Essick Air 696-400 Variable Speed Whole House Humidifier

The good news is, it humidifies. That''s what I bought it for and that''s what it does. The level of humidity is adjustable, allowing the unit to automatically cycle on and off as needed. And yes, you can adjust the fan speed, but getting it anywhere near the upper range makes it sound like a B29 taking off. IT''S LOUD! I leave it on med-low and it''s not bad at all.

It has two plastic 2.6 gallon water bottles and at the med-low fan speed I use, I go through about 1 bottle per day. It keeps the rooms close to it quite comfortable, but rooms farther away don''t get much. Your mileage will vary depending on humidifier location, floor plan, and normal air circulation.

As far as being built "sturdy" (as one reviewer pointed out), I have to disagree. The entire housing is made of plastic. Without the water bottles in it, it''s so light that on a hard floor it easily rolls away with the lightest bump. Unless you are on carpet, I recommend NOT installing the castors that come with it. The weakest part of the whole unit is the stupid lid. It''s constantly falling off it''s hinges when I''m replacing the water bottles. It''s just poorly designed.

I highly recommend buying the optional "air cleaner filter" (model #1051) that fits on the back. It helps clear your house of dust and pollen and also makes your internal wick last longer. For allergy sufferers, this is an absolute MUST.

Speaking of making wicks last longer, it wasn''t until I read the owner''s manual that I found out soft water is NOT recommended as it''s supposedly not good for the wick. Oh well. The only NON-softened water I have is my outdoor hose and there''s NO WAY I''m going out there every morning in the snow to fill my humidifier bottles!

All in all, I give it a 5 in performance, 4 in construction, and a 2 in convenience. (Hey, refilling and lugging 22 lbs of water every morning gets old!) Since performance is really what we want out of it, it gets an overall score of 4 stars from me.

BTW, use about 1/2 as much of the anti-bacterial additive as the bottle recommends and it does just fine.

Cheers!

ON the plus side the unit is capable of putting a lot of moisture into the air. In the first 24 hours of running it put almost 15 gallons out.

The negatives stack up fast mostly due to poor finish quality.

1) The stain on the top cover has drip marks on it and portions of it look like a chemical was spilled on it removing its luster.

2) The back of the unit is not stained but is white and in the directions its says to leave the unit 4" from any wall which means you do see the back of the unit. The hinges on the back which hold the cover in place and stick up were not painted and they are clearly visible.

3) The unit is made of plastic which is to be expected. However the panels of the unit are so thin that they were all warped. The top is ill fitting at best and the front panel has a clear bow to it.

4) Its loud on anything more then the lowest settings you cannot carry on a conversation on the telephone in the same room with it.

To sum up: It looks like junk but humidifies well.

I''m off to go find a place to hide this from sight. Wish it was as pretty as the picture.

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The product arrived damaged, not from shipping damage, but from packing at the factory. Too damaged to use. Dealer said they didn''t want it back. It''s a good thing, because it was replaced by a unit that wouldn''t run. I took the fan unit (which wan''t damaged) out of the damaged unit and put it in the second unit and it runs, but only at a low fan speed. Anything higher causes too much vibration noise. Also, both units we received were poorly finished, with the base being several shades lighter than the cover, which matches the picture on the box. It looks like they only gave the bottom one coat of stain. Thanks to the dealer who refunded our money. My email with complaints directly to the manufacturer got no response.

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I received this a couple days ago and so far so good. The humidity has gone from 40 to 50% in our house and it is much more comfortable. We do have a humidifier built into our furnace, but the high-efficiency furnaces just aren''t on long enough to put out much water.

One caveat on this unit design with the angled corners the right and left bottles are not interchangeable. With a rectangular type unit, when the right bottle empties you can switch the full left one to the right, fill the empty bottle and put it in the left. This way you were constantly cycling through fresh water fills while only needing to refill one bottle at a time. With this angle corner design unit, you really need to allow both bottles to empty, or at least refill both when you do refill in order to ensure fresh water is always feeding in. This also can cause waste of any antibacterial solution being used.

Other than that, works great and I would recommend.

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This is a great humidifier that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but extremely functional. It is very sturdy and the craftsmanship is wonderful. You can even adjust the output to fit any house, big or small. Great buy!