AIRCARE - Valiant HD1409

What conflicting info? Evaporative type is best. It’s going to depend on where you live as to what’s available. I have this one. Depends on how large your house is. I needed one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Just having one in the bedroom didn’t do anything for my eyes during the daytime. https://www.homedepot.com/pep/204364015?cm_mmc=ecc- I have since moved and have a whole house humidifier, but this one was the best I’d had prior to the whole house one.

It has filters that you replace.

There are a few high end brands that might be superior, but most are very similar, within their categories. No BIFL humidifiers, and better ones will be costly. For longevity, evaporative seems to be the best type. I suggest you narrow it down to what will work for you and check reviews online. I wanted to add one lower priced gallon size evaporative model for my kitchen area and concluded they all suck and don't last too long. I'm guessing you're looking for a room size, vs whole house. First consider the type: warm mist, ultrasonic, evaporative. Warm mist will cost the most to operate. Ultrasonic often leaves a white dust on surfaces. Evaporative can be noisy due to the fan. Ease of use is key - filling and cleaning, lugging to sink, capacity. Every stinking plastic contraption that deals with air has a ridiculous amount of nooks, crannies, and fins that can be impossible to clean. Check consumables for cost of replacement wicks, filters. I use two whole house evaporative humidifiers along with water additives to inhibit bacteria. One is twenty years old, a Bemis hamper style, now AirCare. In winter they run 24/7 along with woodstoves. Wicks need cleaning or replacing monthly, $25 each. Some can hold up to a vinegar soak to give it another month.

I own this and my wick turned orangey from my hard water so quickly. I use bacteriostatic additive so I don’t think that bacteria is the issue but the wick changing color certainly doesn’t give me confidence so this humidifier doesn’t feel low maintenance to me, at least not with hard water

I run an Aircare Evaporative whole house humidifier, uses a giant wick, works well but is loud and pretty cheap (the plastic sides can be bent). No need for a smart switch because it auto-cycles-off when your target humidity is reached.

With that level of guitar, I would recommend investing a bit more and look into humidifying the room your guitars are in or humidifying your whole house. That way, you can leave your guitar out on a stand or hanging on the wall, and you get the added benefit of making your house much more comfortable. My house is \~1200 sq ft, and [this humidifier](https://www.homedepot.com/p/AIRCARE-VALIANT-Gal-Cool-Mist-Evaporative-Whole-House-Humidifier-for-4-000-sq-ft-Brushed-Nickel-HD1409/204364015) is capable of keeping the whole house at 45% (though I do need to fill it more often in the winter months). You would fill it much less often if you're just keeping a single room humidified. The other thing to look into is a [humidifier that plug into your furnace](https://www.homedepot.com/p/AprilAire-Model-400-m-Water-Saver-17-Gal-for-up-to-5-000-sq-ft-Whole-House-Evaporative-Humidifier-With-Manual-Control-400M/312148211). These are great because, once the initial water line is run and the humidifier is installed, you don't have to worry about refilling. It's literally a set it and forget it solution.

Aircare or Vornado EVAPORATIVE models. Uses a pad (that you need to replace or heavily clean with a vinegar soak every 1-2 months) but uses regular tap water and creates no dust. I have 2 Aircare console (aka large) units keeping 2800 sq ft at 35% humidity.

I have a whole house evaporative humidifier that I use year round that has been going strong for 4 years so far. The warm mist humidifiers I've used last only a year before my very hard water breaks them. And ultrasonic humidifiers coat everything in a sticky dust that's hard to clean. The humidifier I use (older version of this one: https://share.google/fFdK2WzaIkj0Lc09W) has a wick that needs replacing about once every other month, so long as I keep it saturated. I buy a cheaper generic wick from Walmart to save money. Other than that, I just need to clean it occasionally to remove dust and prevent bacterial growth.

Evaporative is the solution. Once you try one you will never go back willingly. I had one for several years that used a single wick replacement each season. The only maintenance I had to do was add the anti microbial solution to the tap water i dumped into the container every other day, it was spotless inside after months of continuous use. I had a fairly large aircare console that had a humidistat as a controller, it ran through 5 gallons in about two days all winter long.m Before I got an evaporative I went through several cool mist, ultrasonic, style humidifiers. Without fail they all became a petri dish of slime and mold within a week on average. I cleaned these things with vinegar, dish soap, antibacterial solutions, and finally bleach which only extended the average by a couple of days. These require DI water since any dissolved salts will get misted as well, precipitating as dust and being an irritant for many people. I've also read some comments about the slime and bacteria getting turned into mist and either spreading spores or endotoxin to cause problems. Tldr: evaporative is cheaper and easier to use

They are, but I have had two running for multiple years between them. I had a large Air Care - i’m not sure why - but the fan mechanism leaked all of its lubricant and corroded badly. I assume user error haha. But even it lasted 3 years! Now I have my ~5yo Air Care running in our upstairs, and we got a new Vissani 6 gal this past year.

As others have stated, it depends on where you live for this to be an issue with solid body guitars. I live in a place that is fine during summer but gets cold, so winter is a real struggle. I am using an aircare valiant (valiant is the model) after struggling with 500-1000 sq ft humidifiers not being strong enough for a 100 sq ft room, and have found overkill in specs is the only way it works for me. This model has worked so well that I am going to pick up a second one for the ground floor as I think that will be good enough for the full house. Edit to say aircare, not airfare