Honeywell HWM450 Quick Steam Warm Moisture Humidifier
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Honeywell HWM450 Quick Steam Warm Moisture Humidifier
Customer Review: Best humidifier I've owned
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent product. I have had three humidifiers over the years: a Duracraft, Homes and now this Honeywell. This Honeywell is the best I've owned so far. The humidistat is accurate and can be adjusted in one percent increments (I use 42%). It turns on the humidifier at 2 percent below your setting and off at 2 above. It comes apart for easy cleaning. The other humidifiers had heating elements that hung down into a tray of water, where this one has a stainless steel hot plate built into the bottom section. Less than a half inch of water sits over the heating element, so it heats up fast and doesn't heat a large volume of water which produces less waste heat. When you take it all apart, the bottom section with the hot plate can be easily rinsed out with water then cleaned with a little white vinegar that dissolves the mineral deposits. I put a piece of tape across the water inlet to hold the vinegar in the hot plate section to soak for up to an hour. An old tooth brush finishes the job. You can soak the mineral pads in white vinegar to remove the deposits and reuse them.
My only minor complaints are: 1) The tank is rather small for its output capacity. On power level 2 it needs to be refilled twice a day. 2) The tank doesn't sit well when you refill it because the top isn't flat and it is tall so I have to fill it under the tub spout. 3) When you turn it off/unplug it then turn it back on, it resets to power level 3 and 55%, so you have to set it each time it is powered up.
Make sure you read the directions before operating.
Customer Review: Best made Humidifier on the market
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a skilled Commercial/Industrial Equipment Repair Technician and I can tell you this is a well built unit. I have answers to all the questions in this message area and to all the issues some people are having with simple user problems.
The Warm mist is the best to buy for the winter, it puts out the most humidity and helps to warm the house. It doesn't have bacteria like cold water units which need filters and are best used during summer months to help COOL the room.
Like all equipment there is maintenance, and some required maintenance is well worth the comfort and relief you get from the dry air in the room during the winter months when the humidity levels drop down into the teens!!
Whenever water is boiled any calcium, iron, and air you have in your water will separate from it. Same here, if you have hard water calcium will collect in the bottom of the water reservoir. Honeywell knows this and has made this unit capable of being used in such situation. If you have very hard water you can use the mineral pads, some supplied, to help absorb the minerals.
Water softeners help to remove most of the calcium and iron that makes your water hard. You do not need to use the mineral pad, the unit will operate better without it!! Use it in situations if you have very hard water only. Most of the extra noise is when air gets trapped below the pad because the air holes are blocked during use, and it builds up pressure and pops.
Do not clean the pad and reuse, it shreds and blows up blocking the air holes in the 2 layer pad. The holes must line up and not get crossed like closing a valve trapping more air in the bottom of the tank.
As the Humidity in your home drops the moisture in everything in your home dries up, the wood, furniture, walls, and floor, so it will take some time (about 1 to 2 weeks) until you get all the moisture back into everthing. Water levels below 40% are considered to be dry, and 30% and below are very dry. You can get nose bleed and headaches below 35%!!Ideal levels are 45 to 50 percent. In the winter it is harder to get levels up because you have constant drying from the weather and your heating system. Dry mouth and sinus relief can be noticed above 40%. I recommend a unit for each floor. You may need to fill it once a day on low, and twice a day on high, hence the different output levels. Whatever it takes to achieve your desired humidity level.
So the water, type of heating, weather, and construction of your home are factors effecting the overall performance you will get in aquiring your desired humidity level. This unit puts out up to 4 gal a day, that is awsome!! The more it is used the more you will have to clean it depending on how hard your water is. Remember a water softener will help most situations.
All in all this unit will handle the job, it's stainless steel heating plate is easy to clean, just pop the unit apart, brush and rinse the parts off, it all washes well in the wash room. Only the calcium thing is a problem for those who have very hard water, but in most cases a water softener is used and should take care of the problem.
Use the mineral pads only if you have a hard water problem, turn the output level to the low setting after the humidity level is achieved. Check the mineral level in the reservoir when you fill the tank, you can see the water when you lift the tank off, if the water is dirty, it needs to be cleaned soon (every 1-2 weeks, takes 5-10 minutes). The unit will shutdown if the water is too dirty, cool heh!!
I recommend this unit over any other brand out there, don't mess with the ultrasonic nightmare units, I hear they are a real headache and spit dirt all over the place, the maintenance it high too, plus the filters are expensive!!
Customer Review: Best value
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought one of these 1.5 years ago and bought another one this winter, since I loved my first one. I have had 2 humidifiers before that and this one has good features and works great.Customer Review: Better get 2
Summary: 3 Stars
I agree with the people that have done a ton of pre-purchase research... this is the best $50 humidifier out there. It's one of the few that you can set an actual % humidity and it will humidify the room to that amount, then turn on and off to maintain it. I set it to 62% humidity and in a matter of minutes the room is at 62% - in the dead of winter when it may have started at 35%. It is fairly quiet and is easy to disassemble and clean... except for maybe the mineral deposits on the heating plate which is a bit tough.
I first purchased a $450 Venta Air Washer which I have to say was a massive waste of money. It's at least twice as loud when it's working correctly and usually makes a lot more noise due to gears grinding and fans being out of balance which brings it to about 3-4x as loud as the HWM450. It also doesn't humidify the air 1/4 as well as this $50 unit and has no humidity sensor or controls to speak of.
The only thing I can say in defense of the Venta is that it's still working... I just can't use it in the bedroom because it can't humidify well enough and its far too noisy. The Honeywell HWM450 seems to have some serious quality or enginering issues that seems to limit it's life expectancy to a matter of weeks or a few months. Our first one lasted 3 weeks.
My recommendation is to buy 2 so that you can have one going back for repairs on a constant cycling basis. This sounds a bit crazy but after spending $450 on the Venta it actually sounds pretty economical to me. Normally I'd just go find a different humdifier but this one is so darn good when its working that quite frankly it's worth it to deal with the hassle. If I could have a humdifyer like this in a bombproof package built to last 10 years I'd spend $1000 on it. Unfortunately no one is making such a product. The world isn't perfect.
Customer Review: Better off looking for something else
Summary: 1 Stars
Even when this humidifier works it is mediocre. The whole thing seems to be designed pretty poorly. Filling it with water requires holding the reservoir upside down because it doesn't stand on its own. The whole humidifier must be perfectly level or slightly slanted forward or it won't operate correctly. If it is not perfectly level or slanted forward the heating element won't get enough water and shut off automatically. This was a very poor design since I use it in a room with carpet and with the reservoir on the back all the weight is on the back of the unit. When this humidifier is running it can get pretty loud due to the heating element inside basically boiling the water. It sounds like you're sleeping next to a pot of boiling water. It would also be nice if you could turn off the heat function too.