Those type will have standing water in tray. Better to go with a bypass type. Those rotating discs are a gimmick in my book. Stick with Honeywell or Aprilaire. Proven track record.

In my opinion - the humidifiers that use a wet type media filter or wick do work, but you do have to suffer through the cleannig and changing out for new wicks every month. Messy and cost of new the wicks every month. For years I have struggles with using the floor/counter top standing Holmes units and they too have worked very well - right up until I have to clean and change wicks on all four of them.

You see, we had one on our bedroom and one each in our kids rooms, and one in the living room. Once they were all cleaned out and wicks changed out, the humidity in our home was fine. However, that once a month deal was a killer to do - especially when I skipped a week or so becasue I didn't have or take the time to do it faithfully - a must! I read up on the Desert Spring 3200 model and liked what I read - I bought one and installed it. Lowes carries them for $198.00. I felt the difference right away, but have not been able to get the humidity above 40% - pretty drafty home. Even so, I don't think I need it to be much over that to be comfortable. With the old Holmes units, we could raise the % way up in a given room. I don't think this is too healthy - seems like we get other molds, mite or other issues when % was so high. Desert Springs claims 14gal a day output. Also, if your home is like mine - not well built - I loose a lot of heat and the upstairs rooms the furthest away from the furnace barely get any heat so moving the moisture around is better in some rooms than others. The vents in our bedroom are shut off mostly so it will get less moisture than the living room (of course we get the moisture from our bathroom).

They say that it takes a few weeks to re-build the moisture in a home after the winter season starts. Wood that has dried out will soak up a lot of moisture in the first few weeks - so they say. Sounds possible. Anyway, it seems to work very well, and not messy at all. You can also buy the Auto flush option that changes the water out ever 48 hrs if you don't run your furnace very much and the water does have a chance to stand around. Our furnace is not very efficiant and runs a lot. I just put a reminder on my email calender to drain and check the small holding tank every first of the month - same as I change out my furnace filter. very easy to do. You can also install a ball valve to the bottom drain tube very easily to make the water change out just a simple twist of the wrist (this is what the auto flush does automatically).

I think there are pros and cons to both - I just like the idea of less mess and ease of use and maint on the desert springs unit.

Let us know what you end up doing.

A belated thanks to you both, ckr74 and just chris, for your responses. I'm glad to hear that you've been enjoying your desert springs unit, just chris. Before and after my post, I did a fair amount of research on air-related items (humidifier, dehumidifier, air filter) and interestingly, I started off thinking I was going to get whole-house units attached to my furnace and for all of them I ended up deciding to go with stand-alone units that sit in the rooms. For the humidifier, I really wanted to try the desert springs, but I was eager to move quickly (dry winter air here!) and didn't see just chris' post until later. There was just too few reviews/feedback on the unit. I had already read quite a few mixed reviews of Aprilaire and Honeywell units. And I was concerned about mold, since my little one has asthma. So I figured I'd be better of getting a nice Air-O-Swiss for each level of the house (I have a small house -- about 1500 sf). Though it's a royal pain to clean & fill the tanks, I feel like I have good control over the situation. I suppose if I were handy I could keep watch over a unit attached to the furnace, and clean/chuck/replace it as necessary, but the reality is I knew I wouldn't be vigilant with it for various reasons.

So far I love the Air-O-Swiss', but I do have to refill them CONSTANTLY because it is so dry here.

Well, thought I would just share my experience.

Thanks again, all.