I started with 27% Relative Humidity in an 884 sq. ft. apartment and got to 45% in 24 hours. My Aircare arrived yesterday and I was able to put it together and start running it when I got home from work at about 5 o'clock. Setup was very easy. I initially thought the float ring was not included but later found it laying on the floor. I don't know where it was located in the box (it must have been loose somewhere in the box) but it did not come in the little parts bag.

I loaded with six gallons of water and ran the fan at the highest level. In five hours, I had reached about just under 40% humidity with a goal of 45%. I refilled the tank to the fill line, turned the fan down to the middle setting (there are three settings) and went to bed. I woke up to 43%. I filled the tank again and ran it all day on fan setting 2. I just got home at just under 5 PM and had achieved 45% relative humidity. So technically, it reached my goal of 45% relative humidity in less than 24 hours.

I have turned it down to level 1 fan and it is currently on auto. I am hearing it start and stop automatically because of its own hygrometer that is properly reading the relative humidity (I have an additional hygrometer in the house so I know the unit's is is measuring true.) I'll come back and note if, and by how much, the relative humidity dropped over time.

Important note: I also ran a small, single room humidifier in my bedroom last night. I do not know how much this contributed to keeping/getting the Aircare to maintain a mid-40's humidity percent but it can't have hurt. I'm not sure it was necessary however. That unit was not run at all from about 4 AM until now and the Aircare still reached 45% on its own.

I'm pleased. I'd recommend.

For the record, I personally do not find the fan as loud as a jet engine. But then, I worked near jet engines for years and frankly, it's a ridiculous analogy. Is it loud at speed three? Sure is, but not anywhere near deafening. Could I sleep next to it at level three? Mmmm depends on how tired I was but I could do it in order to be able to breathe and not have nose bleeds all night and day. Light or easily annoyed sleepers will have a problem at speed three if it's near their bed. Mine is in the entry foyer next to the living room, literally, the other side of the apartment on a diagonal plane.

In our 2000+ s/f house, with our wood stove and uneven forced hot air, our humidity levels were in the mid to upper teens. This made for uncomfortable nights and discomfort near the woodstove.

One unit on high (possibly louder than a box fan) easily outperforms 2 bedroom cool mist humidifiers in the kids' rooms, but not in the master. It raised the WHOLE house to over 30% humidity versus the 20% in just their rooms.

The coldest room felt more tolerable and our fair skinned child's face lost the red wind chapped look when sitting in the room with the wood stove.

Putting it on high in a hallway near a large return works great for us. We can close the bedroom doors, hearing only white noise, yet it still helped every room in the house.

I fill it with a 3.5 gal bucket from the bath tub and learned that it makes a GIANT mess if you don't turn it off first.

The plastic walls are thin and flimsy, but it seems fine and it will only be opened to change the filter. Filling it is easy through the removable grate.

We bought two at the same time (one got there a day sooner) and keep both on the whisper quiet low fan speed. You'd only hear it if you were in the room by yourself.

Both units turn on and off with their humidity controls pretty consistently, though their readings don't match my indoor/outdoor weather things.

On high, they sometimes cycle on/off fairly quickly when they are on the edge of the selected humidity level, which I think is from the sensor being so close to what is adding the moisture to the air. Much less pronounced on the low fan speed.

If they last two years, they will be a better value than the cool mist ones. If they don't last 2 years, I'll knock them down to 4 stars, but I'll still be happier with them than what we had.

I'll leave them at 5 stars and will update if something changes and they turn into just a mediocre purchase.

I received this unit today - 20180109. Instructions are pretty clear and setup is pretty straight forward if you follow the instructions. There is a "floater" stick in the unit that engages a switch on the underside of the fan. This allows the fan to operate as long as enough water is in the unit. After assembly of the unit, the "floater" stick was not engaging the switch under the fan cover properly, so I couldn't adjust the fan speed.

I called tech support, after waiting 15min to get to someone, I got someone who didn't know the product well at all. She explained I inserted the float foam turn 90 degrees in the wrong direction which was causing it to stick on not engage the switch under the fan cover. I directed her to look at the photo instructions that came in box to explain I did it as the photos showed. She then noted her instructions were not like those of mine in the box and she couldn't help further.

I asked her for a different tech, she refused to get one.

I asked her for a supervisor, she put me on hold. 5 min later I got voicemail for a supervisor - I think - left a message. I have not heard back. I believe the problem was my "floater" stick was warped, so I straightened is reinstalled it. It seems to be working now.

Thes unites are cheaply made and poorly designed. Working properly should not depend on "precise" assembly by the consumer. The unites are way overpriced in my opinion and should be priced under $50. The on board humidity gauge is completely inaccurate. The fan is terribly loud when used at speed 2 or 3!

Think twice about buying from this company!

We moved this around to several locations in our open floor plan to find the optimal location. We also purchased a humidity gauge that we put across the room from humidifier as well (to test/confirm the sensor that is built into the unit). We have it on the lowest fan setting. Yes, you can hear it, but your brain starts to "block it out". Yes, we bump up the volume on the TV but only slightly. HOW OFTEN DO I REFILL: Refilling is all about how cold and precipitation outside and indoor thermostat, how often your heat kicks on and which humidity level you have selected. I'm in Colorado and selected 35 or 40 humidity level depending on how we are feeling. This year we have seen a variety of ups and downs from a weather perspective.
Sometimes I had to fill it every morning and then sometimes I went 2-3 days before total refill. depending on fluctuation of outside temps, I just need to add 1 pitcher of water each morning to keep it at the max level of full levels. (meaning overnight, only 1 pitcher of water was used). This is our first house humidifier, and both my husband and I have noticed that our skin feels better as well as our sinus. My husband would get winter nose bleeds and he hasn't had anything this year. The equipment is sturdy and as advertised. it wheels around nicely. It arrived according to the Amazon estimate.

Float Switch poorly engineered. A long plastic rod connects a piece of floating foam block so that this rod makes contact with a switch that is on the motor unit (as part of the top assembly). The problem is, except for a small channel guide on bottom, there is nothing to keep this rod straight up while attaching the top to the water container. So aligning the rod and switch is a joke. I did it once now trying to do the same after a new filter was brought. I never knew my subconscious knew so many swear words!

I agree with the use of a mechanical switch and rod. The less electronics the more reliable. Fix: Put the vertical rod between two channel guides within the lower housing. Essick, please send me the design consultation fee, c/o my Amazon account..

Other than that, it works.