Customer Reviews

BIONAIRE PERMANENT FILTER HUMI

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Exactly the same experience as the last reviewer. Auto mode is useless because the unit cycles on and off every 3 or 4 seconds when the humdity set point is reached (try sleeping with that going on!). I exchanged for a 2nd unit and this one not only cycles on and off but also leaks all over the floor because the base overflows before the valve on the water tank closes. Also confirm that the diagrams and parts descriptions in the instruction booklet do not match the actual unit. I do however, take exception to the last reviewer's comment about this thing being designed by third graders. My third grader could design a much better product.

The air in Colorado is very dry, especially in the winter, so I find that I'm much more comfortable with a humdifier running. I got rid of my old Honeywell humidifier after it leaked all over the floor. I haven't had problems with this one yet, but a previous reviewer has, so I bought a plastic boot and shoe tray to set it in, just in case.

The automatic feature works very strangely. After the room reaches the humidity level, it turns off ... and turns on ... and turns off ... and turns on ... every few seconds. VERY irritating, so I simply stopped using the automatic setting.

Also, the permanent filter doesn't match the picture on the box at all. The actual filters are rectangles that fit into slots around a plastic dome. The instruction booklet refers to these small, rectangular filters as "wicks" and then gives detailed instructions for cleaning the "permanent filter" without ever mentioning the wicks.

I'm assuming (and hoping) that the so-called "wicks" are also the permanent filter(s) mentioned on the box.

Otherwise, it humdiifies the air nicely, and is somewhat quieter than my older model humidifier.

It does not send water through the fan; it just spills the water to the floor and make all my carpet wet. Then the humidity keeps more than 70% all the time.

What a stupid design!

Unbelievable. Fire the design team for this awful thing that just doesn't do the job. It created more work for me to clean up. I can't believe I didn't look at the comments prior to my purchase. Everyone was right . . . IT LEAKS! I filled the tank...and an hour later the tank was half empty (half full). Where did all that water go? On my table and all over the floor.
Need I say more?

I would have rated this product far higher were it not for the "permanent" filter which lasts a few weeks before it deteriorates after washing. Trying to find a new filter is almost impossible, and the price effectively equals the original cost of the unit. How companies are allowed to use the word permanent, when it is clearly not, seems a violation of various federal truth in advertising statues.

Anyone else get over the "leaking" issue and actually run this for some time? We've been using it, and it can't manage to get the humidity above 45% in our bedroom on the low setting. I'm not sure if that's because of the reverse of the leaking issue (my floor seems to be slanted so that the filters are higher than the tank) or because of the "permawick" filters. I've been really peeved about having to replace expensive (and hard to find) filters on other humidifiers so I've been trying to find alternatives. This is my second attempt. Anyhow, it seems that at least they realized that the new type of wicking filter doesn't do a very good job, and so they put 4 of the in there. But even after a couple of nights of use, they start to get crusty (just like all other filters) and start to lose their wicking power, and hence their humidifying power. The instructions talk about cleaning them every day (if I knew that, I wouldn't have bought the thing) and says to clean by soaking in soapy water. The soap may help bacteria or other crud it may have picked up from the air, but it does exactly SQUAT for the minerals. They have a faq in the manual which mentions that if the filters get brown, you can use their mineral disolver on them. Earlier, they mentioned the same disolver for cleaning the "dishwasher safe" tray. They also mentioned vinegar. Ah,now that's interesting. I've used vinegar in the past to extend the life of the normal paper wick filters. So, I gave it a shot. These "perma wicks" do hold up better than the paper, but they're far from perfect. Plus they require an aweful lot of vinegar. And since they crud up in a couple of days, it'll have to be done far too often. Now that the crud has been mostly removed (I let them soak about 11 hours) I rinsed them and tried them again. Guess what? The stupid dial that tells you to clean the filters reads low, like I'm near the point where I have to clean them. But the soap that they tell you to do it with did nothing, and the vinegar helped a little, but over all, it seems it doesn't do too much.

Ok, after that long diatribe, back to my question. Anyone else go through this and have a better experience actually getting the humidity out of it?

We have had three of these, each returned. They are not designed correctly as the lower water tray leaks through dozens of slots cut on the underside. There needs to be a lip around these slots to prevent the water from simply pouring thru. Also the rigidity of the base was very poor and inadequate for lifting the entire humidifier for relocation, each time the deformation of the loaded base with or without the water tank was enough for the standing water in the tray to pour over massively into the slots cut into the underside of the water tray.

Additionally the humidistat would always read a way HIGH %RH due to all the water that was simply spilling onto a large towel. This makes using the automatic mode impossible.

The thing Leaks.

I had a cheap humidifier which worked OK but was a bit noisy and small for my room, so I bought this one with the hope for better performance. Reading the instruction, I noticed the warning that the humidifier should be placed on a mat to avoid leakage. I did just that and got not a leakage but a spill, which left a big puddle on my carpeted floor after a few minutes. I wish I had read other reviews. I cannot believe that a humidifier at this price (4 times more than my other model) can have such a poor design. The grill for air intake is placed near the bottom of the base, so if the floor is not perfectly flat, a spill is almost certain. I have not really tested other functions but there is no need to. With the above fatal design flaw, nothing else matters.

I don't think this humidifier deserves even 1 star, but that is the lowest rating available so that's what it gets.

Calling this thing a POS is a major compliment. This thing should have never been produced. As another reviewer stated, when running on the automatic setting and the room reaches the target humidity level, the fan will start turning on and then off every couple of seconds, thus making the automatic setting useless. The section covering the filter doesn't have anything holding it in place so if you go to lift it up the top comes off. Then when you do pick it up to lift it or move it, water gushes out the side of it. The buttons on the side got jammed on mine after a couple minutes of use. The green LEDs make the entire room glow green at night. I cant think of a single thing this thing does right. Was it designed by 3rd graders or what? I couldn't take it back to the store fast enough.

Design is poor. If the floor is not flat the model spills very easily. Has left big puddles in several rooms.