I live in an apt. w/ 4 steam radiators, so adding humidity is a must. My cool-mist humidifier runs 24 hours a day in the winter. When I use tap water in the humidifier, the white mineral dust builds up on every plastic surface in the apt. in a matter of a week. So, I bought this distiller, figuring the season is longer than 6 weeks, which is how long it might take for the machine to pay for itself over buying gallons of distilled water (bonus: not buying 60 plastic gallon jugs). I fell in love with this machine after one use! No more calcification building up on the humidifier. No more white dust. Visibly clear water in the plastic jug. A cycle completed w/in a few hours.Even so, thank goodness for youtube, because the instructions are so badly translated as to be useless. It is "noisy," and a bother to unplug (twice!) to rinse out and fill, but I absolutely do not mind either of those drawbacks for the overall simplicity of the process and the quality-of-life upgrade the machine provides.