Customer Reviews

Bionaire W15-UC 1700-Square-Foot Console Humidifier with Galileo Wireless Climate Center

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First the complaints: I had to remove the screwcaps from the water tanks and turn them around when setting up the unit because they were backwards. Then, the instructions for the electronic control took a while to figure out.

Now the praise: The remote humidistat really does work. You wouldn't put your furnace thermostat right at the heating vent, so why should humidifiers have humidity sensors built into the unit? This is the first humidifier that solves that problem. Finally, steady humidity in my house! Also, the water tanks hold a LOT of water. That's great, because I don't have to fill them as often. The fan is quiet as long as you keep it on low or medium speed (you select which speed with the control). Also, the water in the unit doesn't get that musty smell I've encountered with other humidifiers. The product description says "anti-microbial feature" but I didn't believe it until I noticed the lack of a musty smell. I've bought several humidifiers over the years, but this is the first one that has actually lived up to the hype. I recommend this model.

I bought this unit on the recommendation of a friend. His works fine with no noise issues at all. That said...

...the reviewers who complained about the noise were correct. The unit is very noisy at the medium and high fan speeds, however, the fix if fairly easy. The noise generates from the vibration of the water storage containers against the main unit. I put a bungie cord around mine and now it runs whisper quiet. I can't swear that this is the solution for every unit, but for mine it was that simple.

The unit does a decent job of maintaining a constant humidity level in the area I'm using it in but the claim that it will cover 1700 square feet is a bit exagerated. I'm using it in an area about half that size and it is just about adequate. That may be because the remote sensor, though a good idea, has to stay fairly close to the unit or it loses contact with the unit and the humidifier turns itself off. There's no warning when this happens. You won't know until you happen to glance at the remote unit and see that your humidity has dropped significantly. The task of getting the remote to reconnect with the unit is a pain in neck. I've found the only way to do it is to remove a battery from the remote, wait a few seconds, reinstall it, and then I'm good to go.

In defense of the remote, it does react to a 1% change in humidity so when it's working correctly, it does a good job of keeping the level constant.

So the unit is a little quirky but it does the job pretty well. If you live in a pretty dry area you're going to be filling the water containers every day, but it's a pretty easy task and the containers will stand on their heads in the sink so you don't have to stand there holding them the entire time.

Considering the price, this is a pretty good purchase. But when I build my next house, I'm going to make sure to have some kind of system installed so I don't have to own one of these again.

It is SOOOO.... noisy!! I should have listened to the other reviews but I figured that Bionaire had fixed the problem by now. Not so. Its so noisy that it is unusable at any fan speed. It rattles and vibrates. Colossal waste of money.

This unit is well made.User friendly, The one thing that I could say

about this humidifier is at lower fan speeds unit is a little noisey,

seams like were the water tanks meet the unit the plastic parts vibrate.

So I put a small shim bewteen tank and housing of unit and this seems to

work. Runs much quieter.

I live in Arizona (very dry). The humidifier runs 24/7 and works very well but the units noise was very irratating. I tried the bungie cord fix and this helped but didn't fix the problem. The problem I had was the fan housing vibrating against the main housing. FIX: Unplug unit, remove center console and turn upside down (4 legs pointing up). Loosen the 4 screws that hold the fan safty grill. Remove the grill. You will see a seam where the housings come together that extends about 1/2 way around the edge of the fan blades. Tape this seam. I used 1 1/2 inch "manufactured home belly tape" (very sticky) but I am sure that wide Gorilla tape or duct tape would work. I cut strips about 2 1/2 inchs wide, stuck them to the end of a screwdriver blade and positioned them between the fan blades over the seam and pressed them inplace with my fingers. Cover the whole seam with tape. When reassembling the safty grill, note that it goes on only one way. Be careful not to strip the screws in the plastic. My unit now runs quiet like I expected it to when I bought it and I don't have to use the bunge cord any more.

This unit generates unnecessary noises, not from the fan, it's a rattling sound due to the poor construction. This noise makes it impossible to sleep, so the unit has been sitting there since it's arrival.
Strongly not recommend it!