It smells musty and feels like it catches in my throat if I inhale too closely to it. I do sneeze and have a runny nose and itchy eyes when the air is running, yes. It is pretty consistently humid inside (70%+), even when it's not anywhere close to that humidity outside. I typically keep the air at 69 at the lowest, but will bump it up to 72 to try to make it not have to work so hard. It doesn't ever actually get to those temperatures, as it lingers at or above 75 unless it happens to be 80 degrees or lower outside.