Vornado Evap40 Evaporative Humidifier with Adjustable Humidistat, 4-Gallon Capacity for Large Room Coverage up to 1,000 sq ft, 3 Speed Settings, Easy to Clean Dual Tank

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 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

This is working well for my living room/downstairs and loft area. It is around 500-600 sq feet. We also have high ceilings. I use a seperate humifiers for each bedroom. We heat our whole home with wood and it gets very dry inside. This is keeping our humidity around 40-42%. Last year without this humidifier we were around 29 or lower. We keep in on medium fan highest humidity level and it runs constantly. It does make some sound on medium but its easy to get used to. The high setting is very loud. I am sure it would make our humidity go lower on high, but because its in our main living area.. it would be too loud to hear the tv or just annoying to listen to! Occasionally it does make a sound as the water is filling the inside. That is easy to get used to as well and not disturbing. Very easy to clean and fill. I clean weekly per the instructions (bleach and water) and soak the wicks in 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon of water for a half hour,rinse clean. The wicks lasts about 1 month this is with running 24/7. I just use tap water but I do not have hard water. I am happy with my purchase.

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!

This thing is so much more effective than my last evaporative humidifier it's not even funny. On full blast, within minutes a hygrometer in the same room showed the humidity creeping up from 12%. This can bring my whole one bedroom apartment from 10-15% up to 35% and hold it there, while the Honeywell unit had a problem getting just one room to 30%. This might be good for one floor of a smaller house, or any one room, but you may want a large whole-home unit if you want more than that. Perfect for a highrise condo/apartment though. I think the effectiveness is down to the design. It has a good ducted fan (Vornado's specialty) that is very effective at pulling in air / creating negative pressure inside the housing, and the two big wicks give a lot of surface area for evaporation while probably also slowing airflow just enough to help with that pressure. It has a built-in humidistat. It seems to work OK, but you might have to manually manage it sometimes to keep it from going too high or low. It's enough to leave it untended most of the time though. The review saying that a cloth left on top of this stayed dry is... that's not a reasonable way to measure a humidifier's efficacy. Only an ultrasonic humidifier, which atomizes the water and so just acts like a continuous spray bottle, would actually have the effect of wetting that. The proper way to measure a humidifier is to use a hygrometer to measure your room's humidity. (Ultrasonic humidifiers throw tiny particles of water into the air, so they significantly degrade air quality unless they're used with pure water. They're not great. This humidifier doesn't make a nice pretty mist effect but it also doesn't make you breath in calcium, silicates, and other minerals) The photo is from a cold day, humidity in here would normally be 17% at most. Clearly the humidifier works and makes the air wetter. Of course it doesn't actually make sense to measure on top of the humidifier directly like this.

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.