By adding heat to its nifty, puzzling Air Multiplier bladeless fan, Dyson has found the most naturally useful application for its latest engineering trick
Posted 09.14.2011 at 9:24 pm
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If you've seen his vacuum commercials, you know James Dyson loves nothing more than solving a deceptively simple engineering problem. Oh, how it delights him. But when his company introduced its nifty but ultimately confounding Air Multiplier fan last year, it solved a problem suffered by no one: the "uncomfortable buffeting" of air flowing from a common, bladed desktop fan. The engineering involved in shooting air forcefully and smoothly from the Multiplier's eye-catching ring was impressive, but its reason for being fell flat.
As it turns out, all it takes to turn a good-looking but ultimately strange product into something legitimately, usefully innovative is the addition of hot air. The Dyson Hot—essentially an Air Multiplier fan with a heating element —is proof.
WHAT'S NEW
As stated previously, the Hot takes the same turbojet-forced-through-a-window-crack airflow technology found in the original Air Multiplier and adds two traditional ceramic heating elements to the sides of the hoop—hence its comparatively ovoid shape. Of course, you can turn these heating elements off, giving you a useful device for the summertime, too.
WHAT'S GOOD
With the heat element added, the Hot (a bit awkwardly named, no?) becomes capable of actively changing the climate of a room, as opposed to moving around the air that's already present. And as it turns out, I have the dubious good fortune to know of an excellent place to test such a thing, even in late summer—inside my absurdly air conditioned office. Due to an unfortunate combination of thermostat and air duct placement, it's been sweater weather inside my office all summer long. So setting aside the absurdity and wastefulness of combating extreme A/C with a space heater, the Dyson did quite well bringing the temperature of my work space into the habitable zone.
While I've not yet had the gall to bring a conventionally fanned (or fanless) electric heater into my office in the middle of summer for comparison (but boy have I considered it), the Hot warmed my approximately eight by eight foot space quickly and easily. Since the heat elements are fully enclosed in ABS plastic and insulation, there is a significantly reduced risk of catching anything on fire (don't laugh—thousands of house fires annually are caused by space heaters gone awry). Plus—no dust burning smell. All I caught was a subtle initial aroma of warm electronics, which is a smell I quite enjoy.
At its hottest point: The heating elements are well insulated, keeping the plastic shell mostly cool to the touch. This was among the higher readings we could find, right at the air aperture's opening. John Mahoney
In operation, the Hot is full of the clever, simple design touches that have become Dyson's norm. The controls are minimal—a button each for power and rotation, and two-way toggles for thermostat temperature and fan speed are all you see. The fan automatically pauses mid-rotation if you forego the included remote and make an adjustment to its buttons while it's in motion, waiting a few courteous seconds after your final button press to resume its rotation.
WHAT'S BAD
It's $400, which is mighty pricey for a space heater (at least it's a fan in warmer months, though). And while heating, it consumes 1500 watts of power—fairly typical for a space heater, but not an area where Dyson chose to innovate here.
Additionally, I found the thermostat to be a bit inconsistent. There were times I felt my office creep back down into the uncomfortably chilly range, and yet the Hot failed to kick back in on its own. Curiously, goosing the temperature gauge up to start the flow of air and then immediately setting it back down to the previous temperature would cause the fan to run for an extended period, making me think it hadn't kicked back on soon enough. Granted, my clash of two climate control systems is probably not a typical use case, so your mileage may vary.
THE PRICE
Yeah. $400.
THE VERDICT
The Hot seems to be the ideal implementation of Dyson's bladeless fan tech—so much so that we wondered if the Air Multiplier was just a practice run.
"We launched it in winter," Dyson told us, speaking of the original heatless Air Multiplier fan. "And we certainly said, 'This is absolutely mad, we should be doing a heater.' It's kind of an obvious extension, being able to circulate the air in a room very well, to not just do it with cold air but to do with hot air. It's sort of an obvious thing to do."
After testing, I agree.
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Yes, ummmm....they have heaters with fans on them too, for $15 dollars at walmart, just like they have fans without heaters for $15. Anyone can produce a million dollar, gee whiz product. There is not as much engineering challenge when the budget is unlimited. Dyson has yet to produce a $15 gee whiz product.
Dyson makes an amazing vacuum. When my wife wanted to spend $800 on a vacuum I thought she was out of her mind. But it's become one of the best tools we own. I was dead wrong.
They're bathroom hand dryer is also amazing. Same principle as the fan I believe. No heat, just fast air. It's crazy how companies have been making crappy hand dryers for 100 years, then Dyson comes along and does it right.
However, I think the fan is stupid. Like the article says, it solves a problem that didn't exist. $380 for a desk fan. $550 for a tower fan. It's insulting. I did try them out at the store because I was wrong about the vacuum. But the store is also air conditioned, so you know... I don't think they would help as much as a bladed fan does in the summer. And I definitely don't think they would help 20x more as the price would suggest. Same goes for the heated model.
I would recommend their vacuums to anyone though. Even more so if you have pets. I vacuum once or twice a week, and every time get a canister full of cat hair and other debris. It's very satisfying. Then you click the trigger on the canister's handle to take it off. Then click it again over the garbage can to empty. Rinse the filters in cold water every three months, and that's it.
Although, if you really want it to be the vacuum that doesn't lose suction you have to disassemble it and rinse the whole thing out. Tons of dirt gets caked to the inside of the chamber. It's easy to do, no tools needed. Something I had to figure out on my own though.
Anyway, this is much more than I intended to write. So in conclusion Dyson products are solid. But they should stop making fans.
So Dyson might have thought up a useful idea for a wheel that worked fine... and also thought up an idea for squeezing another $150 out of your wallet on top of the, what $300 that the small version of the fan already cost?
I saw one of these fans at best buy and was intrigued at first. It makes you wonder where the air is coming from. But it only takes 10 seconds to figured out that the fan is in the base and its just a gimmicky piece of crap. The only use for this fan is if you have small kids around that will stick their fingers in fans. Then again if you have small kids you're not spending hundreds of dollars on a fan. Total and utter garbage. Add a heating element? Warm garbage.
I like to see the development of personalize heating and cooling systems at low cost. In the real world there are a lot of poor people without heat or cooling. Many people in the extreme parts of the weather die from this every year.
The above gadget heater is pretty to look at, but WOW expensive. I suppose if I was rich, I may buy it for my cabin in the woods and it looking cool and all. I believe the manufacture is appealing to a small market niche.
i really like the idea i look at them all the time. but they are not powerful enough for me. the heater will most likely work better then the normal fan, but the fan is still to weak for me to drop that much money on one.
When I was a child and my father heated the house with fuel oil. He said the cost of the fuel oil was expensive and so kept the house in winter at 52F. Whenever I complain I was cold, he just respond, put some clothes on.
Thinking back now, some of the simplest solutions are often the most practical. ;)
Dyson has decent products, but not worth what they want for them. This heater and their fan are both not very powerful.. just ok.
not worth it. the vacuum isnt worth it. i got a shark that worked just as good for 60 bucks. no way in hell id buy this for that price
@tamiko,
"Whenever I complain I was cold, he just respond, put some clothes on."
I like your father. It's the same thing I tell my students. Especially the girls always say, "I'm cold, turn up the heat" to which I reply, "why are you wearing shorts?" or "bring a jacket next time". There is no single temperature that will make everyone in the room comfortable. Instead of heating the whole room people have to heat themselves.
Looks dangerous.
Too bright.
I'll keep my oil filled radiator type.
jefro, I agree with you and brightness. I guess this device in a common living room is ok as it gives off light. But it may be annoying in your own bedroom.
Devine intervention is a revolution to evolution, being adaptive to a higher way of life.
that whole "engineering trick" is bulls***, the only trick is to the person buying one, if you look closely, it has vents on the inside, my aunt bought one and i looked at it and thought "what the hell?"
A few of the flaws in the testing, first they didn't test the temperature of the ambient air coming out of the heater nor did they test the volume of heated air coming from the heater and nor did they test the amount of energy consumed at each level.
Safety is one thing but if it is incapable of heating an area of at least 200 square feet at not over 750 watts consumption then it is just another grossly over priced and energy wasting conversation piece....they need to do a proper review to answer the question....does it actually heat a space cost effectively?
As a former HVAC specialist (and Jet Engine Mechanic) I find the Dyson fans/heater fans way over priced to be practical. At $400.00 USD I could buy a home PC or about 4 TB of home computer (external) back-up storage. Those devices make heat, are shielded from the little fingers of curious kids, and they too seldom catch your home on fire. They also have a practical purpose, even in todays tight economy. I suppose the bottom line is, how much are you willing to pay to be blown (hot or cold) without the pressure pulsations. Alex Ingram
It should be noted that the purpose of the vents on the Dyson fan are for air intake. Despite the idea that there is a low pressure area behind the discharge loop of the fan, a significant one is not detected. Dyson couldn't rob air from the 6th dimension and had to get that original static air from some where. Hence if it doesn't suck somewhere,,,,it can't blow anywhere, ie all in accordance with known principles of the conservation of matter or energy, that neither entities can be "created, nor destroyed". The very slight low pressure area detected near the back side of the discharge loop is caused by convection drafting, that is to say the molecules of air in motion are less dense. The air molecules near the discharge are just following the less dense air pocket. (kind of like drafting in a low pressure zone between race cars). (See Bernelle's principle and aerodynamic lift) The science behind the Dyson fan are sound. The commercial applicability compared to existing technology render it a unique conversation piece for the affluent in modern society. Alex Ingram
For some reason people will pay shocking amounts of money for a vacuum cleaner with a fancy brand name.
But they won't for a fan or a heater. Dyson's price for both of these items is about 4x to 10x what the market will bear.
Yes. It is expensive. But, I heat a 1500 square foot log cabin (no fireplace or wood burning stove) with the Dyson heater. You can't do that with a $15 Walmart space heater. You get what you pay for.
I bought my Dyson Hot heater for one simple reason, curiosity.
The Dyson sounded promising and made the pitch that it was something truly new and revolutionary so I bit and got one....a white one!
At first glance the quality looked good, fit and finish were tight and it looked good on the surface.
Sitting down, I kicked back and prepared to enjoy reading the manual....that was short lived as it had lots of information on warranty and legal guck and only the most basic of operation information with absolutely no information showing specifications, no power use...no Heat output....nothing
Moving on I plugged it into the power use tester to see how much power it would consume and in return how much heat it put out at 12 inches away.
Power use was high especially considering how low the temperature it was putting out, for example of the ten temp ranges (here are three examples): Level 1: 1207 watts @ 102 degrees ambient at 12 inches...Level 5: 1280 watts @ 108 degrees at 12 inches ambient and Level 10: 1391 watts @ 105 degrees at 12 inches ambient...I can rub my hands together and get higher temps, these are dismally low numbers when compare to my 5 year old HOTBLAST Ceramic heater that puts out 142 degrees at 24 inches at 750 watts.
True the heater is being touted as SAFE and it is, but it has no more safety features than any $15.00 heater, not even a grounded plug....both have tip over protection and overload protection but claiming to be safe while you sit there freezing as your power meter spins, little conciliation since this is SUPPOSED to be a heater first and foremost not some over priced thing ah ma jig!
Now comes the real fun....in the three weeks I have owned it, from day one the thermostat has been mis-behaving, (dysfunctional). It turns off when it reaches the preset shutoff but between 30 seconds to two minutes later turns right back on and just continues this off and on routine indefinitely or until you manually shut the heater off.
Then there is mis-calibrated thermostat between three to five degrees high when in operation (it says it is 68 degrees when in reality two other thermostats placed right next to the base confirm it is actually only 64.
Dyson's HOT selling points are as follows:
1. Brushless motor (the fan / heater industry has used them for over 20 years)
2. Air Multiplier Technology ( Ducted fans have been used in portable heaters for over 50 years)
3. Long Range heat projection, (this I will agree with, Dyson has figured it out that smooth low pressure air flow is better than high pressure when it comes to heat, the faster it moves the more is dissipates and the more heat is lost, unfortunately the high energy requirement to generate the low heat output from this heater means energy efficiency and heat production is poor at best.
4. Safety features (nothing new here virtually all portable electrics have had tip over and overload protection for the past ten years and this heater also lacks one of the MOST important feature.....a GROUNDED PLUG!)
5. Precise temperature control (a very standard digital temperature control that with the Dyson lacks timed use feature and in my samples case had debilitating issues....see above)
6. No Worry Burning Smell (burning dust odor is typical of the environment it is used in and old wire or nichrome type heaters which have long since been replaced by cheaper aluminum PTC elements, the Dyson does have micro fine air intakes but deep inside it also has a secondary filter that is not easily serviced to stop any dirt from getting into the heating elements from the impeller itself, unfortunately THIS is what will plug and heat output and efficiency will be reduced significantly. Other odors the Dyson Hot WILL pick up because it is made of plastic will be food and environmental odors).
7. High Air Flow Cooling Fan ( because this is a heater the fan velocity has been greatly reduced over the Dyson fan and is simply no better than the fan mode available on 95% of all portable heaters over the past five years)
8. Complete Control with its remote control unit (again, nothing new here as most mid range portable heaters $19.95 and above have them but the Dyson is different in that it is tiny and very easy to loose).
Dyson claims they took three years and 22 engineers to come up with this,if so I seriously want to know where they were educated because in the end the Dyson HOT is simply no better than most $15.00 portable electric heaters when it comes to safe heating.
P.T. Barnum said it best "There is a Sucker Born Every Minute"....or Captain Jack Sparrow "Take what ya can....GIVE NOTHIN' BACK"....that's this heater then there is the salt in the wound, not even made in the UK....made in Malaysia because labor is 30% cheaper!
Sorry Dyson, I had really hoped for just a grain of truth but your product simply does not prove out at many levels...If B.S. were heat, the Dyson HOT could heat the world!
Wow, it sounds like a few of you have a lot invested in disliking something that you refuse to buy.
The reason I was looking into the Dyson Hot is because we live in Minnesota and have a cold winter ahead of us. We also have two small children that have bedrooms which receive no direct heat (we found this out after moving in during the summer months) so the only way to heat the rooms is by leaving the doors open and letting the heat from downstairs flow to the rooms which doesn't always work well, especially when the temp is -10. The baby also won't sleep with her door open since she goes to bed at 6:30 and the rest of us are up, including my noisy 4 year old. The baby won't stay under her blanket and always wants her hands free. We bundle her up with warm clothing and slippers but it's still not enough. Moving is not an option right now, we rent and will not spend our own money to fix the vent problem, our landlord will not fix the problem and according to the law does not have to. We need something safe that we can trust to leave on at night in our infant's room so that she can sleep and be warm.
It sucks that this is a problem for us as it seems like something that should not be a problem. It's this damn old house and I hate it but I need a solution now. The Dyson Hot seems to be a safe solution that I trust, and certainly if anyone has any better plausible solution I would love to hear it.
So maybe for many of you that have the luxury of a (fully) heated house or central air, a $400 heater is ridiculous, but for me it seems like the best solution to my stressful problem.