We have hard water where I live (usually runs around 130 ppm), so there are some things that I just don't want to use our tap water for (drinking water, water we use to make tea or other drinks, my husband's CPAP machine, egg incubator, our Keurig, etc.). I have a water tester, and the Vevor does give us water that tests as a 0! I do consider it to be an overall very quiet machine, and it usually runs at night while we all sleep. I do have to clean it once every week or 2 (running the machine usually once a day on average at this point), and I do NOT find the crystals or whatever Vevor sent to be effective. I do end up using distilled water with a hefty addition of regular 5% white vinegar or a smaller amount of stronger white vinegar, and that gets it very clean after letting it sit for 30 minutes or so. Vinegar is probably much easier to get access to anyway, so I prefer this method to the crystals they provide either way.