Some time at the beginning of 2010, Little Sir got a little cold and we needed a cool mist humidifier. We had bought a Vicks humidifier at Target during my pregnancy, but that thing was so loud that Christian had to sleep in another room. Then it developed a weird smell, and I just gave it away on Freecycle.
Since I was spending a lot of time at Buy Buy Baby, we decided to get a Crane cool mist humidifier, the Frog model. It is so cute, and it worked SO GREAT! It was completely silent, put out a lot of mist, and as Little Sir has gotten older he has enjoyed playing with it. I still think it is the cutest thing ever, and easy to fill and clean.
Unfortunately, about 2 months ago it started making a very loud noise when it first started running. It would go away after a while, but it lasted longer and longer. Eventually, it did not go away at all. The noise kept Little Sir from falling asleep at night (like we need any more trouble with that… my non-sleeping child…).
Since we are expecting Baby #2 and will need a second humidifier anyway, I went ahead and bought a Crane Duck humidifier and put that in his room instead. It works so much better – just like the Frog did at first!
I contacted Crane, who only has a long-distance phone number for Customer Service, and had to leave a message on a machine because no one answers their Customer Service line. I also sent an email. 24 hours later, they both emailed and called back. I missed the phone call because I was in a meeting, but the email stated that I could only get a replacement if I had BOTH the original purchase receipt AND the proof of purchase from the humidifier box. Of course, the humidifier was purchased something like 7 months ago and worked fine for the first 5-6 months, so I had not kept either items.
My options now are to send back parts of the the humidifier along with $25 and they will send me a new one.
Or, I can apply for a $10 credit toward a new humidifier which can only be purchased from their web site (not Buy Buy Baby) for $46. At Buy Buy Baby I can buy a new humidifier for $35, so their web site is not a good deal.
I guess I will go with the option of paying to return parts of the humidifier to them for $25.
Today I did some searches on the Crane Frog humidifier noise issue, and it seems I am not alone. Several people have reported issues with the Frog. However, Crane humidifiers overall get very good reviews, even from Consumer Reports. My conclusion is that the Frog model is most likely the issue.
The Duck is working great!
So, in case anyone is Googling Crane humidifier noise problems, I hope this can help: I recommend the Duck model, but not the Frog!
UPDATE: Great news from a commenter, below – there is a fix for the motor noise issue, see this YouTube video on fixing humidifier noise.
I bought the Elephant model for my daughter and I am having the same problem with the noise. It will not go away, and I we need it really bad. Im glad im not alone, but that doesnt really help my problem much.
Yes, sorry it’s not much help… I ended up having to buy a completely new one and throw the old one away. So far we have 2 ducks and they both work great.
We have the cow. Same issue.
My Crane humidifier started making noises and i thought it wouldn’t work anymore. But I placed the water tank on top and twisted it a bit and made it air tight and the noise went away and it works like before! Try twisting towards the left or right after placing it on top filled with water! Good Luck!
My Penguin humidifier was making noise too. It turned out the noise comes from the fan and this video I found on u-tube helped me solved the problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjRDjOL8nCY
Hope this will help.
I have the drop humidifier, and it is doing the exact same thing. I will try what the above poster suggested, and hope it works.
The video is very helpful and will provide all the needed information, but I recommend wiping off the fan also, mine had a white powder on it. I did not want to take a chance.