Air-O-Swiss AOS 7144 Ultrasonic Humidifier
by Air-O-Swiss
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Air-O-Swiss AOS 7144 Ultrasonic Humidifier
Customer Review: Great Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I did a lot of research prior to buying this humidifier. When looking at humidifiers, it seemed for every good review, there were 2 bad reviews. It made choosing one rather difficult. So finally I took the plunge and went with the AOS 7144 for our bedroom and I have to admit I was very please with this purchase.
Once I got it home and unpacked it, I realized that the demineralization cartridge needed to soak for at least 24 hours if I was going to be using tap water to fill the reservoir. I am a rather impatient person, so while the cartridge was soaking, I purchased distilled water to use until the soaking was complete.
Our apartment uses forced hot air, so in the winter, it gets very dry. I leave the humidifier running constantly in our bedroom on the automatic setting. This setting monitors the temperature and automatically adjusts the humidity level accordingly. The warm mist option is also a plus. Not only does it avoid dropping the temperature of a room from the cool mist, but heating the water prior to "vaporizing" it, kills any of the bacteria that may build up between cleanings.
As I stated, our apartment is very dry and I leave this running constantly. I need to fill it about 2 times a day. Sometimes three times if it is very cold and I am home during the day. But with the use of the demineralization cartridge, I do not have to worry about incurring the cost of purchasing enough distilled water to keep it running.
Another great feature is that it reminds you to clean it when it is time. A red indicator light will blink after about 2 week's time. The operation of the humidifier is not affected when this reminder comes on, so you don't need to worry about cleaning it as soon as it does.
Air-O-Swiss recommends using their EZ-Cal product and it really does make cleaning it much, much easier. I tried doing it the first time without using the EZ-Cal and it took a look more elbow grease to accomplish what 30 minutes of soaking with the EZ-Cal can. But all in all, the cleaning process was rather easy.
As for the other consumables that this uses, the demineralization cartridge lasted about a month and a half for me. You can tell when it needs to be replaced, because you will see a fine white dust starting to build up. The silver stick will last about a year per the instructions.
The unit does look pretty neat compared to the other humidifiers on the market. It has a rather small footprint and for the most part it is rather quiet. I do have this in our bedroom and it has not impacted our sleep at all.
I have owned this for about 2 months now and I am extremely satisfied. I am so satisfied that I purchased a second Air-O-Swiss product, AOS 7142, for the main living areas of our apartment.
Customer Review: A Better Humidifier
Summary: 5 Stars
This unit is much better than the evaporative type. I owned an evaporator for 2 years but it had problems with mold in the wicks and filter. Air-O-Swiss uses ionization, not evaporization, to put mist in your air. Ionization is faster and more efficient. It doesn't require a fan to do it's work, as all evaporitive types do, so it is quiet. For compairison, see the Essick Air 336-500 3-Speed Tabletop Evaporative Humidifier, this is an evaporitive type that I owned before buying the Air-O-Swiss.
The Air-O-Swiss is easier to clean, more efficient and it looks pretty cool too! It seems that most air cleaner/humidifier makers don't care much about how the product looks in a room, but this one is sleek and subtle, blending well with my modern taste (I hate taupe/beige appliances, but that's me). Whatever it looks like, it needs to be effective, as this unit is. The higher price seems justified by the very useful controls (which are completely absent in cheaper models), the superior design and efficiency.
The unit has many settings and digital controls that allow timed use, heated or cool mist, and humidity control. It flashes a symbol to let me know when to fill more water. No need to keep logbooks about cleaning, a different flashing signal tells me whenever I need to do the simple descaling. It's easy to loose track of cleanings without this feature (who has time to keep notes on such a thing?).
All humidifiers need some cleaning and filter replacement. The Air-O-Swiss replacement filters (for cleaning the water, replace about 4 times a year), the silver stick (needs replacement rarely, maybe once a year or less) and descaling packets for cleaning the tank (cheap and must be used once every week or two). The costs for all of these are reasonable, perhaps somewhat lower that the costs of the extra things needed for other units I have owned/checked out.
Do not neglect the replacement/cleaning processes. This unit, or any other brand, will begin to fail quickly if you do not keep up the maintenance. This is true with any humidifier, but the Air-O-Swiss manages to make these steps easy and relatively hassle-free.
I would never go back to the evaporative type, the filters for them are much more expensive, they seem to mold no matter how carefully maintained (a big problem for sensitive people) and they use more electricity than the Air-O-Swiss. The Air-O-Swiss costs more to start, but consider having to buy the other, cheaper type, 2 years worth of replacement wicks, filters and descalers, then scrapping it all to buy this one anyway. This one is a pleasure to use and own. My advice is to consider my experience and buy the more expensive, but much better, Air-O-Swiss.
Customer Review: Breathe a Little Easier!
Summary: 4 Stars
I am writing this review after reading the other reviews prior to purchasing this Air O Swiss humidifier. I think it is important to start by mentioning that I have had 3 other humidifiers in the past 5 years, so I know a little (maybe a lot!) about them. The reason I was on the market for a humidifier is because the one I have had for the past two years is such a pain to clean (requires cleaning every couple of days to prevent from spreading bacteria, mold, allergens, etc.) and my 9 week old son caught his first cold. Considering that the humidifier I would be purchasing was going to be in my infant's room, I wanted to be sure to purchase one that wouldn't create additional respiratory problems as a result of releasing bacteria, mold, allergens, etc, back into the air. This requires buying one that has a built-in anti-microbial system. This also greatly reduces the cleaning requirements. Although the price was about $200, I am very pleased with this unit. I use it in my son's room and have no problem maintaining a humidity of 50% regardless of outside temperature. Running it at 50% humidity from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM requires about half the tank of water. As for the noise level, it is as quiet as humidifiers get. In fact, I have "supersonic" hearing and the very quiet noise doesn't bother me even if I am right next to it. It isn't even as lound as my computer fan. Every once in a while you hear the air bubbles pass through the tank and those are a tad bit louder, but all humidifiers produce this same noise. The white dust that some people have complained of has not been an issue for us. We use tap water in the humidifier, but we do have a water softening system. Even with the added salt in our water, we have not seen much in the way of white dust. The only dust after 1 week of using for 12 hours at night is the standard layer of house dust that furniture collects. Although I am happy with this purchase, there are two things that could be improved with the unit: (1) They should have added a cap on the top of the tank that allows you to add water. Instead, you must remove the tank from the unit and refill in the tub or kitchen sink. When you lift the tank from the unit, there is some water that drips at first, so I recommend holding it above the unit for a few seconds to let the water drip off into the unit. (2) The buttons on the front of the unit each have a graphic icon. It is difficult to know what the icons mean without referring to the manual. Eventually, you will remember, but it has been a couple of weeks since I purchased this and I still can't remember what each button does. All in all, I do recommend this product. It functions well, looks modern, and is quiet.Customer Review: Noxious Odors and Terrible Customer Support
Summary: 1 Stars
We recently purchased the Air-O-Swiss AOS-7144. On the first night of using it there was a highly noxious and metallic smell. We kept running the machine for 24 hours to see if that would remove the smell and it did not. After reading further about ionic tools we found this is common. While many of the articles referencing problems with ionic machines reference the problem to air cleaners, the described symptoms are the same. Additionally of concern, this ionic process apparently also creates additional ozone which can be damaging to lungs.
Once we discovered these problems we attempted to return the product. Because it was a third party seller Amazon would not initially refund the product and referred us to the seller. After going to the seller's website they indicated they would not provide a refund unless we first contacted customer service. We tried for a couple of days and waited on the phone for up to an hour with a voice mail saying an agent would be right with us (apparently when they are closed their voicemail does not indicate this and simply lets you wait on the line). Finally, we reached a customer support person who said they would not refund us the money because we purchased the product through Amazon. It took several attempts to get the customer service person to provide this policy in writing (she repeatedly said she could not do so and refused to let me talk to a supervisor until she realized I wasn't going away until she did so). Finally, I talked with a supervisor (Desree) who said they would provide the policy in writing after consulting and going through the corporate office (will wait and see). I re-contacted Amazon who said they would take steps to try and help us collect the money but would not specify they would reimburse. Additionally, Amazon stated they would not help with the refund for another five days from the date of this review because it was still within the expected day of delivery for the product (even though we have had the product for over a week).
Hopefully, this details out about a potentially dangerous and certainly noxious smeling product which has extremely bad customer support from both the seller and Amazon.
Customer Review: High volume, nice controls and display, good capacity
Summary: 4 Stars
We bought three humidifiers: this unit (the Air-O-Swiss AOS-7144), a Crane Adorable 1 Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier, Penguin Shape, and a Crane Drop Shape Cool Mist Humidifier. (The Crane units are in smallish bedrooms, the Air-O-Swiss in a fairly large master bedroom.) The Air-O-Swiss is fairly quiet; not as quiet as the Crane Drop Shape, but quieter than the Penguin. (You'd think the Penguin would be exactly the same, since they must share the same internals, and most of the same externals except the exhaust -- cone vs. beak ;] -- but the Penguin is much noisier, and the filter takes up more volume.) The Air-O-Swiss performs well, directing huge volumes of moist air strongly upward, where it has the best chance to evaporate.
The Air-O-Swiss AOS-7144 can put out a huge volume of moist air -- in fact, too much to evaporate, at least in the climate at this time of year. It has several controls and a digital readout, which is kind of nice, and it has a larger capacity so it is better suited for a larger room. And it lasts a couple of nights, from about 7 pm to 7 am.
By comparison, the Crane units each have a 1-gallon capacity. They will last overnight, turning it on about 6 pm and off about 7 am. But you should expect to refill them every day.
We have only used them for a week, but have no white dust. We use tap water, but it must be soft enough, especially with the demineralization units, to avoid this common byproduct of humidifiers.
The one downside to the Air-O-Swiss is that it seems to produce an odor. Not strong, and you get used to it quickly, but there is _something_ there... Maybe it will go away after more cycles...
Bottom line: I'd strongly recommend the Crane Drop Shape for smaller rooms and the Air-O-Swiss for larger rooms.