Vornado EVDC300 Energy Smart Evaporative Humidifier with Automatic Shut-off, 1 Gallon Capacity, LED Display, White

The price of electricity skyrocketed this year in New England. I bought two of these humidifiers because of the DC motor. We've been using them for several months now. Running on low it is very quiet. Medium and high get noisy for sleeping, but become white noise in the living area. Each unit uses about a gallon a day on low, running constantly, and maintains humidity level in the upper 40's. The unit is very easy to clean. I change the filter every month due to hard water. My previous humidifiers were warm mist and they were impossible to clean. I've gotten to like the clear tank, feels flimsy at first, but has proven to be quite solid. The cover is very difficult to remove, but does not leak. Very tight. On the down side the humidistat does not work well, if at all. I set the humidity level to CO and use seperate readable humidistats. The unit dose shut off randomly. but CO setting minimizes shut off. Moving the unit away from the wall also helps with this, probably due to better air flow. Overall, although not perfect, I would definitely buy these again.

**Update Jan 18. 2018. Do not buy. (See bottom of review for full update) Pros: - Mostly quiet, fan provides white noise - Somewhat easy to clean, comes apart easily, but still has toothpick-sized areas in each corner which are deep and collect mold - attractive, compact design Cons: - Horribly inefficient. Runs constantly because it only makes HALF of the wick wet at any given time; the top part of the wick remains bone dry and builds up a weird brown crust (someone else has the exact same review on the separate wick refill page, see attached picture for wick after one day of running - brown crust already starting). Evaporative humidifiers literally work by passing air over a wet wick; if only half the wick is wet... you’re running a fan at full energy for half of the results. - Susceptible to pink slime, causing a $12 wick replacement by Dec 1 after 3 tweeks of running. Have added protec and bacteriostat solution now. At best, $12/mo = $144 per year. Wick lifetime was not disclosed in the product description; I assumed once every three months, not 2-3 weeks. - Supposed to auto-shut off with energy saver. Warning lights flashed as designed, but it ran itself completely dry and kept running. AUTO-SHUT OFF DID NOT WORK. Discussion: I was very careful and did about two weeks of research before my purchase. This was not the cheapest humidifier but I was willing to spend the money on both the base product and replacement wicks as long as it had good reviews. I should have looked more closely and realized that the majority of the good reviews were “Vine” reviews (20 out of 37 of the 4–and-5-star reviews were people who got this unit free). What a skewed ratio. So, now I’m stuck with an expensive product that works poorly and adding insult to injury, is expensive to upkeep. I could have just bought a $250 unit instead... that’s one year of running this thing, not including electricity. Bottom-line: I regret buying this. I wish it worked better because it seems like a thoughtful design. It probably would be a five-star product if it worked as advertised. But it works so poorly (inefficient in power and utilization; expensive wicks with short lifespans; and 50% dry/browning wick issue) and the features such as auto-shut-off did not work as advertised. Not a total fail, it’s probably still getting some water into the air, but at what cost? **update: Jan 13, 2018. Even with Protec filter in a 1 GAL tank (supposed to treat up to 3 GAL), at one month, wick is mildewed, and top half is dry. Downgraded to one star and looking for ANOTHER humidifier after 3 months. Do not buy.

First let me explain why I’m 100% done with ultrasonic humidifiers now. Even though I’ve tried in-tank filter cartridges and filtered water, over time the ultrasonic humidifiers always end up creating a fine white white dust that sticks to everything— windows walls, ceiling fans, every nook and cranny of everything in your home. If you don’t believe me, run one for a couple weeks, then get a flashlight and take a closer look at everything in your home. Some don’t put out a noticeable amount of white dust at first, but over time, they all end up doing this, despite thorough and regular cleaning. Most people think of this as a relatively minor annoyance and don’t have problems with it, but I have severe asthma, and I’m telling you that stuff is BAD when you have asthma! I was gasping for breath, no matter how much medication I used, and it kept getting worse until I just stopped using mine and thoroughly cleaned the white dust. So I got rid of ours last year, since the expense and trouble of using distilled water in humidifiers running 24/7 during late fall, winter and spring isn’t worth it. At first I thought the ultrasonics were a great trade off to the evaporative humidifiers, but I slowly began to realize that:1. You always have to clean whatever type of humidifier you’re using, so there’s no benefit there, and 2. The cost of replacement wicks Is a pain in the wallet, but it’s less of a pain than cleaning every nook and cranny of your home every week, and 3. White dust is so bad for asthma that it’s just not worth playing around with. So after reading many different reviews, reading through online product manuals for various evaporative humidifiers, I settled on this one. And it’s AMAZING! Seriously. It’s very simple to break down for cleaning, there are no edges or corners inside that you can’t get to and wipe down, the clear water holder tank is super easy to fill because it’s FLAT on the top and bottom, and it’s pretty quiet! It’s obviously not as quiet as an ultrasonic humidifier, but it’s not a big deal. On low, it sounds like a quiet fan noise, and still puts out a good amount of humidity. I’ve been very pleased with Vornado fans— we have 4 of them in our home. And since an evaporative humidifier is basically just a fan, a container of water and a wick, the quality of a fan seems pretty important. And this one is great! The touch screen control is simple to operate, but keep in mind that if you press the button for ECO setting, then the humidifier will only work within a specified humidity range. If you want continuous humidification, just turn OFF the ECO mode, and press the + button until it reaches the highest humidity %, then one more press of the button will engage the CO, or continuous mode. It’s simple, but I think some people haven’t figured out how this works, since I read some reviews that complained that their humidifier would cut off at 60%, or would only operate within a certain range. This is by design! Just turn off the eco setting, and you’re good to go if you want it to run all the time. Seriously, this is the best humidifier I’ve ever owned in terms of ease of operation and cleaning. We purchased 2 of these, one for upstairs and one for downstairs use, and I’ve only been using one so far, since we don’t have the heat fully cranking quite yet. But winter is coming! So I’ll update my review if anything changes.

This humidifier has some good features, but you may run into two problems that render it ineffective. #1 is that the water reservoir float malfunctions, so the unit does not restart when it needs to. Wrap a rubber band around the float stem to keep the slider up. This will basically override the float and keep your unit working properly. Downside is that if you run out of water, the unit will still keep running. #2 is don’t get the humidity sensor on the top wet. If you do, the unit will not read the humidity correctly, and also turn off prematurely. If it does get wet, just wait for it to dry out, and it will operate correctly again. Knowing these two things, I’m happy with the unit which I use to humidify a large walk-in closet. On average, I need to refill the unit every 3 days in 10-20% ambient humidity to achieve 50% humidity.

Given the brand, I really wanted to like this humidifier. Set up was easy, just a matter of filling the water reservoir and turning it on. There are a couple of poor design choices, though. First, the available humidity options are limited to 40%-60% in 5% increments. This may not be an issue for some, but the other humidifier in my house is kept at 35%, so this one ran pretty much non-stop. Second, it's kind of on the loud side. Not disturbingly so and you do get used to it, so it becomes background noise, but I will note, I kept it on the lowest fan setting and still thought it was a bit loud. Lastly, there's a light inside the humidifier. I don't know if they meant for it to be a nightlight or what, but you can't turn it off and it's quite bright when you're trying to sleep. There's a sensor that dims and brightens the light based on ambient lighting, but even at its dimmest, it lit up my entire room. If not for that, I would probably keep it; but since the light can't be turned off, I'm returning it.

I struggle in the winter with forced hot air, and without a humidifier (well I maintain three of them) I'll end up with sinus infections. I purchased this humidifier after brief research to replace a larger Lasko "Whole House" humidifier which served me well for the last 5 years. I am relocating to Arizona and figured I could get by a few months without any humidifiers. I was wrong! So this product seems to be built well, and despite the fact that the actual fan unit seems to be of a fan you might install in a performance-based PC, it does move air. It's actually in the same location as my previous Whole House humidifier holding its own maintaining about 43-44%. Of course, we're not in the dead of winter yet (I'll be outta this ice box by then), but I am impressed with what is essentially a room filter either matching the Whole House filter or at least equaling it. Overall I'm very satisfied with this product. A minor quirk is that the fan speeds are low, high, and HH. Why not Low, Medium, and High? Oh well not worth mentioning really, but the logic of the fan speeds defies me a bit and figured I'd complain about something. Product seems to be well made, Humidifies well (though curious how it'll perform in mid/late January with continual 20 something or fewer days. However, right now it's doing very well! ************* 06/01/18 - UPDATE *********** So I thought I'd take the time to update this review since it's been in use for more than a few months now. Overall, I will continue to state that the build quality seems very well, however, there are a few things with this thing that which are preventing me from recommending it at this point. 1) IT LEAKS -- However it's leaking I have to leave it in some sort of tray so that water (which leaks during the evening) does not saturate my carpet. This is annoying, as you might imagine. 2) The Fan Assembly which sits on the top of the unit is now starting to show signs of wear in that it's losing connectivity to the portion of the unit that feeds power to the display/setting panel. It frequently becomes disconnected, then, of course,​ the unit stops working. You have to fuss with the fan assembly to get it going again. Overall, well thought-out, but poorly executed.

After trying so many other humidifiers (10+ ultrasonic and 1 other brand of evaporative style) I purchased my first EVDC300 from Vornado. I did an embarrassing amount of researching and landed on changing all 3 humidifiers we have to evaporative style and the Vornado appeared to fit the bill. I purchased 1 to start and 1 other brand. The other brand had very inaccurate readings and a proprietary filter. They stopped manufacturing that filter which is why I ended up with the Vornado since the filter isn’t proprietary (a must!!) I’ve never experienced most of the issues some of the other reviews mention. I’ve never had it turn off when low. It’s never been loud. The readings are accurate when compared to the humidity reading from our thermostat. My only gripe is the light that’s always on. I’ve never seen the light flash, just always on. I shoved a piece of tissue in the spot to block the lights though and that resolved the problem. Although I did just decide to try out the Eco mode (it’s been on auto at 55% humidity) and that seems to have turned the light off. It’s so much easier to use than any other humidifier, and I’ve tried a ton. Cleaning it is a breeze and I’m much less concerned about breathing mold and bacteria, based on the test data I’ve been able to find. I find the size to be fine, it sits on our dresser and my kids night stands no problem. I have the 1 gallon. The 2 gallon would be quite large. But 1 gallon is just fine. It doesn’t interrupt my sleep. It’s quiet. The light issue is not an issue anymore so it doesn’t keep me awake. I have no complaints at all except maybe would like for it to be a top fill style. That would be nice to be able to dump water into it rather than lug it to my kitchen sink.

I bought the smaller of the two models, the one with only one water tank. I'm pleased to report it is a beautifully, simply designed little unit. For the record, I started it this morning around 7:30 with a full tank of water and ran it on high, 50. About 12 hours later it looked like it couldn't get any emptier and it did not shut off automatically. Perhaps it needed to run itself bone dry for that to happen. I had it in the living area of a 1200 sq foot open floor plan home, so it was circulating throughout. It brought the humidity up from 25 to 32% and I've no doubt that will keep climbing with additional refills. Shooting for about 40% barring any condensation. I'm in greater Denver. Bone dry here. Even 30% feels better. I set it on a plastic mat in case of leaks but have seen no indication of any. On high the fan is fairly loud, but it's just nice smooth background noise, IMHO. I would definitely recommend this humidifier for anyone wanting a small, easy to clean and refill unit. I'm thinking of getting a second one to put in the bedroom at the other end of the house. (Easier to clean and fill than my old ultrasonic, and it doesn't produce any white dust. Said dust clogged the filter and killed my furnace last weekend. Fair warning!) Correction, Feb 27, 2026: I was happy for a month, then this thing started leaking. I can't determine the source of the leak, but yesterday morning and again this morning, everything that was left in the tank when I went to bed was out on the mat when I got up. I turn the unit off at night. I have no idea what happened. At least I had a mat under it or the water would have been all over my wood floor.

I'm writing this review after using this unit for over a year. Like all evaporative humidifiers, this device is composed of lots of separate pieces, and requires a fair bit of manual ongoing work. But when you buy an evaporative humidifier, this is what you're signing up for. Thankfully, this Vornado unit is really well designed, and all the pieces are of high quality. The fan is very strong and efficient, and can operate from a quiet level to a loud one. The touch controls work great, and the humidity sensor seems to work well. It would have been nice if the tank could be top filled instead of having to pull it out and fill it from the bottom each time, but unless you have a hose handy, it's not a big deal. Unlike smaller units, this device really pumps water into the air. It can do a gallon is less than a day, which is great for a small apartment. I recommend this unit to anyone with a small apartment who wants a humidifier that actually does the job.

I have now received two broken devices in a row. The first had totally unresponsive controls. The second has only partially responsive controls. I'm giving it one last chance because I trust the Wirecutter recommendation and I like the energy efficiency. But what a pain! Edit: Just received a third broken unit! I now see others have the same problem in the reviews. It just shuts off after a minute or two regardless of the humidity in the room.

Easy to clean and fill. Works well and is very quiet, I would recommend it.

This seems to be a very good product. Nice looking, not bulky. Easy to use and clean. I did wake up one morning with water on the floor when I had this set in the Energy Smart mode with the humidity level set at 40%. Not sure what happened there, but I cleaned up, refilled and set the mode back to normal still at 40% and fan on high (not turbo) and everything is operating fine.

It’s a hard-to-clean design, a difficult-to-open water tank. While it has some positive features, such as being noise-free, its drawbacks make it a less desirable option for purchase.