Venta LW44 Air Humidifier and Purifier All-in-one
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Venta LW44 Air Humidifier and Purifier All-in-one
Customer Review: Terrible customer service
Summary: 2 Stars
I received my Venta yesterday. Unpacked it, carefully read the instructions and tried to start it up this morning and repeatedly got a red light warning instead of a start.
The first time I called Venta's US customer service the phone was answered by a dimwit who sounded like he was either stoned or asleep. The only words I managed to get out of him were various mumbled forms of "Huh?" and "Waitta minnit". Dimwit finally transferred me to a number that left me on hold for 5 minutes. It was eventually answered by a woman who asked me a couple of questions then transferred me to another number that answered then promptly hung up on me.
I called back and the phone was answered by the woman who had transferred me to the land of the dead on the previous call. For some reason she was now able and willing to help me. She had a remarkable (attractive) voice and accent so I'm sure she was the same person. I have no idea why she could not help me on the earlier call...
Once I finally reached a person who was (a) not comatose and (b) was willing to spend literally two minutes of their time troubleshooting we discovered that the unit I received had a faulty motor, then told me that Venta would not service or replace it because I didn't buy it direct from them. (Thank you Amazon!)
It may (or may not) be a nice humidifier but I won't replace it with another because I'd rather not support a company that treats their customers in such a shabby way.
Customer Review: The Best
Summary: 5 Stars
I was so confused by all the information you can get on humidifiers I bought four and tried them all. I also have an AprilAire Central humidifier and spoke to our HVAC company as part of this. Here's the net:
When the humidity is right (40%-60%) it eliminates dry skin and stuffy noses. My dog also quit scratching. Guitar makers recommend it.
The Venta LW 44 is my favorite unit. It has no filter at all. It cleans the air using the water. It's easy to fill, and requires less attention in terms of filling and cleaning. Overall it's a simpler design. Visually it's the least obtrusive unit - the only one my daughter would allow in her room. It's also the quietest. It also cleans the air so it eliminates an air cleaning device. In some reviews it is criticized for not humidifying. Unlike the others it doesn't have a built-in hygrometer. The moisture it puts into the air is not as noticeable as the others. However, I got a separate hygrometer and it works as well as the others. The humidity can be the same level in a room, and it will feel more humid with one unit than another. The steam units make you feel the moisture the most. The feeling of moisture - by-the-way - is not good. The less it feels moist the better. Venta allows you to use scented oils, if you like that option. Others do not. Amazon has several hygrometers. I got the Honeywell TM005X Wireless Thermo-Hygrometer.
Central Unit - The central unit will not do the job alone. We have a two-story house and it really has no impact on the upper level, where the bedrooms are and where you most need it.
Air-O-Swiss U7142 Ultrasonic humidifier. I saw it at a Bed, Bath and Beyond while shopping and it looked so slick I got it. It's not obvious until you get it home, but the instructions require you to place it up 3 feet off the ground, even though it looks like a floor unit. This is going to be a problem in most rooms because it limits where you can put it and it becomes the visual focus of the room. It worked for one day, though it produced a lot of white powder that covered the unit itself and would have become a problem for every object in the room. It only got the room to 29% humididty. On the second day the red light was on, so I refilled it and could never get it to work again. After hours of effort and troubleshooting with the customer support line, I could never make it work. The good news is that Bed, Bath and Beyond was super easy to deal with on the return and had the Venta model I discovered when troubleshooting the Air-O-Swiss.
Honeywell QuietCare - This unit will definitely humidify a room. It has a built in hygrometer. So you can set it to get to a certain level and stop. The two big tanks make the job of filling it less frequent, and the two-tank design is a good idea since it would be hard for most people to handle a single tank with 11 gallons of water. On the downside, it's a bit loud on high and you need it on high when it's cold outside and the humidity inside is low. The tanks often don't work, as they have to be positioned just right and I've never mastered getting them on 100% right 100% of the time. It has a filter, so it's cleaning the air - but the instructions tell you to remove the (rather large) filter and re-wet it every time you fill it. That's such a pain I doubt anyone would do it. Another reviewer suggested just flipping it over each time - good idea! After a while it begins to smell a bit moldy, so you have to clean it and change the filter.
Honeywell Quick Steam - This unit also definitely quickly and noticeably humidifies a room. Since it's the hot steam type you can actually see the steam and you feel it more in the air. It has a smaller tank - needs refilled more often. Also has a filter, but only for the water, so it never has a bad smell. It gurgles and my wife can't sleep in a room with it. After a couple months of use, the heater element was caked with mineral deposits and it was very hard to clean. Some people have noted in these reviews that they just buy a new one every year.
Customer Review: Venta LW44 Air Humidifier
Summary: 3 Stars
OK this is a good solid evapator type humidifier. Easy to use, you don't have to change and clean water solution as much as they say, mainly because it does not clean the air in your house. You need another machine to this, a hepa filter. More info check out consumers report.Customer Review: Was not effective in increasing the humidity of my apt.
Summary: 1 Stars
I've had this unit for three years and was hoping it would service my one bedroom apartment. After three years, I have to say that I'm disappointed with my purchase. Even when I used this in my bedroom with the door closed (1/3 of my apartment), the unit still failed to raise the humidity of the room much higher than say 40%. While I still use the unit, thinking it at least provides a cleaning benefit, I now use the Air-o-Swiss product. Lastly, I don't recommend the oils/scents that can be added to the water - I think they gum-up the fan and underlining of the cover.Customer Review: a necessity not a luxury
Summary: 5 Stars
The VENTA-AIRWASHER LW44 allows me to breath without gagging in my dry air winter time house. Cold water evaporates off the spinning discs instead of spraying water directly into the room like other humidifiers while the fan sucks in air and deposits the dust and grime where it is washed by the water. This ingenious method leaves my rooms (I have two AIR-WASHERS) with clean smelling air that is humidified at the right levels. (The dryer the air, the more the water evaporates off the discs giving the right level of humidity.)
Although the directions say change the water rinse out the unit, and add the water additive every ten to fourteen days, I do it every three weeks which works out fine. The AIR-WASHER is a great product and one that is truly essential for my families comfort and well-being. (my wife has asthma and it helps her breathing.)