AIRCARE Digital Whole-House Pedestal-Style Evaporative Humidifier (Espresso)

I've been using this for exactly a month, every day, until today. I didn't use it today, after a brief period of time, because the atmosphere outside finally got some serious humidity after a really long very dry spell, humidity under 10% a lot of the time, ranging up to in mid 20s. I was suffering with it so much that i pulled up my notes from last year, actually it was earlier this year, about having the kind of humidifier installed that comes through your central AC/heating system vents. The only reason i didn't do it the previous year was that i was unusually short on money, and then finally the extreme dryness ended in the Spring.A month ago i was about to call the company i was going to use, looking at probably $800 to $1000 at least and yearly (or more) professional maintenance, but i could not suffer like the previous seemingly unending ordeal during which two guitars were damaged, one no longer playable and needs professional repairs, hope it can be salvaged, the other one still playable but harder to play and also needs a professional repair. And there were my own damages, to skin, eyes, other things. i was going to pay whatever it took to not have to go through that again. i've never seen it this dry around here before, for so long, it's the Los Angeles area, not cold. very pleasant temperatures mostly.Because i never knew anyone who had a whole house humidifier attached to central heating system, i asked about it on NextDoor, and one person said she had this AirCare Whole House humidifier or one that was similar, she posted a link to this product on Amazon. i was very skeptical about 'whole house,' especially for $109, but i read lots of reviews and became very encouraged, certainly for the price, worth trying.It helped from the first day, but after more like 2 1/2 to 3 days, it really kicked in once the house was fully humidified. I closed off unused rooms. My set up is a one story 1600 sq ft 3 br house with wall to wall carpet. The whole i idea of having to fill the humidifier often bothered me, but it was worth trying if it worked, as just about every reviewer said it did.On one end of the house is the kitchen and the main room i spend the days in, and then a large living room, there's no wall between the family room where i sit and the living room, there's a 5 foot built in wood book case but otherwise it's open. Then on the far side from the kitchen are two of the bedrooms. My bedroom is about as far as you can get from the kitchen.i planned to put this humidifier in my kitchen because the rest is wall to wall carpeting over hardwood floors, and i didn't want to risk damaging that. I found that this humidifier did not adequately humidify my bedroom from the kitchen, but i just continued to use the 5 liter room sized humidifier i was already using in there, it works great and only needs to be filled every 3 days. The Aircare humidifier has humidified the rest of the house very well, it stays at 40% and above, usually low to mid 40s. Which is so awesome. It changed my life, my state of mind, i'm kind of in love with it, it's my hero. It's saving me a lot of money as well as all the other grief.It was very easy to assemble and set up, i don't enjoy doing those kinds of things, but this went fast and very straightforward, the instructions and diagrams clear, no frustration, all the parts were there. It was ready to fill in maybe 10 minutes max, and i used a plastic 3 gallon bucket with a built in shallow 'spout' on it, filled it about half full at the kitchen sink and poured it into the humidifier per the simple directions. I read some reviewers who said it was kind of hard to fill because it's hard to see what you're doing, you can't see the line you're not supposed to go over. I kept checking it, it seemed to take kind of a long time to fill it for someone who gets bored really fast with things like that, but i thought i was learning that i could have put more water in per bucketful than i did. i finally got it close to the fill line without going over and turned it on, after first waiting for the wick to get saturated, something like 15 minutes per the directions.So, i was very happy with it, filling it wasn't so bad. i started with the humidity set at around 50-55 and the fan on 3. It gradually was working. Eventually i turned it up to 65 or whatever the highest humidity is and put the fan on 5. I could not forget the reviews that said on the highest setting, 9, it sounded like a jet taking off and you can't hear conversations in the room, or the TV. i only have used it on that setting a couple of times. Fortunately i was prepared by the reviewers who said it was so extreme so that i was expecting much worse. Actually can hear the TV when it's on 9. The one weird thing about it is that when i have it at settings like 3, 5 or 7, it sounds just like my Panasonic microwave, which is not too far from where the humidifier is, so unless i'm paying attention, i tend to imagine that the microwave is on, until i return to reality. It sounds just like it, same pitch and intensity.I have it in the kitchen because i want it on the hard floor, and that's a lucky thing too because the second time i filled it a couple of days later, i thought i was safe putting bigger bucketfuls in and not checking so often and i ended up going over the fill line by about a quarter inch. There is an overflow mechanism in the humidifier that lets water out of it onto your floor if you go over that line. It doesn't come out fast and all at once. It gradually leaks out so at first i didn't know what if anything to expect, but then, i kept seeing water on the floor, small to moderate amounts, thinking "Didn't i just wipe that up?". Water continued to leak on to the floor for probably about 24 hours. geez. It was only a quarter inch. so, now i'm totally cautious about that, but i have it down so i know pretty much how to fill it and it goes very fast, only about 3 trips back and forth with the bucket, i pour it in fast, it's not a gradual kind of thing, the opening for pouring it into is wide enough that i can just dump the water in there easily and quickly as long as i keep focused on it. if i get distracted, some water goes on the floor. i have a small towel there when filling it. it's easy to do.i put that bacteriostatic stuff in it, made by the same company, Essick. That's easy, just pour a little into the cap of the bottle, dump it in. i wear disposable one use gloves when i handle it because it has big warning signs on it saying it's CORROSIVE in big letters. But all in all, filling it is very quick and easy for me. And as it turns out, i have it next to the kitchen door that goes into the family room but not obtrusively--it's under a kitchen table and doesn't protrude into the door way, it's very unobtrusive, i don't know how it does what it does so well.I made a few calls to customer support, talked to a different person each time, they always give their names. the phone is always answered by a human during business hours. They are very nice and supportive and informed about the product and helped me with some questions and uncertainties i had, clear knowledgeable communication. One thing was that i wanted a remote control for it. I found one on their website, it was about $30, kind of high but i really wanted it. i called the company about ordering one. The representative sounded kind of almost apologetic as she started listing the additional charges, $15 for shipping, 7.2% for sales tax in my state. It was getting to be over $50 which was almost half of the base price i paid for the humidifier, $109. Sticker shock. I told her i was going to check on eBay and she was supportive and encouraging. As it turned out, i found one, after googling the brand and model number, at a place called i-allergy.com that came to $25 total, fast priority shipping with tracking number, virtually immediate gratification. The remote works great, is very well made, not like most remotes, and i'm quite happy with it.So, this has really improved the quality of my life and saved me many hundreds of dollars, great humidifier, great company, easy to use, effective. There's nothing i don't like about this experience. it seems very well made, capable, powerful, user friendly, i feel so dependent on it, i've been tempted to get a second one as a back up so i'll never be without it. i realize was traumatized during the last seemingly never-ending dry season, and then this year even drier, i felt very threatened and trapped in a bad situation. What a relief to find such a great solution.

This is one of the best humidifiers out there I have used in 20 years.Easy to setup and fill up. Set the timer if you want as well as set the humidification to desired humidity. Usually between 40-50%. 45% is the best.When set it will shut itself off when humidity is achieved and restart when below set humidity,Set it forget it.The price is RIGHT.

***UPDATE for purchase of NEW AIRCARE EP9 500; 2/1/2017***I loved my first humidifier so much, after a few years I decided to purchase another one to help humidify the rest of my home. The EP9 500 humidifier that I've had for a few years now is made by ESSICK whereas the new ones are made by AIRCARE. I'm sure it's pretty much the same company, but I can say that the new unit is not as good as the old one. First, the LED lights are now BRIGHT blue, versus the subtle green on the old unit. This is not a major issue, however it does tend to keep a dark room lit some; almost like an unwanted night light.Also, the tile on the top of the new unit is plastic and locked in. It is not easily interchangeable like on the old unit. This is not a big deal for me, but it may be for some.The biggest issue that I have is the inaccuracy of the humidifier's hygrometer. This thing reads about 15-20% higher than my older ESSICK EP9 500. My old one is pretty accurate, when compared to my in-home weather unit's hygrometer, but this one is way off. In order to keep my house at about 45% relative humidity, I have to set the humidifier to 55% or higher. It's definitely not an accurate reading.....which is displeasing because the old one worked just fine.To address the fan noise - it's really not that bad. Actually, my newer AIRCARE unit is a little quieter than my older ESSICK unit. I run them both on 9 (highest setting) and I can still hear the TV and others just fine. Yes, they make a little noise, but no more than a box fan. If you want this thing to really put out some moisture, you'll have to accept a little noise and run it on high, otherwise - run it at 4 or 5 and you'll never even know it's on.Overall, the AIRCARE unit still wicks water and operates just as the older ESSICK unit does. I'm not particularly thrilled with the issues specific to the newer unit, but I can make due since it does work to humidify the home. The old ESSICK remotes still work for this unit as well. Hopefully, AIRCARE will take a look at these reviews and fix their issues. Their units are pretty solid, they just lack some QC on their hygrometers....***UPDATE 10/31/2016 (ESSICK VERSION)***STILL GOING STRONG!!! No issues with this product, all is working flawlessly. Still humidifying, light still works, remote still works, and fan is not noisy. I'm very happy with this humidifier. I'm considering purchasing another for my house to keep up in the really cold months when the wood stove is burning hard - just waiting for the right price!**UPDATE 1/28/15 (ESSICK VERSION)**I'm using the humidifier daily again this year and I still love this thing! The remote issue was worked out - turned out the cheap batteries that were supplied with the remote were not powerful enough to control the humidifier, so when I changed them over to Duracell's, all worked fine. The unit was easy to clean after last winter, and changing the filter was a breeze. I still have nothing but good things to say about this unit! Sure, the humidity readouts on screen are definitely a little off, but it still keeps the air in my home moist (about 40%)which is perfect! I'm hoping this thing will last a lifetime!***REVIEW FOR FIRST ESSICK EP9 500 PURCHASE***Ok so I am writing this review even though I have only had the humidifier for about a week. So far, I have nothing but good things to say. I'll start by saying that I was VERY skeptical to buy this because I spent a lot of time reading reviews and they were not too impressive. Most people complained about the noise, the inconvenience of the fill port, and the disability of not being able to tell when it is full. THIS REVIEW IS BASED SOLEY ON THE EP9 500 HUMIDIFIER THAT I RECEIVED. Let's start with the noise. Yes, this thing is semi-noisy. Noisy enough to make me knock a star off, heck no. Come on people, no matter what, fan's will be noisy. This thing has a POWERFUL fan, which gives it the ability to humidify the entire house. It's not that bad, even on 9. As far as the fill port goes, I have absolutely no complaints. Maybe the port has been changed, but I think the fill port is a great design. It's approximately 5" wide and opens more than enough to fill with a pitcher without spilling. It is much better than using tanks. Next, (this is the best part), MY EP9 500 has a LIGHT inside of it. IT WORKS AMAZING!!!! This light enables you to see the MAX FILL line on the wick assembly when filling. It is very easy to look in the door and see when the humidifier is full. There is only one downside to the light - it stays on all the time, even when the unit is turned off. Once again, this doesn't bother me enough to drop a star. It seems like Essick may be reading reviews and took some advice because the LED that they added to the inside of this unit is a great idea. I'm not sure if Amazon is shipping out variations of this product, but I'm happy with the one I received.On to the next praise - PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALTHOUGH THE IMAGE FOR THIS PRODUCT DISPLAYS A REMOTE, IT IS NOT INCLUDED. I was disappointed to see that it did not have an included remote, so I contacted Amazon about it. They were AWESOME and credited my account for the cost of a remote ($25.00) and I went ahead and ordered one from another website. Only one downside; I received the remote and it only works when it wants to. I'm thinking this is a remote issue, so I'll see if I can get a replacement. If it works, I'll be thrilled.The unit has done very well humidifying my entire home (2300 sq. ft, 3 floors). I keep the humidifier in the basement where the return can pull the warm air from the wood stove and the moist air from the humidifier. Although I'm sure the entire house isn't the same humidity, I have not been getting shocked since I set this up.Final Praise - The quality of the packaging was great. It did take about 4 business days to get here (even though I have prime) but after I saw the quality of the packaging, I was grateful. A+ for the boxing.Like I said before, I have nothing but good things to say about this humidifier so far. As long as you receive the same humidifier that I described in this review, I would indeed order another if needed later down the road. I'm not sure why some of you are getting units that you aren't happy with, but I am very satisfied with mine. I'll update this review If I have any negative feedback that sprouts up later down the road. A+ on the improvements Essick, now ONLY sell the reimaged humidifiers and get rid of the bad stock, and you'll have more satisfied customers like me.