AIRCARE 696 400HB Digital Whole-House Console-Style Evaporative Humidifier, Light Oak
$189.99
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Product description
5. 6-gal. water capacity Up to 3600 sq. ft. ^Up to 11. 45-gal. daily output^9-speed motor with analog controls and digital display Adjustable humidistat and automatic shutoff
13 reviews for AIRCARE 696 400HB Digital Whole-House Console-Style Evaporative Humidifier, Light Oak
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$189.99
JP –
Works exactly as expected
I had this exact humidifier or at least an earlier version of it 15 years ago but sold it when I relocated. New house is a large 2 story but this winter the air inside is jsut to dry. SO I jumped all over this when I saw the same model as it served my previous house quite well. I am not disappointed. Same quality product and service. If you have an issue email, contact them through Amazon or call them they will handle it. My unit has worked perfectly. Another review complained one side is not draining well it empties the right side first so you can basically use the left as a back up and refill one every day. I put the unit upstairs near both air returns for the HVAC equipment and it is moving humidity throughout the whole house. It is a Large Unit for a whole home and if you run it full blast it moves a lot of air and it will be loud. But that is what you need to move air and humidity around the whole home. I bought the add on filter directly from their website and it attaches easily on the rear of the unit for even better functionality.
Julie A Greene –
Works great!
This is really improving the humidity in our house. Had minor challenge getting the float settled into its upper housing, I finally figured I needed to temporarily remove the right side tank and manipulate the float into position, but that did the trick. Once the tank was replaced, it started working. Yes, it is noisy. But it works well. You should buy extra filters, you will need to check them, I check every few weeks, to see if the filter is clogged by minerals in our water. When I see mineral buildup clogging the lower half of the filter, I replace it.
Tech Editor –
It does Humidify the air, BUT ………there are problems.
I have installed the unit exactly level per a carpenter’s level yet the left reservoir still drains down first contrary to their manual. If you remove the left reservoir, the unit still functions on the right reservoir. Unit short cycles constantly. It is 4 inches from the wall but the humidistat sensor cycles the unit for only a couple of minutes at a time because the Delta is -3%/+1%. It takes no time to raise the humidity at the rear sensor by 3%. As others have said anything other than fan level 1 is too loud. A rheostat would have been better than this electronic dial control. But that would have cost money to put a proper fan speed control on it. Filling the reservoirs is interesting because they are so tall. I fill the reservoirs in the bathroom tub with a funnel and a jug but then I found the bottom cap valve is very prone to cross threading. Then the cap leaks as you carry it to the humidifier.One final thing, I asked Aircare what the Delta of their humidistat was supposed to be, and their answer was the humidity adjustment is 5%. They don’t even know what the Delta of their humidifier is or they don’t understand what a Delta is! Now they refuse to speak to me. Great customer service Aircare!
mary rae –
Beware – poor redesign – they had a great product and decided to ruin it
Poor redesign. This was an EXCELLENT product until they decided to redesign it. The old system worked perfectly – as the bottles emptied they triggered a spring loaded switch. The right side bottle would always empty first and a light would tell you when it was empty. If you decided to ignore that light then the left side bottle would empty – then two lights would be on and the fan would stop. EXCELLENT. No problem. Always worked.The new design is vastly inferior. It uses a float that is supposed to turn the machine off, BUT, only when both bottles are empty. When the first bottle is empty you get no indication. Even if if worked this vastly inferior design doesn’t tell you when the first bottle is empty – it only shuts the fan off when both bottles are empty and then it shuts down and gives you a warning light.Even better – the float sticks and the machine just keeps running even when it is 100% dry. It never shuts down.Even more better – the warning symbol doesn’t illuminate so you have absolutely no idea that the machine is bone dry.Thanks for fixing something that wasn’t broke.
Barbara Raymond –
Easy fill and pretty to look at.
Love this humidifier! Easy to fill and it keeps the perfect humidity in my home. It is very pretty unlike the last one we had. You can place it anywhere in your home it looks like a console.
Patrycja –
Good fix for a big old house
We live in a 3100 SF rowhouse from the late 1800s and have some outside air infiltration that is typical for this type of house. The console cycles on and off pretty regularly as a result. It is a little loud, so we shifted it away from the family room. It is simple but seems well made and has very clear instructions. The plastic shell looks better against our hardwood floors than we expected from the pictures on Amazon. Another reviewer complained of a leak, but the plastic case is fully enclosed and reasonably thick, so I assume he/she must not have had the humidifier on a level surface or didn’t put the water tank cap on straight. So far so good. Our places feel a lot more comfortable. We are happy to see it’s made in the U.S. too, and the packaging doesn’t include a bunch of styrofoam.
Kevin Cox –
Not whole house
This is cheap junk. It struggles to move the humidity in a 400 square foot room, even on high. I have humidity monitors in every room. It most definitely is not “whole house.” The fan noise is unbearable above 1. I bought this because I thought with 9 settings, there would be more nuance to the fan, both noise wise and with the efficiency. Wrong. Also, I found out that most of the good reviews, on any site, are bought and paid for. The first one I received had a broken fan box. They sent a new one immediately. Good customer service. However, this is still cheap imported crap. Absolutely not even worth half the price. It is going back.
happy consumer –
It really works. Increased the humidity from 26 to 40
it worked fine. I put it on the first floor and it increased the humidity from 26 to 40 and upstairs to 36 on the lowest setting. I measured it on the Airthings air quality monitors
CT –
Fed up of the Canadian winters drying out my house to 17% RH I bought 5 different humidifiers – the normal room type ones. All were great. But my main floor is approx 1000 sq ft so wanted a bigger one and thought this would blend well with the 1880s cottage style – I was wrong. Whilst they have clearly rectified the reviews saying that the top wasn’t painted or stained they have instead decided to go with the cheapest plastic known to man kind and the wood effect is SO bad its laughable. It looks dreadful. If you don’t care about your house that much or have random taste you won’t care – although I doubt you are buying a $500 humidifier and in that case – go for it because one things for sure – it did bring up my humidity from around 30% (after a week of the other humidifiers on full time) to 52% in two overnight sessions. So. PROS: It works very well. CONS: It looks like a piece of S and is louder than a V8
Maestra –
I bought this because one of the reviews said “easy to fill”. It’s not. The 2 water bottles are the full height of the console. And they have a VERY small opening through which to fill it. A hose would be ideal but I don’t have access to one in the winter when I need the humidifier. It’s too tall to fit under my kitchen sink tap so I used a funnel and my shower head to fill it slowly. Halfway through the first bottle, I decided there was no way I was going to do this daily so I returned the unit. Too bad, it looked great in my home. What a shame they don’t fill from the top with a larger opening.
Francine p. –
un peu bruyant et part et arrête très souvent…
BLC –
I’ve had this humidifier for many years. Easy to use Easy to clean does my entire main floor over 600 square feet.
Tina –
Super bonne gualitétina