Costco Members: Levoit Smart Hybrid Ultrasonic Warm/Cool Mist 1.58G Humidifier Expired

This looks like the same one at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/LEVOIT-Hum...B095KGXPW5), although the model numbers don't seem to be related, maybe a costco model number thing. Searching for HEAPHULVSUS0072Y, the Costco model number, bring back that Amazon listing as the first hit, and they LOOK the same, so *shrug*. Ordered one as I have been looking for one and this was on my standby list.

Note that this (and most humidifiers nowadays, since Ultrasonic seems the most common) don't evaporate the water with heat, they use ultrasonic thingie to aerosolize water into tiny droplets/mist to eject into the air. This is a problem if you don't use distilled water as most tap/hard water includes minerals that will deposit on ALL surfaces in the room where this humidifier is operating. Humidifiers that use heat to evaporate the water will leave the deposits in the humidifier via the evaporation action, but aerosolization will NOT remove the minerals before ejecting the mist.

I only know this because I have already been researching humidifiers for the room where my guitars are stored, and saw more than one video with the white scummy crap deposited EVERYWHERE after only a single winter season. The problem is that the heat based humidifiers with sensors that can modulate based on humidity (called evaporative or warm steam humidifiers) are expensive. I was looking at a dumb evaporative + smart plugs w/humidity sensor solution... when this popped up. I will just use distilled water for now and see how it goes, with Costco if this sucks I can always return it...

I have 3x of them through-out the house, all bought in past few months. No issues so far, including using WiFi with a programmed daily schedule in each. They do allow you to pick either cold or warm mist, and measured humidity tracks within 1-2% of a cheap external sensor I have had for years.
They all connect to Google Home no problem.

It's because this one has heating so it uses more wattage. The LV300s does not have heating.

I have a few humidifiers (heating, non-heating, non-heat evaporative). The heating ones have a lot more nooks and crannies vs a non-heating one. Keeping it clean is a must to make sure there are no bacterial or mineral buildup, which can eventually get dispersed into the air via ultrasonic.

Using distilled water is the gold standard. Less potential for buildups. You can get away with using regular water, make sure it's cold tap water and not hot; understand you should clean your humidifiers more often. At least 2-3x per week. Yellow buildups will slowly appear and then you don't know if that's a bacterial buildup. It's messy. You will notice a sore throat or more nostril mucus if bacterial.

A non-heating levoit humidifier is easier to clean. More smooth surfaces to clean unlike heating ones. I recommend the cylindrical-shaped ones. More smooth surface vs sharp corners that requires a fine brush. They usually provide you with a fine brush but I always lose them.

I also recommend the humidifiers that are top fill vs bottom fill. Even easier to clean and easy to refill the tank. For top fill: you just lift the cap, pour water in, replace cap, done. Bottom fill: pick up the tank and expose the bottom half to bacteria in the air, twist the cap open, find a clean spot to put the cap down, so you can use your other hand to refill the tank…

I use the Protec humidifier cleaning ball to ensure cleaner water. It helps. I noticed I can go 2-3 weeks without cleaning. Not sure if the demineralization tablets/cartridge work, but you can try that if you're worried about mineral buildup. I don't have a need for them as I use distilled water.

TLR: easy to clean humidifiers are cylindrical-shaped and/or non-heating. Top fill humidifiers are convenient. Gold standard is to use distilled water and cleaning humidifiers at least once a week. If regular water, clean 2-3x/wk. Can use humidifier cleaning balls to keep water clean.