Air-O-Swiss AOS 7147 Ultrasonic Humidifier

The 7147 is the quietest humidifier we have ever owned. It has easy to read digital controls, and the humidistat stays within one degree of one that also hangs on the wall in our bedroom. The filters do their job nicely and the warm mist setting keeps the room from feeling clammy.

The only issues I have with this humidifier is the way in which it is refilled. The oddly shaped top tank lifts off the pedestal control base and the refill opening is on the bottom of the tank. When you lift the tank off the pedestal daily to refill water drips everywhere as the tank sits in a pool of water. You then flip over the tank and remove the fill cap, which also happens to be connected to the filter! When you pull the filter out (which is filled with water) it drips everywhere! You then hold the oddly shaped tank upside down to refill. Since the top is now the bottom, and it is not flat you cannot set down the tank to refill. You also must contend with the nozzle where the mist sprays from, making a refill quite a challenge without getting everything around you wet!

Then you must re-insert the filter cartridge to seal the tank which displaces water. Since there is no fill line, it is easy to overfill the tank, and when the water is then displaced by the filter as you close the tank it squirts out! A simple opening on the top could have easily eliminated this problem!

The filler issue is the reason I rated the item a four out of five. It could and should be much better! Also, the controls do not remember previous settings once turned off, so you must reset your desired humidity level and fan speed each time you turn on the machine. It would be nice if previous settings were remembered!

We have been so pleased with the performance of the original Air-O-Swiss AOS 7145 Ultrasonic Humidifier Cool Mist in our 300 sq.ft. bedroom that we decided to upgrade and put the 7145 in our son''s room. The AOS 7147 is identical to the 7145 with some excellent additional features. I love the controls that provide; readings of the current humidity level, ability to set the desired target humidity level, and the ability to pre-heat the water to improve efficiency.

The one thing about which I have a minor complaint is the mist output level control. The 7145 has a dial control that allows for a continuous adjustment of the mist output. The 7147 touch controls provide only 3 absolute settings: low, high & high+. Frankly, I prefer the continuously variable mist output control of the 7145.

We are relegated to using well water which pretty much "eats up" wicks in evaporative type humidifiers, forcing frequent and costly replacements several times in a season. The mineral cartridge included with both the 7145 & the 7147 (but not needed where water is soft) does its job in treating hard water so the humidifier works as intended.

In the end I find this to be a product well worth the cost. Maintenance is easy, expensive replacement wicks are unnecessary, and the humidifier is reliable. I highly recommend this to anyone, but especially where hard water is an issue.

(Update 02/18/13)

Still using this daily without any problems. Still gives whisper quiet operation (the less expensive 7145 is a bit noisy, but not loud). Because of its very quiet operation, this 7147 would be an excellent choice for a baby''s or child''s room. I did not mention in my original review that the humidifier flashes an icon when it needs cleaning, a nice convenience. I use the Air-O-Swiss EZ CAL Cleaner and Descaler A7417 for thorough cleanings, but I find a regular rinse & brushing under warm water minimizes the need for this.

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Researching humidifiers on Amazon was a somewhat tiresome exercise. Almost all products I looked at are subject to very serious complaints, most importantly noise, leakage, and lack of reliability. I decided to go with the AOS 7147 because most reviewers agree that it is really quiet, and because I liked the clean look and the features.

Here is what I can report after about a week of usage (will update if anything changes over time):

Noise level: Both my wife and I are extremely noise sensitive, but this unit can operate in our bedroom without affecting our sleep. Yes, there is a bit of a humming noise, but it is barely audible. Also there is a bubbling noise once in a while when water flows out of the tank into the tray. All-in-all, it seems about as quiet as can reasonably be expected.

Effectiveness: We use the auto setting that lets the device decide the target level of humidity and the output level. This works very well and hassle free, keeping the room comfortably moist.

Warm mist setting: I would recommend having it. Without it the room feels cool and damp. Even with using it there is a bit of a cooling effect, but it is acceptable.

Filtering/water treatment: We did not see any white dust around the unit, which was a concern.

Reliability/ease of use: No problems so far, straight-forward to operate, everything works as intended. I will post updates, if something comes up.

Look: Matters more than you would think, because it is supposed to be three feet away from the ground and away from both heating and return vents. Inevitably it will end up in a rather visible place. This unit has a bit of a techy, but overall relatively neutral look, better than most.

In summary, I am very happy with this unit.

Update: some tips on reducing the humming noise. Put a tray underneath the unit, then a thick sponge pad or similar cushion underneath the tray. The cushion dramatically reduces the noise level. The tray is very important. We first put the sponge directly underneath the unit, and that totally screwed up its moisture reading. We could watch the moisture level reduce from 50 to 49 to 48... to 37 in a few minutes and the unit cranked out steam like crazy. It seems that the unit needs to be placed on a hard surface to read the moisture level properly. Once we put a tray underneath it, the reading works normal again.

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Love this product. Bought 2 of them for my kids rooms. I was tired of using the cheap humidifiers and the expensive filters that needed to be changed about every other week. The silver component in this humidifier is much better to have and I love the fact that is machine can do hot or cold mist and you can increase the humidity output. Very pleased with this product.

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I bought my unit for winter time usage when the air is so dry due to the cold, I soaked the filter for 24hrs prior to use, installed it, filled the machine and it would not work warning light system indicates ''no water'' even though tank is full. This means that there is too much resin in the filter and the manual says to remove 2 teaspoons. Even after removing 4 teaspoons it still would not work. I tried running it without the filter and it worked okay.

So I just run it without the filter installed and it''s fine, I do use filtered water though (and haven''t seen any white dust problems).

After getting it running I first wanted to use it on warm mist setting, when I chose this option the heater switches on and the unit started misting and all was looking good but the unit switches itself off after a few minutes every time I try to use this function, must be some kind of heater override that is preventing it from operating in this mode.

So I just use it in cool mist mode. It works well for this but makes the room cool which in winter time is not ideal but at least I get some humified air to breathe.

Unit operates quietly except for every few minutes the air inlet gurgles quite loudly, not enough to wake you or prevent sleep but is quite noisy when you''re awake.

So, all in all, my feature-packed unit only operates as a cool-mist generator, not a particularly good advert for the unit, I would definitely consider alternative brands next time due to QC issues of my machine.