE CAREFUL WITH THE WICKS, as they are easily destroyed. Handle them gently, NEVER try to wring them out or press dry, just stand them on edge against the empty sink when you are done for about 20 minutes, and they will drain on their own. I did buy a second (spare) set, but after 3 weeks, I have not even taken them out of the package. I see no reason why the wicks won't last at least 2 months with proper care -- maybe even a full winter season. C) Other maintenance? I don't know of any, but then I haven't had my unit except for 3 weeks. An old adage my father taught me: It is far easier to spend a little time keeping something clean and operating well than to have to repair it due to neglect. It is true. So, how well does it work, and what is my environment like? First, I live in a 2 story house, with a bedroom and large living room that have very high cathedral ceilings. My bedrooms are all carpeted, and most of the main house (foyer, dining room, dinette, kitchen and laundry room) are tiled. I bought the humidifier to raise the humidity in our master bedroom at night to alieve mild symptoms of difficulty breathing, and getting some blood in our noses at night. It WORKS for doing this. Based on the hygrometer readings, the unit keeps our bedroom (15' x 20') and attached master bath and master closet a full 8% relative humidity higher than in the rest of the house. This despite the fact that we have central heating with LP gas that disperses the air from the bedroom into other parts of the house when it runs (even with the door to the bedroom closed). Hence, some of the additional humidity gets distributed to the rest of the house through the heating system. Note, if you turn your heat down at night (we turn ours down 10 degrees at night), then the bedroom with the door closed will be sealed off from the rest of the house and humidify more quickly until the temp drops the full 10 degrees and the heating system kicks back in. This 10 degree drop also helps increase the relative humidity level at night because cooler air holds less real moisture than warmer air; hence, with the same amount of water in the air, the relative humidity goes up until that water vapor gets absorbed by other things. Note that I just mentioned that water vapor gets absorbed by things. Those things include anything that is soft, including carpeting, bedding, blankets, pillows, wood (Yes, wood does absorb moisture), drywall, etc.. My point is that when you start up any humidifier, all of the objects in the space are very close to the same relative humidity as the air in the room. As you try to increase the relative humidity in the room, the "soft" objects will absorb this same moisture. So, you are humidifying NOT ONLY THE AIR, but all soft objects in that room. That takes a LOT of water to move the relative humidity a little bit! So, do NOT expect ANY humidifier to instantly raise your humidity level any appreciable amount quickly. It will rise slowly, but should rise consistently unless you have a lot of air leaks in your home. In my case, my unit with outside air at about 32 degrees and inside air kept at 60 at night, 70 in the daytime keeps my bedroom at a full 8% relative humidity increase over the rest of the house (53% in the bedroom versus 45% in the rest of the house). That's pretty damn good in my view, and helps us tremendously in sleeping. It also helps any valuable furniture you might have in that room. About the built-in humidistat in this unit. It does work, but as has already been pointed out, there are no settings etched or printed into the dial. If you turn the dial all the way up, the unit will run constantly without ever shutting off. This is for all intents and purposes an "infinite" (100%) setting. After humidifying your room for about a week, try turning down the dial slowly with the unit running. It will likely turn off at some point. Whatever your relative humidity level is in the room, this is the point on the dial where this humidity level will be maintained. If you have a separate hygrometer to read your relative humidity level (I bought the ThermoPro TP50 unit which works very well), then you could mark the dial on your Vornado humidifier with this number to get some relative point of reference for the future, but don't count on that setting continuing to be accurate. Want more info? Check out the photos that will show you that this is a SIMPLE machine with only 6 parts: A top half that contains the fan and all the controls, a bottom half which is nothing but a molded plastic tray that acts as a reservoir to hold the water, 2 wicks that rest against the outside slated portions of the bottom with one edge sitting in the water, and 2 plastic 2-gallon jugs that provide the water to be evaporated. All parts simply slip-fit together without use of any screws, pegs, nails or anything, and they stay together well. Very easy to lift each part away. NOTE: When this unit has water in it, do NOT attempt to pick it up and move it, as it can and will fall apart since all parts simply slip-fit together, and the water is HEAVY. The top can be lifted off without unplugging or turning off the fan, and set aside, as it is self-contained. This reveals the 2 water jugs on either end, and the 2 wicks in the center. Easy as pie! In the photos you will see the hardened residue that I get on the wicks after 4 gallons of water have been evaporated. I have already turned one of the wicks over and around and put it back in one of the photos, which is why it shows on the inside bottom, rather than the outside top where it actually accumulates from the drying action of the unit. How fast does it evaporate water for me? Remember, I'm starting at about 45% relative humidity (not too bad), so the water does not evaporate that fast at this high a humidity level. The unit on medium will evaporate about 2 gallons of water a day into my bedroom raising that humidity level to 53%. If I kept my temperature higher, and/or my air was drier to start with, then the unit will evaporate water into the air at a faster rate. Remember, it is RELATIVE humidity, not absolute moisture in the air that you are measuring. Good luck with your unit, and sleep/live well!

My biggest gripe about this thing is that the build quality does not live up to Vornado's standards considering the price. The housing is cheap, thin, sharp-edged plastic (not sure what kind) and the jugs are HDPE - the same stuff they make milk jugs out of. They lack any kind of valve, only an open spout. You basically have to drop the jugs into place to avoid spilling everywhere, which is especially annoying when each one is full of 15 pounds of water. Filling them is a royal pain in the ass since the spouts are very small. You either have to fill them under a sink faucet (which gets them about halfway full in my case due to the angle) or hold them up to a halfway-on bathtub faucet for two straight minutes (which, again, 15 pounds). Your only way to remove them is to grab onto the slight bulge molded into the top, which is completely useless when it has water in it. The amount of water it puts into the air is satisfactory. I've found that it goes through four gallons of water in about 36 hours on high in room temperature, low-to-moderate humidity air. One gallon of water is plenty to run it on high overnight. It is noisy but tolerable on high, acceptable on medium, and whisper-quiet on low. The noise isn't particularly unpleasant, just loud on high. The humidistat is basically useless. As some other reviews have noted, it is wildly inaccurate. I wish they had just left it out and dropped the price five bucks. That, or replace it with something that actually works. I just crank it to the max and pretend it doesn't exist. As a brute force humidifier, it does the job. It just happens to be the cheapest-feeling, ugliest Vornado product I've ever owned.

If you want a good reliable humidifier for your space this is the one to buy. I wanted an evaporative humidifier for a number of reasons: they don't produce a residue like the ultrasonic humidifiers and cool/warm mist humidifiers can. They won't over-humidify a space like the other types can -- air will only take on as much humidity as it can hold, and evaporation slows the closer the air gets its potential saturation level. And to ensure that over-humidification doesn't happen this humidifier also features a humidistat that will switch the unit off if the humidity exceeds the level where you set it. I bought my Vornado three years ago because it's such a simple design. The top fan unit, 2 water supply jugs, the reservoir pan, and wicks. Nothing fancy at all, just like the best evaporative humidifiers I've used in the past. As far as I'm concerned the simpler the design the less chance of something breaking. At the lowest two fan speeds the unit makes hardly any noise. Even the highest fan speed I don't think it is overly loud -- I sleep fine with it running in my bedroom. My recommendations for this humidifier: Purchase a humidity meter to monitor the levels in the room so you can better dial-in the Vornado's humidistat to your preference. Use distilled water. You don't have to, the humidifier works fine with regular tap water. But in the long run distilled water will give much better and consistent results. Have at least one if not two new wick sets sitting in reserve. That way when you have to replace them you can do so right away, then order another replacement. To combat/prevent bacterial growth -- use copper. Don't waste money on additives to combat bacteria. Copper works great as an antimicrobial and keeps bacterial growth in check (that is, zero). Preferably copper mesh (usually available through garden stores), but pennies will work fine (wash them clean before using them). The problem with pennies is, over time, the copper plating will get 'used up' and then it'll be the zinc core exposed to the water (this took about a year when I first used them). Zinc is supposedly antimicrobial as well, but I didn't want to chance it, and copper-less pennies look disgusting :) . I have a six-inch strip of copper mesh in each water jug. I have never had issues with bacterial growth in the jugs nor in the reservoir nor on the wicks while using copper as an antimicrobial. Regularly clean your Vornado, including vacuuming off any accumulated dust. Be especially diligent if you use only tap water and not distilled water because limescale will accumulate in the pan and on the outer surfaces of the water jugs. I run mine 24/7, except when its humidistat setting shuts it down or while cleaning the unit. The humidistat is sort of finicky, it's not really "exact" so much as the best way to set it is if the room is too humid, turn the humidistat until the unit powers down, then wait. I realized I had to finesse the setting over a period of days, fiddling between shutting down and turning on, until I got it set just right. Once I did get it dialed in I never had to worry about it again. I recommend purchasing a humidity monitor if you really want to watch those levels. For those first three years I used tap water, which works fine. However my tap water has a high mineral content, which means the evaporative wicks harden with limescale rather quickly -- as in a matter of days. At first I was rotating wicks once a week -- I'd have one pair of wicks working, then swap it out and soak the wick in vinegar water to disperse the minerals, rinse it out, then swap it back in the following week while I de-scaled the second wick pair. Problem is, over time, the wicks deteriorate from the vinegar soak cycles. As in they start falling apart. They re-mineralize quicker the older they get. And the ability to control mineralization continues to deteriorate over time. I purchased new wicks every three months just to keep up with the deterioration. I finally decided to switch to distilled water. The humidifier uses about 2 gallons of water a day so purchasing distilled water off-the-shelf is not an option, that's too expensive. I purchased a home distiller and distill 2 gallons of water a day. I also purchased an empty 2.5 gallon jug to have 2 gallons of distilled water ready for when one of the Vornado jugs empties. I fill the Vornado jug, then distill more water into the 2.5 gallon jug. Sure, it's a little extra work, but the benefits outweigh the inconvenience. One month after the switch to distilled water the humidifier wicks have remained supple, they are not mineralizing at all. To be honest I'm not sure when I'm going to have to replace the wicks, I've been running the same filter set for a month and they're doing great. I'm sure, over time, I'll figure it out. Already I can see I'm on track to saving a lot of $$ not having to replace two pairs of wicks every three months. Home-distilled water is a lot cheaper than purchasing it off-the-shelf. It is definitely worth the added cost to purchase a small home distiller. I know my distiller will pay for itself in less than a year compared to what I was paying for replacement wicks and vinegar. I am on my second Vornado EVAP40. The first one died after three years of constant use. The power-cord wire corroded with oxidation inside the unit which increased the resistance on the AC wire until it cooked its insulation and the unit quit working. I contacted Vornado customer service and explained the situation. I sent them the pictures they requested. Vornado honored their 5-year warranty and sent me a brand-new unit. Vornado is amazing and stands by their product, I have nothing but good things to say about them, their customer service, and this humidifier. If my unit had been out of warranty I would have purchased another one anyhow because it is that good compared to all the other humidifiers I've tried over the years.

This review contains an original and a revised posting. The original rating was 4. The revised rating is 1. The original post: These things work pretty well, but they run through more filters than a chain smoker, and replacement filters are absurdly expensive. Pros: it works, disassembles nicely for cleaning, comes with two huge holding tanks, has a stylish contemporary look. Cons: must run on high speed for good evaporative output, high speed is disturbingly loud, you'll need lots of filters unless you have pure water and nobody has pure water unless they distill it, expensive filters. Disclosure: I just bought my second unit. It seems essentially unchanged from the old unit. Haven't hooked it up yet. Hope it's quieter. The old unit is still running but threatens to die every day. It's given 5+ yrs of service, but even when new was too loud for bedroom use. The revised post: 2/27/24 The old unit finally died (the motor), so I unboxed the new unit. It looked much like the old one so I expected no problems operating it. I filled both tanks with water and inverted the first. As you may know, when the tank is inverted water flows into the holding tray until it is about half full, then the water stops. On my old unit the water flowed in with a familiar "glub glug" sound, but on this new unit the sound was missing. Instead, the water rushed into the holding tray. And rushed, and rushed, and ... rushed some more. Until it came streaming over the top of the holding tray. And then it just kept on coming. As I looked on incredulously it spilled in seconds onto my bookcase, down its sides, down its front and back and onto the floor. I snatched off the tank and examined it. It seemed absolutely normal. No holes, no malformations, no sign of mistreatment. I refilled it and tried it on the opposite side of the unit. Only to flood the floor again. By now the corner of my office was a swamp. I moved everything to the garage and repeated the experience two more times, successfully flooding my work bench and everything in its vicinity. I felt compelled to get to the bottom of the mystery. I discovered that one tank works perfectly, when loaded onto either side of the unit, and it even has the old familiar "glug, glug" sound effect as it feeds in the water. The other tank, however, is a complete disaster. It forcefully flushes its contents into the holding tray until the tray fills and then it keeps flushing, forcing water over the top edges of the open holding tray, creating an absolute disaster of a mess. I'll make a video of the flooding process and post it in case anyone thinks I'm making up any part of this deplorable story.

This is a good unit using basic functionality without a lot of add-on electronics to fail. I like the evaporative humidification instead of the misting type. It also doesn't add heat to the room like steam type humidifiers. This unit is compact for its capacity. It is nearly silent on low, very quiet on medium, and noticeable on high. Requires basic maintenance of cleaning out the water tray and and replacing the wicking pads occasionally, but I appreciate that it is basic and can be maintained.

Humidificador lo estaba utilizando en mi recámara. Los resultados fueron muy malos. Terminé regalándolo.

There is really no assembly. After you remove the packaging it is already assembled in the box. Because it is evaporative rather than cool mist, it does a much better job, and no risk of white deposits all over your furniture. Filling is easy, and I have been running it continuously with only the need to fill one of the two tanks daily. It preferentially depletes one tank before starting on the other. There is a fan, so there is some noise, but it’s white noise and I don’t notice it. (Same level of noise as my Honeywell air purifier.) It is twice the size of a cool mist humidifier, so it is about as big as anyone would stand for as a tabletop item. But, being evaporative, it does not need to produce a directed stream, so you can actually put it anywhere and get the health effect you need. My only (minor) issue is that the construction means that all four sides need to be about 6 to 12 inches from a wall in order to permit filling and proper air circulation without having to be constantly moving it. I love this thing.

I did a lot of research before replacing my 4 year old dead humidifier. I find it very annoying that things are built to fail after the warranty is up. We love our Vornado humidifier. No LEDs to fizzle out after a year. No lugging jugs of water to pour down a spout. This product is easy to use and easy to clean. It is far quieter than our last dud. I love the two large containers that are easy to remove and fill. We have no trouble placing the containers back in, no spilling. It does glug now and then. A non issue for us. The fan is quiet. On the first level I can hardly hear the fan. On the third setting the fan is noticeable but not interfering with the T.V. or conversations. Also the wicks (filters) aren't expensive to replace. This humidifier is far and above our favorite. Love it!

I've been using mine for about 6 months now in my apartment & it works great. The simple yet smart design makes cleaning & maintenance a breeze. You don't have to worry about what's in the water ending up in your air like ultrasonic humidifiers & there's no heat/steam/condensation like you get with older evaporative designs. For the first day or two of use, it might seem like it's running constantly as it builds up humidity. Afterwards (depending on weather) it runs about half the day to hardly at all. If, after a few months of use, it seems like it's running more than usual, it's probably time to replace the wicks as they become saturated with mineral deposits. On that note, the wick replacement is the main downside to this design, however it's not a huge expense. From the one replacement pack I've had to buy so far, I estimate the cost of wicks to be roughly $7🇨🇦 a month. This will probably vary depending on your water hardness. My tap water has very high mineral content so I need to replace mine a little more often (once every 2.5 months). Also there's no digital display, only a knob that doesn't show % humidity. There's a good digital monitor on here from Thermopro which is relatively inexpensive that I'd also recommend. I subtracted 1 star just for these added expenses but in terms of functionality I give it 5/5.

I hardly ever write reviews, but humidifiers are such a gong show to decide on. This thing is probably overpriced for what it is - a plastic tray, 2 water tanks, a fan and a plastic fan holder. Oh and 2 wicking filters you’ll have to change once in a while. But that’s the beauty. It’s easy to clean, it just works, it doesn’t spew white “stuff” everywhere. It’s very effective, humidity is right where I want it. One con - it’s big, but that’s life given the water capacity. I’ve bought 3 humidifiers this year. This is a keeper.