Must You Change Your Dyson Air Purifier Pure Cool Link Filter When Dyson Says?

[Angus Black]

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This article first appeared at Dyson Medic

If you have one of the range of Dyson air purifier fans, or the hot + cool heater fan combination, they are fitted with a circular HEPA filter.
It is located behind the gauze with the little holes in it.



Three variants are currently available: The tower purifying fan, the desk purifying fan and the “hot+cool” which is also a heater that purifies the air.

When used via the app (recommended) the machine runs a timer and the app tells you when the filter is ready to be changed.

However, the filters are rather expensive at the moment, so the question we are often asked is “Do I really need to change the filter?”.

Disclaimer: We should of course say that if you want to follow Dyson’s recommendations to the letter, do not hesitate, buy a new filter and change it. The same might be said for asthmatics, those with allergies, etc. The advice in this article may or may not invalidate your warranty, blah blah…….et al.

This article is for those who dont feel like buying another filter so soon, and think there may be a little life left in the old one yet.

You will be surprised how much dust actually builds up in there. So let’s take a look……..

I like to start by vacuuming around the vents where the air comes from. You tend to get a streaky build up of dust there solidified a little by water vapour in the air. I find a Dyson stubborn dirt brush (being used here with a Sebo vacuum cleaner rather than a Dyson) is ideal for our purposes here.



Next, there are two buttons on the side one depresses simultaneously to remove the top of the unit.



Having done that, the filter and its shroud are easily removed.



Now here’s the bit you wasn’t expecting: slide the outer shroud off and look at that dust!



That is testament to how much dust and other detritus these Dyson air purifiers really pull out of the air when left 24/7 on automatic mode as mine are.
Take your brush tool and get rid of that with your vacuum cleaner.



Usually, you can also carefully remove the outer filter gauze in order that the bristles from your brush tool can get right into the pleats of the filter and get as much out as possible.



Take care doing this though, as the pleats are quite delicate here being made of paper. Gentle stroking up and down (ooh er missus!) is the way here. Don’t go at it like a bull in a china shop.

Having cleaned the filter up, replace the gauze, vacuum up what is now all over the floor that look like little grey worms, the inside of the shroud and the internal bits of the fan you can see and refit it all together again.

You may wish to reset the timer on the Dyson app to tell it you have had a “new” filter. Scroll down on the app and expand the options, go into “settings”, and click “filter life”.



Then hit the “reset” button.



Yes, you’re sure.



And Bob’s your uncle, you’re all set (as our friends over the pond say).

I have three connected Dyson “Pure Cool Link” air purifiers at home, one of each type, and find them a great thing to have (if somewhat overpriced).

I tend to leave them on automatic 24/7 and they really do respond to the air quality going on where they are. See here how the air quality dips into the orange at peak times of day when traffic levels are higher on the street (with the windows open).



So yes, they do their job and are a good product, but I think the filters a tad expensive. So I like to get two cycles out of mine before I change them. And having three machines, doing what you have read above saves me about £125 a year. 

[kloug]

Using a HP03 here, also about to change my filter.  However, after a whole year, mine doesn't look THAT dirty :), even though I rarely vacuum around in this room.

So it tells me that mine is still ok enough for a few months. However it's not gonna last forever, and indeed, prices for those filter are a ripoff. I mean nearly 70eur, that's in itself 3x the price of a small heater.

And it looks like no one but Dyson resells those filters, that doesn't help lowering prices either. Probably because there are a ton of chinese clones around, which leads to my question(s), if anyone knows:

-can chinese HEPA filters be harmful (more harmful than a very dirty filter?), or "just" less functional in the worst case?
-is there any reputable brand that offers compatible, but cheaper filters?
-anyone has tips on where/what to buy? Clones are everywhere & ranging from 10 to 30eur, and most likely all chinese & not giving a hint about the quality or the differences between them.

Thanks!

[MVacs]

You should get two or three cycles out of it per the instructions above, that's what we do with ours.

The Chinese have copied the filters as you say, they'll not be harmful but quality isn't assured. Some will be good; some less so as with any copy filter.

There is no way to know the quality when buying online as you say.

[beko1987]

I've just had a brief thought of maybe one of those would be nice for the winter... Then I remembered how much dust I create refurbishing vacuums, I'd be doing that every week!

Shame their paper and won't go through the washing machine! I tried that with a DC03 filter once, that went terribly...