Essick Air 696-400 Variable Speed Whole House Humidifier
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Essick Air 696-400 Variable Speed Whole House Humidifier
Customer Review: Bad motor
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this unit for my daughter. It is very loud and roars on the "quiet"setting. She is waiting for
instructions from the company in order to send back the defective part for replacement.
Customer Review: Does the job, bottles not interchangeable
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Does the job, but not quite 5 stars
Summary: 4 Stars
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!
Customer Review: Don't Waste Your Money!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a cheaply made piece of junk. The materials and craftsmanship are well below average. It just feels cheap. The first problems I encountered were with the water bottles. Sometimes they leak, sometimes they don't work at all. It's just not a good design - very unreliable. Next problem, the motor started making noises after only a few months of continuous operation. Eventually the motor burned up completely after only 5 months of use. Seems like this unit was not designed to be run continuously. If you only plan to use it a few hours a day, it might last you a couple of years. Don't waste your money on anything from Essick Air. They don't build quality products.Customer Review: Essick 696-400
Summary: 5 Stars
Pretty good unit...Only question is for how long. Over the years been buying top-of-the-line Kenmore; Longest life, 3 years. Decided to try something else.