PureGuardian Ultrasonic Humidifier

Oh the memories. I picket up one of these off woot in Oct. 2011. It’s still running in the living room. Make sure you clean the base regularly or else it gets nasty.

Over 100 solid reviews (3.3 out of 5.0) over at amazon

Those reviews are for the H4500 144 hour unit, not the R4500 120 hour unit. Would say the R is for the Refurbished but not sure given the difference in runtime. I’d like to get one but I will probably pass with the comments and complaints about white film and cleaning problems.

Quite a few comments from when this was offered back in October

I got one of these last time, and in general I’m pretty happy with it. The only thing I actually wish was different is that it would be nice if it could be refilled without removing the tank, flipping it over, unscrewing the seal, and then filling the tank. It’s more hassle than I was hoping for, though not as bad as some I’ve used. I’m considering cutting a big hole in the top of the tank, though, and getting a cork for it, so I can fill it without lifting the tank off the base unit. (It also, predictably, makes the occasional glug noise as the water moves from the upper tank to the base. Unavoidable, I suppose. Even on high, though, it’s not very noisy; not silent, but not noisy enough to disturb my sleep.)

Couple helpful hints, though:

  1. Bring the water to the tank. Filling it at the sink or tub and then trying to carry it back to the base is awkward, and can make a mess.

  2. The feature that prevents the water from going funky works well, but not perfectly – if you let the tank run “dry,” there’s still a bit of water left in it, and if that sits for more than a week or so, it’ll get funky and you’ll have to wash the tank. Not a big deal, just something to keep in mind.

  3. Even turned up to maximum, “warm” doesn’t produce particularly warm steam; it’s warm as it’s created, but the water droplets are so fine that they cool very quickly. The instructions warn against it, but I can put my face right in front of the steam output and inhale the vapor directly into nose or lungs if I’m sick without the slightest chance of a steam burn. (So if you really were looking for one that will produce actually WARM steam, this might not be the one you want.)

  4. You’re not supposed to add anything to the water, of course, but I have put some essential oil on a cotton ball and tucked it inside the top of the output vent, with excellent results. Mint/eucalyptus/camphor/whatever, carried on the emerging steam, with no damage to the unit. (The output vent is two-tiered, and actually seems designed for exactly this purpose, but that isn’t mentioned anywhere in the documentation.)

  5. Maximum output is pretty energetic, and will dump a lot of moisture into the air very quickly. Fine as the mist is, though, since it cools so quickly, it tends to fall rather than rise, so anything directly in the path is gonna get a bit wet. When I’m sick, I put a towel over the pillow and point the thing right at my face. Works like a charm. Adding a small fan to the equation would probably help distribute the moisture through the air a bit faster, but so far I haven’t bothered.

Overall, I recommend it. :slight_smile:

I have one of these. Most humidifyers don’t moisten the air enough to really help. This really does tge trick. Love it. As for previous comment about cleaning…all of these things need to be cleaned often. Only problem is that this one gives off so much mist that you need to clean the water marks off the floor. I just keep a towel in front. Love this machine.

Beware of using tap water I guess…or if you do make sure you DE-calcify it from time to time.
I didn’t read the instructions close enough I guess and used it over and over and then one day noticed it wasn’t putting out a noticeable amount of humidity anymore.

I have tried cleaning it and soaking it with vinegar solution as recommended but its not working :frowning:

Its a great unit…but take care of it.

Love the idea about adding essential oils.
Tempted to buy another but funds don’t allow currently.

Try CLR or Lime-away, then clean well before using. Should decalcify it.

Bought one of these last year. Despite following the instructions on operations and cleaning, 2-3 months after getting it, the motor stopped working, started to smell like it was burning up. To late to return to Woot, and Pureguardian themselves wouldn’t help to fix or replace the item.
Read reviews on this one, the motor stops working after a few months

I bought 3 last year, only one still works. For some reason the other 2 started leaking and not spraying most correctly. I tried cleaning them, but they still don’t work. Don’t waste your money on these

USE “CLR” to clean it up… willclean out that lime residue for ya…

Went through about three different humidifiers before ending up with this exact model–love it. Virtually silent (NOT the case with other models), lots of vapor, decent-sized tank, easy to clean. I’ve done the testing for everyone, and this was the winner.

Very happy with one of these running in the bedroom. Only complaint is that the indicator lights are BRIGHT and light up the room. Even without the “nightlight” feature enabled.

We’ve had one of these for 2 or 3 years. It’s very quiet. I’ve never cleaned it once and checked it out just two days ago and noticed it’s just starting to get a little gross - not bad though!

We’ve just used tap water from the tub faucet all along as it’s easiest to fill that way. I’ve had no problem flipping it over and carrying it back and forth aside from a few small water drops each time.

The “warm” setting doesn’t really create warm steam yet it is enough so that it can warm the room by a few degrees over the course of a night.

At the steamiest setting this thing is like a fog machine and will soak the floor and cover the room in dew in short time… we usually use it with the knob about a third or fourth of the way up and it puts out decent vapor without soaking the floor.

My only gripe is that indicator lights really light up the front ring as well and this thing is like a soft nightlight even without the nightlight button pushed in. We mainly use it in one of the kid’s rooms but I think any amount that the light is keeping them up, the vapor is soothing them so it works out.

One great feature is that the vapor can be directed in any direction or any two directions at once. I like to face the lights to a wall to keep the room as dim as possible and point the vapor back.

Purchased a refurb for 15 bucks and it leaked but Pure sent me a replacement with no hassles!!! the one they sent is still working like a champ.

I had the same experience. Purchased and hardly used the item. Finally started using it this past winter and it ran for about a month or two and now the motor runs, but no output through either hot or cold steam. Very frustrating as it was supposedly a $200 humidifier. I guess products really aren’t built like they used to be…

I’ve owned three of these units now. Two new and one refurb. The first new one burned out and fizzled as described above inside 2 weeks. The other two units have been as advertized, although there is significant variation between the refurb and new unit in terms of output/noise/etc. It’s quite surprising.

I would echo one of the points made above: this is primarily for cold mist and only for occasional warm mist. Do NOT buy this if you plan to use for warm mist for more than an hour or so every week (not kidding). I believe my first unit burned out because of that.

I love this machine for bigger rooms/small apartments. For small rooms/offices, I recommend the Sunpentown 4010 which is just as good but smaller in every way. That one has a water filter that makes it require much less cleaning, but it’s just not big enough for big rooms/apts/houses.

I bought this previously on Woot. Use it everyday and it still works. As said above, it is very bright at night, even without the “nightlight” feature on. We cover up the bright blue LEDs to make it bearable.

One thing that disappointed me is that it doesn’t have a humidity sensor. I’ve bought cheaper Holmes humidifiers that will stop when humidity in the room reaches a certain level, so I assumed this $100+ MSRP humidifier would work the same. It doesn’t. The “humidity” dial controls the mist intensity, but the mist never stops.

How hard is it to clean all the pieces. I had one for my kids that was a PITA to clean, lots of curves and nooks and crannies you couldn’t really get to.