Hamilton Beach 05521 4.0 Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier Wash Safe with Electric Humidifier
by HAMILTON BEACH/PROCTOR SILEX
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List Price: Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Hamilton Beach 05521 4.0 Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier Wash Safe with Electric Humidifier
Customer Review: Works ok, but after 2 years mine is getting flaky...
Summary: 3 Stars
I've had this for 2 years now. It is quiet, but not silent. It is reasonably easy to fill, but it emties about once a day and that does become a chore quickly.
My biggest complaint is the loud click that the relay switch inside it makes as it turns itself on and off. Even worse, my sensor seems to have gotten the jitters over the years. Instead of a steady readout, it bounces around up or down a percent or two. This makes the machine turn itself on and off quite often. Sometimes it cycles on for one second, off for one sec, on for one second, off for one second, etc. This wouldn't matter if the click wasn't so loud...
I would give it 4 stars, but since mine seems to be on its death bed already I'm giving it 3.
Customer Review: Very good performer of the style
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this humidifier for a year (well, not in summer), and It does what is supposed to do and does it quite well. I find it too easy to clean in the sink to bother with the dishwasher. I clean it thoroughly once a week, letting it dry well and am getting 4 or 5 weeks use from each filter. (I flip the filter each time I fill the tank.) These blowers make a good bit of noise even on the quietest setting. Not really a bothersome noise, its gentle susurations are not disturbing to sleep. But it is additional noise in the house. An audiophile would probably prefer the steam vaporizer products for the music room.Customer Review: Performance matches expectation
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this humidifier a month ago after much research. So far, it hasn't shown any mechanical trouble. The filter is holding up just fine after 4 weeks, despite daily use. Surely the quality of water in your area dictates how frequently you will need to change the filter. Nevertheless, it is recommended that you flip the filter over (to prolong it's life)when you refill the water. In my case, filter change maybe warranted no sooner than 2-3 months.The large capacity of the water tank is good enough for 24 hour operation (on quiet setting). I use it all day night long on the low setting and it uses up about half the amount of water in the tank. At first the low setting may seem noisy especially if there is very little ambient noise around you (like when you can hear the wall clocks in your house ticking). But after a few minutes it sounds just like a dull whirring sound that is hardly objectionable. I use it in my bedroom at night and it doesn't disturb my sleep.
It is easy to see the level of water through the tinted tank. The water tank is easily removable when handled vertically. There is no leakage/spilling when you do so. There is a wide fill hole at the bottom of tank for refilling water. There are two problems though with refilling ...firstly the tank is too large to fit under the faucet in the kitchen sink, so you need a jug or hose to fill it up or use the faucet in the bathtub...secondly, the cap on the fill hole is pretty tight (the upside is that it is spill-proof) so I wouldn't recommend the unit for feeble people.
The other part of the unit, housing the motor and fan, comes off easily too. I do wish it had a latch, because you need to be careful not to knock it off when removing the water tank. When the water tank is replaced on the base tray, some water from the container fills up the tray, making a gurgling sound. It makes the same tiny gurgling sound periodically during operation too. This water in the tray is taken up gradually by the filter (which sits under the motorized fan), to generate the humidity when the fan is on.
The digital panel is easy to read. I do not however agree with the humidistat's reading. I have another humidistat in the room that I compare the reading to. The humidifier's reading is always lower, usually by 8 to 10 percent. Setting the desired level of humidity is simple although it can be done only in 5 percent increments. The unit shuts of automatically when the desired hunidity level is reached.
The base is easy to lift if the unit needs to be moved. Of course it is much more convenient to do so after removing the heavy water tank. As long as care is taken not to slant the base tray, there is no leakage or spill.
One point to consider if you are paying heating bills in the winter is that, since this IS a cool-mist himidifier, it will make the room cooler. So you may need to turn up the heat in the room a notch.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the unit's performance and recommend it to any able-bodied adult considering a cool-mist humidifier. To sum up, here are the PROS and CONS:
CONS:
1. Water tank is too large to fit under kitchen faucet
2. Cap on fill hole is tight. Some strength required to turn it
3. Humidistat not accurate
4. Motor unit is not securely latched to base tray to prevent accidentally knocking it off when removing water tank.
PROS:
1. Very good performance
2. Low operating sound on quiet setting
3. No leakage or spilling when handled correctly
4. Portable
5. Dishwasher safe; Easy to clean
6. Desired humidity level can be set manually
7. Automatic shut-off when desired humidity reached
PRO/CON depending on whether you live in hot or cold climate: Makes the room cooler.
Customer Review: Good product but needs some improvements
Summary: 3 Stars
I have had this humidifier for about two months now and have found the following:PROS:
1.This humidifier works well for me. I keep it in my bedroom and only use it at night and I like the white noise that the quiet setting gives off.
2. It does a fair job.
3. It has a digital readout (very nice feature).
4. It has a large water tank.
5. It is easy to use.
6. I have not had any mechanical problems with it.
CONS:
1. The filters have to be replaced about once a week, otherwise they get moldy and start to smell (and who wants to breathe in mold?)
2. The filters are WAY too expensive. Amazon sells them for seven bucks and this is the cheapest I have found. This is a lot of money to shell out every week.
3. Filters are hard to find. Not many places carry them.
4. The cap on the water tank is VERY hard to open. It takes forever to get it off.
Bottom line, I would not purchase this humidifier again simply because I hate shelling out 28 bucks every month for filters. Even though the cap is hard to get off, it isn't impossible and its something I can live with. Maybe HB will come out with a filter that can be reused by putting it through the dishwasher or something, but until then I would not recommend purchasing this humidifier unless you have a lot of money to put into buying filters. Even though it works well, it just isn't worth it.
Customer Review: Poor Design
Summary: 1 Stars
Out of the box it looked nice but my happiness soon faded. I set it up just like the manual says. When I plugged it in and turned it on nothing happened. I noticed the fan was twitching a little bit so I turned it to "HI". The fan started moving a little and then finally worked it's way up to speed after a few seconds. I figured oh well the thing is new so it was just stuck from being new. It worked ok for a while and then I went out of the house for a couple hours. I got back and what looked like the entire contents of the reservoir had spilled onto my brand new Pergo flooring and expensive raw maple wall trim!!! I now have water under my floor, soaked through my trim and soaked under the wall and into the next room!!! I took it apart looked it over and gave it another try (on a towel in a less new room). Once again it worked well but this time I checked on it every 10 minutes. Once it was about 2/3 empty for some reason it decided to simply empty itself onto whatever it was sitting... PIECE OF CRAP!!! DO NOT BUY!!!