Spring is in the air. Time for Dyson Pure Cool Mk II

Dyson Pure Cool

It seems the next big, absolutely necessary thing whether you live in Beijing or Brisbane, Singapore or Sydney is purified air. Enter Dyson Pure Cool from Sir James Dyson and friends.

Dyson Pure Cool (Australian website here) is the engineer’s version of what air purification should be. In Dyson language that means “There must be a better way”. And it does. The Dyson Pure Cool captures 99.95% of ultrafine particles and pollutants down to .1nm.

But wait there is more. Dyson Pure Cool has

  • An activated carbon filter as well to capture volatile organic compounds (VOC), noxious gasses, smoke and fumes.
  • A nifty, colour, watch faced size LCD screen to tell you how good it is.
  • Three sensors – humidity, temperature, laser detection of air quality and a VOCs sensor.
  • A rotation through 350° to suck in pollutants from everywhere in the room
  • Both Wi-Fi dual band and an app, so you can remotely access the purifier from anywhere in the world.
  • Replaceable HEPA and carbon filters – it will tell you when to do that.
  • A 2-year warranty. And
  • In true Dyson style, you mortgage your first born to get the desktop round version for $649 or the floor standing Tower version for $799 in clinical White/Silver or sombre Black/Nickel.
Dyson Pure Cool

Dyson is chuffed at several new features.

All I can say is why didn’t we think of them before? OK, it’s the Dyson way, “To go where no man/woman has gone before … to seek out new dirt …”

  • 60% more HEPA media into a taller and deeper filter.
  • Three times more activated carbon coated with Tris (Trishydroxymethylaminomethane) to increase the absorption efficiency.
  • 350° oscillation to better reach every nook and cranny
  • It blows 290 litres of pure air per second. One cubic metre (1 x 1 x 1) is 1000 litres, so the air in a typical 50m3 (4 x 4 x 3) room turns over every three minutes.
  • Yes, it is quieter and has a special night-time mode
  • A new diffused air purification only mode (for use in winter) that does not blow air out the front like a fan.
  • Over the air update capability for the iOS and Android Dyson Link app and the machine firmware to take advantage of new research data
Dyson Pure Cool

Air pollution is serious

Dyson assembled an erudite panel of experts before an information-hungry press cadre.

Present were

  • Dyson engineer Jessica Rowley with a lovely polished Brit accent. Her claim to fame was that she worked on redesigning the filters.
  • Professor John Bell, the head of the School of Science and Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology. He knows as much about airborne contaminants as the best.
  • Dr Sheryl van Nunen, a clinical allergist from the National Asthma Council who commented that there were millions of dust mites in a typical home, each of which produced enough faecal matter to sink a battleship.
  • Dr Carmel Harrington of Sleep for Health who helped correlate air pollution to bad sleep and Armageddon.
Dyson Pure Cool

I took copious notes but focused on the fact that there were millions of dust mites crapping at least 20 times a day in my home. Gotta get a Dyson Pure Air quick!!!

The key messages were

  • If you can smell it – it is a pollutant
  • Air quality impacts on daily life
  • Indoor air quality can be up to five times worse than outdoor air as pollutants become trapped in a closed system. What’s worse mould can thrive behind closed doors.
  • Even a proper ‘spring clean’ that removes every skerrick of detritus still does not clean the air
  • Pretty well everything in a home creates volatile organic carbons – perfume, hairspray, cleaning sprays, artificial fabrics (that new car smell) and fabric treatments, cooking, flatulence etc.
  • Pets. Forget them as they produce animal dander in huge qualities. Oh, you need a Dyson V10 vacuum to get rid of that. The dander, not the pet.
  • Humans. Forget them as they copiously shed skin and hair. Oh, A Dyson Supersonic hairdryer may reduce hair shedding.
  • Plants. Forget them as they create pollen. Ah, I can see a Dyson non-pollutant, over-engineered, non-organic, allergy free, oxygen producing, app managed, home decoration coming to replace plants.

The experts speak

Bell stated that while these particles may not make you sick ‘per se’ your body does begin to respond, and long-term exposure will impact your health. Some people are more vulnerable than others.

Van Nunen said the modern world was against us. We now know that hay fever and Asthma is a reaction to airborne particles and all we can do is use allergy medication or reduce exposure to them.

Editor’s note: Hay Fever and Asthma are 20/21 century phenomenon’s. Asthma in the 1930s to 50s was known as a psychosomatic disease (all in your mind). Hay fever was discovered in the early 1800s by an English physician who observed that the smell of hay could irritate the body. In 1881 an American medical author stated that hay fever was the result of the stresses of modern life: “It is the cry of the system struggling with its environment.”

Harrington was all about balance. Good sleep, healthy eating and a healthy environment. You can’t have one without the others. “There is a tsunami of more people getting allergic to more things.”

Dyson Pure Cool

GadgetGuy’s take. OK, I get it – the world is against us. Enter Dyson Pure Cool.

Dyson says 75 engineers spread over six countries developed 2,605 prototypes of the machine and sub-assemblies during development.

Dyson Pure Cool

It is an impressive piece of kit. Compared to last year’s model it is like a jet plane versus a Tiger-moth. Well not quite – I have last year’s model, and it is pretty good, but the advances are impressive.

All I can tell you is that within weeks the amount of visible dust on desktops etc. had reduced significantly. Great less cleaning!

I can also tell you that using the device on automatic did reduce my hay fever symptoms (I have it bad) particularly at night.

Dyson Pure Cool

There are many air purifiers on the market. A quick counted at major Aussie retailers revealed 39 models – many of which received four to five stars.

To win market share, Dyson needs to be better in every way. To me at least, this incredibly engineered product presents a compelling argument for the issue (reduce indoor air pollution), the product and Dyson.

Engineer Rowley finished, “In China and South Korea there’s a real concern about the air quality problem. In Australia, outdoor air pollution is not too bad. Purifiers are more for dealing with allergies. They address the big problem of indoor air quality.”

“I think the most uptake will be among those people with asthma, allergies and people with young families.”

The last word

I believe indoor air quality is an issue for some. But the UK Advertising Standards Authority took Dyson to task recently saying that its advertisement for Pure Cool would lead consumers to understand that indoor pollutants were more damaging than outdoor pollutants.

Dyson said its intention was to raise awareness about indoor air pollution, backing this with a paper from the European Respiratory Journal which stated that concentrations of some air pollutants were two- to five-fold higher indoors than outdoors.

https://youtu.be/AZ1KtNMotLk

Dyson Pure Cool, Dyson Pure Cool, Dyson Pure Cool