I have had a Dyson Hot+Cool fan heater for a few years now and I was surprised how much different the new Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde air purifier is. The design is strikingly similar, including the same fanless air distribution that looks like magic but the technology inside it is so more advanced.
What is different – besides the size, which made my old Hot+Cold look like a miniature, is how much more technology is built into that machine and how good it is at heating the environment (my review was done over winter).
Because of the layout of our kitchen, dining and lounge areas our heat pump can sometimes struggle to move the warm air in the direction we need. We positioned the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde air purifier in a point in-between areas in configured it to oscillate 180 degrees (the air purifier has options to oscillate from smaller angles up to 370 degrees), basically covering two of those areas at the same time. It was always quicker than the heat pump to warm up the environment and keep the temperature constant – the automatic mode works really well here.
The Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde comes with a HEPA+Carbon filter that captures gases and 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns, with a second catalytic filter that continuously destroys formaldehyde.
The replaceable HEPA+Carbon filter is designed to capture a number of different particles that are present in a household – things like benzene and VOC, nitrogen dioxide, pollen and odours. The filters are rated also on the basis of the size of fine particulate matter they can capture – PM indicating the diameter in micrometres of those particles. This includes allergens (PM10), bacteria (PM5), and other small particles down to PM2.5 and even down to PM0.1.
As the model name indicates the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde also detects and destroys formaldehyde, a strong-smelling chemical that is usually released from new furniture, buildings, mattresses and other products. It does it by using a special solid-state formaldehyde sensor to detect those chemicals and a self-regenerating catalytic filter that continuously traps and converts formaldehyde into water and CO2. This filter doesn't need replacing.
The round LCD on the front conveys lots of information – current temperature and humidity plus a moving chart showing particle levels present on the air that goes through its filters. Each time you push the button on the remote control it cycles between charts covering each of the types of particles it can filter.
Interestingly the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde reported a very low, residual trace of formaldehyde in the air, despite we not having any new furniture in the house - perhaps because of a recent bathroom renovation? It would also instantly show a jump in the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) levels whenever we started cooking, slowly going down as the air was cleaned.
In addition to pushing the air forward like a fan, the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde also has a diffuse mode that pushes the air to the back of the unit, so you don't have the blowing directly at you. And like my old Hot+Cold fan, the bladeless design means the air is circulated without the buffeting effect you associate with fans.
The new Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde can be paired to the Dyson Link app, allowing you to configure its network settings and remotely control it. You can even control the air purifier from anywhere you can access the Internet on your phone, even outside your home. If you are out and about you can turn it on or off easily at any time.
The phone also shows you the same information as the LCD for each of the different particles it filters, plus information on the life of its HEPA filter.
The remote control is easy to operate and it magnetically attaches to the top of the unit, so you will not lose it (at least not if you keep it around the unit).
The winter was actually a pretty good time to have the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde around for my review, as we had the chance to put it to work during the coldest months of the year and it performed extremely well – replacing our heat pump most of the times and keeping the living areas nice and warm.
