Small room humidifier review/recommendation

[fazool]

My large console "whole house" humidifier has been unable to keep up with the dry air in this brutally cold weather. It is working but even pumping out 4-5 gallons per day, my guitar-room/den has been too dry and I even got a finish crack for the first time ever.


Well I bought this unit from Walmart and I closed the door to my den.



The unit was very inexpensive at Walmart - I think I paid $50 or so. It doesn't have a humidistat so I have to turn it to low-med-high depending how much I want.

While not very sophisticated, this unit works very well and I am very happy with it. It has kept my den at 40%-42% perfectly for the past 4 days without any issues.

I add 1 gallon each night.

[fazool]

updated review after ~2 years of ownership.

These are great little room humidifiers. We bought s second one.

The very strong caution I give, however, is to get the original all-paper wicking filters. Honeywell replaced these with filters that have a blue foam layer for antibacterial control. The problem is that all of these "blue" filters don't evaporate enough water.

I've done this several times where I buy a set of filters, the humidifier isn't working well, I remember and search for the old fashioned all white ones, then everything is great.

They are hard to find so I have 7 sets stocked away.

[TominNJ]

I recently bought one of these for my son to use at his house and it's a great little unit. I think I'm going to order one for myself to supplement my whole house humidifier when I go away. The whole house runs out of water and shuts off after a few days. This should give me the extra humidification I need.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[RedJoker]

We use this frog humidifier.

http://www.target.com/p/crane-adorab...ppo/-/A-719439

[Chipotle]

Another Crane model, the Drop, got good ratings. I picked one up for $50 at my local hardware store and it's been great for a small (120sf) study. Only needs to be turned up 1/4-1/3 of the way, so I imagine it would be hefty enough for a little larger room as well. Only 1 gallon capacity so it needs to be filled once every day/day and a half, although probably more if you cranked it for a larger space.

[DiscoCat]

I got a Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier. It works pretty well so far in a medium sized room. There is no filter, and I don't know if it is spraying anything terrible in the air.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

Another Crane model, the Drop, got good ratings. I picked one up for $50 at my local hardware store and it's been great for a small (120sf) study. Only needs to be turned up 1/4-1/3 of the way, so I imagine it would be hefty enough for a little larger room as well. Only 1 gallon capacity so it needs to be filled once every day/day and a half, although probably more if you cranked it for a larger space.

That is an ultrasonic mister - it doesn't evaporate he water into vapor - it atomizes and sprays water in the air. The problem is if you have hard water all the minerals and solids in the water precipitate out. Many people will find a fine white dust all over their room (basically spray coating their entire room with mineral deposit powder.

If you have non-hard water it can be fine.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by Tacothecat

I got a Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier. It works pretty well so far in a medium sized room. There is no filter, and I don't know if it is spraying anything terrible in the air.

That is also an ultrasonic humidifier - it just sprays warm water instead of cool.

If you have soft water, you will be fine. If you have any hardness in your water, you should never use an ultrasonic humidifier. As well, "misting" humidifiers are not actually creating water vapor - they "spray" water in the air and hope it gets absorbed and turns into water vapor. They are popular because they are very inexpensive and require to filters so also inexpensive to run. But, you get what you pay for.


If you want good, quality humidification, the only method (in a portable unit) is evaporative.

[vindibona1]

I couldn't find the Honeywell humidifier that Fazool initially wrote about. I ended up buying this one https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HCM...ell+humidifier and wish I had purchased a different model.

This humidifier has a 1 gallon capacity. I fill it up almost twice daily, yet for a 230 sq ft office, on cold days struggles to get even up to 30%. The filter gets stiff quickly from the minerals and the filter replacements from Honeywell are $10 each.

I'm not sure what I'd buy to replace it, but next winter I will get something better and move this one to the living room where there are no guitars and humidity isn't critical.

[drgroovinmind]

Had A few different Wick models that have tried. They all worked well but were very Noisy. And the Wicks need to be maintained and replaced. Ended up Buying a Venta 400 Sq ft. model for my room that has the guitars in it. It's So quiet, Easy to clean and Maintain, no wick! as well as humidifying it's also an air washer. The only bad part is a heft price tag. But for it's ease of use and Quiet nature i'll take it. Plus it's German Made, Means Quality right! LOL
Cheers! https://www.venta-usa.com/

[Kittoon]

Does the Venta easily bring your room to 45-50%? I bought a Vornado cold evaporative however it struggles to maintain and is noisy. There is no "headroom" to speak of in that it is always on Full Blast except when I am playing in the room, I must turn it off or on Low due to its noisy fan. I bought this humidifier when my whole-house Aprilaere broke and I knew it would be a couple of weeks before repair. The neck on my Martin OMC actually "shrunk" due to dryness and the frets started jabbing my fingers!

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by fazool

That is also an ultrasonic humidifier - it just sprays warm water instead of cool.

If you have soft water, you will be fine. If you have any hardness in your water, you should never use an ultrasonic humidifier. As well, "misting" humidifiers are not actually creating water vapor - they "spray" water in the air and hope it gets absorbed and turns into water vapor. They are popular because they are very inexpensive and require to filters so also inexpensive to run. But, you get what you pay for.


If you want good, quality humidification, the only method (in a portable unit) is evaporative.

I live in an area without hard water, so I guess I can get away with it. The dry air sucks up the microdroplets just fine, and the hygrometer on the other side of the room reads a nice RH% level. Never noticed any coating on surfaces in the room other than normal dust. YMMV, of course. They make different types for different reasons.

[Kittoon]

I had a fairly expensive ultra-sonic at one time. In addition to the white dust, the H20 is not vaporized like an evaporative type. This caused a damp floor in the immediate area. Not pleasant!

[JohnW63]

I bought a Vornado cold evaporative however it struggles to maintain and is noisy. There is no "headroom" to speak of in that it is always on Full Blast except when I am playing in the room,

I have the Vornado Evap3 and it does fine in a 12X14 foot room, with the door closed. I have to add water every two days or so. It has an auto fan speed setting. When the room is well below the set RH, it goes full bore, once it reaches that level, to slows down to low speed. Pretty quiet then.

[drgroovinmind]

Originally Posted by Kittoon

Does the Venta easily bring your room to 45-50%? I bought a Vornado cold evaporative however it struggles to maintain and is noisy. There is no "headroom" to speak of in that it is always on Full Blast except when I am playing in the room, I must turn it off or on Low due to its noisy fan. I bought this humidifier when my whole-house Aprilaere broke and I knew it would be a couple of weeks before repair. The neck on my Martin OMC actually "shrunk" due to dryness and the frets started jabbing my fingers!

It seems to maintain just fine. The hygrometer hanging on the Wall doesn't seem to move much from the 45% range. This is the First winter that have run the VENTA. And I put the 400 Sq Ft Model in my music room. Even though it is just a bedroom converted to a Music Room. LOL
The furnace also has a humidifier on it, but it struggles to stay past 30 35% in rest of house in the winter here in michigan. sometimes lower just depends how cold it is outside and how often the furnace is running. Have had the Venta a month and half now. The biggest thing you will notice is the noise, or lack there of, compared to the fan/wick models. Also, I keep all my guitars in there cases in the winter. A Few Laminate back and Side Solid top ones stay out on the walls and stands.