Crane Filter-Free Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifiers - 1 Gal

It got damaged as soon as i plugged it even though the instructions were well followed

I purchased the Crane cool mist humidifier in Dec'10 and have used it, with great success, for many months. With all the negative reviews (about 20%) I almost didn't purchase this machine. But I'm glad I did, because it works really well for what it is: a mid size/capacity humidifier.First of all: ***this humidifier has a 2.3 gallon per day maximum output, with a .9 gallon tank.*** Amazon's initial title for this (and many other humidifiers) mentions daily output capacity rather than tank size... this may be confusing, although the correct specs are prominently listed on the Amazon page - fifth bullet point in the "product features" section. As for Crane (the manufacturer), their package clearly states a 2.3 gallon daily output, and .9 gallon tank size... The reviewers complaining about the "misleading name" should try emailing Amazon suggesting a title change on their website... instead of writing a 1 or 2 star review of the product. That would be more helpful and more fair.As for the product itself:A few buyers obviously received defective machines; this has to be expected on some level with any manufacturer.But having read over the negative reviews, I realized that most of the complaints were due to improper use of the machine.It is essential to read the instruction manual and use the machine as intended by design. Doing so will avoid the pitfalls described by most of these 1-2 star review writers. For reference, I have addressed their most common complaints below:1) White dust buildup in the room: use filtered or distilled water. This is important if you have hard tap water. (85% of American homes do.) I run my tap water through a Brita filter; the exchange ion resin lowers the concentration of calcium carbonates, accordingly softening tap water. It also helps keep the humidifier cleaner by removing organic impurities, and I have had no white dust buildup. ***If your water is particularly high in mineral content, you should use distilled water, or else opt for a vaporizer-type (humidifying) machine, which creates water vapor free of white dust.***2) Limited effectiveness: you are trying to humidify too large a room. In my 500 square foot living room level the machine helps a little; in my 150 square foot bedroom the machine is more than adequate.3) Height of machine: the manual directs you to put the humidifier *at least* a few feet off the ground; there's no reason you can't place it even higher up if you wish. Doing so will disperse the mist more effectively.4) Machine runs out of water: try turning it down to about 2/3 power instead of full power. The machine is practically noiseless at this setting and the water tank if actually filled to the rim will last at least 8-10 hours.5) Machine makes bubbling noise on high: see #4 above.6) Wet area forms immediately around humidifier: you have the machine turned up too high for the conditions in your room. This is explained in the instruction manual: you need to make sure the mist isn't falling down onto the surfaces around the machine; otherwise moisture will accumulate on those surfaces. Turn the power dial down until the vapor stream is fully evaporating in the air.7) Machine leaks: Take care that the water tank fits snugly into place, with no gaps. Also, make sure you have the clear rubber ring that fits inside the tank cap. During my initial setup, this little (1 1/2" diameter) ring came loose and rolled away, and I almost didn't notice. The ring ensures a tight seal on your water tank cap; without it, I'm pretty sure the machine would leak.8) Machine gets moldy: you are not following the correct cleaning routine, as described in the manual. You need to empty and rinse out the tank daily, and empty the bottom part of the unit too. Once a week you should use a white vinegar/warm water mixture in the tank and bottom of unit (see manual).I hope this was helpful. If my humidifier breaks down I will certainly update this review.

I've been using the Crane 24 hours a day for two months now (since December). It works great and my hygrometer shows how it definitely increases the humidity in the room. While the humidifier definitely helps prevent a dry mouth and throat in the morning, my main reason for buying it is because I have an expensive acoustic guitar that is very sensitive to low humidity, even when I use a wet sponge hydrator inside the guitar body. Late last winter the two wood halves of my guitar's soundboard started to separate because of the dryness in my room. I had to pay $100 to the repair shop to have my guitar reinforced. The repair guy said that this kind of separation in a guitar's soundboard tends to happen in the winter when the heat in the house has been on for a while and has been drying everything out. After the guitar was repaired I began using a wet sponge hydrator inside the guitar body to help humidify it some, and with the heat being on less in the late winter, I saw no further signs of wood separation so I thought all was well.However, early this winter, even with the sponge hydrator I again saw a slight separation happening with the guitar's wood halves, so I immediately bought the Crane humidifier because I know that when the humidity level in the room is up above 40% or so, the guitar shows no sign of wood separation. When the humidity level is down in the 30's or lower, I start to see a crack between the guitar's two soundboard halves below the sound hole. Without the humidifier, my room goes down to 25% or lower in the winter, so it's very important to have the humidifier. The guitar manufacturer recommends keeping the room humidity between 45% and 55%. With the Crane, I keep my room at a minimum of 45% all the time. The guitar functions beautifully, the way I want it to for a very long time.Like others, I don't understand some of the negative reviews this Crane humidifier has gotten, unless some of those people had defective units or something.One thing to watch: I have found that when you return the filled water tank to the base unit, you have to place the filled tank 100% snugly and firmly on the base or water will not flow from the water tank into the base unit. After you put the filled water tank on the base unit and turn the humidifier on, if the water tank is not 100% perfectly situated on the base you may still see mist coming from the humidifier, but the only water that's producing the mist is the little amount that still remains in the base's holding area, which will last for only a short while. If you were to leave the house immediately after improperly putting the water tank on the base unit, even though you see mist coming from the humidifier while leaving, you will return home later to find a full tank of water with no mist coming out, and a room with decreased humidity level. So make sure you carefully check that the filled water tank is sitting 100% perfectly snug on the base unit.Other reviewers have mentioned the white dust that can accumulate on furniture over time, which they said could be remedied by using filtered water instead of tap water. Because they mentioned this, initially I used filtered tap water from the filtration unit on my sink. But I found even with filtered water my TV screen still collected some white dust over time that I would have to wipe off periodically. This was no big deal. Because my sink's water filter unit slows down the water flow out of the faucet significantly, which makes filling the humidifier's water tank time-consuming, a few weeks ago I tried using regular tap water which flows much faster out of the faucet into the humidifier's tank. For my room, I found that the tap water caused no noticeable increase in white dust over the filtered water. There is some white dust accumulation, but not any annoying amount. Mainly, I have to wipe the dust off my TV screen periodically and that's no big deal. Now that I use tap water to fill the tank, it only takes a few seconds to fill up, whereas with filtered water it took a minute or more. Since it is cone shaped, you have to hold the humidifier's tank the entire time you are filling it because it will not sit flat in the sink, so the less you have to stand there and wait the better. The other benefit in using tap water is that I don't use up my sink's water filter as quickly as I did the first month and a half I had the humidifier when I was using about two gallons a day from it. (Each filter lasts for 100-gallons.)The only consideration I have about this Crane humidifier is that cleaning the entire unit thoroughly takes some time. I clean it once a week as recommended. For the base unit and the top, bottom, and flow chamber of the water tank I use wet paper towels dipped in a small pot of water with one teaspoon of bleach mixed in. For the inside of the water tank, I fill it halfway with bleach water and cap it up and shake it vigorously. I have found that a teaspoon of bleach seems to prevent pink mold build-up on my humidifier's base unit better than a teaspoon of white vinegar did. A small amount of pink buildup by the end of the week occurs, and that's why cleaning the unit weekly is very important. If using bleach, just be careful to fully wash your hands afterward because bleach can irritate or even burn your skin if left unwashed.I have noticed something interesting: Tap water seems to last a few hours longer than filtered water in the humidifier.I bought the Crane 2.3 gallon cool mist humidifier based on its price and the many positive Amazon reviews it had. I agree that it is really only approximately a one-gallon tank, so the 2.3 number is misleading. Why they have to do this, I cannot fathom. I guess they're insecure unless they shoot big numbers at you.That aside, this unit has worked great these last two months, and now I know that my expensive guitar is not in any danger due to humidity level issues in the house. For the price it's a great unit.

I really like this thing!I wanted to get a humidifier for my room because i noticed that when i wake up in the morning, my throat and nasal passage often feels insanely dry. Also a lot of times i have sip water while i'm trying to get to sleep, because my nasal passage felt so dry that I couldn't swallow.I like this particular humidifier in that the mist is instant and it's cool - it's also such a fine mist that you can put your hand 4-5 inches away directly in line of the output, and your hand won't get all drippy with condensation. This means it's such a fine mist that you don't really have to worry about everything around it becoming wet and drippy if you run it for a long time. This is particularly great if you're resting this on wood based surface, or it's placed in such a way that it's got other things around it. I put it on my night stand next to my lamp and i put my phone and my handheld game system right next to this/near where the mist falls down/settles without any fear of my phone, game system, or even my lamp shade getting wet.I also like that this has such a large container, so i can fill it and let it run for quite a while. On a completely full container, I believe I can run it for over 12 hours on highest setting. On 3rd of a tank (bottom third), it can go all night until morning when i get up and turn it off. It also has auto shutdown/stop setting so when it gets too low in the water, it automatically stops so I don't have to worry about burning or whatever that happens when it gets low on water if I have it running overnight.There is a light inside the tank that tells you its water level (i mean you can see through the water tank but the light also tells you stuff too. Green means it's got plenty of water. When it flashes green and red it means it can still run but it's starting to become low. Red is when it auto shuts off. The light isn't very bright/blinding either, so running this at night when you're trying to sleep won't be an issue. My nightstand is higher than my bed, so even though I have so close by, I don't really notice the light (it helps that the color of the tank is blue so it mutes the green light a lot.This thing also runs very quiet - but you WILL hear some random burbling of water drops. If you have this in a super silent room, you're going to hear it burble. However in my case I have an air purifier that I have running on low 24/7, as well as a fan that I run whenever I'm in the room (so overnight as well) because it's hot during the summer. With those two, there's enough white noise that I don't really register the water burbling. I do still hear it some because it's on my nightstand therefore really close by, but it doesn't cause me to unable to sleep.The water holding thing uses the same kinda mechanism as your toilet water tank - it's basically a stopper that when you put it onto the stand, it raises the stopper to let water through. But instead of pulling at the stopper from the top (like your toilet water tank), the base of the humidifier has one part that sticks up, which forces the stopper to be raised when you have the tank properly placed on it. So far I haven't noticed any leaking problems with mine. If you do have a leaking problem, you should check that there's no leaks in the base itself, and make sure that you're fitting the tank onto the base properly. If it's misaligned, it would easily leak.

Quality meets function. Great unit, I would buy it again.

This is a good, solid humidifier that will do it's job very well. It's not one of the more expensive models out there that may include some of the extra features like filtering and anti-microbal linings, but if you need your room to be reliably humidified then it will work well for you.Pros:1. Has a unique, attractive look to it and differs from standard humidifiers.2. A full tank running at max will last you around eight hours, so if you put it at about 3/4 (which is all you need really) then it will get you through the night no problem.3. Easy to fill.4. Not too noisy. There are some gurgling sounds but they're more pleasant than annoying.5. Very detailed and helpful instruction manual.6. Automatically shuts off when the tank is empty.Cons1. Tank may be too small if you like to have it on high humidity and sleep in longer than eight hours or keep it on during the day. As others have noted the tank itself does not contain 2.3 gallons.2. The mist doesn't go up very high. It gets about 8-10 inches above the spout, which is fine if you have it up on a dresser, but on an end table or other surface that is level with your bed or below your chest, it will take longer for the room to humidify and it's more likely to get things moist. How moist differs on the overall humidity in the room.3. The cord is a little on the short side. According to the manual this is a safety feature, but if you have it plugged into an outlet that's not too near where it's going you'll want to use an extension cord.4. The tank can be difficult to clean the base if deposits and mold build up. The easiest way to do it is to put a mix of vinegar or bleach with water, cap it, shake the hell out of it, let it sit for 10 minutes, shake it again, then rinse. If you need to use elbow grease on the bottom, you'll have to use something with a long enough handle and a soft brushing surface to scrub it.Important notes.1. DO NOT USE HARD WATER! Hard tap water (hardness differs on the water in your area, in Vegas it's extremely hard) will cause deposits to build up inside of the tank, and will create a large amount of white dust in the room. Because the dust is very fine you'll find it in crevices everywhere. This is not a fault of the device (unless you count the lack of a filter a fault), but just a consequence of using water with high mineral content. To avoid this you need to: A. Use filtered water. Brita, Pur, or the kind in your refrigerator will reduce the amount of dust. Depending on your water and the filter, you may have more or less, but you'll have much less than pure hard water. B. Use distilled water. This is preferred as you'll have no to almost no white dust. The bad side of it is it can get expensive having to buy it at the store if you use it frequently.2. EMPTY THE TANK AND BASE WHEN NOT IN USE! If you let water sit the water it initially dispenses will have an unpleasant smell due to the bacterial buildup, and you're much more likely to have mold develop in it which can be difficult to clean and hazardous to your health.3. DON'T USE ON THE FLOOR! The mist does not reach up high enough to be effective at all at that level, and all you'll end up doing is getting the floor and surrounding furniture/devices sopping wet.OVERALL: It's a good solid purchase and I recommend it for those who just need a simple, durable humidifier, but you have to make sure to maintain it properly.