Customer Reviews

1.2GAL SONIC HUMIDIFIER (Venta Airwasher LLC 1038036)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Like the title says right out of the box all it did was blink the display endlessly. The manual makes no mention of this condition specifically, but does advise re-seating the maintenance free box and trying again. No dice. With quality control of this caliber, letting a relatively simply device like this slip out in a completely non functioning condition, I'm not going to give them a second chance or any benefit of the doubt. I'll be interested to see some reviews of this unit from other who might get a functioning unit.

Also the marketing claim that this is the "First ever maintenance free humidifier" is patently false. You need to purchase a "maintenance free box" after every 1 000 hours of operation at around $30.00 a piece. Twenty four by seven operation during the cold months when my forced air furnace is operating means you get about six weeks before shelling out another thirty bucks. Not exactly "maintenance free" in my book or Merriam-Webster s book for that matter - where "maintenance" is defined as "the upkeep of property or equipment".

UPDATE 11/17/2007: Going against my better judgment we did decide to try another unit. Within 20 seconds there was a stream of cool mist flowing into my family room, confirming that my first unit was indeed DOA. The 2 gallon tank lasts around 20 to 24 hours. The top of the unit and the side in which the mist is flowing will always get soaked with water. You will find yourself frequently wiping it down of standing water. No matter how careful I tried it was impossible to remove the tank for filling or replace the tank after filling without getting water everywhere and creating a mess to clean up. I was willing to put up with all of the little annoyances that this humidifier had to offer because it really does make my family room much more comfortable to be in. However, after about five days of using this humidifier I noticed a white film on my television. Then I noticed that the white film was on everything. It took forever to clean up and quite honestly I don't think I'll ever be able to fully remove the dust and film that was deposited everywhere. I should have went with my gut instincts on this one.

Similar to my rant above regard the "maintenance free" box, the manufacturer makes very specific claims: "No germs, no filter, no cleaning, no white dust". I've never owned a humidifier in my life that generated so much white dust. The claims made are so definitively false, and I can't believe anybody at Venta would believe them to be true, that I'm tempted to bring the matter to the attention of Consumer's Union and/or my state attorney general's office.

The first Venta 370 I purchased was broken after 7 days of usage. It would turn on but no mist was coming out, even though the room humidity was at 34% and humidifier setting was set at 55%.

I took it back to BB&B and exchanged it with no problem. I've been using the replacement for 3 months without any problems. I ended up buying two more Venta 370.

Below are some problems people have reported:

1. Water collecting on top of the humidifier. I had the same problem, but turn down the humidifier output from 3 bars to 2 bars fixed the problem.

2. The maintenance free box is very delicate. Inside the box there is a gray bar to supposedly clean the water and de-mineralize the water. The problem with this, if you move the venta too much with the water in the Venta Humidifier Maintenance-Free Box, the gray bar will break, thus humidifier will turn on but no mist.

I believe this is the best humidifier that is currently available, make sure you buy from BB&B because they have the best return policy. I had a Vornado Air purifier that broke after 3 years of usage, took it back to BB&B with receipt, they gave me the newest model.

i took a chance buying this humidifier when the reviews were mixed,and some owners had horrible results. The no maintenance and made in Germany impressed me. also, the store said they have carried them for several years. clerk said they sell more swiss-o-matic. i asked why and she said customers think it looks better. well,the Venta was same price so i tried it. works great, keeps room at desired humidity, is quiet. only needs to be filled every 2 days (l2hr day). no maintenance, three fan speeds, humidity settings from 30 to 60. also has a night time setting, but then nighttime is the only time we use this. so far this unit performs as expected and we are very pleased.

I purchased this unit due to the 'Maintenance Free' claim. It worked great for the first month we had it. Now it just blinks endlessly. I tried putting in fresh water, turning the unit on and off-no dice. Won't go with this company again.

I have exactly comments from the first comments dated just 11/10/07. Never would have bought this piece of junk if I had someone had such a terrible experience. The unit is extremely expensive compared to the competition AND the company touts itself as consumer friendly. NOT. Put on permahold when calling service and then was basically told to drop dead.

Venta has a very serious problem as it seems that a large fraction of these machines just don't work.

Okay, I saw all the reviews below after I bought this at BB&B or maybe I wouldn't have bought it. That said, having had multiple other humidifiers in the past, several weeks into using this I must say this is the best I've seen or owned and I'm very happy with the purchase.

Update: Now several months into this I've had no issues.

Yes, I did get some water build up on top once, but I think that was because my kids were playing with the mist and putting their fingers over the exit port of the unit. Like many electronic things around our home, after I tell my kids not to treat them as toys they seem to work just fine.

This thing was a breeze to set up and use without even having to read the instructions. Refilling and reseating is really easy and I haven't had any water spillage issues while reseating. All I do is align the tank so it is against the front display (you'll get what I mean when you buy the unit) and slide it down into place. One handy feature are the two handles on the bottom of the water container which face up and are easy to grab after filling. This makes it much easier to lift out of the sink than some other models.

I love that I no longer have to check and change filters so often. It was so irritating that those things seemed designed to rot and the process was so slow you ended up with lower humidity levels for weeks before you needed to change it. Unless, of course, if you chose to change the filters even more frequently than advertised for even more expense.

It puts out plenty of water and the humidity measure seems to work fine. This has helped keep cleaning to a minimum as I don't have the mold buildup I did with my other humidifiers since they didn't put out as much water and therefore needed to run almost constantly.

We did lose power once during a brief storm resulting in my needing to reset the desired humidity level but it seems like that would be expected. I haven't had any issues with white powder even though our water is incredibly hard.

I will say as well that this is a much quieter unit than any prior humidifier I've owned. Overall, a great humidifier at a reasonable price. Knock on wood.

I was excited about this maintenance free humidifier and was happy with the way it was working until it stopped working after 3 weeks. One day the screen just started blinking and we couldn't get it to work properly. So I packaged it back up and returned it. I was going to exchange it for the same model hoping I just got a lemon, but they were sold out. I have been waiting for others to come in. However, after reading the other reviews, I am going to try a different brand because it appears that I did not have a lemon and that Venta still needs to work on this machine. Considering the price of this unit, it should work flawlessly. Its a shame because for 3 weeks I was very happy and noticed a considerable difference in the air quality. I will say that I wish the tank filled from the top rather than the bottom, because it is difficult to turn over after you fill it without having some spillage.

Got one after having 2 air-o-swiss. No comparison. Venta is cleaner (no splashing on re-filling), easier to handle and less maintenance. We experienced good customer service for another product. Works so far reliable. No white dust anywhere to be seen. The air-o-swiss on the other hands are constantly indicating need for cleaning, one is constantly causing troubles (noisy, not running at all or both), If the tank needs to be refilled they are hard to open and water splashes everywhere upon lifting it. We are thinking of sending the one who constantly makes problems in but we will need to pay for shipment according to their customer "service" (and this thing is not really small -> $$$ even though still under 3 year warranty). Next time we will buy a Venta to replace the A-o-s.

UPDATE a year later - the VENTA died the death of the "blinking display". It would not work, just having the LCD blink but no mist produced (ironically the german meaning of "mist" is "s**t"). We tried everything, cleaned the contacts, bought (!) a new grey box, unplugged, refilled - nothing. Calling Venta today. We also had both our Air-O-Swiss send backas they both stopped working (see my review for those suckers). Vebnta actually send us a completely new one so good service (10 year warranty after all).

I brought this home from BB&B, filled the tank, turned it on and heard a faint dripping noise. In 3 minutes, water started pouring out of the bottom.

I checked the "filter" to be sure it was seated firmly, then replaced the tank (full) in place to watch for leaks. Nothing came, so I triple checked that the tank was firmly in the base, and it ran for about 10 minutes with no problems. I left and came back 20 minutes later to find the entire contents of the tank on the floor underneath.

No mention of this in the manual, I'll be returning it tomorrow and will never trust the brand again.

1 week in and it is working great. Recommended by the Bed Bath and Beyond saleswoman over other more expensive brands.

I am really worried though after reading all of the other reviews on this page though. I specifically bought it for our soon-to-be-born daughter.