VENTA LW14 Airwasher (Discontinued by), White

Yes, this humidifier is small, quiet, and low maintenance, but it also doesn't do its stated job. We filled it with water, added the included solution, per the instructions, put it in our sons room and let it run all night with the door closed. His room is probably 150 square feet, so not very big. We have a humidity gauge in his room. When we turned the humidifier on that night, it said 24%. The next day, it said 24%. For almost $200, I'd expect this thing to be functional. It's going back asap.

The Venta Airwasher has an annoying faint click when it's running that is very troublesome. When I first got it, I hardly noticed it, and could avoid hearing it simply by moving the machine away from my bed at night, when it's most bothersome. But now I hear it wherever I place it. Othe Venta Airwashers I've had--and still have in other rooms--don't have such a noise.

The design is excellent: simple, robust, easy to clean. However, this smallest model was unable to raise the relative humidity (RH) of a 140 sq ft room with 8 ft ceilings above 30% or so (unhumidified RH was about 20%). I exchanged for the larger "24" model, which works well: RH reaching about 40%.

This machine does its job very well but it requires monthly maintenance. You will need to buy the bottle of Water Treatment every month.

These are very good for single rooms up to around 12x15 - a larger unit is needed for larger rooms.This unit will be empty in 3 days of only night use, so the water evaporation really works.I have 2 of these, and am happy with them.They wont warp or damage any surface or put out too much moisture, - even if right next to a wall or object.Having said that, i feel that most days my lps are still a bit dry and my nose/sinuses are still a bit dry - butnothing like being without a humidifier.My sinuses ached and my nose was painfully dry, and everyone would cough at night when the heat kicked in.It must be cleaned every other day if using this daily. I dont use the Venta additive - i used that when i 1st tried the unit, and the water stank really bad. I only left it for 3 days, so i think that additive isnt a great idea.A better idea may be using distilled water (apprx $1 per gallon)if you need to be as clean as possible or for medical reasons. This will reduce water residue/buildup/minerals in the tank.So i would say even with additive, you need to change the water and clean the unit consistently - you dont want to spread anything to anyone thru the evaporation. The water isnt really dirty from 2 days of sitting, its just that water sitting turns bad all by itself. I use a paper towl and vinegar on the tank, and the disk must be soaked and cleaned-its not easy cleaning the disk - but maybe if the air is really dirty-once a month.Overall if your air is real dirty or dusty - you may notice a greenish greyish residue from the tank when you clean it. Use vinegar, dont use harsh cleaners-they leave residue and the plastic is porous-dont want to evaporate any cleaners into yur room...The fan part of the unit can collect dust and really shows you what the air quality looks like - but it all can be cleaned because the unit opens easily.Be careful with the unit and disk! it has a long warantly but in general this tank and top are not tough! if you drop it - it will crack or break easily. i dropped the disk when cleaning and the edge cracked off and 3 or 4 of the end of the disks cracked, but it still works fine.Its great in a small enclosed space, i cant imagine how the larger unit would humidify a large room. The fans do evaporate a ton of water, its very quiet and the sound can almost become a soothing sleep noise, its not a sound like dripping water or anything like that...but in a large open space with more doors and air, ...seems like it may not work like you would think.-since it will go anywhere its really good for floors, plants, furniture that needs moisture.FYI if you have steaam radiators that give off a bit of steam when they are in use, this is a decent amount of humidity in every room of the house-dont change them due to noise or looks - and baseboard heat is so very dry-we have baseboard heat and i hate it. think about humidity before changing your heating system-it makes a huge difference in your home - leather, wood, and people need humidity, and young kids/babies too.

I thought this was what I was looking for. First, the unit was cracked as soon as I opened it from the box. The packaging was not damaged nor was the shipping box, I can only assume because it is so poorly constructed ( very thin plastic) that it broke in transit. I ordered three of these and every one was damaged. Amazon rules and got a refund no problem. I love the idea behind this unit but they are waaaaaaaay to small for any size room. I would order the largest one to see if it has the same crap construction and if it doesn't then write a review. There ya have it. Oh yes I must say again that Amazon rules.

pluses: no filters, very (extremely) quiet, easy to clean with shower hose/kitchen sink sprayerminuses: no humidistat to control on/offThis is my fifth humidifier. Anything with a filter/wick is troublesome in maintainance and costly to replace. Bought the small one for bedroom, then bought medium one for living room. Bought one for nieces baby shower. Would not hesitate to continue buying if needed. One of the best appliances I ever bought.

At the first time, it did not work at all.It didn't supply enough humidity and wash the air.However, it uses a natural way.It makes the air circulate into the lower house of Venta and the air posses enough clean humidity.