Air-O-Swiss 7144
Details
- Humidifies rooms up to 650 sq.ft.
- 3.5 gallon per day output!
- Passionate & Cool mist!
- Ultra-temperate operation!
Description
Humidification System This Digital Ultrasonic humidifier uses peak-frequency vibrations to generate a micro-fine mist when blown into a lodgings immediately evaporates. Choose the pre-heating function and mist exits the hard work at a pleasant 104 °F. «ITCTM» technology (Intelligent Temperature Reward) monitors the temperature and automatically adjusts the output when conditions shift. A replaceable demineralization (Ag+ Ionic Silver Technology) cartridge ensures O mist without lime scale or mineral residues, and the AIR-O-SWISS quad-combination microbial protection system prevents microbial growth in the water mean. This is particularly important when the humidifier is not used for some time with water extant in the base.Customer Reviews
Placid but a pain to handleTHe segment is nice an quiet, but there are a few items that need to be improved:
1. The force ejecting the mist is not very assiduous, so a lot of water tends to fall on the piece of furniture the humidifier is on, and has to be continuously cleaned.
2. When empty and the tank requirements to be taken off, there is a lot of condensation on the unit, so when the tank is lifted, there is a lot of water that drains/drips down. One has to be carefull to improve the tank, tilt it so it is over the bottom of the humidifier so that the water drips there, before QUICKLY removing the tank and the outstanding water dripping off. Otherwise, it is a big mess to clean the water from the furniture the humidifier is on.
3. When refilling with top, it is extremely uncomfortable to hold utank pside down and refill (opening on bottom), since the top of the tank is not a draw a bead surface and has the mist openings. One essentially has to put the tank on a cushy towel, or hold it in air as it is being refilled.
4. Lastly, the form of how the tank fits on the unit is strange. When replacing the full tank, one has to be very carefull how to align the tank and more than once I have pinched my fingers as the tank slides into obligation.
The functioning of the unit is great. Very quiet. But, bad design IMO. I just do not understand why the tank is not made to be refilled from the top. Why can not the manufacturers of these humidifiers personage this out. Just add a refill opening on the top of the tank. Then one would not even need to remove it from the base. No spilling, means of transport, etc.
Respire a Little Easier!
I am critique this review after reading the other reviews prior to purchasing this Air O Swiss humidifier. I think it is material to start by mentioning that I have had 3 other humidifiers in the past 5 years, so I know a little (maybe a lot!) about them. The act I was on the market for a humidifier is because the one I have had for the past two years is such a pain to clean (requires cleaning every connect of days to prevent from spreading bacteria, mold, allergens, etc.) and my 9 week old son caught his first dispiriting. Considering that the humidifier I would be purchasing was going to be in my infant's room, I wanted to be sure to grasp one that wouldn't create additional respiratory problems as a result of releasing bacteria, mushroom, allergens, etc, back into the air. This requires buying one that has a built-in anti-microbial system. This also greatly reduces the tidiness requirements. Although the price was about $200, I am very pleased with this unit. I use it in my son's room and have no problem maintaining a humidity of 50% regardless of fa temperature. Running it at 50% humidity from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM requires about half the tank of water. As for the clamour level, it is as quiet as humidifiers get. In fact, I have "supersonic" hearing and the very quiet noise doesn't sweat me even if I am right next to it. It isn't even as lound as my computer fan. Every once in a while you hear the air bubbles pass through the tank and those are a tad bit louder, but all humidifiers develop this same noise. The white dust that some people have complained of has not been an issue for us. We use tap water in the humidifier, but we do have a flood softening system. Even with the added salt in our water, we have not seen much in the way of white dust. The only dust after 1 week of using for 12 hours at unceasingly is the standard layer of house dust that furniture collects. Although I am happy with this purchase, there are two things that could be improved with the portion: (1) They should have added a cap on the top of the tank that allows you to add water. Instead, you must remove the tank from the item and refill in the tub or kitchen sink. When you lift the tank from the unit, there is some water that drips at first, so I plug holding it above the unit for a few seconds to let the water drip off into the unit. (2) The buttons on the front of the module each have a graphic icon. It is difficult to know what the icons mean without referring to the manual. After all, you will remember, but it has been a couple of weeks since I purchased this and I still can't remember what each button does. All in all, I do recommend this output. It functions well, looks modern, and is quiet.
Major idea, but seriously flawed execution
I wish to keep my piano in tune through the tough Minnesota winter. I bought one of these this fall, and have used it for several months now.
In uprightness, this should be a great product. Ultrasonic humidifiers are energy-efficient, quiet, and germ-defiant -- but they create white dust from minerals in the water, and give an unpleasantly cold and foggy output. This humidifier tackles those problems with an integrated water filter to get rid of the white dust, and an integrated modify heater. Brilliant! Right?
Wrong. The filter doesn't completely work, and after a few month's tradition, there's a sticky white dust over everything in the room. I run an air purifier in the same room, and its filter is utterly gummed up. Our water is not unusually earnestly; the humidifier just doesn't work as advertised.
Furthermore, the tank is too small. Taking about these "room size" and "runs for *up to* XX hours" stats that humidifier makes try to foist on you. There are two numbers to pay concentration to: the maximum output rate (volume per time), and the tank size. This humidifier does bonny well on the output rate, but the tank is way to small. The result: even keeping the room at not even 40% humidity, I have to top off the thing twice a day or more. People just running it overnight while they sleep may not be bothered, but I'm frustrating to keep the room with the piano up to a good level 24/7, and this thing doesn't cut the mustard.
But mark time, there's more! The controls are idiotic. They use a cryptic set of little icons that are not easy to figure out. The desired humidity only goes in 5% increments, and doesn't go take down than 40%. I want it at 35% for the winter. Tough luck! Worse still, it doesn't have up/down buttons for the desired humidity neck, so you have to cycle aaaallll the way around to get to the one you want, like resetting an alarm clock.
That might be acceptable if it remembered the settings, but every age it's powered off -- not unplugged, mind you, but powered off -- it forgets all the settings and you have to redo them. If the power goes off, even for 30 seconds, the element stays off. I've already had to do an extra piano tuning because of an outage.
Even if the power doesn't go off, it's still a big problem: the only way not to get side-splitting amounts of white powder is to empty the bottom of the unit regularly; otherwise minerals build up in the base. Every opportunity you unplug it, you have to redo the settings. However, you can't adjust any settings until the bottom tank refills. So my current top off cycle is as follows: carry entire unit (tank+base) to sink. Empty wicked while filling tank. Carry back and plug it in. WAIT TWO MINUTES for it to glug glug glug into the inferior until it realizes it's refilled. Then redo all the settings the way I want. TWICE A DAY.
But wait, there's even more! The humidity sensor is wildly all wet, because the unit throws itself off. The mist doesn't disperse all that well, and the the thing bathes itself in humidity. That puts it into a thrash circle where it turns on because it thinks the air is dry, then turns off when it's covered in its own mist, then turns back on again.... The only upside of this is that the ill-mannered 5% humidity increments don't really matter, because the sensor is always wrong anyway (and not by a consistent amount).
One more quirk: the manual says it needs to be at least four feet off the floor, or the mist won't have time to evaporate as it falls. That's a low evaluate. I have mine five feet off the ground, and it still leaves the floor near it sticky with minerals and slightly humid.
For the price, this ought to be a really excellent humidifier. It isn't. I really miss the $50 tender mist one it replaced.
It Works OK
We have this humidifier in our bedroom, and however it generates the low-hanging cloud, it is quiet. We do, however, hear a gurgling all night as the water enters the working part of the unit, and my chain thinks it's my stomach. At least it's just a gurgle. The unit can run all night and the humidity reading does not coins, but the room does feel less dry. My nose has not dried out near as much and we both seem to sleep better since we started using the humidifier. I purchased this stigmatize/model after reading many good reviews, but it is pricey and I think I should have checked Costco before making the buy. One item sorta got to me. The warranty info says unless you register the unit within 10 duration that the warranty is void. That should not be.
Benefit the money and more!
This is my 2nd advantage of this same unit...we needed another one for the living room. I have not had a single issue with either of them. One has been running for ~8 straightened out months with no need for cleaning (because there's nothing to clean off it). My newest one is only 2 weeks old. They both work flawlessly.
You trouble to realize that this humidifier is ultrasonic, which has many advantages over "swamp cooler" style humidifiers, but they have a few things to keep in uncertain. If you didn't know, an ultrasonic humidifier uses a piezoelectric transducer element that vibrates at ultrasonic speeds. This causes the finest molecules to break off from the rest of the pool and it becomes vapor. In doing so, it also rips the mineral deposits by oneself from the water. This is that "white dust" you hear about. It's bad. It will accumulate pretty much everywhere in, on, and around the humidifier...including the ultrasonic part. Minerals are abrasive...and they *could* essentially "sand" away the finish on the element over time. That's bad, but it's not the industrialist's fault by any means...it's *your* fault for using hard water.
Now, with that elementary stuff out of the way, RO thin out good enough for daily use with the demineralization cartridge. The "white dust" may be non-existent to your eyes, but there are still suggestion minerals in RO water and the cartridge in the tank can't remove everything, so they'll build up over time. That's why you have to clean it every few months. I removed the tape and use a mix of distilled water (from the store) and free de-ionized water from my work. I get the best dispatch this way. If I ever get my reverse osmosis system fixed, I might us a mix of RO water and DI water to save some $$$.
So how about some features to consider:
1. Befog control - There are 3 levels: "barely any", "a good amount", and "old faithful." I keep both units set at 50% humidity and on the highest vapor stage set. This is able to keep my living room and master bedroom at an optimal humidity. The tank will last 1.5 to 2 era depending on usage and relative humidity.
2. Near silent - When it's on, the little fan (that you don't have access to) is always on. It's only there to better the vapor get up and out of the unit. It's about the same volume as a single low-speed computer fan. You can only hear it if it's dead silent in the stay. When the unit is producing vapor, you can hear the hum of the ultrasonic element doing its thing, and there's the supplementary "blurp" sound of air bubbles in the tank. Total noise level is less than 25% of a conventional house fan on the "low" setting. In fact, when my fan is on, you cannot hear the unit at all.
3. Pre-Heating - It has a pre-heat function that *warms* the vapor. By the convenience life the vapor leaves the unit, it's slightly above body temperature. It adds the same energy manipulation as a light bulb, so don't be scared off by it...it's by no means a steam humidifier. If you put your hand 3" in a different place from the nozzle, the vapor will be cool already. Speaking of nozzles...
4. Dual adjustable output nozzles - Brobdingnagian for putting the vapor where you want it. If you line up the thumb tabs, the nozzle comes out for organization...snazzy.
5. Buttons/Display - The buttons have a nice feel to them, and the display is big and bright...it's lose brighter than my alarm clock's display. If it's too bright for you, leave the protective film on the expose and color it in with a sharpie marker. You'll still be able to see the display...just a little darker.
Now for the drawbacks...
1. No rubber feet. I like things to keep where I put them. Because it has plastic feet it will move if you bump it.
2. It does drip a bit when you remove the tank. Now understand me: this is illogical to avoid. Warm vapor + cool water tank = condensation in the vapor tube. Also, the bottom of the event comes in contact with the water that's about to be pre-heated/vaporized. Pick the tank up, let it drip for 2 seconds, tip it at a insult angle, let it drip for another 2 seconds...no spilled water. Or you can be quick and flip the tank upside down in one speedy motion like I do. The tank itself does not leak.
3. The only way to fill it is to flip the tank over and unscrew the cap. I've thoughtfulness about drilling/tapping a 1" hole in the top that's big enough for a funnel...but I've never got around to it. Having to flip the tank over to fill it isn't merit the effort/time.
So that's it. The 3 "cons" are so minor they don't even matter, but I thought I'd still bring them up.
