A humidifier isn’t always just a small teardrop-shaped unit that you put on your desk to help you breathe through the workday. It can be a large model that’s designed to add humidity to your whole home, but they also don’t need to look like appliances.
That’s where AirCare humidifiers come in. Of course, Essick Air doesn’t make just a single kind of humidifier, though. So choosing the best AirCare humidifier comes down to a few deciding factors, but mostly it’s a subjective choice.
You have to choose which of the features are important to you. It’s also important to know why AirCare is the right brand for you, and for those answers and more, just keep reading.
You’ll learn about AirCare, the different humidifiers the company offers, and the features you might not expect from a humidifier. Don’t skip out on the best AirCare humidifier reviews where you’ll be able to get some helpful feedback from customers who had a lot to say on the pros and cons of each product.
Best AirCare Humidifier Comparisons
Why Choose Essick Air AirCare Products?
Essick Air is the umbrella company that runs AirCare. The parent company was founded in 1939, so it has a lot of experience behind its name and products. The business focuses on a variety of heating and cooling products, including air conditioners, humidifiers, hygrometers (those that measure humidity), and more.
With all the technology, research, and development behind the Essick Air name, the company could’ve continued creating its usual products, but it introduced AirCare, a line of humidifiers that are not only effective but also attractive. After all, if you’re going to have a large humidifier sitting in your house for everyone to see, you want it to look good. No one wants a big box that resembles an ice chest sitting in their living room or hallway.
What’s the Difference Between the Various AirCare Humidifiers?
AirCare differs from other humidifiers on the market in that the outside design is just as important as the design inside. Not every humidifier resembles a piece of furniture, but they all come with the innovative inner workings you’d expect from a parent company that understands heating, cooling, and the effect humidity has on the air you breathe.
The various AirCare humidifiers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and technologies. Here’s what you can expect from an AirCare humidifier.
Ultrasonic
Unlike many other manufacturers of humidifiers, AirCare does not focus on ultrasonic technology. An ultrasonic humidifier uses high-frequency sound vibrations against a small metal plate, which causes water molecules to break apart into a fine mist, which is the visible vapor you see emitted from the unit. You can find a handful of units that use ultrasonic technology from AirCare.
The benefit of ultrasonic humidifiers is that they require no filters. They’re also much quieter than other types of humidifiers. However, you may notice a fine white dust that collects on all your belongings after using one of these units. That dust, while not harmful, could be annoying. It’s just the minerals found in your water. Some people prefer to use filtered or distilled water to prevent having to clean up that dust.
Evaporative
This is the category that AirCare focuses its efforts on. Most of AirCare’s humidifiers are made with evaporative technology, and that may have something to do with Essick Air’s focus on evaporative cooling units. Evaporation is an effective method of creating humidity. A wick or filter soaks up the water you put into a tank, and then a fan blows on it. This creates natural humidity through evaporation. Because these units require a wick, it also acts as a filter, so you shouldn’t notice any particles in the air or your belongings. In fact, you won’t see the vapor created, either.
An evaporative humidifier may seem as though it requires more maintenance, as the wick or filter will need to be replaced from time to time. But you won’t need to use demineralization cartridges and there’s no white dust to clean up. Evaporative humidifiers may be less expensive, but they also could be a bit louder because of the fan.
Warm Mist
Traditionally, a warm mist humidifier would also be called a vaporizer. As high-tech and sci-fi as that sounds, it really just refers to the vapor that’s created and its typical method of boiling water to create steam. In the case of the warm mist humidifiers made by AirCare, it’s actually just ultrasonic technology to create vapor. You’ll have the option for a warm mist.
The vapor created when you choose the warm mist option isn’t actually hot the way it is with a vaporizer. It’s probably going to be room temperature, at best. It can be preferable when you use a humidifier during the winter, as it can contribute to a slight temperature change in the room. Largely, though, it makes little difference.
What’s Missing?
AirCare does not focus on the traditional vaporizer or impeller humidifiers. The traditional vaporizer that requires water to boil to create steam isn’t found in this line of humidifiers at all. Neither can you find an impeller humidifier, in which water is flung through a diffuser to create humidity.
You also won’t find many mini humidifiers meant for personal use. AirCare puts its focus on changing the air in whole rooms or houses for the health of everyone in your household. So, AirCare’s humidifiers are mostly bigger in size, and slightly more expensive.
Top 5 AirCare Humidifier Reviews
AirCare MA0800 Evaporative Humidifier
When it comes to whole-house humidifiers, like the AirCare MA0800 evaporative humidifier (from Amazon), results may vary. It’s a medium-sized unit that’s meant to put moisture back into the air you breathe for your whole house. The company claims it can add humidity to a 3,600-square-foot space, but not everyone has the same luck with it. It could work well in your 400-square-foot space, or it could pump out enough moisture for your 1,800-square-foot home.
Not only does this humidifier effectively raise the humidity in your home, it’s able to adjust to the humidity in your home, thanks to its built-in humidistat. There’s no need for you to guess when it’s time to refill the tank, as there’s a light to indicate when the humidifier is running low. Plus, there’s a light to indicate when it’s time to change the filter. You should be able to run this humidifier for up to 36 hours before having to refill it, so it’s easy to maintain. There are casters on the bottom of the humidifier, which makes it easy to roll this from one room to another. Although this isn’t one of the most decorative humidifiers, it is effective. Also, you might have to deal with a noisy fan when it cranks up to medium or high-speed levels.
If you don’t care about how a console evaporative humidifier looks, then this could be a good choice for adding moisture to your whole house.
Pros
- Effective humidity
- Includes humidistat
- Automatically adjusts
- Indicators for refill, filters
- Large tank size
- Casters
Cons
- Not attractive
- Noisy at higher speeds
Aircare Humidifier 696 400HB
With nine speeds, this AirCare evaporative humidifier (from Amazon) is meant to provide you with just the right amount of humidity for your whole house. It comes in a credenza-style cabinet with two tones of oak color. You can set the speed of the fan yourself for a little or a lot of moisture, or set it to a specific amount of humidity, and it’ll run until it reaches your preferred level. The large tanks hold up to 5.6 gallons of water, which means you shouldn’t have to refill them often. When it’s time to refill, you’ll see an indicator on the digital display, and you can use the included hose to easily fill the dual tanks.
The runtime on this unit is supposed to be nearly a full two days, but many people have reported that even on low, it runs for about 24 hours. It’s also rated to add moisture to a home up to 3,600 square feet in size, and it manages to do so, especially if you have this unit located near an air return. The casters on the bottom are hidden and help you to move it where you need it. Like many evaporative humidifiers, this one is loud, but this one might be particularly loud.
If you’re looking for a whole-house evaporative humidifier with a traditional credenza style, this could be an ideal pick for you.
Pros
- Attractive design
- Dual tanks
- Adjustable humidistat
- Indicators for refills
- Large tank size
- Casters
- Digital display
Cons
- Very loud
- Runtime may be off
Essick Air AIRCARE H12-300HB Humidifier
Seeing as how a humidifier is only as beautiful as one decides it is, this AirCare console-style evaporative humidifier is about as objectively attractive as they come. The natural-looking wood grain looks a bit better than a plastic housing, and it’s a unique spin on a clunky appliance. Still, the most important part is whether it’s able to produce enough moisture to turn up the humidity in your house. This unit does just that and it manages to do it at the lower speeds, even. There’s an adjustable humidistat, so you can set this humidifier to run until it reaches a preferred level of humidity, then it turns off.
You can check the digital display to see what the humidity level is at, whether you need to refill the tank with water, or if filters need to be changed. That’s right, it was plural: filters. This humidifier requires you to change out an air filter and a wick, so it could end up being a little pricier to maintain than others on the market. The good news is that this tank doesn’t require you to fill it up all that often. It holds up to 5.4 gallons of water, and it has a runtime of 45 hours. Generally, most people have had to refill it every 10 to 20 hours, but that will depend on the relative humidity of your home. Also, this unit is ridiculously loud at the highest levels, so you might want to keep it on low settings so you don’t mistake it for an airplane taking off in your home.
If you want a whole-house evaporative humidifier that works well even on low-speed settings, this one might work well for you.
Pros
- Attractive design
- Large tank
- Adjustable humidistat
- Indicators for refills, filter
- Casters
Cons
- Very loud
- Requires two filters
- List Element
AIRCARE EP9 800 Evaporative Humidifier
It’s hard to imagine a humidifier being an attractive piece of furniture, but the AirCare EP9 800 whole-house pedestal-style evaporative humidifier comes as close as possible to that. It’s still a bit utilitarian in design, but it tries hard to look pretty. You get most of the same features of any AirCare humidifier, but this one seems to be the most popular choice, and that may have something to do with the runtime and size of the unit. The unit really isn’t that big, and the tank only holds about 3.5 gallons of water, yet it’s rated for a 60-hour runtime. Most people said they were lucky to get a full 24 hours out of one tank. Still, compared to smaller units, that’s not bad.
There’s a digital display that lets you know what the humidity level is sitting at, but many reported that the humidistat on the unit seemed to be off compared to the hygrometers they used to compare. The most important part, though, is that this humidifier effectively works for large houses. You can bump up the humidity in a house as large as 2,400 square feet. That may be less than some others, but this unit is also a bit smaller. The biggest issue with this one, overall, is the noise. At the lower levels, it’s a little noisy, but set it past the third or fourth (and just don’t even try with the ninth) level, it’s too loud to deal with.
If you’re looking for a relatively attractive, smaller whole-house humidifier, this one may work well for your home.
Pros
- Attractive design
- Adjustable humidistat
- Indicators for refills, filter
- Optional remote control
- Casters
Cons
- Very loud
- Humidistat doesn’t seem accurate
Essick Air AIRCARE AUV10AWHT Mini Ultrasonic Humidifier
AirCare doesn’t put much focus on ultrasonic humidifiers, but this little Aurora model is a miniature version that works well on a bedside table or on your desk at work. It can crank out humidity that you can see. This little unit works well at humidifying the air you breathe personally, and it’s rated to work for a space up to 360 square feet, but it’s likely going to work best in a smaller space. You might be able to get 12 hours out of this humidifier on one tank, but that’s at the lowest setting.
This humidifier can double as a nightlight, and it cycles through various colors, or you can turn the light off if you’d prefer. The best thing about ultrasonic technology is that it’s ultra-quiet. Another benefit: No filters are needed. You might want to use a demineralization cartridge, but that’s optional to help control the white dust that comes with mineral-laden water. There is a potential for leaks or defective units, so this is a risky choice, and it only has a one-year warranty.
If you need a small humidifier and you’d prefer it to work as quietly as possible, this one could be the best choice for you.
Pros
- Attractive design
- Quiet operation
- Allows for essential oils
- LED nightlight
Cons
- Leaks possible
- Short warranty
The Bottom Line
When it comes to air quality and humidity, AirCare knows a thing or two, or rather, Essick Air does, and through its new line of attractive (mostly) humidifiers, it’s trying to add moisture to homes everywhere. Choosing the best AirCare humidifier comes down to personal preference. Looking at every feature, claim by the company, and reviews from customers, it seems the best one to go for, objectively, is the AIRCARE EP9 800 Digital Whole-House Pedestal-Style Evaporative Humidifier.
Yes, it’s a smaller unit, but it still puts out an impressive amount of humidity. You won’t be able to see the vapor, as it’s evaporative, but you’ll know it’s working by checking the digital display. It should run for at least 24 hours, and up to 60 hours, on a single tank of water, which means less maintenance for you. You’ll have to change the wick every season, but at least it’s only the one filter.
Last update on 2024-04-18 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
