Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have purchased 4 of these units over the past 5 years, for both home and office. The units have been the 1 gallon and 1.5 gallon size. They work exactly the same, except the 1.5 gallon size holds 50% more water. They take a little getting used to because they rely on conductivity of water to allow electricity to pass between electrodes to boil water and create steam. The way you control how much steam comes out is to adjust how much salt you add (depending on the mineral contents already in your water). If you plug the machine in and after a few minutes, no steam is added, added a small pinch of salt into the water. If it the unit does still not create steam add more salt until it does. Unless you happen to have a defective unit, it will work. Next time using the machine, put enough salt in from the beginning to make sure the water can boil. If you don't have enough minerals of salt dissolved in the water, the unit will produce no to little steam. In that case the simple remedy is to add a pinch more salt, until the unit is producing sufficent steam. If you have too much salt or minerals in the water, the machine will put out a lot of steam and can make a room noticeably hot and very humid. If that happens, pour the water out, refill the machine and simply put less salt in so it produces less steam. It takes a couple uses to get comfortable with how these machines work. They are basic, they don't have switches to break, filters to replace, de scalers to buy or countless other go wrong. They are super easy to maintain and work for years. If you use the machine and the water is gone, there is no current to pass between electrodes, basically creating a self shut off switch. The light can stay on, by the way, but once the electrodes are not covered in water there is no current being passed. Maintaining these units is both easier and faster than cool mist humidifiers. These steam humidifiers boil water to create steam, boiling water should kill most bacteria, mold or viruses that are in the water, so even if you are not perfectly fastidious with cleaning the unit, not much "crap" should be going into the air. Since it's just steam, you won't find mineral particles around the room, like you would on cool mist humidifiers. To clean the units, I change the water daily and as long as I do that, I'll just fill up and rinse the water tank with very hot water. If i don't use the machine or forget to dump the water after a day, I'll add a few table spoons to a half a cup of white vintage and slosh it around and then rinse in cold water until there is no smell of vinegar. I will also swish water through the top part. I've poured down the top and turned up upside down and poured water in. To date, that hasn't broken any of the units. Once a year I'll cut the top off of a 2 liter soda bottle and stick the unit in filled up with hot water and white vinegar. If you leave the water in the tank for a long time, it will grow mold and mildew. The instructions say to use either some bleach and water or I use white vinegar and hot water to clean it. If you see black flakes or particles in the water, it's just carbon from the electrodes. This will happen day one and the unit is fine and should work for years. Every humidifier takes maintaince to ensure it's running well and is pumping clean mist out. These units make that part easy and forgiving in terms of not pumping out musty, moldy water. The downside if any is that you are boiling water through the conduction of electricity through water. Resistance to the current builds heat which boils the water. It's like the heating element of a toaster or an electric stove in terms of how the heat is generated. If you use the machines overnight in multiple rooms, you will most likely notice a difference in your electricity bill. If that's not a trade off you are comfortable making, don't use them. I also have one at my desk at work and keep it on the floor next to me and try to remember to breathe the steam in frequently. If you want to use Vicks or kaz's products to put some menthol or camphor type scents into the air, they work fine, I like to use a few drops of essential oils like eucalyptus instead. If you are sick and need to open your sinuses, cover your head with a towel and breathe the steam in. Start with your face about 18-24 inches away to make sure you don't burn your face. Slowly bring your face closer to the unit to breathe as much steam in as possible. Take care to move your face in carefully and slowly as you are breathing in steam not a cool mist and you can burn yourself if you get too close. Speaking of burns, I have small children and I use a unit in their room at night. My four year old knows not to touch it and my one year old is in a crib. If you have children who can get too close and or touch the steam stream, they can get burned, so take the necessary precautions to make sure that does not happen (move it away from small hands) or don't buy the unit. I hope that helps!