I had a Vicks vaporizer but it stopped producing steam. So I wanted to try a different manufacturer and the Sunbeam was a great alternative. Since my bed is higher than the table I will be placing the vaporizer below the mattress top, so I need the steam to flow straight up. Not only does the steam flow straight up, but if I close all the doors in my bedroom and let the vaporizer run for a few hours, returning to my bedroom is like returning to a steam bath. In other words, this sucker kicks out some steam!
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I live where there is very hard water, so I am accustomed to dealing with hard water issues. This vaporizer works just fine, albeit it does after a few days slow considerably if the water being used in it is hard. Citric acid, just about a tablespoon, in a couple cups of water will dissolve any mineral deposits that do build up. I soak the heater element portion of this vaporizer in this citric acid solution during the day, rinse the acid solution out before I use the vaporizer at night, and it works like new.
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Jamie719's comment almost made me change my mind on buying this. After researching all the humidifiers/vaporizers on Amazon, I bought this one because it's cheap with good reviews, and more expensive humidifiers do the same thing but some can also turn off automatically. Problem is, a few poor reviews make the auto turn off feature sound untrustworthy on ANY humidifier, at least not trustworthy enough to risk relying on it. So, I bought this humidifier and a timer Woods 50000 Indoor 2-Prong Plug which I will always use along with it, in case I forget to unplug it or refill it like Jamie719 did.
I assumed that Jamie719 didn't have enough water in her tank. The white top part that looks like it's a fan screws on top easily and locks into place on top of the big plastic bowl. The "center part" extends down from the top part that you screw in, and it extends all the way down to the bottom of the tank to suck up water for vaporization. It is physically impossible for the bottom of the "center part" to be charred if the tank had even the slightest bit of water in it, which is why I'm now sure that Jamie719 just didn't have enough water in her tank or let it run too long without refilling it.
I'm very glad she left that comment and that it was so descriptive as I might have otherwise trusted it to simply turn itself off when it ran out of water. But it's not dangerous. It's quite well-made, nice and simple. It used less than half the water I put in, when I was using it for 8 hours at once.
Also, the timer has another benefit: I originally just set the timer to run for 8 hours whenever I slept, but running the humidifier constantly was just too much humidity for me. Now I have it set so that the timer runs for 30 minutes, then takes a 30 min break, runs for 30 min, takes a 30 min break... for 8 hours. The result is a mild level of humidity that completely relieves my headaches from sensitive sinuses from inhaling cold dry air all night through my nose.
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This Vaporizer is very loud. It only ran for 5 hours at a time. After owning it only 2 or 3 weeks it almost caught on fire! In the middle of the night I was awoken by loud electrical popping, sizzling noises. I looked over and it looked like fireworks going off inside the vaporizer. I unplugged it quickly. After it cooled down, I took the center part out of the tank and the bottom had a charred circle on the bottom! Scary! My baby was in the same room sleeping in his bassinet. Decide carefully.
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Works fine but really loud, like a kettle boiling constantly. Also if I had added the Vicks medicine, the water left in the tank the next day is brownish, although the medicine is clear. I would recommend buying it if you don't mind the loud noise and you're not intending to use medicine with it.
