Venta LW15 Original Humidifier Black - Filter-Free Evaporative Humidifier for Spaces up to 300 ft²

I've had the Venta LW25 for about 2.5 years now. It has been trouble free and works well humidifying the air and cleaning the air. You need to add the Venta water treatment, once every two weeks when you clean the unit. I simply "rinse" it out and use a paper towel or cloth to wipe it out. Once a season I use the Venta cleaner. It is a bit tough to remove mineral deposits, but otherwise it is very easy to fill, use, rinse. When you clean it after two weeks you can see the sludge in the bottom of the tank of debris it has pulled out of the air. For my house, which is forced hot air, a full tank usually lasts 40-48 hours unless it is extremely cold, then it lasts 24-36 hours. (other types noted below, even with larger tanks would be a max of 24 hours). We usually leave ours on the medium fan speed and it is a nice background noise. If it is really cold or if the unit ran out of water for a while, we use the high speed which still isn't too bad. I've used boiling water (dangerous & energy hog), cold air filter types (filters grow mold in a matter of weeks), and ultrasonic for years. I've been using various types of humidifiers for years (20-30 years) due to sinus and/or winter allergies. If I don't use a humidifier in winter, I also get bloody noses, which I haven't had since I've been using this unit, so that is a good sign that it is humidifying the air. I got tired of trying to clean the boiling water types and the energy bills. Looking at the cold air filter type, It can't be good to spread mold around the house and cleaning it was also troublesome and replacement filters are costly regardless of the brand. As for ultrasonic, they worked the best of the other three BUT they ruined several pieces of furniture and some wood flooring from their "white dust" mineral laden output. Granted the water in my area is mineral laden but I can't do much about that. I also found it to be a pain to clean it weekly, very tough to get into all the nooks in cranny's of the brands I've had. Of the three styles, I liked the Ultrasonic the most, but I can't live with the damage they have done. As for the Venta - it is much easier to refill, I use a pitcher, easier to clean than any of the other styles, and I have to fill it less often because the tank holds more water. Unlike other types, it automatically shuts off when it is out of water. YES it is more expensive than a lot of other humidifiers on the market, but in the end both my wife and I are very happy with the unit. Also, worth considering is there are no filters to replace, so if you do the calculations over a few seasons, the VENTA starts to look pretty competitive. You need to purchase the water treatment, which a bottle lasts most of the season, and the cleaner solution for use once or twice a season. For a season, these both cost less than one set of filters which typically last 2-4 weeks. The cold air filter type humidifiers are kinda like the Razor blade business, they often give a away or sell the handles cheaply, but they get you with the replacement heads (filters). All in all a great unit. Good size water tank for extended use, no filters to replace, comparably easy to clean. Obviously I'm a fan of the VENTA 25 units. I recently purchased the larger VENTA 45 for the living room!

It has been over 5 years since my original purchase. I now own dozens of these either in my homes or in my laboratories or offices. I use the LW25's in guest rooms or smaller rooms and the LW45 (and now the new 6 series). I have to say the Venta is the best of all humidifiers, on all points. It has the most intelligent and easy disassembly of any humidifier I've owned, making cleaning it a simple breeze. It is quiet on high speed and pumps out a LOT of humidity. Every single component is EASILY replaceable and very inexpensive, direct from Venta Germany (with free shipping). No other humidifier on the market has every single component replaceable. NONE. Something breaks on ANY other humidifier...you must buy a whole new unit. These are pricey for what they offer and has rather simplistic technology... but they ARE effective and very quiet. If I was going to space on a long journey, you would want to take one of these. With the minimal amount of moving parts and components, this has a very low failure rate, and in the rare situation when it might fail, at least you're not at a total loss and can easily replace the failed component. However I have used mine 24/7/365 for over 5 years and JUST this year in 2019 I replaced a single motor in my LW25, for $30 direct from Venta. For me, dust levels around all of my robotic and computer equipment was a major focus of effectiveness. In my laboratories maintaining the precise humidity is critical for the specimens. I had purchased over 23 other humidifiers and none of them compared to the Venta. Some reviews complain about the grime or "white crust" in the humidifier after a few weeks. This is your poor quality hard water mixed with dust that the Venta has collected from cleaning your air. This is not some magical biological production from the Venta. Cmon people, simple science. You do not have to purchase the bacteriostatic agent from Venta (the cleaning fluid) although I recommend it because it is better for the plastic (less chemically abrasive) and reduces the amount of any algae or bacteria in the unit over time. If you are cheap you can always buy a $3 bag of pool shock (Calcium Hypochlorite) and mix half a TSP with 1 gallon of water. The $3 bag should make approximately 3500-4000 gallons, so as long as you store it properly, it will last you a lifetime. Apply 30ml of the Calcium Hypochlorite (pool shock) mixture to your (already filled with clean water) Venta. This will assist in bacterial reduction but it is more chemically abrasive than the Venta fluid. I have used this method in a couple of my laboratory units and this has not damaged them over several years, however if you dose too much of the Calcium Hypochlorite, the area will smell chlorinated like a pool/spa. Keeping the unit from any direct sunlight also helps tremendously in preventing any bacterial buildup. If you choose to not use anything at all, over time you will experience calcification on the inside, the dust being captured by the fans will eventually fall into the water reservoir and eventually the (over time) fishy smell of the algae and bacteria will attract fungus gnats. Real swampy ecosystem without cleaning. Just like any humidifier on the market. Except that this one is easily cleaned...and again, has all replaceable parts. For my home...With 1 LW45 Venta inside a 600sq ft room, there is a large difference in reduction of airborne dust and smells within 15 minutes. Sinuses feel much clearer with humidified air. This means no crusty boogers and a less likelihood of snoring. Specifically during Winter when the heater is running more, the humidity in the house plummets, causing dry nose and dry lips, the Venta units fix that. Simple science people. So for $400 you get cleaner air which is better for your skin and lungs and no crusty boogers or snoring from your spouse. I'd say that's $400 well spent. Only wish I'd have purchased the white one.

The idea behind this humidifier is fine. It uses evaporation to humidify the space claimed. That makes it efficient and avoids some of the problems of both boiling and cold water humidifiers. It is pricey, but I thought it would be worth it. The problem is that it came with a 10 year warranty and broke in 2 1/2. I know this is an unusual time because of Covid-19, but they claim to be working from home. I have not been able to contact customer service and make a warranty claim. I will update this if they ever get in touch and give me satisfaction. When I examined it after it stopped working, I found that there is a flimsy piece of plastic which is at the heart of the mechanism. Basically, a powered fan drives the humidified air into the space. That fan also spins that flimsy piece of plastic which spins 2 collections of wheels that collect the water from a reservoir and then expose the wet wheels to the air. The water evaporates off the wheels and the vapor is distributed by the fan. I don't see how that piece of plastic could last ten years under the constant flexing and turning. I gave it low stars for cleaning because only part of it is easily cleaned. The reservoir is a cinch. But the wheels and the fan are a tedious pain. According to their claims, they shouldn't need to be cleaned because the minerals should remain in the water reservoir. The water is covered with a lighter than water compound that is supposed to suck up all the minerals. But the fan and wheels did get caked with minerals The minerals stuck hard to the other parts. In some cases, only a tooth brush could get in. Some parts of the wheels cannot be reached. Because it works by evaporation, there is a lot of of surface area. The amount of space on the wheels is directly related to the amount of evaporation. Most of that surface never really came clean after the minerals 1st attached. I am pretty handy and would have tried to fix it myself. But it is under warranty and that piece of plastic is unique. Right now the device is a brick.

Venta mentions that it may take a week or more for the humidity to reach a comfort level after initial set up. This is true because the wood furniture, drapes, carpet, etc. are also dry and are, at first, drinking up the moisture that the humidifier is putting out. It works well and noise isn’t detectable unless it’s on the highest of it’s three speeds. On high speed, the noise is more like soft white noise...it’s negligible. So easy to refill from the top. On speeds one and two, the water lasts 24 hours, give or take. I just top it off every morning because that takes just seconds....and that way I won’t forget. Besides, Venta states that the unit functions at its best when filled to capacity. Super easy to clean and no expensive filters to buy...or to wash. Online research always points to the evaporative type of humidifier as the most desirable and that’s what this unit is. Venta is a top choice for owners of fine concert pianos who don’t want wood shrinkage and other problems caused by low humidity...which damages the instrument and affects the quality of the piano’s tonality. I chose a four star rating because of the price, but it all probably evens out since there are no expensive filters to buy that have to be frequently replaced. And those dirty filters have to be washed between replacements. I am totally pleased with this unit. It’s highly effective, simple to use, quiet and an easy keeper.

A year ago I bought the Venta Airwasher (White, 5524536), no longer available. This model is the update of that version. So below my review of the older model, followed by an update. Original review (March 2013)----------- Just so you know where I'm coming from, here is what I'm looking for in a humidifier: (1) The heft to reasonably humidify a 200 square foot room, (2) The capacity to only be filled once a day, (3) Something that isn't going to get mineralized or become a bacterial soup, (4) Something the looks nice, and (5) Something with a built-in hygrometer. A product that offers all 5 of these doesn't exist. I thought I had found it in the Staedler form (I had the Hera, but I imagine the William is similar). The deal breaker for me was that the built in hygrometer just didn't work -- the number never budged. Maybe I should have tried a replacement, because on paper it meets all 5 criteria. (The Staedler form avoids bacteria with an Ionic cube - who knows whether that works or not). I also tried the Broksonic Hybrid Ultrasonic Humidifier, which nails looks but misses many other requirements. (I've posted a review). Here is how the Venta stacks up: (1) Power: raised the humidity in my 200 square foot room very easily. (2) Capacity: needs to be filled once a day when running at max speed. (3) Comes with demineralizing / antibacterial solution for the water, plus a special cleaning agent to be used twice a year. (For what it's worth was also rated as a top choice in a very rigorous German test.) (4) Looks: well, hmmm, it's not ugly although no great beauty. Worth mention it's not huge and bulky so not terrible. (5) No built in hygrometer, although I've concluded it's better in most cases to have an external hygrometer since in any case a hygrometer built into the unit can't be that accurate. So 3.5 out of 5, but the 3 things it does it does really well. I'm going to give it another 2 weeks, and if it continues to perform I will eventually buy another. So far I am not in love but very satisfied. Update: It has been 3 weeks now and the unit is working well. It raises the humidity in a small room to 40 percent, and runs about a full day at the highest fan setting. A quick note: there is anti-bacterial fluid that you should buy with this: Venta Airwasher Venta Water Treatment (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P9BY2E/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This prevents bacterial buildup and should be added every two weeks. In between you don't need (shouldn't) clean or flush the unit (i.e., replace the water completely -- you just top it up). Around a week to 10 days the water does develop something like soap scum build up. But this is normal. When you give the inside a quick clean and gentle scrub the buildup comes off easily. Not ideal, but every humidifier has to be cleaned. This at least reduces it to once every two weeks and prevents bacterial buildup in the meanwhile. Update March 2014--------------- So the older unit just gave up recently. Simply wouldn't start. I've got to admit that I was a bit disturbed by this. I went for the "made in Germany" mystique, and assumed this was built to last. But, on the plus side, there is a two year warranty, and they were incredibly efficient in honoring it. They had mailed me a replacement fan within the week. As it turns out, I stand by my positive review of the earlier model so we bought a second unit (the LW25) for our second bedroom. It' basically the same unit with an ever-so-slightly sleeker design. But otherwise everything else is the same. To recap the key fact: you must buy the cleaning and treatment fluids with this kind of unit. Since there is standing water in the reservoir and you only top up most days, it's essential and makes the unit easier to clear.

I'm still not sure what to think about this thing after using it for about a year. Does it humidify? It's questionable, maybe more like maintains the humidity levels from dropping too fast. Why do I say this? Because I don't see the humidity levels drop or spike when I'm not using or using the unit. I have a pretty fast reacting hygrometer which detects the changes in 30 minutes max. Does it clean air? For sure it does, simply because the water in the tub gets dirty. But how big of a radius does it really affect? I'm not sure, I have no proof either way. My nose never said "ohhhh this air feels so great" when I would walk inside the room where it's used. But I keep using it, in good part because it's so universally praised, and I paid for it. I had mine for close to a year. First few months you could keep it in the bedroom where we sleep. But then it developed this clickity/clackety noise, stuttering clicking sound. That made it not bedroom quiet. I tinkered with it a lot, read tips from Venta themselves, and various advice on the internet and this collection of reviews. It's successful for a few hours but the clicking always returns. So during day it's in our bedroom and during night in the living room. Usually on #2 setting. So while it's humidifying and air cleaning properties are just my subjective opinions, this noise is definitely a disappointment. My first big gripe is how Venta marketing makes you think it's low maintenance. OK how, compared to other humidifiers I guess? Still, how? It takes same amount of work adding water daily and cleaning if not more. My warm mist humidifier I'd add water daily and clean it once a season to get rid of calcium deposit. Venta takes adding water daily, cleaning every couple of weeks, and at least once a season I disassemble it to clean the fan housing. And the basic cleaning is not that quick either. You have to clean both the plastic cylinder and the tub. Depending on how dirty the air was, the tub needs to be rinsed or scrubbed. The cylinder is the worst part. I would soak it in vinegar and then run it under water from the shower with a very strong jet stream and the slimy gunk would fall off it the plastic cylinder for half hour. A lot of it. The cylinder would be completely coated with it. Well that was before I started using the water additive. Then I decided to give this additive a try. It works! For cleaning part at least, someone here noted how it became much more effective as a humidifier as they start using water additive. I haven't noticed a difference. At least nothing that would make me say "wow it's so much better now!" But with cleaning it helps big time. After a couple of weeks the plastic cylinder has barely any of that slimy gunky stuff. OK so that became quick and easy. But there's added cost. And you're dumping the additive to the water stream. I'm not a chemist but is this really that eco-friendly as other blurb of their marketing makes you think? Then there is a slight deception from Venta. Or maybe an honest mistake? When you buy a bottle of additive it gives a standard measure of 3.5oz per application. OK. But then I remembered, when I bought this thing it came with a sample. Well what do you know? On the sample bottle it says LW15-25 is using 1.75oz and LW45 is using 3.5oz. Does this bit of info exist of the 35oz bottle? Nah-ahh. Just says "One dose of Water Treatment Additive is 3.5 fl oz equal to one black marking on the left hand side of the label" Mistake or tricking the consumer to spend twice as much $ as they need? On the Venta site it says: 11 reasons people insist on Venta Airwashers Can never over-humidify: true but in a sarcastic-ironic way, not in a way "we'll bring a humidity where it should be but too much of it" No filters no trash: true but you're dumping water additive to back to the water supply Hygiene no more germs: I got sick twice this season while in the last ten years I either get sick once of not at all, but it's hard to be objective on this. Low maintenance: compared to my warm mist humidifier totally false as I mentioned in my review above Use very little power: true but is there any benefit compared to every other humidifier of similar capacity? So if you're doing the same job as every other guy how is that the advantage for you that you decide to market yourself with? Eco-friendly: same as No filters, no thrash line, you're dumping water additive back to the water supply stream, how is that Eco-friendly? Extremely simple to use: true but same can be said of just about every humidifier, OK this is getting repetitive. Very simple to clean: false, in my opinion, you have to clean the tub, the plastic cylinder and occasionally the fan housing Easy to fill with water: true...whatever Made in Germany: true and it's nice to see Germans keep their manufacturing in their country, the downside is the price at least 5 times and probably more of the humidifier of similar capacity Premium quality: true but just because I don't wanna come across as a nit picky thrasher of the Venta Airwasher, on the other hand what's so premium about it? It's plastic and none of it has a Rolls Royce feeling. It's impressively designed and put together but we're accustomed to see that from Germans, I mean they are truly the kings of industrial design. So there you have it, I hope I didn't just completely waste a couple of hours of my life and someone will actually read this. Cheers

I have three of these incredible humidifiers that we use to humidify about 2400 sq ft of our main living space and the master suite. First as humidifiers they are EXCEPTIONAL! They are amazingly quiet and do an excellent job of humidifying our space. We live in Southwest Colorado where the humidity is 10% at best in the winters, with these humidifiers we can easily keep the rooms at about 50% or higher with one refill a day. That includes our Great Room that has 20' ceilings and is 600 sq ft on it's own, an incredible volume of space to humidify! These units are AMAZINGLY QUIET!!! One sits about 8 feet from the TV and on the highest setting doesn't interfere at all. I have a Vornado Evap3 humidifier that works well for it's output but next to these it is no comparison for noise, the Venta humidifiers are MUCH MORE QUIET than the Vornado. Second, as air filters it is INCREDIBLE how well these do!!! We have forced hot air heat and before the Venta's we could see a lot of particles floating around the air as a sunbeam moved about the Great Room throughout the day. That's with top of the line furnace filters too. Now that we have the Venta's running you have to look long and hard to see any particles floating in the sunbeam - it is truly an amazing difference. Our allergies and dry noses (dry no more) thank us immensely - it's all gone, no sneezing, sniffling, dry bloody noses any more!! Our piano that needed almost daily dusting now goes for a week or more before we can even tell that there is a very slight amount of dust. Everything in the house is much cleaner! And we love not having to buy filters for the humidifiers! There are two cons in my opinion. One con to these is related to their amazing ability to filter the air. With all the dust and other gunk they pull out of the air they do need regular (10-14 day) cleaning. Cleaning the base is simple but the process of cleaning the top is cumbersome and time consuming. I'm happy to do it because I love the clean, humid air, but only wish the design of the top was such that it was as easy to clean as the bottom. While I mention this as a con please don't let it stop you from buying these ingenious machines. The other con is really a nit-pick on my part... the cords kept getting in the way when I removed the top to refill the water and then put the top back on. Frequently the cord would get in the way of proper seating, a minor nuisance. However, with all the other great engineering in these machines it seems like an oversight. I picked up some of these mini hooks Command Mini Clear Hooks with Clear Strips, 18 Hooks with 24 Adhesive Strips per Pack and stuck them on the outside of the humidifier just above where the cord comes out. Looped the cord through those and now no more cord hassles when replacing the top during a refill.

LW-45 [Update - 12/15/2018] Well, gotta love the glowing reviews (including mine below) of people that reviewed it the first year they had it, and never came back... When we neared the end of our second year, our unit was making a disturbing clicking noise which ended up having the unit relocated out of the master bedroom because it was keeping me from sleeping. We continued to maintain the unit and eventually put it away for the year. We got it back out this year to start using it again, and now the gearbox appears to be shot. It will no long turn the rotating discs. I’ve contacted support, in the hopes of getting a free replacement, since these are supposed to have a 10 year warranty. You can see from the attached pictures that these gearboxes appear to be disposable to me. Completely plastic gears, you can see where the white gears that drive the teeth have worn their teeth off on the black worm gear that is driven by the motor shaft. Such a poor design, and will obviously be, yet another, maintenance item if we want to continue to use this thing... [Update - 01/23/2016] So the temp dropped quite a bit here the last couple weeks, regularly between 20-30 degrees, with the furnace running quite a bit to keep the house warm. With that said, the Venta struggles to keep the house more than about 28-30% humidity, but I still find that is better than if we had no humidifier. I also discovered that filling every 24 hours was not enough in this case, with the unit running dry a few times, causing build up of calcium deposits. When I went to clean it this time, I had to change my cleaning technique. I rinse everything except the motor with warm water first, then fill the lower housing with about half a tank of warm water, and add about a cup of vinegar. Then I use a sponge to rinse everything down with, starting with the upper housing, motor blades/gear housing, then the disks, I just install in the lower housing, spin around several times, and then wash out the lower housing. This seems to get things pretty clean, and then I just rinse everything off with warm water, and allow everything to air dry for a couple hours. I have since switches to filling the Venta in the morning and evening, so that it remains as full as possible during the day, to reduce the build up of calcium. Other than that, it still seems to be running great, and doing a good job! [Initial Review - 12/31/2015] After having this unit in my Amazon cart for nearly a year, on Black Friday, I noticed a rather large price drop, so decided to take a gamble, and get one. The reason I hadn't bought one, is because I kept going back and forth between this and the almost 6x cheaper Honeywell Honeywell Cool Moisture Console Humidifier . I just didn't like the idea of replacing filters all the time, and it seemed like some of the reviews weren't that great on this unit, even though I remember an electronics company I used to work for, had one of these in their hardware lab. So every year in the winter, our 3400 SQFT house ends up with humidity down in the 10's, I know because I bought a humidity sensor last year just to monitor it. We encountered a large amount of static electricity, dry skin, and dry throats/noses over the past several years, and got tired of filling the ultrasonic humidifier we had in our bedroom, only to experience the same issues through the rest of the house. Setup: So I was looking for the largest evaporative humidifier I could find, to try and humidify the whole house, without installing a whole house humidifier in our furnace. Even though I'm sure those can be used reliably, I didn't want to chance it with our furnace units on the second floor, right above our kitchen. Once the LW-45 showed up, I immediately got it setup, which just involved removing packing material, pouring water in the lower housing, adding the water treatment additive, and installing the upper housing. Once it was plugged in, I just had to push the power button, and select a fan speed. Pretty easy. Results: I had read some other reviews, and some of them mentioned when using these, to place them as close to a return vent for your HVAC as possible. I located mine in the dining room, out of sight for the most part, and let it do it's thing. The humidity upon turning the unit on was only around 30%. After about one day, it was already up to 35%, and a second day, we were hovering right around 40% on a consistent basis. I was pretty impressed. The humidity sensor was placed in a room opposite the Venta, just to get an idea how far it was traveling. I relocated the humidity sensor to our bedroom, which is almost three rooms away from the current location of the Venta. In this room, I see a range of 33-36% humidity, so it seems to be working well, getting throughout the house. This usually requires a full fill of the Venta every day. It will run about 1.5 days before running out of water. Issues: One thing I started to notice though, is the real oak wood floor where the Venta was sitting, felt kind of sticky on the sides where the fan pushes air out, with socks on. I relocated the Venta to the area between our kitchen and breakfast area, while not ideal for the return vent, I didn't want any chance of it ruining our wood floors. After a few days, the sticky feeling seemed to go away, so perhaps it was just extremely humid air on the floors... Cleaning: Cleaning, the part we all hate, right? Well, most of the negative reviews on this product seem to be centered around cleaning this device. Since Venta recommends every 10-14 days, to clean the unit, I decided to stretch it, and go exactly 14 days, so it always falls on the same day of the week (I setup a recurring reminder on my phone). I was kind of dreading it, thinking it would be a hassle, but actually only took me a total of about 10-15 minutes. I just unplugged the unit, removed the power cord, and carried the entire unit to the bathtub. I rinsed out the lower housing with warm water and a sponge, and then ran warm water over all the areas of the disks. You really can't scrub the disks because of the way they are built, but do not think it is all that necessary. I then used the sponge and warm water to wipe down the fan blades, and the gear teeth that drive the disks. Once that was done, I rinsed off the upper housing with warm water and a sponge around the fan opening. That was it, then just let it air dry for a few hours, put water back in it, and the WTA, and was good to go again for another two weeks. So far I have done this process twice, and there was just a little bit of calcium built up in the lower housing, but nothing that wouldn't come off with a little work with the sponge. Tips: Even though I've only had this unit for about a month now, I can tell you that if you just run it 24/7, it has a less chance of getting gunked up, than if you only turn it on at certain times. If the disks aren't moving the water around, the calcium has time to build up on all the stationary surfaces, and make it very difficult to remove. If the disks continuously move, this seems to happen less. It is my recommendation that if you aren't wanting the humidity for whatever reason, just run it down lower in water level, and turn it on low. Although with this kind of humidifier, you really can't over humidify, so the beauty of it is, you can really let it run all the time. I plan to update my review as time goes on, just to see how long the unit lasts, and continues to preform. It concerns me a little that the warranty term has been shortened significantly than it used to be, but I've also seem recent posts of people getting repair parts out of warranty, so we will see. I would really expect a machine this expensive to last at least 5-8 years with good care, which would be a yearly cost of around $50-80 a year, just for the machine.