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ultrasonic humidifier review

A month or so back my ol' reliable Reli-On brand humidifier from Wally World died. Up till now I had been getting about one year's use from this model. This was with it running anywhere from 18 to 14hrs per day, every day (RO water only).

I would run down to walmart, pay 25-ish dollars and get a new one... end of story.

Well the gravy train is over, this model is no longer in production. Reli-On also appears to be out of the ultrasonic humidifier game.

Sooooooo I made a mad rush around town and came up with a unit from Walgreens. It looked nice enough... but the tank capacity worried me.

I plugged her in and the output was pitiful but she ran for the 24hr photoperiod with no problems. After doing a little inspection I found the issue with output. The mfg had installed a restrictor plate (yes like nascar LOL) in the output tunnel.

Well I got my trusty gerber multitool and no more restrictor... now she flows like it should... all is well, errrr no. Now i have to refill it twice a day... crap, back to square one.

Now that i wasnt in panic mode anymore i could do my research. I came up with the Sunpentown SU2000.

WOW!... a no-nonsense unit with a 2 gallon tank with unrestricted output, low water alarm, out of water shut off, and variable output.

Definitely far above anything else I found... only bad thing is price, instead of the 25ish, now its 45 to 60ish

Oh well.... it couldnt last forever, at least this unit is all over the place online. I got mine at overstock.com with a 2 year replacement warranty (for an extra 9 bucks, but with an expected life of one year... money well spent IMHO :) )

Short version.... for our use, the high capacity tank, full output flow, water alarm, etc... its in a class by itself IMHO

http://www.google.com/products?q=sunpentown+su2000&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GPMD_enUS326&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=53KtSuOFG5aEtgfMscDzBw&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1

A dear friend of mine sent me a relion that she found at a wally world in another state, so they are still some out there... If you use this model, I suggest you get them while you can. They are no longer in production (verified). She is now my emergency back up unit.

The Su2000 is happily gurgling away

Av
 
I have these bookmarked for when I build my chamber:

http://www.holmesproducts.com/Products.aspx?cid=230

Not the only game around, as you stated, but they have models that run 48 hours and have a humidistat for about $50. Now, I do not know how restricted it is, lol.

How big is your chamber?

Joe
 
Griffin,

Most of Holmes humidifiers are evaporative in design, be aware that they will struggle trying to get the RH much above 60%

Look for the word "ultrasonic" if youre going for "fog" or 60%+ humidity

Av
 
Av is right Griffin. Also to get the full effect from the evaporative design, it has to be run constantly to build up to and maintain the RH. It's difficult to get to 60%, I would say that's probably the high end of it.

I was very disappointed with the one I had.

Crystal
 
one other caveat,

Small evaporative humidifiers also depend on high air flow rates (relatively speaking), so be prepared for that and the noise of a small fan moving air at a high velocity.

Av
 
hey av8tor1, I have one of those humidifiers on the way. I dont know how yours is working and all, but I will keep you posted once it gets here....
 
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