Essick Air EA1407 Digital Whole-House Console-Style Evaporative Humidifier, Honey Oak

I had an old Kenmore humidifier that was about 20 years old and was having a hard time finding proper replacement filters. Since the old unit was so trustworthy, I want a new one as close to the original as I could find. This unit has exactly the same cabinet construction as the old unit, but it has better controls and water system. I give it five stars for the following reasons: 1. Higher efficiency. I filled the old unit by pouring water from a bucket until there was about 5" of water in the bottom of cabinet. When the cabinet was fully filled with water, the water covered about 1/2 of the filter thus allowing only the top half of the filter to moisten the air that the fan was pulling through the filter. As the water level dropped more and more of the filter was exposed to the air allowing for more humidification. The new system has two plastic tanks that can be filled from the kitchen sink (see photo). The right tank trickles water into the bottom of the cabinet very slowly, and when it’s empty the left tank starts trickling water. During the humidifying process there is no more than 1” of water in the bottom of the cabinet thereby allowing the entire filter area to be available to moisten the air all the time to provide humidification. Also I think the two tanks have more total water storage capacity then what the old system had so I don’t have to fill the humidifier as often. 2. The solid state controls on the new humidifier have an added feature that the old unit did not. There are the same 3 fan speeds, and yes the high speed is noisy, but that’s just the nature of this type of humidifier. At the low and mid fan sitting the fans are relatively quite. Although I could not find it explained in the instruction manual, there is an “A” setting which I assume means” automatic”. When set to “A” the control will throttle the fans between low, medium, and high speed, depending on how far the room humidity differs from what is set on the humidifier. Also, there is a “CF” check filter display to tell you that 750 hours has passed and it’s time to check the filter. If the filter looks okay, unplug and then plug in the power cord to restart the humidifier. 3. Excellent customer service and warranty support. When I first got the humidifier I had a question; called customer service and got a quick answer. Two weeks later the left water tank started to leak around the filling cap area. I couldn’t find a reason for the leak and again called customer service on the 800 number supplied in the instruction booklet. After about a 15 second wait, I talked to a customer service rep and had a warranty replacement tank on the way. It was received two days later. 4. The filters look to be a higher quality then what I could find for my old Kenmore unit. I am a little concerned about how durability of the water tanks because of having to screw and unscrew the caps every time you fill the tank. Only time will tell. However, it the worst case I could through the tanks away and just fill the bottom of the cabinet with a water bucket just like I did with the old unit.

My previous whole-home humidifier with internal flow-over pump that works amazing has been discontinued for about a decade and I can no longer get the wicks. The very last wicks I got were so old the paper degraded quickly. So I was on a search for a similar product and sadly nothing similar is available so I turned to console type. I did a lot of research and settled on this model, specifically because it uses 2 smaller fans rather than 1 large fan which reduces the noise pollution by quite a bit. On low you can barely hear it run, medium speed is a light fan hum while the 3rd speed is extremely loud. The 4 wicks work well but with my hard water lasts about 4 weeks. The only issue I wish the wicks had an aluminum screen in the core to hold the wick together. The humidifier does a great job of maintaining the humidity level I set whether it is 45 or 50%. Our winters are very dry with a 5-15% humidity without the humidifier running. I give 5 stars however the cost is a little high for what you get. Overall I recommend it.

I have used this humidifier for the last 3 years. It has not been the same machine--but that is only because of my moving and thinking that I did not need it. Initially, I got it under the Sears name, but it was exactly the same machine. Now I bought it as the Essick Air EA1407 machine. I have never been disappointed in it. It was bought because I have a grand piano that needs to have the humidity in the proper range not only for proper care of the piano, but to prevent the worse event of a cracked soundboard. It has been used to humidify my piano in a home that was open enough that it was not possible to enclose the piano in a smaller, enclosed area. It worked very well. My homes have been about 2,000 sq feet. The evaporative humidifiers are the way to go as opposed to those which produce a mist and propel it in the air which can leave a residue on furniture. The design is simple--there are four channel-like pads which sit in water and the fans are above them pulling air in from the back of the unit through the wick-moistened pads then up and out the top of the unit. This design does not allow for anything to be put on top if it. It is made of thin plastic which makes it light, but may not survive a solid, strong accidental blow or fall down the steps. Once a year probably at least the wicks should be replaced which is not difficult. One easily takes off the top section of the unit (which includes the fans) and reaches down to get the wick units. The tops snap off the wick units where the channel-like wicks are located. These can be easily removed and new ones put in. The lid snaps back on the wick units and they are placed in the bottom of the humidifier cabinet. The top portion of the unit, is placed back on the cabinet and that is it. I was worried that this design with the standing water would, after a while smell bad like a wet basement, or stagnant pond or even moldy, but I use the proper bacteriostatic solution and have never had a problem. I don't use it during the summer months and let it run dry at that time before I put it away. Eventually for me, the wicks became encrusted with salts (I don't have softened water). But for me, they lasted one winter. They needed to be replaced for the next year. The two plastic water containers that one fills up with water and a partial capful of the bacteriostatic solution lasts for varying amounts of time depending on the humidity already in the air and how dry one wants the air to be. In my 2000 sq ft homes it would last at least 2-3 days when there was nothing else humidifying the air. I now have central humidification, but it does not work well enough to keep the humidity around the piano at the right range (40-45%) so I mainly use this unit to supplement it. The water will last from the two water containers about a week. If one has a 2000 sg ft home and not other form of humidification, and there is nothing really to limit the humidified air from going all through the home, and it is the dead of a cold winter, I would not expect this unit to last more than a few days--maybe a weekend, but one may come back with it dried out. It can be set automatically to run to a determined level of humidification which is how I use it. The humidity sensor is in the cord or the unit going to the electrical outlet, so it should sense the air coming into the unit which makes design sense. When I have other humidifier gauges around the home, it seems to be just as accurate as them. The range of automatic humidification is between 25 and 65%. There are other controls to run the humidifier different, but I have never worked with them and have always used the automatic mode and set the degree of humidification that I wanted. Of all the humidifiers I have used over the years, this definitely the best. I would highly recommend it.

Just got it ...so far so good... not sure how it will do a 2 bedroom apt yet....well I have to say after a week our 2 bedroom apt. is fully humidified. ....in fact it shut off once to refill and within the hr. just on 2 all was good. WE only keep it on 1 and does the job. We are very pleased with this purchase.

I had an identical humidifier for many years and it worked great. The only problem I had with it was that the humidistat stopped working and I couldn't buy a replacement part for it, although I could buy most all of the other parts. The humidistat was a dial, not digital, like the new one. This new one is more accurate because I can see exactly what the humidity is and can set it where I want it. The sensor is molded into the plug's wire and it sits where the unit sucks in the air, so it is pretty accurate. The two fans are pretty powerful and they push a lot of air straight up, so they do make some noise on settings #2 and #3. Number 1 is pretty quiet. After they were running for a couple of days I got used to it and maybe you will also. It beats having a dry house. My only complaint is that a different company (or the same company is getting lax) is molding the plastic pieces. Especially the filter holders. Some of the seams and edges have plastic flashings that should be trimmed off so that the tabs will stay in their slots and the cover over the bottles will close down flatly (in the center). Some reviews say that the plastic container is flimsy and it does feel that way, but when it is set up and has the water in it, it is very stable. It isn't made to be continually moved around the house. It should be tried in different places until you find the place where it works the best and then leave it there. It shouldn't be moved up or down stairs after it has been filled. It glides nicely on the casters. One last thing. There were two small plastic pieces that must have been just thrown into the box that must of gotten stuck in one of the fans. It took a bit of wiggling them to get them out without damaging the fan. They should have been put into a parts bag. The picture of them in the item list says they have something to do with the casters. My casters are working fine without them.