Tuesday, July 30, 2013

pureguardian H2000 100-Hour Ultrasonic Humidifier

The Germ Guardian H-2000 is the best ultrasonic humidifier I've seen in a decade. But that only means that it works. The humidifier is well-crafted but thoughtlessly designed. I was pleased with a couple of ultrasonics that I had years ago. When their motors eventually died and I needed replacements, I found that ultrasonic humidifiers had all but disappeared from the market by the mid-1990s. So I bought evaporative humidifiers instead. The trouble with evaporatives is that they require a wick, which molds easily and pervasively and must be replaced at least every two weeks. That's expensive. It costs me $150 per year to run each of my evaporative humidifiers. I'd rather have ultrasonics, which are less prone to mold, less expensive to operate, and quieter. When ultrasonic humidifiers reappeared on the market a few years ago, I bought some....and returned them all. They broke within weeks and left puddles on the floor.

This brings me to the Germ Guardian H-2000. If you want an ultrasonic humidifier that isn't fit for the trash, you have to pay more than $100. This H-2000 seems to be well-made. Happily, you can set it directly on the floor if you like. I have run it for days sitting on hardwood, and the floor is not even damp. There are little compartments for storing the power cord and for the air filter. A small brush is provided for cleaning the inside of the unit, though I don't know what use it would be. The humidifier barely makes a sound. The controls are straightforward. You choose cool or warm mist, then turn the humidity dial to the level of output you desire. A blue LED lights when the power is on, and a red LED indicates when the tank needs refilling. I've never had any trouble with white dust from this humidifier.

On the downside, the 1.4 gallon tank has a handle only on top, so it is difficult to balance the tank to fill it from the bottom. It's also rounded on top, so you can't set the tank down to fill it either. Remember the days when all humidifier tanks were flat on both ends and had a handle on each for ease of filling? No more. Usually ultrasonic humidifiers are easy to clean if they should mold, because all the innards are exposed. But the H-2000 has an optional warm mist, so water passes through a concealed channel as it goes from the tank to the vibrating disc, where it is presumably exposed to heating coils. You could run ammonia through the channel to kill mold, but there would be no way to remove slime. The tank is infused with silver nanoparticles to retard microbe growth, but machine's body isn't. Strange, because mold growth in humidifiers never starts in the tank. The on/off knob would benefit from some ridges. It's so smooth that I can't grip it unless my hands are perfectly dry.

The Germ Guardian H-2000 takes 30 hours to empty the 1.4 gallon tank with the humidifier set on its highest output. That's an output of 0.047 gallons of water per hour. My evaporative humidifiers put 0.083 gallons per hour into the air, nearly twice as much. For this reason, the H-2000 is best suited to a small bedroom, placed close to the bed. In the "warm" mode, the water is heated to 80 degrees F. The mist is warm in the base, the column (spout guide), and where it comes out of the spout. But by the time it gets a couple of inches from the machine, the mist is cool. So I see little point in the warm mist feature. If you want an ultrasonic humidifier, I won't try to dissuade you from this one. In spite of its deficiencies, it's the best one I've found in recent years. But it's only suitable for small rooms.

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