Review: The Dyson heater and purifier is more impressive than its vacuums

Die-hard fans can now get their hands on the latest Dyson gadget that promises to clean the air while also warming or cooling.

Dyson's purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde cleans your air while heating the room.

Die-hard Dyson fans would be pleased to know the company has proved its ability to simultaneously suck and blow while keeping users warm this winter.

The Australian recently got its hands on the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde, an air purifier which doubles as a heater and a surprisingly decent fan.

The timing allowed us to test the device on a couple of relatively warm weeks as well as in the recent cold streak that’s landed, and the device hasn’t let us down yet.

As winter approaches, more and more Australians will be closing their doors, shutting their windows and doing their best to keep the heat inside.

The purifier on a kitchen bench.

It’s at this time of year that harmful pollutants which typically dissipate will instead circulate around the home and eventually into the lungs of those inside.

Purifiers, which double as fans are typically turned off during the colder months which is where this device can come in handy as it constantly purifies whether it’s on cooling or heating mode.

Like most Dyson products, it is in on the pricier end of the spectrum, retailing for $1099. However there are quite a few features that might make it worthwhile to fork out on the device.

The first is a pretty unique filtration system that involves using a chemical reaction to turn harmful formaldehyde particles into water vapour and carbon dioxide.

This works by, according to Dyson engineer James Shale, using a catalytic filter made with cryptomelane with traces of silver and alloy.

The purifier can clean air while heating a room.

“As the formaldehyde particles travel down the channels in the filter, it has a chemical reaction with the surface of the material and the oxidisation that’s left on the filer, and that breaks down formaldehyde,” he said.

Mr Shales said that formaldehyde particles are 500 times smaller than 0.1 microns and therefore the company has to use chemicals to etch holes in the filter.

The device also has some smart capabilities, able to be controlled via Alexa as well as via a mobile phone app. We found this particularly useful whenever we lost the small rose-gold coloured remote control that comes with the device.

In the app, users can set temperatures which will see the device automatically turn off once reaches as well view the air quality in their home, see the temperature, set the fan speed, adjust rotation and change the airflow direction.

Night mode was a nice feature which allowed the screen of the device to reduce its brightness.

What’s hot: Safety mechanisms. The device has a number of in-built safety measures which are quite impressive. Aside from a sensor which acts as a kill switch when the device is knocked over, it also has a sensor which can detect when the heater itself is overheating which can happen when somebody puts the device too close to an object or if somebody throws a jumper or blanket over it.

Mr Shales, Dyson’s former Asia Pacific head of safety, said he was so confident in the safety features that he would happily leave a device running with his two children and puppy in his home, and trust that it would switch off if any accidents occurred.

Personal heaters were the largest cause of house fires after cigarettes, said Mr Shales, who served as the safety chief during a time when there were about 10 million device on the market in Asia.

The device in a living room.

The device also has a waterproof cover over all of its circuit boards.

What’s not: At $1099, it’s not the most affordable heater out there, especially in the current environment with rising interest rates, a cost of living crisis and rental price spikes.

The verdict: We really enjoyed this one. Would we have bought the device had it not been for the review? No. Do we want to send it back to Dyson? Also no.