Review on Optimized Vornado Ultra3 Whole Room Ultrasonic Humidifier by Ryan Olsen

I'm writing this review after using this type of humidifier for a few years. In fact, I have a second unit as the first's humidistat failed after a season of use. Vornado replaced the device under warranty. I use this unit and a Vornado dehumidifier to keep a medium sized practice room (16'x18') that stores acoustic instruments at a constant humidity level. One block is enough for most of the year, but in dry winters I need both blocks. Because of this usage, I cannot recommend the Ultra 3. First, it's noisy. The decision to keep the fan running all the time - even in "Auto" mode - is just plain stupid. This thing never turns off, unlike the Vornado vaporizing unit, which happily turns on and off when needed. Second, the humidity controller on this unit is tricky. The first unit failed and I've already noticed that I have to set the second unit to 60% max for it to turn on at 45% humidity as measured by a calibrated hygrometer. After all, even when using demineralization cartridges, this machine leaves a white layer of dust on everything. If you don't want to use distilled water, stay away. The Vornado EV100 has none of these problems. Going forward, I'll probably be replacing the Ultra 3 with an inexpensive evaporative humidifier next season. . Like the previous device, the humidifier now only works in "continuous" mode. I strongly recommend not buying Vornado ultrasound machines.