Simple and Effective
Pros:
Effective at removing dust from air. Attractive design. 10 year warranty.
Cons:
Expensive to own, and maintain. Not quiet. Water Treatment Additive indications.
The Bottom Line:
It's expensive and requires periodic maintenance, but it works.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I decided to test this thing out for 30 days before reviewing it. I followed the manufacturer's directions closely and this is what I've found.
I'll start with the negatives first.
Maintenance:
Just about everyday, you need to fill this up with water, as it's a humidifier too. It goes through water rapidly.
Venta recommends, every 10-14 days, to use their proprietary Venta Water Treatment Additive which "Improves Airwasher Performance" and "helps prevent mineral deposits". It's about $20 for a bottle which works out to about 10 treatments. (On a side note, they make no distinction in the directions on the bottle to vary the amount of solution depending on which model you're cleaning--They suggest to put the same 3.5oz amount of solution in any Venta model independent of size--1.2 Gallons to 4 Gallons????) Venta advertises the savings from having no filter to replace, but absolutely neglects to mention you'll be shelling out $40-$60 a year on Venta Solution, and then every 6 months Venta recommends a thorough cleaning. The best way? You guessed it--with their special Venta Cleaner. I don't know how much that costs, as I've only had this for a month. Timewise, to effectively clean this model-- the LW14--it requires about 10-15 minutes every other week. So don't kid yourself, this thing requires more than you're led to believe from reading the box.
Noise:
This thing is not as quiet as you're led to believe. On both speeds, in a silent room, you can clearly hear it working. It's not unpleasant, but it's there. When the tank starts to run low on water, the noise becomes more pronounced.
On the positive side.
The thing really works. At both speeds it effectively pulls in pulls in unclean air. To visually see this happening, I tested the intake fan with the flame from a bic lighter, the intake clearly pulls the flame down into the unit on both speeds. As expected, the exhaust, blows out "cleaned" air.
Furthermore, each time that I cleaned it--today being the most recent time--the bottom of the water tank was covered with dust, debris, skin cells--pretty gross. And wiping it down, the paper towel was filthy. Needless to say, I'm satisfied and quite impressed with the amount of debris it pulls out of the air in a two week period.
Bottom Line:
Expensive to own and use, but very effective in removal of dust and dander etc., and as a bonus humidifies the air which keeps dust mites at bay.
