Lasko 1128 9-Gallon Evaporative Recirculating Humidifier

by Lasko

Product Features

• 3-speed evaporative recirculating humidifier for spaces up to 3200 square feet
• Disperses cool, clean, invisible moisture without white dust or over-humidification
• 4-1/2-gallon removable water reservoir; 9-gallon output-capacity per day
• Adjustable humidistat; on/off indicator light; 4 castors; evaporative filter pad included
• Measures approximately 22 by 14 by 17 inches; 1-year limited warranty

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 22 x 14 x 17 inches ; 18.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 19 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B000VP7FWA
• Item model number: 1128
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,995 in Home & Kitchen (See Top 100 in Home & Kitchen)
  • #19 in Home & Kitchen > Heating, Cooling & Air Quality > Humidifiers & Vaporizers

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Indoor air can get especially dry in the winter months, especially with heating systems in full force. This three-speed recirculating humidifier makes it easy to maintain personal comfort levels in multiple rooms or large living areas up to 3200 square feet. Water continuously circulates through the unit, which not only keeps the filter moist for clean, long-lasting performance, but also for increased efficiency, using the entire filter surface for maximum, evaporative-moisture output. Continuous circulation also eliminates standing water, helps remove water contaminants, and won't re-circulate airborne particles. A fan blows across the moist filter, allowing water to evaporate and disperse throughout the room as cool, clean, invisible moisture, without white dust or over-humidification. The humidifier offers a 4-1/2-gallon water capacity and provides a 9-gallon output-capacity per day. Other details include an adjustable humidistat, a removable water reservoir with dual handles for easy filling, an on/off indicator light, a patented cascading waterfall that shows it's working, and smooth-rolling castors for mobility on any surface. One evaporative filter pad (THF 8) comes included. The UL-listed humidifier measures approximately 22 by 14 by 17 inches and carries a one-year limited warranty.

Product Description

Lasko 1128 high performancer recirculationg humidifier with 9 gallon per day output is ideal for multiple rooms. Holds 4-1/2-gallon. Features 3 comfort control settings with on/off indicator light and continuous water circulation. Castors for mobility on any surface. One evaporative filter pad (THF 8) included.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

220 of 223 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Effective; Economical; Some routine maintenance required., December 19, 2007

By 

Rusty (Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews

I have the predecessor that was black in color. It's 3 years old and still works great. Definitely evaporates lots of water into the air. The reservoir must be filled 2 to 3 times per day depending on how often your furnace comes on. It's somewhat of a chore but I get used to it. Keeping the household humidity at 60% or better surely makes lower thermostat settings tolerable so it's a money saver in that regard. The unit uses about 100 watts during its intermittent runs.

Mine is so accurate that it is almost perfectly synchronized to furnace operation. Furnace comes on and shortly thereafter the Lasko humidifier starts up. Furnace shuts off and shortly thereafter the humidifier shuts off. I presume the same accuracy is maintained in this newer white model.

These do use disposable paper filters. I use 2 per season. Cheapest source for the filters is direct from Lasko. I bought a box of 10 for $50 right after I bought the humidifier and I've got about 5 filters left. Even if you throw away about half of them, you'll save money compared to single filter prices at brick and mortar stores. The shipping was free at the time. Maybe it still is.

Humidifiers require periodic maintenance. These Lasko's are no exception. Each year, I sit the thing in the bathtub and fill it's reservoir with vinegar/water and let it run about 30 minutes. This dissolves or loosens the mineral deposits. After rinsing, I then fill it with a bleach/water solution and let it run about 30 minutes to kill mold spores and dormant bacteria.

That yearly demineralizing/disinfecting is somewhat of a chore but I only have to do it once. That's enough to get me through the entire heating season.

All humidifiers require some maintenance--even the ones connected directly to your furnace. I've read operator's manuals for most every one of the furnace mounted units and some of the maintenance procedures are complex and labor intensive compared to the little bathtub routine I've developed for this Lasko.

When I think I will install a furnace mounted unit I search the internet and read the reviews and realize why I put up with this Lasko cleaning routine. Many of those furnace mounted units require demineralizing and disinfecting just like the Lasko--except that I can put the Lasko in a bathtub and keep the mess contained. If I had to rinse and clean a furnace mounted unit, I'd have to use a wet/dry vac to sop up the spillage all over the basement floor, I'm sure. On top of that mess, it seems that furnace mounted units die at an early age due to mineral deposits that can't be controlled.

When the temperatures drop to about 15°F or below, our furnace runs a lot. The more the furnace runs the more the Lasko humidifier runs. I'm sure I have to fill the removeable reservoir 3 times a day or more. It seems to be sized so that a full reservoir lasts about 8 hours. That's enough to get a full night's sleep. Actually, the removeable reservoir holds about 8 hours worth. There's another several gallons in the base to supply the unit with water so you can easily stretch it to 12-14 hours between fillings. I do it all the time. It's just that if you stretch it to 12 hours or more, you'll have to fill the removable reservoir 1.5 times to completely "fill 'er up" again.

All in all, I don't think I could live without a humidifier. We feel warmer, the children cough less while sleeping, there's no static electric sparks when we touch objects or each other ... it's worth the hassle, I think.

This unit says it will do a 3200 square foot home. I guess that's so, but, it's quite nicely sized for homes smaller than that because it won't have to run on high to do the job. Buying the biggest humidifier means you can run the fan on low so it's as quiet as possible.

Once a year I also take it apart to clean the dust from the fan blades and the vortex shroud. This isn't absolutely necessary but it makes it look new again. About 6 or 8 screws removed lets the thing come almost entirely apart for cleaning.

So, a humidifier takes some work no matter what type you get. For a household humidifier, I like this Lasko but I've also got a wife and kids to share in the task of refilling it 3 times a day.

I'm a home handy man so I'll be able to replace the motor in this thing when it goes bad. I don't think it will cost much.

Lasko sells parts and that's what I truly love! Unlike other companies, Lasko actually has parts available and they sell them at reasonable prices.

We use Lasko ventilation fans year round as a sleep aide to produce "white noise." I've got a remote controlled fan that I've come to depend on. After about 4 years of daily night time use, I needed a motor for it last year and, sure enough, Lasko sold one to me and the cost was about 1/3rd that of a new fan.

For the home do-it-yourselfer types, Lasko is the only way to go because they sell parts. Other companies, like Holmes, don't stock any parts at all. Once the complete Holmes unit comes from Taiwan or Sri Lanka to your store's shelf, that's it--you can't get a part even if it was missing from the package before you bought it.

Lasko has a respectable warranty and they don't charge a fee. Holmes and other companies like them charge you a fee that they call "handling" just to get a warranty remedy. That "handling" fee is usually 2/3 or more the cost of a new fan. In other words, you have to pay to return the defective item to Holmes, you also have to pay that "handling fee", and then they might send you a replacement. Lasko doesn't do that. I think that they do require that you ship the item back to them at your cost.

This is a recirculating type of humidifier so it doesn't throw white dust all over everything. The other type of humidifier uses heat to evaporate water (like a distiller) and in the process, all of the minerals of the water become airborne grey-white dust. I don't like that idea. These recirculating types just trickle large quantities of water through a paper filter. The filter retains the minerals.

I remember as a kid, about 45 years ago, I used to sit on my grandmother's floor and enjoy the breeze from a "ottoman" style fan and it had the name "Lasko" on it. I used to think it had something to do with Alaska. I presume it's the same company--still making fans and things that circulate air.

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No recurring costs, January 28, 2009

By 

Johnny "BarJohn" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Our house is so well insulated that the furnace doesn't run often enough for a furnace-mounted humidifier to work well in our 255 s.f. house. As a result we've tried a number of different kinds of portable humidifiers.

The ultrasonics don't put out enough volume. Nor do the spray mist ones. The warm mist ones have a very high operating cost. For a couple of years we used a wick-and-fan humidifier that had plenty of capacity and ran quietly. The problem was that the wicking filters were expensive ($16 each) and rapidly lost their capacity: a filter that would wick 5 gallons a day was down to 1 gallon a day within two weeks. So even this solution cost us almost $1/day for filter replacements.

The Lasko Recirculating Humidifier seems to have solved this problem: instead of water being wicked up by the filter, the filter is wetted from the top by a little built-in aquarium pump - much in the way that furnace-mounted humidifiers work.

We've been using this humdifier for three weeks now. It is slightly noisier (even on its lowest setting) than our old one; but the noise is not objectionable, and the volume of water being put out has not decreased at all.

I can't speak for the longevity of the product, but its operating costs should be very low, and its technology is exactly what I've been looking for for years.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lasko 9 Gallon Humidifier, December 9, 2007

By 

T. Jarboe (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is my second one of these. The first one performed well but quit working after 3 years. It was inexpensive so I bought another one. I bought a cheaper model this time that didn't have the LED displays the first one had. This one just has a knob with no readout of setting or room humidity. The reason I did that was the LEDs on the first one quit working after about two years. I figured this simpler one would be less likely to fail - who knows?

I keep it in the master bathroom and fill it twice a day from the tub. It uses a lot of water - which is what I want it to do, but without the convenience of the adjacent tub it would be a pain - all these portable ones probably have this problem.

I keep it on the medium fan setting and it seems fairly loud for the first few days but now I'm used to it and I don't notice it coming on and off.

The area around the unit remains dry so it works well as an evaporative humidifier - which is what you want it to do. It puts moisture into the the air, not the floor. I keep it on a bath mat to catch the drops that result from the filling operation.

My bedroom ceiling and wall joints have quit coming apart in the wintertime like they did before I added this humidifier - so it does the job well.