Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde review

The air we breathe inside our homes is a matter of grave concern going by some alarming statistics. The World Health Organisation, in its 2021 report, listed various household air polluting components and its impact on health. Most household pollutants don't have an immediate impact, rather run their course as a slow poison. Living in a metro city in a high-rise apartment doesn't make you immune to these pollutants, they might well be the cause for your throat infection, skin irritation, wheezing and alike. Taking the right steps early on can help you breathe safe. That's where Dyson comes in.

Dyson has a range of air purifiers and the one we have been testing is the TP09 model, which is the Purifier Cool Formaldehyde. Yes, it's different from the regular Dyson Purifier Cool carrying the model number TP07. As you might have guessed, the difference is quite evident in the nomenclature.

Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is specially designed to purify the air we breathe inside our homes of various dust, allergens, gases and pollutants. Most importantly, it is designed to detect and destroy formaldehyde molecules.

What is formaldehyde? Can be it found inside homes?

Putting the science (of H2CO) aside, Formaldehyde is a colourless, strong-smelling, flammable chemical that is produced industrially and used in building materials such as particleboard, plywood, and other pressed-wood products. If you're wondering how this might be in your home. Well, formaldehyde is also a by-product of combustion like emissions from gas stoves, kerosene space heaters, cigarette smoke, glues, paints, some paper products, fertilisers and pesticides.

The primary way to be exposed to formaldehyde is by breathing air containing off-gassed formaldehyde. If you have wood flooring, formaldehyde may be present there too. In fact, everyone is exposed to small amounts of it. Low-level exposure causes irritation of the skin, eyes, nose and throat, whereas high-level exposure is serious as it can cause some types of cancer. At home, you should be watchful of the former's risk.

From your closet to walls and floor and bathroom and kitchen, formaldehyde can be found anywhere. If you're sensitive to it, you'll start showing symptoms.

Where does Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde fit in?

If you practice caution, there's a way you can prevent formaldehyde molecules inside your homes. But Dyson aims to make your life simpler as its purifier with anti-formaldehyde mechanism will destroy these microscopic particles. Priced at Rs 52,900, Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is identical to the Dyson Purifier Cool we recently reviewed, with the exception of the formaldehyde purification system.

Setting up for the first time

Having dealt with Dyson air purifiers, setting up the Purifier Cool Formaldehyde was a simple task. It took us less than 10 minutes to unbox and get the purifier up and running. But the beauty of setting up the Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is that it can be done with just as ease by anyone, even those who whose technical know-how doesn't exceed beyond replacing the light bulb.

Inside the tower-like box, you'll find the machine safely tucked away with supporting cardboards and the filters can be found right in the middle, inside the loop area. The remote comes in a separate box, which can be found at the top. Now just take all these out of the box and remove the generous plastic covers. Once the filter is standing tall, attach the filters at the base. It's a simple latch, you lift to unlock the mesh and push to lock it. More or less like a lego set. Once the HEPA+ Carbon Filter and catalytic filter are in, lock it with the grille. Plug the machine with its 1.8-meter power cord and place it strategically in the room or living room or wherever you wish.

The purifier weighs less than 5-kgs and can be moved around with ease. It is tall, measuring 1050mm and takes up little ground space due to its compact design. This is convenient when there's a lot of furnishing in the home. Make sure there's room for oscillation as it turned out to be a useful feature in our use.

Design

Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is a replica of the Purifier Cool, with a slightly altered palette. The only difference is that the base of the TP09 is gold hue while the rest of the body is white. The TP07, however, comes in White, Blue and Black shades. Everything else is identical, so you can read about the design in our review of the TP07 air purifier.

Putting the machine to test

We put the Dyson Cool Formaldehyde to test. Placing it in the living room, which is about 15 feet away from the kitchen, we were able to detect fluctuations in the quality of the air in real-time. The machine ran in Auto mode for most of the duration of our review.

The real test of the machine was while cooking, especially rotis, which would generate a lot of smoke if the exhaust fan would remain off. Even with the exhaust (no chimney), the smoke would easily travel all across the home, into some rooms as well. It was ideal to test the Dyson air purifier.

Since the machine was running in auto mode, it would go to sleep when the air quality was maintained at safe levels. So upon detecting the smoke while cooking chapatis, the machine started its purification at full fan speed ten minutes after. The PM2.5 and PM10 levels were increased as the cooking continued for almost 40 minutes. The air quality reached "Severe" after about 20 minutes and the air purifier was working at its full capacity. The machine ran till about 5 a.m. until it went back to sleep after detecting the air quality was in the green again.

But the real-time monitoring was accurate. The PM10 and PM2.5 levels rose as the smoke increased. But 30 minutes into purification, the smoke wasn't visibly seen, but the machine still showed the air quality as "severe" and it continued to purify it. This showed the level of efficiency and the standard Dyson maintains while purifying the air inside the home.

Throughout the testing, we did not notice any rise in formaldehyde (HCHO) levels. It had been in the "Good" zone. Had the machine detected HCHO particles above 0.100mg/m3, our guess is it would have destroyed the dangerous pollutant. Other markers, including NO2 and VOCs were in the green.

The purifier also compares the indoor air quality against the city's air quality, which came in handy. In Bengaluru, the parameters were either moderate or satisfactory. This data is picked from the internet.

As for the fan function, the purifier works modestly. At 6-speed, the fan's sound is unrecognisable, but if you go above it or up to 10, you'll hear the machine humming. But the oscillation feature makes it all worth it as it can rotate 350-degrees. The cooling feature is no match to the summer heat but can be in other seasons. The oscillation helps in quickly purifying the air. The tiny LCD on the machine came in quite handy when we didn't have the phone to check the parameters via the app.

There is a Night mode, which is a brilliant addition from our point of view. It works best at the night and cleans the air with utmost silence.

Finally, there's the convenience of the app. Dyson Link app is available for free on Google Play Store and App Store, both work flawlessly. In fact, once you use the app, you'll never go back to the remote. You'll need Wi-Fi and the purifier should be connected. The homepage of the app is aesthetically designed, it shows the air quality of the room as well as the city, PM10, VOC and NO2 levels. You get more functions on the app than the remote. The app also shows weekly and daily graphs of air quality while using the purifier. The best part we found was to set a schedule to turn the purifier as per requirements. You can even add events, and have preferred settings, accordingly. The app will also notify you when it's time to change the filter.

Is it worth buying?

Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is a very specific device. While it has all the functions of the Dyson Purifier Cool, the additional formaldehyde purification is a nice feature to have. If your doctor has advised your condition to be a result of formaldehyde exposure, we find the Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde an ideal fit and a worthy purchase.

Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde is priced at Rs 52,900, which is Rs 3,000 more than the regular TP07 model. If you're looking specifically for a formaldehyde purifier, the extra cost is a no-brainer.