VornadoMD1-0034 Replacement Humidifier Wick (Pack of 2) , White

Been using these for about a year and they work great!

I’ve been using my two Vornado Model EVDC505 evaporative whole room humidifiers for almost 3 months now. I didn’t realize how quickly these filters can change color & become tainted based upon bacteria in your house and how often you run them. The humidifiers have been a godsend in the winter months, allowing me to be comfortable with both heat or my gas fireplace burning throughout the winter. I purchased my humidifiers through a big box discount club store, and thankfully that store included one complete replacement set for each humidifier. When I looked at the humidifier filters after about six weeks of use, I noticed that while they were still damp, they had a reddish tint in them, which indicated bacterial growth. I immediately replaced both sets of wicks with the free wicks included. This model offers a low energy saving mode, which allows them to run intermittently 24 hrs a day with an evaporative mist. So I don’t get the moisture and condensation building up on windows and doors that other humidifiers seem to cause in my house. I also no longer get the constant popping and cracking sounds in my wooden doors that I typically hear all winter long. It’s really annoying at night when you’re trying to sleep to, constantly hear popping of my solid wood doors throughout the house. I was able to purchase the Vornado brand replacement filters (1” filters MD1-0034BB-A) through Amazon at a much cheaper price than any place else for them listed; almost 50% cheaper! They were almost the same price as offbrand filters and when reading reviews about the evaporative mist humidifiers, many owners recommended against buying offbrand replacement wicks for the Vornado humidifiers. The price was so cheap, I bought enough sets to get me through this winter, as well as having a spare set to use next winter as soon as I’m ready to set up my humidifiers. They are easy to insert after cleaning out your humidifier and draining old, stale water. I’ve even read that you can dry out these wicks after soaking them with a little bleach and fresh water. But they were so inexpensive on Amazon that, honestly, it’s not worth the effort to go to that trouble. The wicks are fairly delicate and begin to shred easily if you try to rinse them out or ring them out to roughly. And just as a test, I noticed it takes days for the wicks to completely try out.

These are well-made and well-fitting filters / diffusing wicks for our Vornado-brand EVDC300 evaporative energy-saving humidifier.Stiff when first installed, but if the fit is too tight, they can be lightly moistened on the sides to ease fitting them into the holder. Don't wet the entire filter or it may not be rigid enough to properly fit in the holder.Be sure to seat the filter / wick firmly at the bottom of the humidifier for maximum efficiency and output. Thee should be noThe filters last about a month with daily use. The best advantage of an evaporative humidifier using this kind of wick is that it does not emit white dust or whatever else is in the water as is the case with a misting humidifier. Likewise, evaporative humidifiers use much less electricity than steam or warm mist humidifiers.On the con side, these wicking filters trap water minerals and some of the dust in the air passing through them. As such, they will slowly degrade in output, last about a month, and will need to be replaced.Be sure to keep your humidifier clean and use a bacteriostat in your water reservoir to help keep the air free from bacteria. Ideally, the humidifier should be cleaned every one - two weeks with or without a wick change.Distilled water (especially if it's available at low or no cost) is best to use for maximum filter life, followed by soft water and then hard water. Our water is moderately hard and we use a bacteriostat and softening treatment (both available for purchase on Amazon) in the humidifier water reservoir.A fair value when offered at about $10 at the time of our review for a two-pack.That's about $5 each.

First off, this is for the 1" MD1-0034 filter. There is a very similar looking MD1-0002 which is 1.75" thick. The correct filter you need is dependant on the Vornado model you have. Mine is the EVDC500 2 gallon unit which needs two MD1-0034 filters.The filters are supposed to last approx 4-8 weeks depending on various factors like water quality, hardness, environment etc. It also has an antimicrobial coating to resist molding. Catch 22 is that using hard water causes mineral build up that shortens the life while using softened water causes it to harden and stop wicking. I use softened water which causes my filters to harden and stop wicking. Once they harden (especially the top half), it stops wicking and doesn't humidify as well. The filter placement in my EVDC500 is also not that great that the filter has a tendency to pull away from the air intake so the air drawn in bypasses the filter which I resolved by using flexible (plastic) Tinkertoy bulding sticks to lightly hold the filter against the air intake grill not allow it to pull away :)TIP:#1 I found that when they harden due to using softened water, taking them out every 1-2 days and soaking them flat in a container for about 15 minutes or so "restores" the filter pliability and lets it wick again. Plus, a fully rinsed and wet filter is already "primed".#2 too much air flow causes the filter to not wick properly and dry out. I try to run the fan on low when possible and also use a wash bottle to sometimes re-wet the filter from the top (where it tends to dry out first)With the above tips, I am able to get approx 7+ weeks on my filter during Michigan winters, running 24/7. A 2 pack price fluctuates between $10 - $15, with it usually running for around $13. I typically need 3 filters to last the entire winter so that's approx $40 in filters which is more than the cost of a whole house humidifer filter per season, so I am planning on adding a whole house humidifier at some point and retire my portable wicking humidifier.I wish the filter was thicker as in my EVDC500, it appears that there's room for a thicker filter which in theory would give it more strength as well as provide more surface area to wick and humidify but they probably have their reasons, whether it be compatibility with multiple models or flat out "engineered to do what it's designed to do".That said, if you need this filter for your Vornado, get it but try to keep an eye on the price as it does fluctuate :)