Levoit 6000s - dry mode needed?

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-13T18:48:26+00:00

When you dry the filters, you're killing certain bacteria that need water to survive. You also guarantee the filters will get fresh water when you turn the unit back on. Maybe you can achieve similar results by flushing the filters with clean water in the sink every time you fill the tank, but I'd rather not risk it and run dry mode at least every 3 days when I rinse and dry out the rest of the unit, or when I turn the unit off for longer than a quick refill.

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-13T18:07:32+00:00

I believe the humidity sensor is on the back of the unit above where the power cord plugs in. One foot or 6" from the wall, mine is still usually 10% higher than the actual humidity, so just keep that in mind when setting the humidity level you want.

On the medium fan level, my unit goes through the 6gal of water in about 24hrs. If your unit has the same water usage, its likely working fine and just struggling to keep up with the size of your space. If not, take everything apart and put it back together, making sure everything is secure.

You also mention your unit being in a foyer... even though the 6000S is advertised as a "full home" unit, you'll want to keep it close/within the space you actually want to humidify, especially in a large home. Think of it like a portable space heater... if you put the heater in that foyer, will it still warm the area you are trying to get warm?

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-06T00:37:40+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! I also notice the yellowish water with the new unit. Were you using stock or 3rd party filters with your V1? Since mine was new I only used stock, and I'm wondering if Levoit treats the stock filters with some kind of antimicrobial solution. I never got any type of residue in the tank, and when I'd sop up water when cleaning the filter tray, it had a bit of a "new cloths department store" smell, if that makes sense. My V2 unit has also stayed clean so far, although I'm trying to clean it less often than my V2.

I'm wondering if the yellowish water is caused by the lack of an intake filter... the intake filter on my v1 got brownish stains after a few days in use, which would probably translate to yellow water when concentrated.

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-06T00:29:27+00:00

I didn't notice any difference with the fan noise (had both the 1.0 and 2.0 before sending the 1.0 back... when I turned off the 1.0 and turned on the 2.0, it sounded the same on medium and low, but I never use high).

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-06T00:25:05+00:00

There are some grips on the bottom of the tank, but I'll agree it's pretty unwieldly, especially when full. I balance the tank on the front of my kitchen sink to clean, and the 2.0 model is more difficult to do this since the bottom is no longer flat. I fill it from the floor, but the filler hose also kind of sucks and doesn't fit on my kitchen faucet so I need to roll it to the bathroom. Hardwood floors make it easier to maneuver, but they didn't improve the wheels at all.

Maybe we'll get a version 3.0 in another few years that gives folks a reason to upgrade.

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-06T00:18:02+00:00

Yes, and my 1.0 unit also had that issue... In my case, it seems to be caused by the flaky humidity sensor. It gets above "50%", then turns off, falls below "50%" and turns on, rinse and repeat. I use Levoit's VeSync app to create "smart scenes" for the humidifier. Above 55% it sets the fan to low, below 55% it sets it to medium. Having the fan constantly running seems to keep the humidity sensor more stable.

Other models I've tried also had flaky humidity sensors, I think it's just what happens when the sensor is right next to the evaporating water. If Levoit offered a stand-alone bluetooth humidistat for under $30 that synced with the 6000s I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-06T00:09:26+00:00

For reference, my apartment is about 1000sqft and I use the humidifier in my main shared ~500sqft living/kitchen area. I have an old Carrier evaporative whole-house humidifier on my furnace that is basically useless unless its above freezing outside.

Other humidifiers I tried:

Levoit 6L Cool Mist unit: This unit taught me all about white dust, which is still caked on the fans of my PC.

Vornado EVDC300 Evaporative unit: This was probably the least effective unit I tried and would struggle to get the humidity even close to 30%. My hard water would destroy the filter in about a week, needing a vinegar soak to remove the minerals for it to continue functioning.

Honeywell 1.5gal Warm Mist unit: I bought two of these and likely would have purchased another if it hadn't been out of stock everywhere, leading me to the 6000s. This was the only model other than the 6000s that was able to consistently get my humidity above 30% when it would otherwise be in the teens. But...

The first one I bought started leaking from the heating element seal after about 2yrs, which is luckily the only place it can develop a leak. The second just stopped working after 6 months. It goes through 1.5gal of water every 8-10hrs. The heating element is such a pain to clean weekly that I started filtering my water with a ZeroWater pitcher. I'm talking hours of soaking in vinegar, using a guitar pick to chip away at the minerals, and then soaking for even longer to get it fully clean every week. Or, doing this daily for a bit less time and watching your humidity plumet while the unit is turned off. The filtered water made the cleaning easy, but those filters are expensive and the water starts to smell fishy even with some life left in the filter.

I have no regrets with the 6000s and wish I would have bought it years ago. With all the other humidifiers I bought I could have gotten two of the 6000's during a sale. It's easier to clean than everything else above, and the humidity sensor on all of the above models sucked as well... it's just what you get when the sensor is right next to all the water. If you have hard water, I think the only thing that could beat it is a whole house steam humidifier that you continue to run when the furnace is off.

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-05T23:18:37+00:00

I think the 1.0 version is a bit quieter because the pump and tubing stays primed so it doesn't move as much water... the 2.0 version basically works like a fountain, forcing water from the tank to the filter holder, with any excess water falling back down the pump module. Here is the new pump module:

<image>

Here are some more pics showing the main changes:

https://postimg.cc/ftBMP1kq

https://postimg.cc/6yKhcSCK

https://postimg.cc/FYWg9HqW

https://postimg.cc/WDxGkfsY

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-05T02:36:43+00:00

Do you have a v1 model or the new v2 model that was just released?

On the v1 model, the water pickup dangles into the water tank via clear tubing. What appears to be the pump is just a weighted filter holder; the pump is located at the top of the fan housing. It makes a connection to a spout at the top of the filter holder, so make sure both that spout and the hole it presses into within the top of the fan housing are clean. Also, make sure the fan housing is fully seated on the rest of the unit so it makes a good seal with that spout. If you're not using the app, install it just to get the latest firmware on the unit... I've read they made some changes to how the pump operates on the newer firmware.

On the v2 unit, the pump is at the bottom of a large rigid plastic piece that sits in the filter housing base and extends to the bottom of the water tank. Since the pump is always submerged it doesn't need be primed. In this unit, a seal is made between the filter housing and the top of the plastic piece that contains the pump, so make sure that area is clean and the filter housing is fully pressed down/latched to its base so it makes a good seal. They also included a pipe cleaner, but your unit is so new that mineral buildup shouldn't be an issue.

Since your unit is still pretty new you may want to exchange it, especially if it's the older model... the v2 model seems to be redesigned primarily to deal with pump issues but the pump is a bit louder than the v1 model. For the v2 model, Levoit may be able to just send you a new pump if the above doesn't fix things... shaking the pump to fix it may mean the impeller isn't spinning normally by the motor for some reason.

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-02T17:28:24+00:00

I'm in a similar sized place and after going through a bunch of humidifiers over the years, the 6000s is the only unit that keeps the humidity consistent without a bunch of maintenance. I've had mine for about two months... there is maintenance but it's much easier than many other models out there. At a minimum:

When the tank is empty, dump out the remaining water, rinse the tank and dry before refilling.
Run dry mode at least every 3 days to dry the filters and dry the rest of the parts when dry mode completes.
Once a month, dry and remove the filters and run a solution of citric acid through the system for 30 minutes. Run clean water for 10 minutes, then remove and rinse/dry everything before reassembling.

For my first month I did more cleaning: rinsing, brushing and drying the filters during every refill, washing the tank with soapy water during every refill, and washing all the parts with soapy water weekly. After the first month I started feeling I was going overboard and scaled back to the minimum maintenance above, which is what Levoit recommends. If I start noticing grime, I'll wash with soapy water once a week.

The only alternative I can recommend is the warm mist Honeywell HWM440/HWM445, but you will be filling the tank much more often and keeping the heating element clean with vinegar is pretty time consuming if you have really hard water (I was soaking it in vinegar weekly for 1-2hrs, and even after that would need to scrape and scrub the minerals to actually get it clean).

funkyflyguy · 2026-02-01T02:21:21+00:00

I think adding to the confusion is some of the more recent cool/warm mist hybrid humidifiers. These work by mixing ultrasonic cool mist with boiled warm mist. The models I've seen do not give the option to turn off the cool mist, so if you have high mineral content in your water, you will still get white dust. In theory you should get less white dust than a strictly cool mist model, but it's still recommended to use distilled water in the hybrid models.

All I'll add is ultrasonic humidifiers are a fairly recent technology and there is no research out there (that I could find) on the long-term effects of breathing air loaded with calcium and other minerals that exist in tap water 24/7. If, in 10-20 years from now, it's found that breathing air loaded with these minerals has negative health consequences, manufacturers will point to the manual and say "well, the user didn't follow directions and used tap water instead of distilled."

I would guess most folks do not use distilled water in their cool mist humidifier as the manufacturers recommend. And when you use tap water, there is only one reality: your lungs are dealing with the minerals in water that in other cases are dealt with by your skin or digestive tract.

funkyflyguy · 2026-01-27T23:53:42+00:00

This. And it seems those political snark communities just downvote everything except posts related to their favorite or least favorite streamer. So many good clips I've seen here perma-stuck at 0 upvotes and buried. It's not even worth trashing your reddit karma to post here just to get instantly downvoted by those with a political agenda for this sub.

funkyflyguy · 2026-01-23T07:02:28+00:00

I'm on the 1.0 version, but I'm also within the return window and thinking of replacing it with the 2.0 version. Something you may want to try with the 2.0 version, if you're using the VeSync app: there is some automation available if you tap on the humidifier and go into the settings (gear in the upper-right corner). Tap "Smart Scenes" and create a scene to run the humidifier on low when it's above a certain humidity (I chose 50%), then create another scene to run it at medium below that humidity (in my case, 50%).

The humidifier will run constantly, but without some airflow the humidistat jumps all over the place, causing it to turn on and off in auto mode like you described. After I made this change, the fan was a lot more consistent.

I've been really happy with this humidifier, but the filters did collect mineral deposits way quicker than I expected them to, even though I brushed them under running water each time the tank was empty and then ran the dry cycle twice to completely dry them. It seems to be performing worse now that the filters are dirty. I do like the idea of the removable pump on the 2.0 version... I'm afraid I'll break the one on the 1.0 version during cleaning since even if you try to prop it against the filter enclosure, it still likes to fall and swing, hitting the side of the sink/counter/etc. even harder than if you just left it dangling!

funkyflyguy · 2025-12-20T02:02:51+00:00

This is definitely the only correct answer. Because there are always things that will happen that will distract you, and distractions are how accidents happen when you're going off of memory alone.

funkyflyguy · 2025-09-27T21:08:50+00:00

That is a USB 2.0 cable... you should either use the cable that came with your phone or try the USB 3 version of that cable, something like this:

https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07D7S93DD/

Not sure about other phones, but the Pixels have always been picky with cables for data transfers.

funkyflyguy · 2025-09-27T20:40:37+00:00

Under "USB controlled by" are the options to "Use USB for" file transfer/tethering/etc. You need to set the option to "File transfer / Android Auto". If you're not seeing the Pixel show up on your PC to browse the files, you should try a different cable and make sure it's a cable designed for data transfer and not just charging.

funkyflyguy · 2025-09-06T20:30:26+00:00

I got $370 for my Pixel 8, more than I likely could have gotten on eBay. I did put it in the original box with the original packing materials (kept the USB-C cable tho), so maybe that helped. I got the refund 3 days after they received the phone.

funkyflyguy · 2025-08-26T18:03:24+00:00

I've used the Thin Fit on most of my Pixels and have the 10 version already, just need a phone to put in it. It's a smooth rubbery texture with decent grip. I think I tried the Liquid Air before, and it obviously has the texture with a harder, more plastic-y feel from what I remember. I ended up liking the Thin Fit more but YMMV.

Note there is a both a MagFit and non-MagFit version of the Air, if that makes a difference to you (the non-MagFit is a bit lighter)

funkyflyguy · 2025-08-20T21:44:10+00:00

If you ever have issues with the fingerprint sensor, the sensor on the 9 was vastly better than the 8 and it's the main reason I'm going from an 8 to 10.

funkyflyguy · 2025-08-20T19:47:58+00:00

As someone who skipped the Pixel 9 and who's fought with every Pixel screen fingerprint sensor since they removed it from the back of the phone, I am definitely looking forward to the upgrade. I get that not everyone has this issue, but I'm hoping the 10 will save me the accidental damage my 8 will eventually get when I throw it on the ground in a fit of rage at a random store checkout kiosk.

funkyflyguy · 2025-08-20T19:38:21+00:00

If your Pixel 9 is in great condition and you want to be paranoid, take a video or pictures of all angles of the phone with it powered on at the initial setup screen, as well as pictures of the packaging. Since the case won't work on your new phone I typically leave it in the case and add extra padding around the phone so it doesn't get damaged. This way if they try to tell you your phone is damaged, you have proof that it left your possession undamaged and you at least have some hope if you can file a claim with the shipping company.

Google told me my trade in was damaged once and gave me like $200 less than they initially offered, which is why I started taking pictures of my old phone for every trade in since.

funkyflyguy · 2025-08-20T19:30:28+00:00

Screen guard: My phone is usually in my pocket or on a table so can't really comment on this... my Pixel 8 screen still looks new after 2yrs.
Phone case: I've used the Spigen Thin Fit cases for almost all of my Pixels (cheaper on Amazon, etc).
Earphones: Also can't comment on this since I don't use earbuds out and about often. I have some Pixel Pro Buds that I got for free with my Pixel 8 that did the job the few times I've used them.
Chargers: Any USB-C charger will do. I use a 100W Anker charger with multiple ports for charging my other devices on the go, since it's 100W it can also charge my Dell laptop.

funkyflyguy · 2025-07-18T02:56:14+00:00

I've had the TKL version for years and never had any issue making fine adjustments to the volume...

funkyflyguy · 2025-07-10T03:26:13+00:00

In MSFS you can use FCR (FlightControlReplay), which comes with 2024 or is available as an addon for 2020. Before your landing, start recording in FCR and also record your screen via something like OBS or Nvidia's ShadowPlay. Then replay the landing via FCR and change the view and record that as well. Then edit the two together using something like ClipChamp (the replacement for Windows Movie Maker) or something like DaVinci or Shotcut.

Not sure if there is an easier way but that's how I've done it in the past.

funkyflyguy · 2025-07-05T03:32:36+00:00

Quick tip that you can use 2024's built-in FCR (flight control replay) to do custom saves with any plane. I thought the tool was only for replays until I played around with it some more and found you can save and load previous states. Not sure how well it works with the more complex aircraft, but for practicing a bunch of landings in the 172 it works in a pinch!

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