I bought a Crane humidifier from Target last year and was excited there was no filter. Thinking this is the best. No need to buy filters, I can add essential oils to the water and the rooms smell like heaven. Also make sure to place antibacterial drops (eucalyptus & lavender.) They really were the best in my mind. About 6 months later, one started making a weird noise. It was similar to the fan in my computer once it gets full of dusk and needs a dust clean out. Thinking it was that, I opened it up and puffed that little duster can in there. Put it all back together and nothing. Still noise. So, I scoured the internet for how others fixed it.

Ta-da! This guy was correct! Thank you Devin Baldwin. Now, there were others that claimed it was a fan screwed in too tight, no it wasn't. This was the issue. The fan ran out of lubricant and needs more. That's it. A quick 5 minutes and it was done. If I have to do this once ever year that's not a big deal. The reservoir that hold the oil is tiny. So, it'll just need some maintenance. Still cheaper than buying filters. Crane - perhaps you can make a professional video showing this as there any many types of your humidifiers.

Mine was different from this guy's in the video, but I figured it out. His fan was on the top of the unit. Mine was on the bottom unit. I pretty much took off the bottom by unscrewing the 4 screws. Opened the bottom piece. Located the fan. Unscrewed the fan (2 screws) and turned the unscrewed fan over. Saw a silver sticker. Peeled back the sticker to find a tiny hole. Place your oil inside this hole. It doesn't hold much. Replace sticker (Don't put too much oil - sticker won't stick back on if it's all oily.) Screw fan back in. Place bottom back on with screws. Turn it on. 10-30 seconds later the fan lubricates itself. All done! No noise. Smooth sailing from here on out.

3-in-one oil from Home Depot, Walmart or any home improvement place, a screw driver and patience. That's it. 5 minutes people. (Not trying to get off-topic, but... like the concrete counters int he pic? My husband made them, oh yeah, he did.)

Pictures will help you make this process a little easier.