Venta LW45 Original Humidifier Black - Filter-Free Evaporative Humidifier for Spaces up to 600 ft²

I've had the Venta LW25 for about 2.5 years now. It has been trouble free and works well humidifying the air and cleaning the air. You need to add the Venta water treatment, once every two weeks when you clean the unit. I simply "rinse" it out and use a paper towel or cloth to wipe it out. Once a season I use the Venta cleaner. It is a bit tough to remove mineral deposits, but otherwise it is very easy to fill, use, rinse. When you clean it after two weeks you can see the sludge in the bottom of the tank of debris it has pulled out of the air. For my house, which is forced hot air, a full tank usually lasts 40-48 hours unless it is extremely cold, then it lasts 24-36 hours. (other types noted below, even with larger tanks would be a max of 24 hours). We usually leave ours on the medium fan speed and it is a nice background noise. If it is really cold or if the unit ran out of water for a while, we use the high speed which still isn't too bad. I've used boiling water (dangerous & energy hog), cold air filter types (filters grow mold in a matter of weeks), and ultrasonic for years.I've been using various types of humidifiers for years (20-30 years) due to sinus and/or winter allergies. If I don't use a humidifier in winter, I also get bloody noses, which I haven't had since I've been using this unit, so that is a good sign that it is humidifying the air. I got tired of trying to clean the boiling water types and the energy bills. Looking at the cold air filter type, It can't be good to spread mold around the house and cleaning it was also troublesome and replacement filters are costly regardless of the brand. As for ultrasonic, they worked the best of the other three BUT they ruined several pieces of furniture and some wood flooring from their "white dust" mineral laden output. Granted the water in my area is mineral laden but I can't do much about that. I also found it to be a pain to clean it weekly, very tough to get into all the nooks in cranny's of the brands I've had. Of the three styles, I liked the Ultrasonic the most, but I can't live with the damage they have done. As for the Venta - it is much easier to refill, I use a pitcher, easier to clean than any of the other styles, and I have to fill it less often because the tank holds more water. Unlike other types, it automatically shuts off when it is out of water.YES it is more expensive than a lot of other humidifiers on the market, but in the end both my wife and I are very happy with the unit. Also, worth considering is there are no filters to replace, so if you do the calculations over a few seasons, the VENTA starts to look pretty competitive. You need to purchase the water treatment, which a bottle lasts most of the season, and the cleaner solution for use once or twice a season. For a season, these both cost less than one set of filters which typically last 2-4 weeks. The cold air filter type humidifiers are kinda like the Razor blade business, they often give a away or sell the handles cheaply, but they get you with the replacement heads (filters).All in all a great unit. Good size water tank for extended use, no filters to replace, comparably easy to clean. Obviously I'm a fan of the VENTA 25 units. I recently purchased the larger VENTA 45 for the living room!

This is the second Venta Airwasher I've purchased. I bought the LW25 earlier this year and the LW45 arrived today. Every good thing you've read in the overwhelmingly positive reviews of this humidifier/purifier is true. Every element of this device is superb and when I had a question on opening my LW45, the answering operator at the toll-free number easily guided me through the issue. Details, briefly, on my experiences with the two units:1. Securely packed. They know what they're doing in shipping at Venta.2. Quality components. When I read in reviews before purchasing my first unit things like "built like a tank", I was a bit surprised when it arrived and wasn't enormously heavy. "This is just a bunch of plastic parts," I thought. I know much better. Everything about this unit is sturdy and solid (without being bulky). Everything that needs to fit precisely ... fits precisely. Everything that needs a bit of operating space (like the rotating disk stacks) has exactly that amount of operating space. Simple operating instructions and minimalist buttons and lights. When I needed to open the upper housing on the bigger unit, there are two buttons to push on top of the unit. When you push them, the panels unfold with origami-like precision.3. So quiet I initially doubted it was actually running. The LW25 has 2 speeds and on the higher speed, you can barely hear it. The LW45, designed to purify and humidify an 800 square foot space, has 3 speeds and on the 3rd speed, you can hear it hum a little.4. Does what it's supposed to do. I live in Arizona and dryness and lack of humidity are an issue, along with a few allergy-intense periods (for me). I don't know how to quantify the ABSENCE of allergies and dryness in the air, but those things are absent. We also had some intense issues with pet odors. I had the LW25 in my home office and, after the pet-odor situation got so hit you walking into the house, I temporarily moved the LW25 to our central family room/kitchen area. This was the medium unit and our house is pretty wide open so I didn't know how much of a change to expect. Someone with a much more sensitive sense of smell than me told me after one day the difference in pet odor was substantial. After nearly five months with the first unit, I immediately ordered the LW45 for that large, open area.5. Maintenance is simple. Easy instructions, easy to wipe or sponge or squirt clean. Easy to add the water treatment additive every two weeks. Easy to fill. If you don't put water in and the tank empties, it stops running and a red light goes on.6. Customer service was great. No recorded message, no impersonal call center, no transferring around to tech support, or need to have anyone call me back. The operator was courteous, understood my problem (a red light went on when I first plugged in the unit). She quickly and carefully suggested I open the upper housing (and walked me through that), unplug the power adapter from the unit, replug it in, and try again. It worked immediately.