Customer Reviews

Holmes HM630-U Tower Humidifier

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

In the past, I have been very disappointed with humidifiers. Either they leak or don't seem to do much of anything. However, this Holmes U Tower humidifier is sleek in design and has a few nice features such as:

- The two filters are easily accessible at the base of the unit.

- The tank is easy to handle, fill, and not too heavy to carry. If you have a small sink, you can always fill this slightly long tank in the bathtub or by using a teapot or water jug.

- You have the option to set the humdifier manually on low, medium, or high humidity continuously or you can set it to automatically go on at low, medium, or high at a pre-set humidity level. If you use the automtic feature, then the unit cycles on and off like a thermostat would (although it does that too frequently for my taste).

- In addition, the display shows the humidity of the room the unit is in, which is a nice feature.

- The humidity level increases pretty fast, which is not typical of other units I've experienced.

- According to the manual (I haven't tried this feature), you also have an hour timer option of setting the unit to turn on or off after so many hours. This means, for example, you can program it to turn off 5 hours later or turn on 5 hours later.

- The unit has a small footprint (see cavaet below), so it doesn't take up much floor space.

With regard to the operation of the unit, you must remember to press and hold the on/off button to turn off the unit. If you unplug the unit, the humidifier returns to its factory default settings so you'll have to quickly reprogram it every time. This is exceptionally easy to do, but some might find this annoying.

One very nice feature that remains in operation when turning off the unit from the front panel but leaving it plugged in is that the humidity of the room is always displayed. Obviously, you lose this benefit when you unplug the humidifier from the wall outlet.

When setting the unit to the automatic feature that enables it to operate like a thermostat, the unit may cycle on and off every few seconds or minutes depending on the humidity of the room, which means you'll hear the fan cycle on and off repeatedly. If this is likely to disturb you while sleeping, then just put the unit into manual mode as I find you can never have too much humidity in the winter anyway. Of course, make sure you have enough water in the tank to run all night. The tank is rated to hold water for 36 hours of continuous use. However, I have only been able to get 10 hours continuous use on a tank at the highest humidity setting - so keep this in mind when leaving the unit unattended.

I ordered the wick filters from the manufacturer because they are hard to find elsewhere; even though Wal Mart and other local stores carry the Holmes line, they don't necessarily sell all the filters for every model. The filters arrived promptly within a few days.

The box says the unit comes with a 5-year limited warranty but the pamphlet inside says a 3-year limited warranty. I called Holmes at 1-800-546-5637 and they confirmed it was actually a 3-year limited warranty, so don't be swayed by the box advertising.

There is one caveat that you might consider important, although this would not deter me from buying the unit. Since this unit is a tower model, it is easier to knock over (especially on an unsturdy surface such as carpet). You might want to take this into consideration in case you have young kids that run around or large pets that might wreck havoc in your house--meaning you may have to alter the placement of the unit to account for this scenario. My observation is that the chances of knocking this unit over are somewhat higher than the squat-to-the-floor models I'm so use to and which have been so ineffective.

Overall, I am very impressed with the unit compared to the four other humidifiers I've had previously. I had a Vicks humidifier, a different Holmes humidifier, a Hunter humidifier, and another one whose name I can't remember. I've always been less than satisfied, so this is a nice change. I've been so pleased with this unit that over six months later, I ordered a second one.

Update October 2010 - Finally one of my unit's humidity sensors failed. However, since I've had this unit for several years that is to be expected. I can still use the unit to increase the humidity in the room but I just won't know what the humidity level is unless I look at my second humidifier.

Pros:
- displays humidity all the time
- variable speed settings. 3 manual and 3 auto speed.
- tower design does not take up too much space.
- easy to add water and change filter.

Cons:
- due to the size (length) of the tank, you do need a deep sink to add water. I use the bath tub.
- the fan is loud even at lowest setting.
- uses two filters.

Got one for our house and one for our cabin, very impressed!! Not to loud at all, has 3 speed settings as well as full auto settings adds humidity VERY FAST, hours not days.

Love the unit itself, however after 3 days of running it only 8 hours a night, I noticed the filter guage was saying "Replace Filter"

So I called the company to say, "hey .. it's only been 3 days. I think the filter guage is broken" and they had me check the filter (it was yellow and crusty) and they said, "no .. it's your water. you need to replace your filter or use distilled water." Then she laughed and said they had customers that replace their filters several times a week because of their water

So of course I'm not going to replace my filter every 3 days and I'm not going to use a couple gallons of distilled water every night before I go to bed in this thing ...

so if you have hard water .. this may not be the unit for you. Buyer Beware.

I definitely agree on all points made by reviewer Mr. Average. I found this humidifier to be quite noisy, but bearable only on the lowest setting. The humidity level does increases rapidly. However, I stopped using the programmable features for the very same reason -- loud fan on, loud fan off. It drove me crazy.

Also, the bottom end of the filter sits in the resevoir and remains wet because it is constantly in contact with the water originating from the tank. Despite my efforts to empty the tank/resevoir and air out the filter every morning, it never completely dries out. Now when I turn the humidifier on, it gives off a moldy odor. I have just purchased this product and have only used it about 10 times, so it seems rather soon to have to change the filter. I plan on returning it.

I bought this humidifier at the beginning of November as the weather began to getting colder and the humidity level dropped. On the third night while filling the water tank, it slipped from my hands and fell inside of the bathtub shattering into a dozen pieces. I have been in touch with Holmes customer service and both by phone and e-mail. The person on the phone told me the replacement tanks were back ordered until after Christmas and the person who corresponded with me by e-mail stated that it was December 14th. I continue to correspond by e-mail to see if the item has arrived, but I only receive "canned" responses from their customer service folks. The unit worked great for the first two nights I used it, but as of now, I'm out over $70 (with shipping) with a humidifier I can't use.

This product seemed to have been designed by someone who had never used a humidifier before. The water tank is nearly impossible to fill; there's nothing to hold on to once the tank is upside down, and the opposite end is sloped so you can't rest it against the bottom of your bathtub while it fills. Once it's full, a juggling act is required in order to screw on the tank lid, since you can't set the tank down anywhere. After trying twice and only succeeding in spilling water all over myself and the bathroom, I left this task for my husband to take care of, as he has very large hands and was able to fill the tank more easily, although he too complained that the tank was so poorly designed.

The tank capacity is too small; to keep my bedroom at a good humidity level, we have to refill the tank twice a day. Still, the thing did what it was meant to do--humidified the room--until after three weeks the full tank leaked all over the wood floor and area rug. We thought the top must not have been screwed on correctly, but it happened again, warping the wood floor. Leaving the full tank in the bathtub, it didn't leak at all, which made us think that something had gone wrong with the base.

I didn't waste my time trying to get this thing fixed. I returned it.

I have purchased my fair share of humidifiers and this is, by far, the best yet! Other reviewers have mentioned the filter indicator is always on, but if you read the directions...it states the humidifier has to be running for an hour before it can give you an accurate reading. I also have a table humidifier from the same company...the best! Let's face it, humidifiers are not perfect, but they keep me from getting sinus infections throughout the winter....I highly reccommend this item!!!

Bought this humidifier 2 weeks ago. It has 3 speeds in the automatic mood (turns on/off automatically depending on your humidity setting), and 3 speeds that will run until the tank is empty... I ran the unit in automatic mood for the first day on setting 3 and it quickly brought the humidity from 21 to 40. The noise wasn't too bad, but could be quieter.

Later that night, I the unit sounded like it was sputtering and I figured the water needed refilled. However the water level was fine. The digital humistat was going from 39 to 49. The unit would turn on at 39, then a second later the digital display would say 49 and it would turn off, then the display turns back to 39 and the unit turns on. Sounds like a car trying to start.... This goes on repeately until I turn it off or change the humidity setting to a different setting.

The automatic setting was driving me crazy so I've been running on continuous mode since...

Also, the first day it says I need to replace the filter. I have a water softener so water hardness shouldn't be an issue. Obvious flaws in the filter monitor and humistat.

Would not recommend this humidifier.

I own a number of humidifiers, so I have a little perspective on this one. The tank is easier to handle than many other models and it does a good job of humidifying the air. Also, it is relatively quiet (especially on the low setting), but it does have a number of drawbacks.

First, the filter requires a lot of maintenance, especially for a model that claims to have a permanent filter. That is just not true. Depending on your water quality and how well you stick to the maintenance schedule, you will need a new filter at least every 6 months.

My bigger complaint has to do with the auto feature. The big draw of this model is that you are supposed to be able to set the humidity level to a certain point and the humidifier will run as necessary to keep it there. But what ends up happening is that it simply cycles on and off (sometimes for just a second or two) in order to keep the humidity level constant. I thought maybe just my unit was defective until I saw other people had identified the same problem. The only conclusion is that this is a design flaw. And don't think you can leave it on all the time. You will probably just end up overhumidifying your air and having to refill the tank constantly.

Bought mine at Costco for a pretty good price, but given the problems