Air-O-Swiss 32838 Ultrasonic Humidifier
by Air-O-Swiss
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Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Air-O-Swiss 32838 Ultrasonic Humidifier
Customer Review: HORRIBLE Customer Service & a JUNK product. Perfect!!
Summary: 1 Stars
WHEN it works it is OK. It has all of the defects described by the other reviewers. But they make up for the defects with rotten customer service. I bought this unit on January 31 07. Used it until the end of March, at which time I cleaned it and replaced all of the consumables per the instructions. I put it back in service two weeks ago. Six days ago it stopped working. I called their customer service. They use an out-sourced customer service group that will NOT talk to you, but rather, insists on taking your number and calling you back in the evening. Of course, they called back when I was out and left a message that they would call the following evening. They did not. I called back the next day and went through the same thing. That evening, since thay had not called by 8:30, I called them. This time, they insisted that I go through some trouble-shooting (all of which I had done previously). They then told me to leave it unplugged for a 1/2 hour (by which time they would be gone) and then "reset" the unit by pressing a button combination. I did this. The next day I called them again and got the same "wait until tonight" pitch. I insisted on an RMA number, which I received. HOWEVER, before they will tell you where to ship the unit, you need to FAX them a proof-of-purchase (their email address bounces back). The you have to wait for them to call. It is now 6:30PM on a Friday night and no call. So I called them and got their voice mail, where I was instructed to leave a message. So It will not get shipped to them this week. Next week I am traveling, so it won't get shipped until the following week, which means that they will not get it until after Christmas, which means it will be mid-January before I get a repaired unit. These people are total idiots. For a $200 humidifier, I would expect some sort of real customer assistance. Be warned before you buy.
UPDATE: Well, a month after I sent the defective unit in, I received a TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND MUCH CHEAPER UNIT in return. I am now on my THIRD phone call with these idiots and have yet to talk to someone who can resolve this problem. The right person is "not in the office" and will "call me back." HAH!! They NEVER call back. I wish I had never heard of these people.
Customer Review: Great Customer Service!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm reading a lot of negative comments about Air-O-Swiss' customer service, and I wonder where they are coming from. Most of them look a year old. I had a great experience with their customer service, it was notably un-painful. About a week after I had bought the unit, I could not unscrew the cap of the water tank. The manual says to press the spring at the bottom of the cap to release water pressure. I did, but unfortunately I think I pressed to hard, and I pushed the pin trough the cap into the filter. I call up AOS later that day, expecting to argue for hours that I just did what the manual told me and I wasn't liable. To my surprise, I picked up the phone and dialed, and a nice sounding american lady picks up. I tell her what happened, and she simply asks for my address. She says were sending you a new cap, and it will be there in a few days. Whatya know, three days later it arrived on my doorstep in a handwritten package. No arguing, no proof of purchase, nothing.
As for the unit itself, it is really good looking. It was the only humidifier that didn't look like a bag of hurt at bed bath & beyond. I am using the humidifier in my basement bedroom, which receives the extremes of the humidity spectrum. During the summer I have a de-humidifier, and the heat is so dry down there I need a humidifier during the winter. The sound the unit makes is most closely related to a laptop's fan, with the occasional bubble of water (3d screensaver?). I keep it next to my bed with no problems. The room is about 400SQ feet, well within the specified range of this humidifier. However, I have had the unit running for about 48 hours now, and have only seen the humidity rise from 25% to 29% on the unit. I would complain that the humidifier isn't even doing its job, but the room is noticeably more humid. Wether it just isn't accurate or a 4% jump in humidity is really that noticeable, I'm pretty satisfied so far. I will update this if it actually gets any higher.
Customer Review: It makes rooms humid!
Summary: 4 Stars
Despite the mixed reviews for this product, I went and got one. I had also bought a Slant/Fin GF-211D a couple weeks earlier. Since I only wanted to keep one, I ran a few of my own tests.
I set up the humidifiers in different rooms of approx. the same size on the same floor. Both were set to max humidity on HI. Several hours later I came back. The first test was inconclusive, although, it seemed the Air-O-Swiss room was slightly more humid. What made the test difficult was that the warm mist on the Air-O-Swiss was not nearly as warm as on the Slant/Fin (which only uses warm mist). So I switched rooms and ran the test again. This time when I came back, the Air-O-Swiss room was like a SWAMP! It was seriously humid in there! The Slant/Fin room, however, felt about the same as before. As a result, I kept the Air-O-Swiss.
Some people have complained about white dust. At my parents' house (which has slightly harder water) the white dust was very slight and took several days to even notice. At my apartment (which has softer water) their is no white dust at all. So, if you have hard water that might be an issue, but there are other options such as using distilled water.
As mentioned above, the warm mist is not that warm. It's warmer than the cool mist, but don't expect it to make your room any warmer.
The relatively low maintenance is also a plus. The Slant/Fin needed cleaning every few days, but the Air-O-Swiss can go for a few weeks and even then it doesn't seem that unclean.
Overall I think this is a great humidifier. It humidifies over 800 sq ft (according to the manual) and seems to cover my two-bedroom apartment just fine. In terms of helping asthma/sinuses, the Slant/Fin might be better, but in terms of pure humidity, the Air-O-Swiss is the best!
Customer Review: Beautiful design but the built in humidity detector has major flaw
Summary: 3 Stars
I just got this beautiful designed humidifier and was hoping to retired my older version of the air-o-swiss 7135 (the one with blue see through tank)and I was very disappointed how the newer version I just got. I set it 45% humidity and set it in my living room. the humidity detector just can't accurately detect how humid it is in the room and keep pumping the mist. At first I thought maybe it's the size of my living room so i left it on then went do some grocery shopping. When I get back home, the moment I opened the front door I sense the humidity is high in the room (I guess the unit just keeps pumping the mist) and I went to check the "current humidity" it still says 32 ~ 40 and never can reach 45% as I wanted. but then I put the older version (the one with blue tank) at the same place, it humidified the room quickly up to 45% and the mist stopped and when the humidity dropped below 45% then it start pumping the mist.
Yes the newer version has more beautiful and modern design and look to it but if you have to pay almost $100 more for the newer version and the humidity detector is not working as well as the older one (with blue tank), then what's the point? the whole point of paying for a more expensive humidifer is that it will automatically detect the room's humidity and maintaine the desired humidity level.
So I am gonna return this unit, and get another older verion with the blue tank # 7135.
As other reviewers mentioned about the leak at the bottom, white dust, I didn't experience any of it. I love how it looks, and definitly can humidify the room to a higher level of humidity but was very unhappy how they just slap in a cheap & not accurate humidity detector in. some engineer from Air-O-Swiss who designed this unit should be fired!
Customer Review: An unemotional, engineer's PRODUCT review
Summary: 4 Stars
A very good humidifier, but with a couple of flaws. Very quiet, pumps out lots of warm mist at close to the 3.5 gal/day quoted rate. As such, the tank needs to be filled 2x daily if used full bore in a larger room. As with any ultrasonic humidifier that I've used, filling the tank can be cumbersome and, as some have pointed out, this tank has no flat surface to rest it on, making it unstable. But ignore comments about leaking, placement, etc. because they have NOTHING to do with the model, but more the style of humidifier (ultrasonic). Flaws: more white dust than usual with hard water because the filter has a design flaw. The washer seal on the tank plunger is supposed to double as a filter "anti-bypass" seal, but allows water to bypass the filter (it's undersized). Also, the humidity controller "hunts" on and off when the setpoint is reached, rapidly turning the mist on and off - very annoying in the middle of the night. (For you engineers, there is no "hysteresis" in the control loop.) To avoid this, you need to raise the humidity setpoint higher than desired and lower the fan speed to keep the room level fairly constant, essentially turning the humidifier into a manual control model. (So why spend $200 for the fancy controls?) All in all, it pumps out humidity, it's easy to clean, it's very quiet, it's relatively easy to fill, the humidity is nice and warm (and doesn't freeze out the room), my throat no longer croaks in the morning, and my eyes aren't fused shut. BTW, we live in bone dry Colorado with forced hot air, and the unit is in a ~600 sq. ft BR with a 15' ceiling and adjoining master bath. It does the job nicely if run constantly. I would imagine that the reports about hard water being a big problem are right on. Still, for us: 4 stars.